XWord Muggles Forum

Off the couch. Excellent idea and construction. Brilliant work

Day 2 leaderboard additions:

23 Bob Cruise Director
24 Cap'n Rick
25 FrankieHeck
26 Cinny
27 hazmat
28 ImOnToo
29 lbray53
30 Scott Medvetz
31 markhr
32 fuggedabowdit
33 Dow Jones
34 BrianMac

Off the couch!

I have only been doing these meta puzzles for a year but this is one of my top three favorite puzzles. I progressed through different stages as I solved and enjoyed several small aha moments until I reached the big one.

Happy Nudge Wednesday, all...

First nudge for those who can't get a foothold: It might be helpful to parse 38A as 'Look for entries that lack a number'
Second nudge, for those who figured out the mechanism, but might be getting misdirected by some of 38A's clues (which of course was my intent): Sometimes words in a clue are capitalized simply because they're the first word in the clue... say 'Journey'?
Third nudge, for those who are almost all the way but don't know what's next: There's no math involved, but there is a common mechanism used by meta constructors where numbers are involved.

Off the couch after the spoilers. That was the way I was thinking, but still had a hard time deciphering the clues because of my lack of knowledge in certain areas.

I found a bunch of spare change while rummaging around in the sofa (lack of knowledge would be an understatement in my case) - but now up and about. Nice!

Believe I am off the couch, after an initial "oops".

hcbirker wrote: ↑Wed Mar 10, 2021 4:08 pm Believe I am off the couch, after an initial "oops".

I probably had the same "oops"! I submitted my answer completely confidently, and got back basically: "Think again!" (I'm off the couch now but kicked myself on the way...)

Al confirmed that I made it off the couch yesterday afternoon, but I'd definitely still be stuck under the cushions without the nudges!

Updated leaderboard:

34 Hidden in 3D
35 bhamren
36 hcbirker
37 BrennerTJ
38 Anita
39 FKelly

lbray53 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 10, 2021 9:15 am Off the couch!

I have only been doing these meta puzzles for a year but this is one of my top three favorite puzzles. I progressed through different stages as I solved and enjoyed several small aha moments until I reached the big one.

I agree that this was a really fun one! I had a similar solving experience with epiphanies spread out over time.

And, we're off the couch after the first nudge. Fun one!

I think that I am off of the couch--just in time to start the WSJ meta in a few hours. To borrow from another meta site--I really had to think out of the box on some of these clues and steps--and do some creative googling. Some really fun clues as well.

Friday night leaderboard additions:

40 BarbaraK
41 LadyBird
42 Daisy
... and a couple who are so close!!

Deadline is tomorrow at 10 PM. Feel free to PM if you need more help; I want everyone to get this.

Better late than never. Nudged to shore. Elegant!

I'm nowhere near finding my way off the couch, even after the journey hint. Oh well, I'm looking forward to the solution tomorrow. I guess this is part of the learning process...

9:30 PM leaderboard update:

43 Snood
44 JeanneC
45 dudeski

The reveal and the name of this week's prize winner is coming in a half hour.

The answer to this meta, as found by 45 solvers, was 5 (or #5 or No. 5… or even “Mambo #5, since it is technically a “musical number”), the hit (?) song by Lou Bega (yes, THE Lou Bega!). Originally written in 1949, Bega’s version earwormed its way to #1 around the world in 1999.

So how did we get there? Well we are told we’re looking for a number, and the only hint in the grid is from 38A, “NUMBERED ENTRIES.” That’s gotta mean something, right? Uh, yeah. The trick was to think of the entry as “ENTRIES THAT REQUIRE A NUMBER.”

The clue for 38A was a little different in that it had five clues in one: “Short film/Supergroup/Old
Ford classic/No-win situation/Journey song?” (and the “?” tells us that there might be some misdirection going on). Is there? Uh, yeah.

“Short film” referred to “3 Amigos” (co-starring Martin Short), and while AMIGOS is in the grid, it’s missing the number 3. When we take the letter at the space marked 3, we get the letter M.
“Supergroup” refers to “Fantastic 4;” we have FANTASTIC, and we need the 4. The letter at 4 is A.
“Old Ford classic” refers to Tennessee Ernie Ford’s 1955 song, “16 Tons.” The letter at 16 is M.
“No-win situation” is a “Catch 22,” CATCH is in the grid, and the letter at 22 is a B.
“Journey song” was “Route 66,” which documents a journey along a road that covers/covered 2/3 of the western United States. ROUTE is in the grid, and looking up the letter at the square marked 66, we find an O.

Those five letters, taken in grid/numerical order, spell out MAMBO. Yeah!!! B-but wait… MAMBO isn’t a number! But can ya digit? Is there a title of something with MAMBO that has a number associated with it? Uh, yeah. And even if you didn’t know the song, a Google search of just “mambo” quickly yields the answer.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it… I certainly enjoyed making it (except for the part where I had the entire grid and cluing done – clean, no weird entries, fun/clever clues, etc. – only to find out when I was proofreading the printout that I had forgotten to put in four of the five theme entries and had to start all over). I’d be curious to hear in what order you discovered the “trick;” i.e., which one was your foothold and what was the fifth one that you really had to suss out, knowing it had to be there somewhere.

The random winner this week was boharr, who will receive a copy of the Blarney Rebel Band CD, “Pile High the Pennywall.” (Bob, PM me with your address so I can get it to you). Besides winning this million-seller (“I’ve still got a million of them in my cellar”), Bob also claimed: “I think I may have the record for the number of Fords I hunted before I got to Tennessee Ernie: Ford (car) models, John Ford, Gerald Ford, Whitey Ford (also a # 16!), Ford (female) models.” Sorry, Bob… sorta. Thanks for sticking with it until you got the right one (Old joke: Why is it that you always find what you’re looking for in the last place you look? Because once you find it, you stop looking).

Anyway, thanks for solving, and I hope to be back on a Monday in the not-too-distant future!

Well this was a KAS #5 for me! But I really appreciate the construction. I never had time to get back to this one so I didn’t even check the spoilers. I had a vague inkling of what to try but never would have found all of those. However I am a bit peeved with myself for not getting at least CATCH-22.

Al Sisti wrote: ↑Sat Mar 13, 2021 10:00 pm I’d be curious to hear in what order you discovered the “trick;” i.e., which one was your foothold and what was the fifth one that you really had to suss out, knowing it had to be there somewhere.

This was a team effort with Wendy. She pulled then I pulled, then she pulled until we got up off the couch

The Three Amigos was first
Catch 22 was second
16 tons was third after the director/actor/car red herring and a red herring it was
Route 66 was fourth and again a red herring with the group Journey

That gave Mambo as the only possible answer so the last one was the supergroup that was backed into because an A was needed and in addition to 4 (which was already used for Amigos so that was suspect), there were answers that started with A at 9,14,34,47,52 and 61. And the list of supergroups was almost endless so it was not worth it rummaging through Google to get an answer that was not needed.

Then the only question was Mambo (as a dance is often referred to as a number), Mambo 5 (as pointed out a song is a number) or the number 5. Fortunately all those pins stuck in the Al Voodoo doll softened him up enough.

But it was a fun grid and meta to do. Thanks.

I especially like the muggle related clues in these MMM contests that the constructors sneak in.