XWord Muggles Forum

I got the answer but dont understand the answer...same shape as the letter o?

This puzzle reminded me of Horseplay from October. It was also by Mike Shenk and had a similar solve method. Solving this one was far less tedious.

The answers to both puzzles contained Kings of England.

Jeanrosz wrote: ↑Mon May 04, 2020 12:06 am I got the answer but dont understand the answer...same shape as the letter o?

He was hinting for us to treat each letter O in the grid as a checker, and starting at START, start jumping the "O"s as in checkers.

Jeanrosz wrote: ↑Mon May 04, 2020 12:06 am I got the answer but dont understand the answer...same shape as the letter o?

Just think of all the letter O's in the grid are the checker game pieces of your opponent.

Did anyone else think the arrangement of the checkers looked like a hunched back?

I NEVER would have gotten this week’s for several reasons not the least of which was I was stuck on trying to move the “O’s” but it was infinity easier than that one from Oct. even as a frequent chess player it NEVER would occur to me make the move like a knight to solve a puzzle.

Start with the R that's SW of the bottom-most O in the grid, jump over the O to the I, then continue jumping O's and you'll get the answer.

I was trying, for far too long, to jump with the O's, not jump the O's.

Hence the old lady/young lady image I posted earlier in this thread.

I submitted SOLOMON, based on jumping O's over letters and landing on S, L, M and N (yes, that was a backwards jump) and filling in the missing O's. However, there was also a "D" based on that method that I conveniently didn't see.

My wife & I later saw the R3 answer and she submitted that to WSJ. So hopefully a lurking muggle (she's not registered here) is a winner?

EDIT: the Oct puzzle was right before I started doing these, so I hadn't seen this mechanism before.

had it from start to finish...in retrospect, I don't understand how I was making the checker jumps I was making.

still, we need to talk about 34a...usually spelled with a 'u'

right?

from above:
"Did anyone else think the arrangement of the checkers looked like a hunched back?"

I thought it was an "S" like Jor El's family crest...Kal El was a monarch? naaaa.

UTHfan wrote: ↑Mon May 04, 2020 12:21 am still, we need to talk about 34a...usually spelled with a 'u'

I think the Latin is with a “u” but the Greek was with an “o.”

Glad I spent a minimum of time this weekend.
I saw the Os, knew to jump, but thought too linearly.
As I’ve said before, every meta I miss educates me for future metas!

BarbaraK wrote: ↑Mon May 04, 2020 12:14 am Did anyone else think the arrangement of the checkers looked like a hunched back?

That's what I thought when a fellow Muggle asked me what people meant when they said there was a "special bow" on top of the answer; that the route taken was in the shape of his twisted spine. Coincidence? Let's see what Fiend says...

Jeanrosz wrote: ↑Mon May 04, 2020 12:06 am I got the answer but dont understand the answer...same shape as the letter o?

To be fair, the clue said "roughly the same shape..."

I need to get my eyes examined. If I had only seen the "start" and "finish" words. I knew the "o"s were involved, just didn't see any place to start. Doh!

Did anyone else notice LE ROI hidden in the 57A row? And then the letters ETRE stacked double like a King? And adjacent to Os, there was an X, I, and V. But alas the French king potential ended there. Tant pis.
I knew the Os were significant but it took a while to figure out jumping over them and only diagonally.
I never noticed the FINISH, but it was the START and ENDS that got me going the correct direction.

I never left the ship this week - I understood the concept of the mechanism, but had the details wrong. Oddly enough, I had looked at squares diagonally adjacent to "O"s, and had thought, "those seem like a lot of the letters that would spell Richard III". I almost submitted that as a wild stab in the dark, but I never really like to do that, so here I am with Isaac.

LaceyK wrote: ↑Mon May 04, 2020 1:38 am Did anyone else notice LE ROI hidden in the 57A row? And then the letters ETRE stacked double like a King?

I did notice the ETRE, but couldn't get it to go anywhere useful...

Jeff S wrote: ↑Mon May 04, 2020 1:45 am

LaceyK wrote: ↑Mon May 04, 2020 1:38 am Did anyone else notice LE ROI hidden in the 57A row? And then the letters ETRE stacked double like a King?

I did notice the ETRE, but couldn't get it to go anywhere useful...

Oh, I saw ROI all over the grid, but never in a pattern. I have the craziest "how I got there" story to tell but it's late and I had a rather wine infused dinner so I am barely keeping it together. I'll expound tomorrow. I almost submitted Richard II because of it though and only a kick in the pants set me straight.

Joe Ross wrote: ↑Mon May 04, 2020 12:02 am 20200501 King Me.gif

Ha, well I submitted the correct answer, but never noticed the bit about START and FINISH. Clever!
To me, RICHARD III seemed airtight simply because
1. These were the only letter O's anywhere in the puzzle
2. There was only one continuous path to jump all the O's diagonally ("You are one with the checker... Be the checker...")
3. That path only spelled something in one direction.

In other news, I went walking TWICE this weekend! Ah, the joys of fresh air. (Don't worry, I won't let a little thing like exercise cut into my crossword time.)

Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York;
And all the clouds that lour'd upon our house
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.

Nothing quite like the clouds lifting and the answer revealed to be correct. I also didn't notice the indications for the START and FINISH but still saw the correct path. What amazes me more than the path of o's to the answer is the ability to contruct the grid without any other o's in it. Great puzzle!