MGWCC #734 - “Three-on-Three Matchup"
- MikeyG
- Posts: 1442
- Joined: Wed Dec 30, 2020 2:52 pm
- Location: Chicago
- Contact:
It's the truth, the HOLE truth, and nothing but the truth: This puzzle was a brilliant construction.
- benchen71
- Posts: 2534
- Joined: Thu Jul 22, 2021 8:50 pm
- Location: Melbourne, Australia
- Contact:
I'm going to be the one to complain about sour grapes, but as someone who didn't solve this puzzle I remain unconvinced of its brilliance. Sure, it was a week 4. But I prefer metas that have more signposts, or at the very least more feedback that you are on the right track.
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!
- Joe Ross
- Moderator
- Posts: 5171
- Joined: Fri Apr 12, 2019 4:46 am
- Location: Cincinnati
@benchen71, you know I love you & your brilliant puzzles, but for a Week 4 difficulty, where signposts are few, this will be one of a very few puzzles I consider true masterpieces.
If a had to complain, which I won't, Matt could have saved this for a rarer Week 5.
If a had to complain, which I won't, Matt could have saved this for a rarer Week 5.
-
- Posts: 673
- Joined: Sun Sep 27, 2020 1:48 pm
I agree, while there were not many signposts it's hard to complain about a puzzle when the metanism (and construction) is just so amazingJoe Ross wrote: ↑Wed Jun 29, 2022 8:21 am @benchen71, you know I love you & your brilliant puzzles, but for a Week 4 difficulty, where signposts are few, this will be one of a very few puzzles I consider true masterpieces.
If a had to complain, which I won't, Matt could have saved this for a rarer Week 5.
https://pandorasblocks.org/crosswords-for-cancer
- Al Sisti
- Posts: 2079
- Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 1:28 pm
- Location: Whitesboro NY
I was wondering if you were going to let it beat you. It sure beat me...MattGaffney wrote: ↑Tue Jun 28, 2022 12:16 pm @Al Sisti
This was the "White Whale" meta that I couldn't get to work for last year's Zoom talk. Note AHAB and THAR in the grid...
-
- Posts: 21
- Joined: Thu Apr 18, 2019 5:07 pm
Intended insight was title + 12 3x1 bars + 12 3-letter entries = can't be a coincidencebenchen71 wrote: ↑Wed Jun 29, 2022 2:47 am I'm going to be the one to complain about sour grapes, but as someone who didn't solve this puzzle I remain unconvinced of its brilliance. Sure, it was a week 4. But I prefer metas that have more signposts, or at the very least more feedback that you are on the right track.
- Abide
- Moderator
- Posts: 1330
- Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 11:16 pm
- Location: Biloxi
- Contact:
I only gave it five stars because of the made-up phrase.
Had that been an in-the-language entry we would have had to create a new scoring system.
Had that been an in-the-language entry we would have had to create a new scoring system.
The site is just a web page, a meeting place, a clubhouse - it's the group that's special.
—Brian MacDonald
—Brian MacDonald
- benchen71
- Posts: 2534
- Joined: Thu Jul 22, 2021 8:50 pm
- Location: Melbourne, Australia
- Contact:
I hear you. But even when someone told me what to do (put the 3 letter entries into the black areas) I couldn't work out how. I was caught up with matching the 3 letter words to 3 adjacent letters in the grid. I found SERMON and SENTRY and BERTHA and ISHTAR (using various directions, admittedly), but I knew it was a dead end. I never thought to ignore the rest of the grid completely.MattGaffney wrote: ↑Thu Jun 30, 2022 1:39 amIntended insight was title + 12 3x1 bars + 12 3-letter entries = can't be a coincidencebenchen71 wrote: ↑Wed Jun 29, 2022 2:47 am I'm going to be the one to complain about sour grapes, but as someone who didn't solve this puzzle I remain unconvinced of its brilliance. Sure, it was a week 4. But I prefer metas that have more signposts, or at the very least more feedback that you are on the right track.
Please don't take my sour grapes the wrong way. If I had solved it, I'm sure I would have been singing the puzzle's praises!
(I might also have been feeling sad, since my weekly MOAT numbers are down, and my most recent puzzle was not picked to be featured on Crosshare when pretty much all of the previous ones have been, which then helps with the numbers!)
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!
- Joe Ross
- Moderator
- Posts: 5171
- Joined: Fri Apr 12, 2019 4:46 am
- Location: Cincinnati
'Cuz you're one of the nicest people around:benchen71 wrote: ↑Thu Jun 30, 2022 1:52 amI hear you. But even when someone told me what to do (put the 3 letter entries into the black areas) I couldn't work out how. I was caught up with matching the 3 letter words to 3 adjacent letters in the grid. I found SERMON and SENTRY and BERTHA and ISHTAR (using various directions, admittedly), but I knew it was a dead end. I never thought to ignore the rest of the grid completely.MattGaffney wrote: ↑Thu Jun 30, 2022 1:39 amIntended insight was title + 12 3x1 bars + 12 3-letter entries = can't be a coincidencebenchen71 wrote: ↑Wed Jun 29, 2022 2:47 am I'm going to be the one to complain about sour grapes, but as someone who didn't solve this puzzle I remain unconvinced of its brilliance. Sure, it was a week 4. But I prefer metas that have more signposts, or at the very least more feedback that you are on the right track.
Please don't take my sour grapes the wrong way. If I had solved it, I'm sure I would have been singing the puzzle's praises!
(I might also have been feeling sad, since my weekly MOAT numbers are down, and my most recent puzzle was not picked to be featured on Crosshare when pretty much all of the previous ones have been, which then helps with the numbers!)
8, 2, 17, 9, 43, 6, 19, 7, 32, & 4.
C'mon, muggles. Get Ben's numbers up!
- woozy
- Posts: 2280
- Joined: Mon Aug 10, 2020 12:40 am
From the Explanation:
Sheesh..... not my month. And by the looks of things July won't be either.
Even after being told the solution and having it explained and thinking about it for 5 days and feeling I understood the puzzle I never noticed that. Sure I noticed that there were 12 three letter blank spaces but I never noticed there weren't any others or they were isolated from each other or that that was note-worthy.and the black squares in the grid exhibit an unusual property: they appear only in 3×1 rectangles, of which there are a dozen.
Sheesh..... not my month. And by the looks of things July won't be either.
Stinky Pinkies!
My Entry to the May 2024 CrossHare Midi Contest
Not a meta, but, yeesh!, that was tough to create.
My Entry to the May 2024 CrossHare Midi Contest
Not a meta, but, yeesh!, that was tough to create.