#630 - "A Number of Creatures"

[Jeremy Smith]

Okay. Maybe this one is just not in my wheelhouse. I’m not doing very well on finding the creatures—not even 25%. If someone would send me a gentle nudge, I would appreciate it.

Edit—Thanks to helpful nudges, I should be on the board with the next update.

[KayW]

FYI it looks like Matt opened up submissions again and some solvers have posted post-original-deadline. I imagine Matt will reply to or update anyone who emailed answers - but I hope any who emailed will check the leaderboard to make sure they get posted.

[Thurman8er]

Standing on the transporter coordinates...communicator out...staring at the puzzle as the Gorn approaches...

[Meg]

Standing on the transporter coordinates...communicator out...staring at the puzzle as the Gorn approaches...

Well c'mon!! Make some gunpowder! Then the meta will flow down upon you like the voice of Uhura singing.

[norrin2]

Even after a couple of generous nudges I am not going to be able to pull this out. As far as failures go, I'd rather fail at a WSJ meta. At least that way I can drown my sorrows on a nice boat with Isaac. But with MGWCC I can't beam up, so that means I'm stuck on some desolate planet with potentially hostile aliens and -- even worse -- no beer.

[Thurman8er]

Beam. Me. Up!

[Laura M]

Even after a couple of generous nudges I am not going to be able to pull this out. As far as failures go, I'd rather fail at a WSJ meta. At least that way I can drown my sorrows on a nice boat with Isaac. But with MGWCC I can't beam up, so that means I'm stuck on some desolate planet with potentially hostile aliens and -- even worse -- no beer.

I realize that it's mixing universes, but maybe we could be stuck in the Mos Eisley Cantina from Star Wars? That would be exciting (though potentially dangerous)!

[Dplass]

OK, this is either a Week 2 disguised as a Week 4, or there's a very elaborate mechanism that I'm missing out on. But the answer came to me like within 3 minutes of finishing the grid and that can't be right.

Otoh, I missed the Week 2 puzzle this month so what do I know?

I got nothing, and the deadline is.... NOW.

[Joe Ross]

In 75A, Matt defines that there are 80 creatures, :. the creatures must be every grid answer. Every creature has one "i" (eye) in it, :. every creature is CYCLOPS, which we've never seen, as its fictional.

[ky-mike]

My only issue with the meta was that I didn't feel that anything pointed specifically to cyclops as the correct answer. I asked Matt whether or not anything specifically pointed to CYCLOPS as there are other fictional creatures with just one eye (cyclops is the most well-known). His response was that stating that the creature name started with a "c" would have been clunky, but he would have accepted any one-eyed creature as a correct answer.

[Meg]

My only issue with the meta was that I didn't feel that anything pointed specifically to cyclops as the correct answer. I asked Matt whether or not anything specifically pointed to CYCLOPS as there are other fictional creatures with just one eye (cyclops is the most well-known). His response was that stating that the creature name started with a "c" would have been clunky, but he would have accepted any one-eyed creature as a correct answer.

I’m glad you asked and I’m glad he answered that way. Not that I submitted something else. I just think one should ask.

[BarbaraK]

I included a comment with my submission that I was very tempted to submit "One eyed one horned flying purple people eater". If I had noticed then that that also has exactly one I, I might not have been able to resist.

[Richard B.]

Matt also said that he’ll tell us on Friday the “story” as to why he delayed the puzzle.

[Dplass]

My only issue with the meta was that I didn't feel that anything pointed specifically to cyclops as the correct answer. I asked Matt whether or not anything specifically pointed to CYCLOPS as there are other fictional creatures with just one eye (cyclops is the most well-known). His response was that stating that the creature name started with a "c" would have been clunky, but he would have accepted any one-eyed creature as a correct answer.

I much prefer metas which literally spell out their answer in the grid (or clues+grid) rather than having to rely on outside knowledge.

[anjhinz]

I sat on this answer for two or three days, and haven't been so unsure of an answer in a long time... He probably thought I was a DDOS attack while I waited for the board to refresh. It was probably because I noticed the one I per answer thing pretty quickly, but I couldn't help but think the word "creature" was more significant than it seemed on the surface. I definitely felt reassured after seeing a lot of uncertainty on here, though.

[Geoduck]

In my answer, I pointed out that I have, in fact, seen numerous Cyclops.

Many, many Polyphemus, too.

[Al Sisti]

I included a comment with my submission that I was very tempted to submit "One eyed one horned flying purple people eater". If I had noticed then that that also has exactly one I, I might not have been able to resist.

Not two days ago, my granddaughter was in my pool and hinted that she had to go to the bathroom, then said that she didn't. I told her if she peed in the pool, everyone would know it because I put in dye that would turn purple (her favorite color) if pee was present... I said "You don't want that, right? You don't want to be known as a 'purple pee polluter,' do you?" I thought it was brilliant -- I mean, seriously; I only realized what I said after it came out -- but she (and her mother) looked at me like I had 80 eyes.

[Streroto]

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

[BarbaraK]

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.

[Streroto]

Thx so much