MEOW #113: Size Matters

[MatthewL]

Cat has finally been released. Thanks for the puzzle, Tom!

[Ergcat]

Cat is free! Thanks to a nudge from @DrTom !

[DrTom]

A few more join the list:

13 SjMcK
14 LauraM
15 Ckochmanski
16 MatthewL
17 Ergcat
18 DIS

Nudges coming tomorrow, I'd do it tonight but my internet is really acting up and everything is taking 10 times as long to do.

[DrTom]

Friday; Nudge Day in Meowville. There really are only three nudges or I just give it all away:

There are five very obvious "size" answers in the GRID

Write the 5 answers down and examine them, what do you notice is unique about each?

How would the unique characteristic of each help you to find letters for the answer?

[rjy]

Nudged outta the bag that was on some couch across a moat... phew! Thanks for the puzzle, DrTom, and for the nudges that still preserved the AHA... fun challenge!

[whimsy]

Here, nudgie, nudgie, nudgie....

Took that first one to set me straight.

Thanks for some excellent rabbit hole fun, Dr. Tom!

[MarkWoychick]

Got it with the nudges - thanks, Dr. Tom. I was on a completely different path (leading nowhere, of course!)

[ajk]

Got it with the nudges, albeit a little slower than I should have. Thanks.

[benchen71]

Got it with the nudges. Thanks DrTom!

[DrTom]

Fridays solvers:

20 Whimsy
21 rjy
22 Mwoychick
23 Pair O Ducks
24 Carolyn
25 ajk
26 Benchen71
27 Bird Lives

[lbray53]

I needed all of the nudges but the cat is finally out. Thanks for the puzzle Dr. Tom. Once again the answer was hiding in my notes in plain sight.

[DrTom]

I needed all of the nudges but the cat is finally out. Thanks for the puzzle Dr. Tom. Once again the answer was hiding in my notes in plain sight.

Of course it was, you just had to size it up correctly

[DrTom]

Now here I thought, OK, WSJ was fairly straightforward (took me forever but..) and no MG so EVERYONE will be doing the MEOW. Well as the sailor said as he looked at the ratty piece of rope tied to the turnbuckle, frayed knot!

Three more solvers:
28 lbray53
29 markhr
30 BarbaraK

Thanks guys!

[Qmark]

Needed the nudges to get the cat out of the bag...thanks DrTom!

[MikeyG]

I have to have a name for this phenomenon, but it's where you take a nudge, realize that you already had all of what that nudge is telling you on your own accord, and ask yourself, "Do I go on?"

That's happened with the first two now. Do I take the third...hmmm...that has to give me something new, but obviously, what I noticed must be important. Decisions, decisions!

Like dessert!

"Do you want the cake or the ice cream?"
"Yes!"

Edit: Ruminating on it for a bit got me home!

[DrTom]

So, final count and amount, not too bad actually:

1 Hector
2 Trypmom
3 chriscross
4 Whinsy
5 Darth
6 boharr
7 Cinny (T)
8 Meg
9 Cindy Weatherman
10 dplass (T)
11 KayW (T)
12 CPJohnson
13 SjMcK
14 LauraM
15 Ckochmanski
16 MatthewL
17 Ergcat
18 DIS
19 Abide
20 Whimsy
21 rjy
22 Mwoychick
23 Pair O Ducks
24 Carolyn
25 ajk
26 Benchen71
27 Bird Lives
28 lbray53
29 markhr
30 BarbaraK
31 SeamusOL
32 Qmark
33 MikeyG
34 Johnny Luau
35 bhamren


I thank the HUGE number of people who spent no SMALL amount of time on this GINORMOUSLY mis-rated puzzle. I had no idea it was going to play so hard.

[DrTom]

The REVEAL!

Once again I find myself having to apologize for a puzzle that played WAY harder than I imagined. It was actually so easy to construct I thought it would be similarly easy to solve. Knowing the all too familiar myth I was certain people would tie size to length and then the selection of words would be evident. Another of the S.A.D. Metas I'm afraid.

[BarbaraK]

So, a medical question, does brain size really matter?

I know humans have bigger brains than other primates, but don't elephants and whales have bigger brains than humans?

And what about within the species? Was Einstein's brain bigger than everyone else's? I believe he donated it to science when he died, but don't recall what science figured out about it. Can you predict how intelligent someone is by the size of their brain?

Inquiring minds want to know (but are too lazy to just google all this.)

[madhatter5]

Nice one Tom!

@Barbarak I Googled on your behalf, at best there is only a weak correlation it seems, which is what you'd expect for almost any complex phenotype

[rjy]

Once again I find myself having to apologize for a puzzle that played WAY harder than I imagined.

For this solver anyway, ixnay on the ologyapay! Some puzzles are fun to knock out in 30m, and some are often more rewarding if you have to revisit them over the next couple days. I often appreciate when constructors don’t give in with early nudges - tho duh! I will will jump on them whenever they arrive. But all are fun spots on the spectrum of the this crazy twisted art form you all excel at!