A weekly meta crossword on the forum started by member Josh (aka madhatter5). These puzzles are often very creative with solving mechanisms out of the norm and skewing towards the more challenging. Puzzles are posted every Wednesday, and the solution appears the following Tuesday.
There's a light switch in my house that I need to get checked. It worked fine once, but now the light flickers erratically. Probably just a loose screw. But when a colleague at work recently told me I had a "screw loose," my mind immediately went to that bothersome light switch. However, she quickly added that I was "eccentric in the best possible way" and then praised my independent thinking and innovation. Okay, then I guess it can have a positive meaning.
Of course, none of my rambling here applies to this puzzle -- except that the puzzle is called "Loose Connections" -- but I am thankful for the creative outlet of crossword construction and for our "connection" on this Muggles Forum. I hope you'll enjoy solving this meta as much as I've enjoyed designing it. The answer is a two-word phrase that you'll find "appropriate" to the theme.
Special thanks go out to @DrTom for his advice and affirmation and to @Joe Ross for his technical help.
Edit: And neither does my meta-solving brain after downloading the PUZ from Crosshare and completing the grid. The wait for nudges might be difficult!
Last edited by benchen71 on Wed Apr 24, 2024 1:33 am, edited 1 time in total.
Check out "The MOAT MEOW Mashup Pack" here. US$10 for 14 metas that don't always abide by the "rules" of the game: asymmetry, 2-letter words, uncrossed letters, who knows. And this time there's a mega-meta!
Contest Crosswords Combating Cancer (CCCC) is a bundle of 16 contest-style (meta) crosswords that we've created to help raise money for cancer-related organizations - get the bundle at http://crosswordsforcancer.com
A great start for the Day 1 Leader Board:32 solvers so far.
Hector
markhr
rfj
LarsCaine
JM
hoover
rjy
FrankieHeck
KayW
Chris Kochmanski
MatthewL
boharr
LindaPRMaven
dannyvee
Cindy Weatherman
Meg
Bird Lives
Mwoychick
whimsy
HeadinHome
andeux
Gutman
dudeski
Ergcat
Laura M
Samwise
Archie
Tim
lbray53
heidi
DrTom
Berto
Last edited by Darth on Thu Apr 25, 2024 7:33 am, edited 1 time in total.
Well, this is the exact opposite of Ben's MOAT yesterday.
Funny story. I was all set to enter Par for the course for the CrossHare midi contest for April but I mistakenly thought midi meant 7x 7 and not 11 x 11. Oops. Well.... Here's a complex but **small** meta on the subject of golf.
Time for a few nudges... to take one at a time and ruminate. ;)
Nudge 1: Avoid overthinking. (I know, I know, overthinking is what we meta solvers do best!) Stick to basic solving strategy.
Nudge 2: Have you played that NYT's "Connections" puzzle where you group words by topic? I wonder if there is any "loose" connection to that type of game play?
Nudge 3: When there are no obvious themers, the center of the grid often plays a role. 37A hints that something might be "lost".
Nudge 4: 26D mentions "cut loose" but if seen as a directive, that might be misleading (sorry). It simply tells you what has been "cut" from a set of answers placed symmetrically in the grid.
Nudge 5: First letters of that group of words spell CECTLLT, which has no meaning, not even in Japanese! The "alternate answers" metanism doesn't seem to be at play... Where else can we look if not in the grid?
Nudge 6 is to return to Nudge 1! (I expect there will be plenty more solvers before the "reveal" next Tuesday.)
Cat got loose - Nice one, thanks!
