XWord Muggles Forum

Amazingly, I think I may have it too!

Solved. Very nice!

I found it interesting how different the cluing style was.
Not just the topical references from when the puzzle was published - but more the phrasing used and the grid entries.
Almost didn't feel like a Gaffney puzzle; certainly not one of 2021.

Haha! I can see why Matt chose this one for his meta master class.

Ha ha, that is hilarious.

Agree with RPardoe that the cluing was sloggy. Looks like he ventured towards emphasizing the meta.

A thing of beauty. Simple and complex (from a constructor’s viewpoint) at the same time.

Enjoyed it! Agree with the comments about clue style, although I kind of liked trying to figure them out.

Joon's writeup and comments for #94

• Complete, 100% https://crosswordfiend.com/2010/03/23/mgwcc-94/ Alert!

I found it pretty easy this time around, but I submitted the wrong answer 11 years ago.

Solved it, but totally missed the incredible elegance.

If Matt hadn't specified that the answer was 4 letters, I would've guessed TOPAZ: PUTS MORE ON TOP (PUTZ + MORON + TOP).

The Crossword Fiend write-up is worth a read when you're done (thanks Peter!). The comments included pre-week 4 dread even then. And is that "the/our" Meg?

LesY wrote: ↑Wed Jun 23, 2021 6:45 am The Crossword Fiend write-up is worth a read when you're done (thanks Peter!). The comments included pre-week 4 dread even then. And is that "the/our" Meg?

It is! I recognize her old manatee avatar!

Although this is not a MGWCC or WSJ per se, part of the enjoyment is coming up with the meta yourself. Please be sensitive to this and not post any spoilers.

The posting of the meta is intended for both enjoyment and learning. So let's do this. Between now and the end of Friday treat it as a regular meta with no spoilers. After Saturday, we will treat it as a learning experience. That gives everyone who wants to solve it three days and then gives us four days for discussion.

Bob cruise director wrote: ↑Wed Jun 23, 2021 8:48 am Although this is not a MGWCC or WSJ per se, part of the enjoyment is coming up with the meta yourself. Please be sensitive to this and not post any spoilers.

The posting of the meta is intended for both enjoyment and learning. So let's do this. Between now and the end of Friday treat it as a regular meta with no spoilers. After Saturday, we will treat it as a learning experience. That gives everyone who wants to solve it three days and then gives us four days for discussion.

My apologies!

A few clarifications and some guidance for the Q&A with Matt Gaffney on June 29

1) I do not know how many people will be attending. The Zoom system can handle 300 users. However I want to make sure that Matt Gaffney, Mike Shenk and Mike Miller are among the 300.
2) You do not have to download anything from Zoom to participate however if you download the free Zoom app it seems to work better. Zoom works on all platforms.
3) I will be opening the Zoom site at 7:20 pm EDT.
4) My preference is to have everyone enable your video so we can see you but this is not mandatory
5) My preference is to have everyone give their real name and their blog name on the screen. To change your name in the upper right hand corner of your picture when you are on line, there is a little blue box with three dots. In that box you can change your name.
6) When you come in, I will have you muted. If you are not muted, please mute yourself.
7) I will be recording our session when we start so you will get a box that pops up to tell you that it is being recorded and you have to confirm that.
8) The day after the Q&A, I will be posting a link to the recording on my Dropbox account. You may have to download the recording to play it. I don’t know. The recording will typically use up about 600 Mbytes of memory if you download.
9) At the beginning I will introduce Matt and he may make some comments and then we will start the Q&A
10) To ask a question, we will do it three ways. Zoom has a feature where you can electronically raise your hand or you can ask a question in the chat or you can send me a question via a PM beforehand. I will explain electronically raising your hand and the chat below. I will be alternating between the three question methods.
11) A typical Zoom computer screen shows 25 participants. Other platforms show either smaller pictures or fewer pictures. The rest are not shown but you can scroll to them.
12) The “Raise your hand” feature (on a PC, I am not sure about phones or tablets), is under “Reactions” which is at the bottom of the screen WHEN YOU MOVE YOUR CURSOR TO THE BOTTOM OF YOUR SCREEN. When you electronically raise your hand, you go to the first screen at the upper right on my host screen. That way, I know who has raised your hand. Waving your hand on your camera will not work as unless you are among the 25 on my screen, I won’t be able to see you.
13) When I call on you to ask your question, YOU WILL HAVE TO UNMUTE YOURSELF.
14) The Chat box is also at the bottom of the screen. When you click on it a window will open and you can type your question. You can either send your question to “everyone” or only to me.
15) Matt has sent a meta from 2010 for us to solve and we can use to talk about. To get to the meta, start at the Board Index, go to Come Aboard, then to FAQs-Community/Solving Resources and go to posting #19. The meta is downloadable in either pdf or puz formats. This meta is both for our enjoyment and a learning experience. So we won’t post any spoilers until after Friday (Saturday 12 am) and then we will open it up to comments.
16) We have two hours for the Q&A. If we don’t get to your question, put it in a PM to me and I will consolidate them and forward them to Matt.
17) If you are uncertain about Zoom and want a test run, please, please, contact me and we can set up a one on one training session.

Abide wrote: ↑Tue Jun 22, 2021 11:40 pm Joon's writeup and comments for #94

• Complete, 100% https://crosswordfiend.com/2010/03/23/mgwcc-94/ Alert!

I found it pretty easy this time around, but I submitted the wrong answer 11 years ago.

Thank you I was going nuts trying to find it on Matt's site.

Also I am trying to get a handle of how many people plan on going to the zoom Q&A. Could you send me a PM to indicate yes or no so we can take a guess.

I wasn't around in 2010 (I mean, I was around, just not here), so this was the first time I'd seen this puzzle. I found the grid itself quite a slog / Google-fest, so much so that I never caught on to the elegance, and I fell right into Matt's trap.

hoover wrote: ↑Wed Jun 23, 2021 1:30 pm I wasn't around in 2010 (I mean, I was around, just not here), so this was the first time I'd seen this puzzle. I found the grid itself quite a slog / Google-fest, so much so that I never caught on to the elegance, and I fell right into Matt's trap.

The grid is murdering me.

hoover wrote: ↑Wed Jun 23, 2021 1:30 pm I wasn't around in 2010 (I mean, I was around, just not here), so this was the first time I'd seen this puzzle. I found the grid itself quite a slog / Google-fest, so much so that I never caught on to the elegance, and I fell right into Matt's trap.

Funny how these work. It was because the grid was such a slog/Google-fest that led me to the solution,