XWord Muggles Forum

Wednesday Nudge #1:

The last square is a rebus designed to show you how the asterisk clues work. Letters are optional.

Loved it, Peter...thanks from this Canadian.

Wednesday Nudge #2

By now you should have five things. If you’re stuck, think outside the box, particularly the big box.

Well, off the couch, finally. Made that harder than it had to be. Thanks, Peter!

It’s the holidays so it’s oKAY to be on the couch half the week… flubbed a key part of the grid so there was no hope for a solve. So glad to have the nudges for course correction. Thanks Peter!

Wednesday Nudge #3

Hopefully you found what you were looking for in the clues to lead you to a relevant 1976 movie. By the way, the puzzle title “12/26” is more than just a date placeholder.

Off the couch! Thanks Peter for the puzzle and the nudges .

WEDNESDAY NIGHT UPDATE

Several more solvers have gotten off the canvas... er...couch

49. SJMcK
50. ImOnToo
51. THC
52. QMark
53. CPJohnson
54. rjy
55. AaronT
56. jbird
57. minimuggle
58. Debbie C
59. LesY

Thanks for the email reminder—easy and fun (and one of my favorites). Happy New Year my friend!

Off the couch (* "Nailed it!" gesture).
Thanks Peter.
Happy New Year all!

When I stopped taking the lazy way out, and listened to the nudge....pushed me off the couch.

Good meta.

So overthought it! Great puzzle and finally finished it while visiting for the holidays.
Muggles like Peter certainly have better things to do other than constructing metas, so thanks to Peter and all those who step up and provide us with these challenges.

THURSDAY NIGHT UPDATE

As 2022 comes to an end, a few more solvers have stepped up to the challenge:

60. oldjudge
61. Laura M
62. JeanneC
63. michaelm
64. amynelson
65. jhseeman
66. Jordan W
67. Richard
68. Magistra

69. bhamren

Reveal in morning

"12/26" REVEAL

credit: BrennerTJ

Seventy solvers correctly submitted the meta answer "Rocky", an appropriate movie for a Boxing Day puzzle. Relevant trivia: the first Creed-Balboa fight took place in Philly on January 1, 1976, which the promoters tied to the Bicentennial.

As illustrated above, there were five "boxes" which then matched with double-duty clues to spell the answer. For example, "boombox" would also be a good clue for 1-Across "Music machine" --RADIO. Several solvers went down IMDb lists looking for "box" movies, before eventually getting nudged off the canvas.

Out of seventy solvers, @SJMcK took home the prize. Happy 2023 everyone!

That is a brilliant reveal, @BrennerTJ !

The silly thing I did was think of CELL (like a prison cell, as in one you see in a movie where the prisoner is being given extra punishment) as the sweatbox, and wondering to myself "what the heck is RCCKY?" before the nudges came out.