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benchen71's Metas on a Tuesday (MOAT)

Can you storm the castle by getting across the MOAT? This was a fun puzzle to envisage and then try to construct. That said, the first version I came up with was waaaaay too hard. After implementing the excellent suggestions from a very helpful test solver, this edited version should, at the very least, be doable without nudges. There might still be a challenge or two in completing the grid, so good luck (or good googling!) The answer to the meta is a thing that has rotational symmetry.

PM me with your submissions or submit on Crosshare. Either way, I'll compile a list of those who successfully solve the meta.


Rotating S-Y-M-M-E-T-R-Y - Online Form

Rotating S-Y-M-M-E-T-R-Y - PUZ

Rotating S-Y-M-M-E-T-R-Y - PDF

Rotating S-Y-M-M-E-T-R-Y - Excel


Nudges are here.
The solution is here.

After quite the dry spell (along with a Thanksgiving hiatus), got one! Very cool and clever concept... Nice to be back in the saddle again.

At the end of the first day, here's the list of solvers:

noneuclidean
rjy
markhr

Yep, it's officially a harder one! A fitting 5th-week-of-the-month puzzle.

This one is confounding....

Getting nowhere. Will there be hints to come?

Darth wrote: ↑Wed Dec 01, 2021 9:57 am This one is confounding....

Of course, at the end of that scene, Vader stops the spin and gets away.

ChrisKochmanski wrote: ↑Wed Dec 01, 2021 10:38 am Getting nowhere. Will there be hints to come?

Saturday -- or maybe Friday, in Australia speak --- but I'm with you!

whimsy wrote: ↑Wed Dec 01, 2021 2:11 pm

ChrisKochmanski wrote: ↑Wed Dec 01, 2021 10:38 am Getting nowhere. Will there be hints to come?

Saturday -- or maybe Friday, in Australia speak --- but I'm with you!

Ah, I must have stopped reading Ben’s post after the links.

I may just set this one aside until Saturday.

So which one of us is dizzier this week, @Darth?

Lol. Yep, I saw your kitten taking a spin there, @whimsy! Still working on that one....

I crossed the MOAT but only with a life preserver.

Here's the full solver's list:

noneuclidean
rjy
markhr
Darth
boharr

Keep at it! Nudges appearing tomorrow morning (Aussie time).

OK, I have it, but only by being rescued by a lifeguard and being helplessly swum to the other side.

Whew. I cannot truly say that I solved this puzzle.

Solved and confirmed. That was a mindbender. Nice job Ben!

I had to be led to the answer, even though solution, once again was hiding in plain sight in my notes. So, I guess I crossed the moat, but got soaking wet and the gate to the castle remains closed for me. Pretty clever in retrospect.

Here's the full list of solvers:

noneuclidean
rjy
markhr
Darth
boharr
ChrisKochmanski
oldjudge

Nudges coming momentarily...

Here are the nudges:

1. There is a hint in the central entry, and instructions in two other clues.

2. The title suggests that the letters in the word SYMMETRY can be rotated around the centre of the puzzle, with some letters from one entry getting rotated into another entry and then "gibing".

3. From 28D, the letters R, M, R and Y need to rotate 180 degrees into 11D. From 58A, the letters T, E, T, E and E need to rotate 180 degrees into 17A.

Got it. Whew. Needed all the nudges.

Got it with the nudges, confirmed on Crosshare. Would not have got it without assistance and am glad we didn’t get the waaay too hard version Ben mentions above!

Funny. I did think of all those nudges but I just couldn't get them to work. I think because I wasn't writing on paper and doing in my head and because -redacted-. I did notice I got -redacted. Clever and well-done. A bit intricate.