"At Odds" - May 15, 2020

[TPS]

So over the past 2 months I have attempted 8 of these and gotten 4 and submitted 4 w/o any help: Here is how I would rank them from hardest to easiest IMO - for perspective. I am interested if anyone else feels significantly different. Also, I haven't looked up the stats Bob provides because I am too lazy.

Adobe
Richard III
Monotonous
Russian Doll

Jefferson Airplane
This Week
Grilled Ham & Cheese
App Developer

[femullen]

I see a lot of comments on the puzzle page that various digital features aren't working. My puzzle also misbehaved.

I found that using Chrome, you could do the puzzle, but you were unable to submit a meta answer. (But the usual Mon-Thu grid checker worked fine: I was surprised to get a "Congratulations!" banner when I finished the grid. On a Friday puzzle the grid checker ordinarily gives you nothing but glum silence.)

Using Microsoft Edge, everything worked fine, so I was able to send in the solution.

Ice is probably melted by now, but I think it's finally time for my G&T.

[MaineMarge]

Hey Bob- count me on duty back in the stern garden for now. Hope to go for a swim later.

[Hidden in 3D]

On shore. Muggles, don't forget your masks! This beach is gonna be crowded!

[Bob cruise director]

So over the past 2 months I have attempted 8 of these and gotten 4 and submitted 4 w/o any help: Here is how I would rank them from hardest to easiest IMO - for perspective. I am interested if anyone else feels significantly different. Also, I haven't looked up the stats Bob provides because I am too lazy.

Adobe
Richard III
Monotonous
Russian Doll

Jefferson Airplane
This Week
Grilled Ham & Cheese
App Developer

TPS

If necessity is the mother of invention, laziness is the father

If I rank them by #correct on the WSJ page

Adobe is easily the hardest
Russian Doll
Monotonous
Richard III
Multimedia (which you did not do)
Grilled Ham and cheese
App Developer
Hey Jude (also you did not do)
Jefferson Airplane is the easiest

So I would say that your assessment is pretty correct

[boharr]

Jefferson Airplane easier than Hey Jude?

[femullen]

So over the past 2 months I have attempted 8 of these and gotten 4 and submitted 4 w/o any help: Here is how I would rank them from hardest to easiest IMO - for perspective. I am interested if anyone else feels significantly different. Also, I haven't looked up the stats Bob provides because I am too lazy.

Adobe
Richard III
Monotonous
Russian Doll

Jefferson Airplane
This Week
Grilled Ham & Cheese
App Developer

I've only been here a couple of months and still consider myself a meta noob. I will say, though, that last week's "Adobe" solution was by far the most difficult, even after someone explained to me how it worked.

The rest are nearly impossible for me to rank. I had the stepping stones to "Richard III" figured out, but--it's unbelievable in retrospect--I didn't see the checkers-style king jumping pattern. I'd like to think that this one would actually have been easy if I'd played checkers since 1965. Alas.

Most of the rest of them I consider "hard," because I didn't make the least progress toward a solution. But I think it was Al Sisti who commented recently that there's a bit of luck involved in just seeing the method. Maybe he's right. But I have to believe that, like anything, the more you practice the luckier you get.

[Bob cruise director]

Jefferson Airplane easier than Hey Jude?

Remember I ranked them by number correct on the WSJ page

Jefferson Airplane had 2098 correct
Hey Jude had 2055 correct

Both very high numbers

[Bob cruise director]

Good Friday morning muggles

What a difference a week makes

This week we have 4 on the ship and 90 on the shore already.

[TPS]

Wow - I am surprised as many people got Hey Jude as they did. While I was not here per se for (HJ & MM) those (I may have been lurking or even posted) I did attempt them. I had been trying and failing at solving meta puzzles on my own for about a year before I found this forum.

I didn't spend much time on MM but did on Hey Jude as a pretty big Beatles fan. I'm not sure I would ever have gotten that answer just because it would never occurred to me. I am also surprised JA was easier for most people than App Developer & Grilled Ham and Cheese since both of those were just finding the possible answer broken up in the grid.

[TPS]

Jefferson Airplane easier than Hey Jude?

I thought so - JA was 100% there was only one answer that you could really even argue. I submitted an incorrect answer for HJ that I felt I could still justify based on the title and answer prompt. It was wrong but it would be closer to being right than anything you could have submitted to JA other than the right answer.

[Wendy Walker]

Good Friday morning muggles

What a difference a week makes

This week we have 4 on the ship and 90 on the shore already.

Wendy on a typical Wednesday night: "It's Puzzle Day tomorrow! Come on, 4 p.m.! My Lucky Pen is ready!"
Wendy on this past Wednesday night: "Oh, God. What have they got in store for us this week?!"

[boharr]

Jefferson Airplane easier than Hey Jude?

I thought so - JA was 100% there was only one answer that you could really even argue. I submitted an incorrect answer for HJ that I felt I could still justify based on the title and answer prompt. It was wrong but it would be closer to being right than anything you could have submitted to JA other than the right answer.

My prejudice is because Hey Jude was the only time I solved the meta before finishing the grid. It appears that will remain a rarity for me!

[NuYear68]

Told Isaac to make my Manhattan to go, for I was heading ashore. Stay well, all!

-Paul

[TPS]

My prejudice is because Hey Jude was the only time I solved the meta before finishing the grid. It appears that will remain a rarity for me!

That was App Developer for me - So I'll always be partial to that one but also probably why I think it was super easy. I might have been able to solve this one while doing the grid have I been doing it in my normal manner - doing it by hand first and having to worry about not putting anything in the grid I wasn't 100% about threw me off - its also why this grid took me WAY longer than normal.

[Jazzvibist]

Ashore (posting this first so Bob doesn’t miss it for his report).

For starters, speaking for all the printerless muggles, thanks to Mike Miller and his WSJ colleagues for apparently completely fixing the problem with accessing the interactive version through the PLAY button.

This week’s meta was an impressive construction that is (in my opinion) an excellent meta to show to newbies to give them an idea of how they work (and one of those rare weeks where my first attempted rabbit hole had the rabbit in it).

[DrTom]

Wow, what a difference a week makes. Last week I managed to solve a puzzle that scads of folks found impossible. This week I cannot even spy a rabbit tail for a puzzle that everyone and their sibling (not just their brother, their entire family) are solving and furthermore proclaiming a great one for newbies to start with. I'm perplexed and depressed, of course that might just be as a result of staying at home. I'll continue to try, so far nothing I have thought of has any bearing on the puzzle. How odd....

[Bob cruise director]

Thank you Muggles
I check the WSJ site a few times to pick up muggles who only post there. Usually the number of postings is about 5. Today there are 54. All but about 3 are complaining about the technical issues.

[stmv]

Safely on shore - for once the first thing I tried worked out beautifully.

[jenirvin]

Things have finally slowed down enough for me to get on the beach this week! Or maybe I'm just getting adapting to the new crazy. Either way, it feels good to be back in the swing of things. Tiki bar, here I come!