#630 - "A Number of Creatures"

An excellent puzzle written by one of the innovators of the meta crossword format. It comes out every Friday at noon and increases in difficulty throughout the month. Available for modest subscription (worth every cent) here: www.xwordcontest.com
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Streroto
Posts: 772
Joined: Thu Jul 04, 2019 4:24 pm
Location: Newtown Square, PA

#101

Post by Streroto »

Richard B. wrote: Wed Jul 01, 2020 2:04 pm Matt also said that he’ll tell us on Friday the “story” as to why he delayed the puzzle.
But he didn’t
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Streroto
Posts: 772
Joined: Thu Jul 04, 2019 4:24 pm
Location: Newtown Square, PA

#102

Post by Streroto »

BarbaraK wrote: Thu Jul 02, 2020 6:54 pm
Streroto wrote: Thu Jul 02, 2020 6:35 pm Hi all, I will need to do the week 1 on my phone tomorrow. I always use pencil and paper. Can anyone tell me best app to use for this? Thanks so much!

Stay well
I use Puzzazz. Don't know that it's the best; I didn't do much research, just picked one. But it's free and it works fine - especially for a week 1.
Worked great thanks so much
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bhamren
Posts: 243
Joined: Fri Apr 12, 2019 12:15 pm
Location: Urbana, Ohio

#103

Post by bhamren »

BarbaraK wrote: Thu Jul 02, 2020 6:54 pm
Streroto wrote: Thu Jul 02, 2020 6:35 pm Hi all, I will need to do the week 1 on my phone tomorrow. I always use pencil and paper. Can anyone tell me best app to use for this? Thanks so much!

Stay well
I use Puzzazz. Don't know that it's the best; I didn't do much research, just picked one. But it's free and it works fine - especially for a week 1.
I agree with Puzzazz since it is free. I also agree with the week 1 quote. But I WAY prefer pen and ink. I fold it in my front pocket to work on when I have time and to look at later if it takes more than a little time. You can see all the clues and maybe some patterns. I am the same way with other puzzles I do like Kakuro and KenKen and Killer Sudoku - the digital versions of these just leave something to be desired. 2 weeks ago I was away for a long weekend and did not have a chance to print out the pdf. I resorted to Puzzazz for MGWCC and my laptop for the WSJ puzzle. I was able to get them both, but I have to say that paper is my preferred method. But then I also prefer paper notes for shopping lists, paper notes for programming, etc.
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OGuyDave
Posts: 169
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 9:03 am
Location: Naples

#104

Post by OGuyDave »

OK, late post for this puzzle, but thought you might be interested.

I was looking for Boggle-type animals in the grid -- "tick" was easy, so was "asp." So I decided to whip up a perl program to find all the hidden creatures. Using a list of animals I found on the net, and the grid, I came up with this:

Starting letter for ANT is at Row 1, Column 1
Starting letter for ANT is at Row 2, Column 2
Starting letter for ANT is at Row 11, Column 5
Starting letter for ANT is at Row 14, Column 11
Starting letter for BRANT is at Row 3, Column 4
Starting letter for COBIA is at Row 5, Column 3
Starting letter for COBRA is at Row 5, Column 3
Starting letter for COD is at Row 14, Column 13
Starting letter for ELK is at Row 5, Column 9
Starting letter for GAR is at Row 15, Column 12
Starting letter for KEA is at Row 9, Column 4
Starting letter for KEA is at Row 11, Column 6
Starting letter for KITE is at Row 9, Column 4
Starting letter for LLAMA is at Row 10, Column 14
Starting letter for LLAMA is at Row 10, Column 15
Starting letter for MITE is at Row 6, Column 1
Starting letter for NENE is at Row 6, Column 4
Starting letter for RAIL is at Row 4, Column 13
Starting letter for RAT is at Row 2, Column 3
Starting letter for RAT is at Row 12, Column 12
Starting letter for RAT is at Row 13, Column 11
Starting letter for RAT is at Row 14, Column 10
Starting letter for SALMON is at Row 3, Column 8
Starting letter for SALMON is at Row 4, Column 7
Starting letter for SEALION is at Row 6, Column 8
Starting letter for SIREN is at Row 4, Column 2
Starting letter for SIREN is at Row 4, Column 3
Starting letter for SKINK is at Row 8, Column 4
Starting letter for SPRAT is at Row 1, Column 2
Starting letter for TAKIN is at Row 11, Column 4
Starting letter for TAPIR is at Row 3, Column 1
Starting letter for TICK is at Row 9, Column 1
Starting letter for TICK is at Row 10, Column 2
Starting letter for TICK is at Row 11, Column 4
Starting letter for TUR is at Row 5, Column 12
Starting letter for TUR is at Row 11, Column 12
Starting letter for TUR is at Row 13, Column 13
Starting letter for VOLE is at Row 1, Column 15

Funny, I guess "asp" wasn't in the list, but, maybe, taking its place was "tur" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Caucasian_tur. Surprised I've never seen this one in a crossword. But if I see it in an upcoming one, I'll smile!

Longest creature was "sealion."

Wouldn't have helped me in this puzzle, but maybe it will in the future.

T again FTXWD
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