"King Me!" - April 30, 2020

[Bob cruise director]

Good afternoon sequestered muggles

This contest is either easy or impossible based on the comments

However we have five new muggles this week: Mmac, jb3211123, Emd (Ethan), F Liu and fstadler.

Currently we have 12 on the ship and 65 on the shore.

Good luck to all getting to the right shore

New pic Bob? Pemaquid Point Lighthouse if I'm not mistaken. The iconic reflection shot.

Definitely Pemaquid Point.

It seems Bob gets up my way a lot!

Shoot me a message if you're headed up some time.

We have a house in York which we go to a lot and use that as a jumping off point for all parts along the coast of Maine which for my money is one of the most scenic stretches of coastline in the country. (sorry Wendy for the run on sentence). However we have not been there in a few months because we are sequestered. I have to get there soon to mow the lawn.

[Limerick Savant]

Happily ashore

Since my solving has been in a slump
I was sorely in need of a jump
And thanks to this clever
Historic endeavor
I believe I am over the hump

[Joe Ross]

Well, this meta made me realize my entire life has been a lie. Will explain after the deadline.

Great lead-in. Looking forward to this explanation!

P.S.: Out of curiousity, if you submit your answer via email do you put anything in the body of the email? I don't want to send an email with just the subject line so I always say something like "Thanks", but if there are people that commented on/complimented the puzzle and got a response back I'd love to know ahah.

Put your name and address so they know where to send the mug when you win.

The address & phone #, for sure.

If I think I've got an alternate answer, I will give my full explanation in the body of the email. To get it read, I will also comment here & on WSJ (after deadline, natch), because I know that Mike Miller & Matt Gaffney read these posts. If enough people repeat the same lie, um, alternate answer, the WSJ crew may consider it.

MAINE / NEW MEXICO

CARNEGIE / MELLON

MONOTONOUS / ADMONITION

[Colin]

Friday fill the grid
Overnight recharge my brain
Saturday ashore

Good to feel the sand again. Boules anyone?

[boharr]

On shore. Oddly, I didn't find the grid that overly difficult, but that meta was another story.

[PeterLeea1a]

Woke up in the middle of the night with the answer. Funny how the brain must churn through things as one sleeps. Anyway, I see the "bow" but to me it's definitely more of an after-the-fact confirmation rather than something I could have used to reach the answer. I think this is a harder meta than the average star rating, and am impressed by those who saw the answer right away.

[tim1217]

Well, this meta made me realize my entire life has been a lie. Will explain after the deadline.

Fun one. Ashore after some initial confusion.

P.S.: Out of curiousity, if you submit your answer via email do you put anything in the body of the email? I don't want to send an email with just the subject line so I always say something like "Thanks", but if there are people that commented on/complimented the puzzle and got a response back I'd love to know ahah.

I always submit via email. Mike Miller once posted that "he was waiting for email confirmation from the winner before he could post their name". So I always put my name and address in the body of my email submission thinking I would save Mike a step. Then I won...and in the email I received from Mike, he asked me to return the email with my name and address. So I just assumed it was maybe a legal thing (i.e., they can't print your name and city/state unless you confirm it via (electronic) writing). So now when I submit, there's nothing in the body of the email.

[Geoduck]

New pic Bob? Pemaquid Point Lighthouse if I'm not mistaken. The iconic reflection shot.

Definitely Pemaquid Point.

It seems Bob gets up my way a lot!

Shoot me a message if you're headed up some time.

We have a house in York which we go to a lot and use that as a jumping off point for all parts along the coast of Maine which for my money is one of the most scenic stretches of coastline in the country. (sorry Wendy for the run on sentence). However we have not been there in a few months because we are sequestered. I have to get there soon to mow the lawn.

I drive through York all the time, since I often travel between "The other Cape" and my home in Maine.

Like you, I've been sequestering and am itching to return. I headed to The Other Cape in March to take care of my gardens there, which wake up a good month earlier than the ones in Maine, and I've been more or less stuck here for over a month. But soon I head up to wake up the gardens up north.

[colonelspicyxword]

P.S.: Out of curiousity, if you submit your answer via email do you put anything in the body of the email? I don't want to send an email with just the subject line so I always say something like "Thanks", but if there are people that commented on/complimented the puzzle and got a response back I'd love to know ahah.

I typically put a pun in, but no, never a response. For example, in recent weeks I've written:

"sorry to say this over and over and over, but I'd love to win the mug" (monotonous)

"I hope a new mug hops into my life soon" (spring)

[SewYoung]

I'm still hanging out with Isaac... I'm not sure that I'll be able to get this one! I have zero knowledge in the area that might be useful, and reading up online isn't helping me.

I sent a snap of the puzzle to my son, as I sometimes do just to try to lure him into metas. He almost never bites, but this time he actually CALLED me (extremely rare event) and pointed some things out to me. Still took me a relatively long, clumsy time to go from idea to correct execution. I think you'll get it!

Tell him ti call me, too...

[colonelspicyxword]

While I'm asking questions, where can one find the PUZ file for these?

There is a website where you can get every wsj crossword in AcrossLite, including the meta crossword.
https://www.fleetingimage.com/wij/xyzzy/20-wsj.html
The upside is you save on toner. You can make the black squares grey. The downside is sometimes you have to wait 10-15 minutes for it to update itself.

Thanks for this. I'm surprised these PUZ files exist but are not made available from the WSJ. I've been getting them from the Daily Crossword Links email, but I wouldn't get this puzzle until late tonight from that source.

Are these not posted on the WSJ?

If you have an android phone, the 'shortyz' app also works. I was interested, so I took a quick look at the source code and that led me to this site which has all of the WSJ and more: fleetingimage.com/wij/xyzzy/nyt-links.html. Given that the puz files have solutions in them, they must be coming from WSJ somehow.

