XWord Muggles Forum

Brian must be too busy to post, but Fill Me In has a new contest this week: "This and That" by Brian Cimmet.

The solution to this puzzle is a title shared by a play, a movie, and a television series.

You can download it from http://bit.ly/fmi293con

Get submission instructions, including the secret password, from https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/f ... 1364379980

In the podcast, Brian said he thought it was too hard and he needed to tweak it a bit before publishing it. I wonder what he changed. Maybe added the circles? Anyway, I've split the banana.

In the process, but before solving, I had something that actually was the title of a very obscure movie and a very obscure TV series. I was saved from embarrassing myself only because it was just half of the title of a very obscure play. So I took a step back and found the actual answer, which is much better known in all three categories.

Thanks, Barbara. It was the answer I'd assigned highest initial probability to.

If the circles indeed were the fix, it may have gone from very hard to very easy, (though, if I identified one part correctly it's something I hadn't heard of).

I think I have the meta, but I’m missing some of the mechanics.

Banana split. I also didn't find it as difficult as had been implied, so I look forward to finding out if it was tweaked later. Good solid meta stuff.

Banana's split.

Split the banana. But one shaky bit.

First time listening to the podcast or trying the puzzle. Hope I submitted properly. Do they announce winners during the podcast? I did not catch that in this week's.

@AnswerPfinder they also give a shout-out to Pandora's Blocks Sub-Par at about the 1:08 mark.

KayW wrote: ↑Tue May 04, 2021 11:25 am First time listening to the podcast or trying the puzzle. Hope I submitted properly. Do they announce winners during the podcast? I did not catch that in this week's.

@AnswerPfinder they also give a shout-out to Pandora's Blocks Sub-Par at about the 1:08 mark.

They do announce the winner. Their contests run for two weeks (sometimes three). So the contest from last week is still open, and the winner should be announced next week.

BarbaraK wrote: ↑Tue May 04, 2021 6:45 pm

KayW wrote: ↑Tue May 04, 2021 11:25 am First time listening to the podcast or trying the puzzle. Hope I submitted properly. Do they announce winners during the podcast? I did not catch that in this week's.

@AnswerPfinder they also give a shout-out to Pandora's Blocks Sub-Par at about the 1:08 mark.

They do announce the winner. Their contests run for two weeks (sometimes three). So the contest from last week is still open, and the winner should be announced next week.

Sneaky good marketing! So they'll keep me listening for 2 or 3 weeks now to find out if I won?

Banana is split with some assistance. It was turning brown so I reached out for help.

DARN! I did not listen to the podcast until this morning so I missed the deadline.

KayW wrote: ↑Tue May 04, 2021 11:25 am First time listening to the podcast or trying the puzzle. Hope I submitted properly. Do they announce winners during the podcast? I did not catch that in this week's.

@AnswerPfinder they also give a shout-out to Pandora's Blocks Sub-Par at about the 1:08 mark.

Yes! I listened to it last weekend! So cool - made my day!!

Can someone please post a PDF that can be printed. Thank you!

oldjudge wrote: ↑Tue May 11, 2021 1:08 pm Can someone please post a PDF that can be printed. Thank you!

fmi293con PDF from PUZ

oldjudge wrote: ↑Tue May 11, 2021 1:08 pm Can someone please post a PDF that can be printed. Thank you!

EDIT: Never mind. Joe posted a PDF.

I was able to create a PDF from the .puz file, but this site disallows me to post it. I can email it to you if you like -- PM me.

Also if you can get the .puz file you should be able to make a PDF.

The solution to this puzzle is THE ODD COUPLE.

There were five long across entries, each of them names - HALLE BERRY, JAYANTHI, BONNIE RAITT, EVE PLUMB, and ED SULLIVAN. The circled letters yielded HALL, JAY, BONNIE, EVE, and ED, who could be paired with OATES, SILENT BOB, CLYDE, ADAM, and RALPH (that last one being from The Honeymooners, the least obvious of the five). The initial letters of those five partners spell OSCAR, who, with his friend FELIX, make up The Odd Couple.

Thanks for playing along with us - hope you'll give the next one a try!

bcimmet wrote: ↑Tue May 11, 2021 2:11 pm The solution to this puzzle is THE ODD COUPLE.

There were five long across entries, each of them names - HALLE BERRY, JAYANTHI, BONNIE RAITT, EVE PLUMB, and ED SULLIVAN. The circled letters yielded HALL, JAY, BONNIE, EVE, and ED, who could be paired with OATES, SILENT BOB, CLYDE, ADAM, and RALPH (that last one being from The Honeymooners, the least obvious of the five). The initial letters of those five partners spell OSCAR, who, with his friend FELIX, make up The Odd Couple.

Thanks for playing along with us - hope you'll give the next one a try!

So I'm still curious - what did you do to make the puzzle easier between recording the podcast and publishing the puzzle?

BarbaraK wrote: ↑Thu May 13, 2021 6:30 pm So I'm still curious - what did you do to make the puzzle easier between recording the podcast and publishing the puzzle?

Circled letters. That was the big shift. Some of the feedback we got suggested that because the five entries were inconsistent (in the way they housed the half-a-pair names) that it was an inelegant discovery. By circling the letters, we removed the solver's need to discover those, and thus removed what would have been a somewhat clumsy hunt for a not-necessarily-satisfying step.