#630 - "A Number of Creatures"
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- tonyrobots
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Come to think of it, that’s a creature I’ve never actually seen, either.
- DrTom
- Posts: 3810
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OMG! Someone just pulled back the curtain - What a stroke of genius Matt (and also anyone who solved it). I am indeed shocked and amazed that anybody can even come up with these ideas, but to then put them into a workable crossword grid. I just know Matt laughs like "MWAH HA HA", he is the all powerful MENTO!
I would have worked on this for the rest of my days and perhaps, just perhaps, would have seen what the solvers saw after I exhausted everything else. Still even that is a long-shot. However, this is just one more thing I will remember to try.
I would have worked on this for the rest of my days and perhaps, just perhaps, would have seen what the solvers saw after I exhausted everything else. Still even that is a long-shot. However, this is just one more thing I will remember to try.
NUDGES!I am always willing to give nudges where needed; metas should be about fun, not frustration. Send me what you have done so far because often you are closer than you think!
- spotter
- Posts: 311
- Joined: Thu Sep 12, 2019 5:48 pm
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Beam me up! I fat fingered my submission with a partially typed answer and had to email Matt. Hope it won't take too long to see if I made it on the board!
- Hector
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Right there with you spotter, having no more time to devote to this, but in all honesty I might well be added to the several wrong answers this week.
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I have two answers I’m mulling. Each works (to me) in a different way depending on how I interpret the mechanism. Guh. Someone call it in the air for me...
- Davesteve
- Posts: 3
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- Location: Canton
Yeesh, been staring at this one for 6 hours and nothing. Just can’t see the mechanism here.
Brutus!
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Pretty sure I finally got it after a third (or fourth or maybe seventh) look! If so, I agree that it's amazingly sneaky but not as complicated as one might expect from a week 4. (Of course, all of the complexity in my own head more than made up for that!)
Edit: Beam me up! I wasn't expecting an update at almost 1:00 AM EDT but here we are. I saw several familiar names in the same transport group :-)
Edit: Beam me up! I wasn't expecting an update at almost 1:00 AM EDT but here we are. I saw several familiar names in the same transport group :-)
Last edited by Laura M on Mon Jun 29, 2020 12:56 am, edited 1 time in total.
- Bird Lives
- Posts: 2716
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I have an answer that I'm reluctant to submit. Matt himself allowed that last week's vitamin meta was a "clunker," so I expected that this week's would be elegant. But the answer I have so far seems to have a bit of clunk as well.
I also had assumed that Matt and the WSJ crew composed puzzles weeks ahead of the publicaiotn date. But with the delay in this one, I feel like a middle school kid finding out the teacher too can be late with his homework and has to ask for an extension.
I also had assumed that Matt and the WSJ crew composed puzzles weeks ahead of the publicaiotn date. But with the delay in this one, I feel like a middle school kid finding out the teacher too can be late with his homework and has to ask for an extension.
Jay
- KayW
- Moderator
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Beam me up.
I was beginning to think this would be the meta answer I'd never see. I saw all sorts of creatures as I tried to make this way more complicated than it turned out to be. I'm also missing that final definitive "click" a few other posters referred to, but got my name onto leaderboard without it.
Another remarkable puzzle! Matt said this week’s delay was due to a problem he discovered last-minute with the puzzle he planned to release. I would love to hear the details about that and hope he can share it at some point.
I was beginning to think this would be the meta answer I'd never see. I saw all sorts of creatures as I tried to make this way more complicated than it turned out to be. I'm also missing that final definitive "click" a few other posters referred to, but got my name onto leaderboard without it.
Another remarkable puzzle! Matt said this week’s delay was due to a problem he discovered last-minute with the puzzle he planned to release. I would love to hear the details about that and hope he can share it at some point.
Contest Crosswords Combating Cancer (CCCC) is a bundle of 16 metapuzzles created to help raise money for cancer-related charities. It is available at CrosswordsForCancer.com.
- Bird Lives
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I had thought there might be some secondary confirmation -- in the title or somewhere in the grid -- but finding none, I still went with my first hunch. I wasn't wild about it, but apparently it was correct.
Jay
- Joe Ross
- Moderator
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Very nice meta! It kept me smiling for an hour.
I had the same apprehension as many, initially, which allowed me to accept the answer, but a key clue/answer confirmed it in my mind. Feel free to PM, if you've solved, or wait for noon, Wednesday.
I had the same apprehension as many, initially, which allowed me to accept the answer, but a key clue/answer confirmed it in my mind. Feel free to PM, if you've solved, or wait for noon, Wednesday.
Whole blood, platelets, or plasma: Donate 4 in 2024
PLATELET 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝗿𝗲.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘀 ENORMOUS 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲:
𝟰𝟬% 𝗽𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰,
𝟯𝟬% 𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰,
𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿 & 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘂𝗺𝗮. 𝗣𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗘 𝗦𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗘!
PLATELET 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝗿𝗲.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘀 ENORMOUS 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲:
𝟰𝟬% 𝗽𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰,
𝟯𝟬% 𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰,
𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿 & 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘂𝗺𝗮. 𝗣𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗘 𝗦𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗘!
- JordanianTomlinson
- Posts: 133
- Joined: Fri Jun 05, 2020 8:54 pm
- Location: Durham, NC
My first week 4! I thought this was especially hard - odd how I sailed through the vitamins last week no prob and stared at this one for days until it finally hit me.
- Jacksull
- Posts: 284
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Nice to get a week 4 for a change. But was it a real week 4? I don’t care, I’m counting it as a win.
Jack Sullivan
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Would greatly appreciate any 11th hour nudge on this one. I think I’m going through a meta crisis, I’ve been struggling to pick up on some of these mechanisms lately. Must be losing it! TIA!
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On the board. This was... really quick? For some reason it came to me right away this week. I'll take it.
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- Joined: Tue Nov 26, 2019 10:12 am
I'd appreciate a nudge for this one. Not having much in the way of luck getting anywhere.
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- Joined: Mon Apr 27, 2020 10:39 am
In the same boat. Spinning wheels trying to get to the right number of creatures
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Well, I can see all the creatures in the puzzle, but I'm drawing a blank on the one I've never seem .