"Front-End Alignment"

[TeamDoubleTow]

I think I have solved. Was about to give up on this one when the potential mechanism came to me at work. Who says nothing good happens at work?


And wow... the sheer numbers of puns is clearly an accomplishment! But in all transparency, a few groans were uttered when filling it the grid.

Editing to correct, auto correct

[DrTom]

I think I have solved. Was about to give up on this one when the potential mechanism came to me at work. Who says nothing good happens at work?


And wow... the sheer numbers of puns is clearly an accomplishment! But in all transparency, a few groans were uttered when filling it the grid.

Editing to correct, auto correct

Well now, I see someone is trying on the punster hat themselves - auto correct indeed, I LIKE IT!

[DrTom]

Solved thanks to a very patient and helpful muggle friend. Even though we got the answer, I don't really understand the logic of the mechanism. But, heck, I'm new at this.

Oh heck, you may be new at it but trying to make sense of my logic has baffled many people for many years. You are in good company there, just as you are here.

As my wife once commented, "had chaos theory not already been a physics term, it probably would be co-opted to describe your thinking" - gotta love her, she puts up with me.

I'd say your logic is "logically illogical," and in a good way. Which is to say, I get it completely.

And as for the mechanism, once I saw it, it was a 100%'er for me.

As for your wife's comment on chaos theory... I will only answer under the Cone of Silence. But if you Get Smart, and solve Maxwell's equation, then 99 times out of a hundred, I'll 86 my comments.

I'll see if I can't sneaker in a call later....I mean my humor may be lacking but my phone has sole. (said the punmeister to the spicy punking - which is usually released around November)

[DrTom]

Got it! Thanks to a Tuesday night zoom-room private message from Tamara. I would join in the punning now but I’m haven’t finished my first mug of coffee.

Now starting MEOW.

Does that mean you can't try punning until after 8 O'Clock (you'd be Chock full of Nuts to try earlier unless you were Maxwell Smart, and then you'd be in the Hunter's camp) and right about now you are cursing yourself for setting me up!

[DrTom]

Coming up to the end of another day and several more solvers:

30 HunterX
31 minimuggle
32 Dplass
33 Laura M
34 Wendy Walker
35 ship4u
36 BarbaraK
37 Headinhome
38 Bird Lives
39 dot
40 TeamDoubleTow

I will post another nudge tomorrow for those still hanging around on the couch.

[rjy]

It was a struggle, but I’m OFF!!

[Joe Ross]

I think I have solved. Was about to give up on this one when the potential mechanism came to me at work. Who says nothing good happens at work?


And wow... the sheer numbers of puns is clearly an accomplishment! But in all transparency, a few groans were uttered when filling it the grid.

Editing to correct, auto correct

Well now, I see someone is trying on the punster hat themselves - auto correct indeed, I LIKE IT!

It gets annoying having to speel check "spell check."

[DrTom]

I think I have solved. Was about to give up on this one when the potential mechanism came to me at work. Who says nothing good happens at work?


And wow... the sheer numbers of puns is clearly an accomplishment! But in all transparency, a few groans were uttered when filling it the grid.

Editing to correct, auto correct

Well now, I see someone is trying on the punster hat themselves - auto correct indeed, I LIKE IT!

It gets annoying having to speel check "spell check."

Well I for one have never spiel checked, I just go on and on and on and on and on....and on.

[DrTom]

Friday Nudges

Not sure if there are any puzzlers still trying to struggle through the MMM but if there are:

Alignment can mean many things, including agreement on points of similarity. If there are 10 points in a treatise, for instance, and we agree only on two or three, we are aligned on those points

Whimsy had suggested that I should have made the prompt "A car company to remember!" and it was not simply a reference to her previous MEOW, "Familiarity Counts"

[HeadinHome]

Got it! Thanks to a Tuesday night zoom-room private message from Tamara. I would join in the punning now but I’m haven’t finished my first mug of coffee.

Now starting MEOW.

Does that mean you can't try punning until after 8 O'Clock (you'd be Chock full of Nuts to try earlier unless you were Maxwell Smart, and then you'd be in the Hunter's camp) and right about now you are cursing yourself for setting me up!

Not a’tall, not a’tall. I tee it up, you smack it out there.

[HunterX]

Got it! Thanks to a Tuesday night zoom-room private message from Tamara. I would join in the punning now but I’m haven’t finished my first mug of coffee.

Now starting MEOW.

Does that mean you can't try punning until after 8 O'Clock (you'd be Chock full of Nuts to try earlier unless you were Maxwell Smart, and then you'd be in the Hunter's camp) and right about now you are cursing yourself for setting me up!

It's never too early to pun. So, @HeadinHome, you missed it by that much...

Thanks @DrTom for the plug on my camp! It's got roaring campfires, beer on tap, and tether ball!

Okay... Would you believe a Bic lighter, rainwater in a hat, and a lint ball caught on a fishing rod...?

