XWord Muggles Forum

Al Sisti wrote: ↑Wed Apr 01, 2020 2:57 pm

ChrisKochmanski wrote: ↑Wed Apr 01, 2020 2:33 pm I wonder if a few of us have maybe overplayed a bit the "additional level" to this puzzle. Maybe it's not so much an additional level as just an added realization or interpretation that can make the solve especially delicious. But you don't actually need to see this extra ... thing ... to solve the puzzle.

In other words, this is not a PAGEANT situation, for anyone who may be worrying about that.

I can say too that another solver has potentially seen even ANOTHER added twist to the solve, which too can heighten appreciation of the puzzle.

We'll probably want to share thoughts on these "added" ingredients when Peter posts the solution next week.

Yes, well described... between how you put it, and Hector's explanation, that sums up PGW's "extra mile style" better than I did initially.

Al Sisti wrote: ↑Wed Apr 01, 2020 4:17 pm He's talked about it before... if I recall correctly, the thing that frustrates him when he does a puzzle where people solve it easily, but miss/overlook the true elegance, is the thought "Geez, people... I know I'm a fairly new constructor and all, but do you really think that's the best I'm capable of?" I really hope he chimes in here after the deadline with a bit of a "town hall meeting" (socially distanced, of course), where we can ask him stuff like we're talking about. I'm especially curious to hear what he calls that added -- well, it's not another "level" *(like PAGEANT was)... it's still on the same level, but...something else is cleverly hidden; sometimes for the solve itself, and sometimes for corroboration of a solve... and a couple more stars in the rating. Actually it might be kind of cool to have an "Interview Loft" folder in this forum, where we can "talk to" some of the constructors we've come to know; maybe send them a prepared list of questions "yunz" might have. Kind of like "Master Class" meets "Behind the Actor's Studio."

Hector wrote: ↑Wed Apr 01, 2020 11:21 am

boharr wrote: ↑Wed Apr 01, 2020 9:45 am This is the first time I've tried one of these PGWCCs. Got the grid, but now I'm starring at it. Are these metas considered difficult?

Yes, they are! And pgw's are distinctive for being very innovative with "mechanisms" and employing remarkable "constructions" (puzzles meeting combinations of constraints, imposed by the mechanism, that you might not expect to be jointly satisfiable).

As with lots of meta puzzles, it might be useful on this one to print it out, even if you've solved it in an app. That can let you see things and annotate or highlight items of possible interest in the clues, grid, title, and prompt. Always a go-to move when "staring at the grid" doesn't spark insight.

(It should also be a tiny bit helpful and encouraging to see that some solvers seem to have gotten this one "in less than thirty seconds," or the like. It can't be a horribly intricate and obscure mechanism if that's some people's experience. So if you find yourself anagramming the vertically-symmetric letters in every other adjective in the grid, you might be on the wrong track. )

anjhinz wrote: ↑Sat Apr 04, 2020 2:49 pm Jeeeesh I was trying WAY too hard for too long on this... Still not seeing the "extra" though....

LesY wrote: ↑Sat Apr 04, 2020 3:40 pm

anjhinz wrote: ↑Sat Apr 04, 2020 2:49 pm Jeeeesh I was trying WAY too hard for too long on this... Still not seeing the "extra" though....

If it helps, the “extra” is very much related to the “not extra.” You may even have noticed some of it already.