Re: #638 - "Treasure Hunt"
Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2020 6:23 pm
A place to discuss the WSJ Weekly Crossword Contest and other "meta"-style crosswords
https://xword-muggles.com/
But I've found that in the comments on this forum those who get nudges are honest enough to say so. Not sure how that solo solve thing on Matt's site works.burak wrote: ↑Tue Aug 25, 2020 10:01 pm Wow. Wow wow wow. It's a KAS 4.9 for me. (I tried really hard to get the Xs involved to no avail but who knows, maybe I'd have been successful after a month! And once you get to "under the seas" it is pretty obvious what to do). Brilliant puzzle.
On a side note, these are the kinds of puzzles that make my dislike for nudges grow to a noticeable size. Like, when I look at the board I want to be able to say "oh wow look at all these people who solved this thing by themselves!" Now I'm like "nah half of these people got help from someone else probably."
I was also stuck on Ana...I’d heard a story that she wore an eye patch for a long time as a child (she’s blind in one eye). I was convinced it was part of the pirate theme. Was sidetracked by so many other little bunnies, as well.KayW wrote: ↑Tue Aug 25, 2020 1:39 pm I got this (non-solo solve) at the 11th hour due to a kind nudge. And I also took the URBY-BURY-RUBY detour once I was on the right course.
I think the most helpful part about the nudge was, it FINALLY convinced me to abandon a rabbit hole I was stubbornly digging myself further and further into using 39 Down as an indicator clue:
"SNL" alum whose first name appears frequently in crosswords.
The entry is GASTEYER whose first name ANA is indeed missing from this week's grid (tho ASA and ONA are present). I took that to mean that the missing treasure might relate to ANA and other common crosswordese absent from this puzzle. SNL is somewhat common but absent (and tantalizingly close with the less common SML at 21 across. SNL's network of NBC is absent, tho ABC and CBS are present. I could go on. And did. For waaaaay too long.
I did notice the X's early on - and loved the idea of a HEXED PIXIE - but I got so convinced that ANA was going to lead me to the treasure that I ignored them for too long.
Rumor has it Matt’s working on a new website design. I have no idea what’s going to be different, but I’d like to see two leaderboards - one with everyone and the other with solo solves only. It would definitely give a better idea of the difficulty. And since only solo solves count for prizes (assuming he’s still doing annual prizes; we haven’t seen anything about that for 2020 yet, have we?) it would be fun to see where I stand there.burak wrote: ↑Tue Aug 25, 2020 10:01 pm Wow. Wow wow wow. It's a KAS 4.9 for me. (I tried really hard to get the Xs involved to no avail but who knows, maybe I'd have been successful after a month! And once you get to "under the seas" it is pretty obvious what to do). Brilliant puzzle.
On a side note, these are the kinds of puzzles that make my dislike for nudges grow to a noticeable size. Like, when I look at the board I want to be able to say "oh wow look at all these people who solved this thing by themselves!" Now I'm like "nah half of these people got help from someone else probably."