XWord Muggles Forum

BethA wrote: ↑Wed Apr 03, 2024 7:47 am Kas 5 for me.

I tried many things looking at it off and on over the weekend, but I had problems understanding the instruction in 34A. I was unable to grasp how eliminating everything else that was not prime, could somehow not be equivalent to keeping everything that was prime. So even when the solution was published, eliminating all the letters in 1A, wiping out the first letters of 2D and 3D, just felt wrong.

I was also disturbed by the hint wording “is certain property”. It sounds a little like Tarzan-speak to me, as opposed to “a certain property”. But then, when the answer turns out to be plural, “a” would make it mismatch.

This was one of only a few rare occasions since 2015 when I could not even muster up a suitable wild guess, so did not submit any answer this week.

I am impressed with the final solution, I’m sorry I couldn’t see it. Getting the MMMM fairly quickly yesterday made me feel better, and I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s WSJ contest puzzle!

Just one of those weeks where I keep re-reading the hints brings to mind the following quote.

———————-

 “When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.”
 “The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”
 “The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master—that's all.”

Lewis Carroll: Through the Looking-Glass

mconte.wsj wrote: ↑Wed Apr 03, 2024 1:53 pm Hi all, Mike Miller is out on vacation this week, so I'm here to share the good news. Congrats to this week's winner, Joe Maher from Grand Rapids, MN!

Joe Ross wrote: ↑Wed Apr 03, 2024 3:55 pm I didn't notice anyone with a lack of sympathy for non-solvers.

If it has ever happened, it's very rare.

Bob cruise director wrote: ↑Wed Apr 03, 2024 7:26 pm

mconte.wsj wrote: ↑Wed Apr 03, 2024 1:53 pm Hi all, Mike Miller is out on vacation this week, so I'm here to share the good news. Congrats to this week's winner, Joe Maher from Grand Rapids, MN!

Number of submissions and percentage correct.

mconte.wsj wrote: ↑Wed Apr 03, 2024 1:53 pm Hi all, Mike Miller is out on vacation this week, so I'm here to share the good news. Congrats to this week's winner, Joe Maher from Grand Rapids, MN!

Joe Ross wrote: ↑Wed Apr 03, 2024 3:55 pm I didn't notice anyone with a lack of sympathy for non-solvers.

If it has ever happened, it's very rare.

MikeyG wrote: ↑Sun Mar 31, 2024 8:13 pm

Susan Goldberg wrote: ↑Sun Mar 31, 2024 6:28 pm So, is it just me or does it seem that 2024 seems to have ushered in a raft of more challenging puzzles. Did these guys get together and decide they had made things too easy for us? Anyway, I’m still at the bar…

I rate each on a difficulty from 1 to 4, just because I really love data, haha. Average rating for 2023 is 2.3 (roughly 2.2 for Gaffney, 2.4 for Shenk). I have an average of 2.7 for Q1 in 2024. I make these ratings somewhat arbitrarily, so nothing is official, but what you said seems that way a bit thus far!

Bob cruise director wrote: ↑Wed Apr 03, 2024 7:26 pm

mconte.wsj wrote: ↑Wed Apr 03, 2024 1:53 pm Hi all, Mike Miller is out on vacation this week, so I'm here to share the good news. Congrats to this week's winner, Joe Maher from Grand Rapids, MN!

Could you get us the statistics? Last time Mike went on vacation, the statistics were lost. Number of submissions and percentage correct.

Some of us are nerds keeping track of such things