[cbarbee002]

Finally de-couched after a deeeeeeeeeep rabbit hole - - wow, really made this way too difficult. Had to remind myself that the good Doctor intended this to play easy . . . .

[DrTom]

Well, we are down to a trickle now. Either everyone has solved or they are at home cursing Patrick Berry and/or Matt Gaffney. It was a pretty good turn out all in all:
41 rjy
42 Cap'n Rick
43 auee89
44 johnaldape
45 cbarbee002
46 Naptown Kid
47 Snood

47 solvers and lots of fun. I will do the reveal tomorrow in case some folks are looking to rest their weary pencils and wander over to the MMM from WSJ or MC. I do apologize that this one was more difficult to see/solve than I intended. I guess all of them are easy if you actually built the darn thing.

[DrTom]

Got it! Thanks to a Tuesday night zoom-room private message from Tamara. I would join in the punning now but I’m haven’t finished my first mug of coffee.

Now starting MEOW.

Does that mean you can't try punning until after 8 O'Clock (you'd be Chock full of Nuts to try earlier unless you were Maxwell Smart, and then you'd be in the Hunter's camp) and right about now you are cursing yourself for setting me up!

It's never too early to pun. So, @HeadinHome, you missed it by that much...

Thanks @DrTom for the plug on my camp! It's got roaring campfires, beer on tap, and tether ball!

Okay... Would you believe a Bic lighter, rainwater in a hat, and a lint ball caught on a fishing rod...?

Its all in the advertising Hunter:
Visit the HunterX Camp Site featuring:
Retro signaling devices
Non-alcoholic drinks
Seminars on fly tying

Plus be sure to attend the Breakout sessions
A. Acne - rash terms to avoid
B. Escape from Alcatraz - swimming with Sharks (and Jets)
C. Top hits from the Rap world - don't knock them

[Cinny]

Last minute solve yesterday. I needed one of the nudges to lead me away from thinking of a car manufacturer. Smooth sailing after that!

[Hidden in 3D]

Awaiting confirmation, but I believe I am also off the couch just before the big reveal. I've been having too much fun with our granddaughter to look at this before now!

[DrTom]

OK, our last solver (Hidden in 3D above) made it a total of 48 solvers who drove their rental car off the lot. I know I was being a bit tricky with the “car company” not being a manufacturer and I’d like to take credit for that bit of deviousness and the great title (which as you all know in retrospect was a major nudge) but as usually when my puzzles are REALLY good, I had help. In this case it was like the old west because I had a Marshal (better yet a Grand one) and a Lawyer, helping me defend the ALAMO, which was the answer.

There were 5 answers in the puzzle that started and ended with the same letter (see figure). They spelled, in order, ALAMO which is a car company, just not the kind many of you thought. It was apparently well liked and actually played way harder than I had ever intended or expected. I thank everyone for all of the kind words, and the puns and comments. I know that the gratification is much more instantaneous having the ability to check the answer on Crosshare, but I have a lot of fun answering each of the solvers so I’ll probably keep doing it that way for a while.

So, now I'm back to being just a confused solver and waiting my turn in the queue again. Hopefully it won't be that long before I can try to get you to solve another DrTom. But in the meantime (and I KNOW many of you HAD to see this coming) ...REMEMBER THE ALAMO!

[boharr]

And we greatly enjoy your responses to our submitted answers.

[Dplass]

OK, our last solver (Hidden in 3D above) made it a total of 48 solvers who drove their rental car off the lot. I know I was being a bit tricky with the “car company” not being a manufacturer and I’d like to take credit for that bit of deviousness and the great title (which as you all know in retrospect was a major nudge) but as usually when my puzzles are REALLY good, I had help. In this case it was like the old west because I had a Marshal (better yet a Grand one) and a Lawyer, helping me defend the ALAMO, which was the answer.

Front-End Alignment Colored Grid Solve.jpg


There were 5 answers in the puzzle that started and ended with the same letter (see figure). They spelled, in order, ALAMO which is a car company, just not the kind many of you thought. It was apparently well liked and actually played way harder than I had ever intended or expected. I thank everyone for all of the kind words, and the puns and comments. I know that the gratification is much more instantaneous having the ability to check the answer on Crosshare, but I have a lot of fun answering each of the solvers so I’ll probably keep doing it that way for a while.

So, now I'm back to being just a confused solver and waiting my turn in the queue again. Hopefully it won't be that long before I can try to get you to solve another DrTom. But in the meantime (and I KNOW many of you HAD to see this coming) ...REMEMBER THE ALAMO!

Wow and the themed answers were all symmetric too. Very nice.

[HunterX]

...But in the meantime (and I KNOW many of you HAD to see this coming) ...REMEMBER THE ALAMO!

Oh, I assumed you picked that as the answer from the start just so you could make that pun!

Great construction! And lots of good clues/answers that made me smile!