XWord Muggles Forum

recommend Martin Cruz Smith.

Don't start with Gorky Park, I started with Polar Star and then went back to Gorky Park. Much easier intro to the writing style.

Jo Nesbo

Al Sisti wrote: ↑Wed May 13, 2020 11:45 pm

ChrisKochmanski wrote: ↑Wed May 13, 2020 10:00 pm Loved it!

It will be wonderful to have a regular Monday meta. (Though what will happen to my current Monday night mystery novel reading?) Thanks to you and Brian Mac for conspiring to bring us this added delight!

Aw, man... Monday Night mystery reading? You have my attention. I've been using those spare hours from 11 PM to 2 AM to catch up on my reading. I realized that I had read maybe one Robert Parker/Spenser story in my life, even though I own two shelves of them... so I started reading from the first one in the series and read four or five a week a few weeks. I'm up to like #20, but now that I finished binge-watching 6 seasons of Bosch, I realized I may have to jump out of the Spenser series and now have to read all the Connelly books too. So many books, and Time Enough At Last to read them.

Robert B. Parker's Sunny Randall is being revived, again, with Grudge Match. The author is Mike Lupica. This was Parker's only series which wasn't continued after his death. I'm only 2 chapters into it, having been given my first opportunity at it via audiobook. So far, so good.

Finding time to listen to books outside of yard work, walking, & driving is difficult. I read in bed. I fall to sleep in bed when attempting to listen to an audiobook, then it takes 30 minutes of searching to find where I last zonked out.

I'm also interested!

ChrisKochmanski wrote: ↑Thu May 14, 2020 9:16 am

Aw, man... Monday Night mystery reading? You have my attention.

Al, I'll PM you for mystery recommendations.

I didn't get to this one for a while, and then I just didn't *get* this one for a while, but I'm finally here! I'll be interested to hear about the alternative paths/answers. Excellent puzzle again, Al, thanks!

yes, Jo Nesbo is well worth reading.

In the hard-boiled detective genre, I recommend the Matthew Scudder series by Lawrence Block. (If you prefer your detectives more soft-boiled--and maybe not technically detectives--the Bernie Rhodenbarr series by the same author is a lot of fun.)

Since Sundays look like a good time to reveal Muggles' Meta Mondays, here's my reveal for "Shoulda Put a Ring On it."

Guided by the title, and the hint from 14D that, in puzzledom, the letter O is often clued as a ring, you were expected to add the letter O to some existing Down entries... but which ones? Turns out that there were five Down entries that were still valid answers to their clue, even after you "put a ring on it." They were:

O-BAMA (2D: Attendee at a White House ceremony on Mar 2, 2016)
O-INK (9D: It's in a pen)
O-LIVE TREES (32D: These were gifted to the New World by Spanish explorers in the 16th century)
O-BIT (41D: Piece written for Rip Taylor)
O-OH YEAH (44D: "That feels so good!")...

... and the initials of those entries, in order, spell out BILBO, the leader for the quest for the One Ring in The Hobbit.

I had a great time -- for most of it, anyway -- putting this meta together, and I hope you enjoyed it.

Bravo Alex!

Very nicely done, Al. Thanks!

Excellent puzzle, though I initially had MOSH intersecting HANK instead of MOST intersecting TANK (a personal semi-Natick). I then let the puzzle sit on a back burner for several days before I finally got around to looking at the meta. I did pencil in an “O” above “BAMA” and that seemed to suggest that the “RBI” could somehow turn into “ROBIN” (as in “ROBIN HOOD”), which went precisely nowhere. I then saw “O/BIT” and knew I was on the right track, but it took me more time to find “O/INK”, “O/LIVE”, and “O/OH, YEAH”. So ... a pretty obtuse process ... ... but I finally muddled through ... .

Great stuff Al, though you had me flummoxed. I got the O-BAMA because it was weird and I remember thinking when I was doing the puzzle - It's in a pen - INK, "wow I thought that was going to be OINK". I looked and found the BIT and saw the wording would allow OBIT, I also finally decided OOH YEAH was just as legit as OH YEAH. Now what got me screwed up? Well for one I never tumbled to the LIVE trees when I should have because the way it is worded is of course just odd. So I was stuck with BIB and needed a vowel - Hey Rachel Ray ORGANIC EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL as (fraudulently they say) sold by Whole Foods. OK, BIBE is no fictional leader but wait add a O to TOR and you get TORO a Craggy Peak in California. So I ended up with BIBETO who is a witch character in a weird online game. That just did't seem like it would be in your wheelhouse (though I don't know, perhaps it was a witch that cast a spell on you on your wedding night???). If only I had pursued the "what the heck kind of a nondescript gift is "LIVE TREES" inclination I'd of had it in the Baggins.

I am desperately trying to do my own, but I'll be darned if I can make it fit in the "standard" type of grid where everything is symmetric and now of course I will feel inferior if I do not.

By the way, you had some neat "herrings" in that puzzle. Add an O to debt and you get ODEBT (ODETTE), add an O to SHA and get OSHA (which is right next to it along with OSHAW), you could get OREOS from ORES (and everyone KNOWS how much crossworders love OREOS), you could get O SNAP easily enough (my Dad's favorite phrase for something gone wrong, when there were children around), TALE O (with a long E, anyone see a fox?). I was after many different rabbits throughout the course of the puzzle.

Hey Al, just got around to this, and managed to solve it before seeing your reveal. Very cool puzzle, and loved the clues! Also, a very nice mix of harder entries crossed by more obtainable answers to prevent stalling for those of us more grid-challenged.

Loved the baseball entries too!

LIVE TREES --> O LIVE TREES was my path in, followed closely by O INK and then O BAMA. The rest fell into place soon after. Thanks and looking forward to more in the future!

I still like One T Man.

Al. It occurred to me that you to are a one t man.

Revisiting Al's masterpiece after a quick solve with this week's "One False Note." My meta search was distracted by the answer to 14D (ORINGS), first by the reminder that I have some plumbing repairs to attend to, then by other "rings" in the grid (HALO, and, OH YEAH, GIRTH!). O-LIVE TREES was the break through point, though I had circled the clue for 41D as a BIT OUTRE.

Truly inspiring to see a muggle meta, and looking forward to more!

Al Sisti wrote: ↑Wed May 13, 2020 11:45 pm

ChrisKochmanski wrote: ↑Wed May 13, 2020 10:00 pm Loved it!

It will be wonderful to have a regular Monday meta. (Though what will happen to my current Monday night mystery novel reading?) Thanks to you and Brian Mac for conspiring to bring us this added delight!

Aw, man... Monday Night mystery reading? You have my attention. I've been using those spare hours from 11 PM to 2 AM to catch up on my reading. I realized that I had read maybe one Robert Parker/Spenser story in my life, even though I own two shelves of them... so I started reading from the first one in the series and read four or five a week a few weeks. I'm up to like #20, but now that I finished binge-watching 6 seasons of Bosch, I realized I may have to jump out of the Spenser series and now have to read all the Connelly books too. So many books, and Time Enough At Last to read them.

Robert Parker was a favorite author years ago in the early years of marriage for reading aloud to each other. . . we wrote to him at one point to ask when Spenser managed to find time to shop for groceries, and his reply was "between the chapters."