#638 - "Treasure Hunt"

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
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#41

Post by Streroto »

tonyrobots wrote: โ†‘Mon Aug 24, 2020 11:58 am Stuck on the planet and - just my luck - I'm wearing a red shirt today. After having whiffed on the WSJ this week, would really like to find this treasure. Have a slight clue, but nothing terribly meaty. Will continue staring for a bit.
OK I LOLed at this one. Tried to explain red shirt to wife...no dice.

I am going to take the L on this one. Week 4 for sure. Maybe Matt will go easy on us this week.

Stay well all
streakchaser
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#42

Post by streakchaser »

Got it and, in hindsight, it does play more like a Week 3 to me. Getting that first step took forever, though!
damefox
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#43

Post by damefox »

I was out of town and didn't have any time to look at this over the weekend. Seems like maybe that's for the best, since I probably wouldn't be getting anywhere with it anyway.
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Hector
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#44

Post by Hector »

Will no doubt DNF, as I'm in the ER with my first nasty reaction to some kind of bug sting. (Doing fine now.)
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MajordomoTom
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#45

Post by MajordomoTom »

good luck with that ... allergic reactions are not to be messed around with.

google "idiopathic anaphylaxis" - that was my diagnosis several years ago. Not a fun one to live with. Have had 3 episodes.

Benadryl (large doses) is my BFF

and ... back to the meta - have a soft nudge and still not getting anywhere.
"Lots of planets have a North", the Ninth Doctor.
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JordanianTomlinson
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#46

Post by JordanianTomlinson »

Totally lost this week but love the Royals shout-out. Let's go Royals *clap* *clap* *clap clap clap*!
lfsc
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#47

Post by lfsc »

I've been staring at it since Friday and can't figure out where to start. Would love a last-minute nudge!
burak
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#48

Post by burak »

I have so many vague/half-baked ideas that I'm sure one of them will be on the right path, but I don't know which one to follow so this will probably be a KAS 4.
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Joe Ross
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#49

Post by Joe Ross »

Oof!

Terrific puzzle, stupid solver! Beam me up, if there's any room, SVP.
Whole blood, platelets, or plasma: Donate 4 in 2024

PLATELET ๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ.
๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ถ๐˜€ ENORMOUS ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ:
๐Ÿฐ๐Ÿฌ% ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฐ,
๐Ÿฏ๐Ÿฌ% ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ต, ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฐ,
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ky-mike
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#50

Post by ky-mike »

Lots of room this week.
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spotter
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#51

Post by spotter »

I've come up with a few ideas to try, but all dead ends. If anyone wants to share a gentle nudge here, I'd sure appreciate it!

edit: Nudged and have some direction now!
Last edited by spotter on Tue Aug 25, 2020 11:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
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SusieG
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#52

Post by SusieG »

Im walking the plank on this one. See a few maybes, but canโ€™t make any sense of them.
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Bird Lives
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#53

Post by Bird Lives »

Beam me up. Got a wee bit of a nudge and finally figured it out with 40 minutes to spare. (Still waiting for confirmation.)
Jay
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spotter
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#54

Post by spotter »

Confirmed on the board. Thanks to the muggle who gave me the initial push. My first instinct that X marks the spot was correct, but I didn't use it the right way!
Dplass
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#55

Post by Dplass »

AGH! I just figured it out... Too late.
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Hector
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#56

Post by Hector »

So, what was the answer?
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bhamren
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#57

Post by bhamren »

Looks like a few of us hanging around for the answer since the Fiend is late posting
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Cindy
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#58

Post by Cindy »

Ruby
streakchaser
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#59

Post by streakchaser »

Take the three Xs in the center of the grid as your blueprint for where to "dig" for treasure. Dig in those locations in the NW, NE, SW, and SE corners and you get the message "UNDER THE SEAS." The letters under the Cs spell RUBY.
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Cindy
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#60

Post by Cindy »

Replicate the x pattern In the corners. It spells โ€œunder the seasโ€. Look under the cโ€™s. Ruby.
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