[Wendy Walker]

Tough grid. Ashore. Clever, and fun meta. Natasha's words for it were that it was "esthetically pleasing". What made it fun for us was the family sitting around the dinner table, including frosh UT daughter and 5th grader, pulling on different strings, chasing rabbits, and finally reeling in the catch, thanks to Mike's genius.

Oh, well said, Joe! That is a perfect description of what happens when my significant other, my brother and my nephew all get together to work on a puzzle. It's usually at a restaurant, which means we get quizzical looks from other patrons and the poor waiter has to avoid our clipboards and pens while setting down the plates.

[Joe Ross]

Reminder: Muggles may wish to send a Private Message to you in reply to a post or a request for information.

To turn on PM notifications, click on your name at top/right (below the beach), then on User Control Panel

Click on the Board Preferences Tab of the User Control Panel.

Click on Edit notification options at the left.

Edit all desired notifications in the Edit notifications options table.

Click on Submit to save.

[Wendy Walker]

I'm still hanging out with Isaac... I'm not sure that I'll be able to get this one! I have zero knowledge in the area that might be useful, and reading up online isn't helping me.

I sent a snap of the puzzle to my son, as I sometimes do just to try to lure him into metas. He almost never bites, but this time he actually CALLED me (extremely rare event) and pointed some things out to me. Still took me a relatively long, clumsy time to go from idea to correct execution. I think you'll get it!

After solving I texted the completed grid to my nephew, who has lost his senior year in high school (and his final high-school track season) and is very bored at home. He got it within a half-hour. So proud! His replies went from "Gibberish" to "oh wait. I got it!"

[TPS]

After solving I texted the completed grid to my nephew, who has lost his senior year in high school (and his final high-school track season) and is very bored at home. He got it within a half-hour. So proud! His replies went from "Gibberish" to "oh wait. I got it!"

Well we now know the answer to - "Am I smarter than a 12th Grader?" And that answer is emphatically "NO!"

[Bob cruise director]

Good Saturday morning muggles.

One positive about being sequestered is that we have a lot more communication going on here. Page 10 by Saturday noon is amazing.

and we have a lot more new muggles which is also great - beccacollins, MMac, jb321123, emd (Ethan), F Liu, fstadler

We have 17 of us on the ship and 93 on the shore. I have an idea that I am going to pursue after I go to the transfer station (no we don't have trash pickup)

On the ship are:
bigmeir
dplass
TPS (although I think you may be on the shore so I will check)
camandsam
SewYoung
Janet P
Tom S
MaineMarge
Doug C
chkuihara
Cynthia J
Laura M
LittleGood
MajordomoTom
Dow Jones
beccacollins
and your humble cruise director

On the shore are:
Al - in 11 minutes
Brian M
Wendy
Meg
Mike H
Beth T
David K
streroto
Hector
Steve B
tim1217
edot
Scott M
Eric P
Josh
Chris
Frankie
ky-mike
oldjudge
Glyn
Janet
Schmeel
Tina
Jim and Anita
Kay
the Thurman8er
Heidi
Tmart
Bill S
Joe R
Julie O
Les
RDaleHall
Softie
FKelly
MMac
damefox
yourpalsal
Lacangah
Drysdale
higgysue
Billkatz
tigerfly222
sanmilton
Miki
jb321123
Ethan
John B
F Liu
Cindy
Commodore
joequavis
Devilbunny
Ed S
CallMeShane
michaelm
spotter
norrin2
Juliet
joe
Leslie
howardl
seans
Stukmn
fstadler
DB Miller
Beth A
docison
Homer
Geoduck
SusieG
Debbie
rexthree
mark L
flyingMoose
OGuyDave
Omnibus
scooby
ladybird
Burak
Beth C
Notbitter
UTHfan
Rad26
joes
alec
djquimby
Inca
Diane
Limerick
boharr
Peter L
and Colin

Good luck to all winning the mug

And if I miss someone, please let me know

[Patty]

Ran out of new books to read. I rarely reread books, but in the spirit of this forum I’m reading the Harry Potter books again. Go Muggles!

I just reread Sorcerer's Stone. Unfortunately, the rest of the books are not available from our library online. And our actual books are in another state with our daughter, so that isn't going to happen either.

Free Audiobooks while the schools are closed. Some classics, including Harry Potter!

https://stories.audible.com/discovery/e ... ds_dbb_0-0

[MarkL]

After solving I texted the completed grid to my nephew, who has lost his senior year in high school (and his final high-school track season) and is very bored at home. He got it within a half-hour. So proud! His replies went from "Gibberish" to "oh wait. I got it!"

Well we now know the answer to - "Am I smarter than a 12th Grader?" And that answer is emphatically "NO!"

"Clear? Huh! Why a four-year old child could understand this (report). Run out and find me a four-year old child, I can't make head or tail out of this"
- Groucho Marx

[MajordomoTom]

I've fallen over the side and my toes are on sand.

In 36 hours, I'll discover whether I'm at the tiki bar or on the bottom of the ocean. But I'm not on the boat anymore.

[BarbaraK]

Good Saturday morning muggles.

One positive about being sequestered is that we have a lot more communication going on here. Page 10 by Saturday noon is amazing.

and we have a lot more new muggles which is also great - beccacollins, MMac, jb321123, emd (Ethan), F Liu, fstadler

We have 17 of us on the ship and 93 on the shore. I have an idea that I am going to pursue after I go to the transfer station (no we don't have trash pickup)
...

And if I miss someone, please let me know

You missed me. Must need a more powerful spyglass to see all of us from the ship:)