50. Now Read It Back to Me

[MikeyG]

It looks like Level 3 was right for this. Here are some nudges to dust away some cobwebs!

Main Mechanism:

1. The fact that the title is four letters long might, and does, cue us into needing to use four different entries.

2. The four entries, a la the great @Cap'n Rick, are symmetrically placed.

3. Each of these entries is also four letters in length.

4. The title came from a brainstorming session between @DrTom and me. What might this suggest about the entries?

5. I almost titled the puzzle "I Can Go Either Way."

6. Both titles should have you wondering whether you're coming or going!

7. Once you have identified the four relevant entries, since they don't seem to be spelling out much, where else might you look?

8. This is also another @DrTom hallmark. We want you to get a clue!

9. The spanner in the middle is mostly me being silly but does confirm that we're looking for a 4-letter magazine title, mostly confirmation for when you complete it.

Easter Egg - or Main, Depending on How You Cracked This!:

1. It seems relatively unnecessary to clue TWENTYFIVE as XXV.

2. And then, I seemingly uselessly compare it to XXVI, or TWENTYSIX.

3. What might be a reason to allude to 26? How might 25 be referenced in the grid?

4. We should assume that the 25 is referring to 25 of the 26 letters of the alphabet, and I did happen to shoehorn J, Q, X, and Z into the grid.

5. I wonder which letter didn't bother to show.

6. Then - and this might have been your first instinct - note that opposite TWENTYFIVE is FIFTYFIFTY. If we translate that into corresponding Roman numerals, we should get the letters that didn't show up!

7. Per the clue for FIFTYFIFTY, those two letters are "right down the center" of our title (which is presumed to be a magazine due to the spanner).

8. And not only is the letter (which we should now have) missing from the entire grid, only two clues contain this letter as well! (All other letters are also present at least once in the clues.)

9. Bringing us full circle, we can see that these two letters must be in the clues because they are necessary for the main mechanism.

Have fun, haha. The next two puzzles are already made, and they're each a Level 1 (I promise).

See you on Tuesday for the reveal!

Mikey G

[MatthewL]

Solved! Needed spoilers 3 and 7 to get this. Oh well -- looking forward to some easier ones (assuming Mikey keeps his promise).

[Cap'n Rick]

Great job, @MikeyG! Loved the complexity and, of course, the symmetry.

[hoover]

Just saw this. Don't post the answer yet!

I presume nudges are allowed, of course! (Just don't use them!!)

Nudges would be welcomed. Maybe I'm the only straggler, maybe not.

[DrTom]

I looked and looked at this one and kept feeling I had seen it before. Well turns out I had, Mikey asked me to test solve/evaluate a while back and I did. I liked it the and I like it now. Fun puzzle Mikey!

[Darth]

Another super puz by Mikey! 8-)

[hoover]

Ohhhhhhh.... I needed a bunch of nudges. Well executed!

[MikeyG]

Puzzle #50 recap

Puzzle #50 answer: ELLE

Correct entries: 42 (about right for a Level 3; it seems the formula is roughly 70 - 10x, where x is the level of the puzzle).



I'm not sure which came first: the mechanism or the eggs. Depends on how you want to parse this one, so here was the intended pathway for each:

Mechanism

Admittedly, this mechanism alone would likely get us to at least a Level 3.5 or 4, and by itself, it might be a bit too simple to be a full-fledged puzzle (so SAD).

And, you can state it in two sentences: There are four palindromic entries in the grid. Their clues' initial letters spell ELLE, the contest answer. This is reinforced by the spanner referencing magazines (it's a bit dangling, to be honest, so I would like to have incorporated that in a more meaningful way, in retrospect). This also coalesces with the title, as these are the only four entries that - when read "back" - are the same.

Easter Egg

I actually like the egg a bit more here. There are certainly more inspired ways to clue TWENTY-FIVE than just "XXV," and then there's a seemingly ridiculously unhelpful comparison to "XXVI," which is the oh-so-beautiful 26, signaling letters of the alphabet.

And, indeed, I was able to shoehorn in the "big four" of Scrabbulous wonder: J, Q, X, and Z into the grid, and I don't do that very often (though I certainly could to practice my pangrammatic skills). If we scour the rest of the grid, 25 of the 26 letters make it in...with the exception of the very commonplace "L," so something seems up.

In fact, if we then translate FIFTY-FIFTY into corresponding Roman numerals, we get LL, which is "right down the center" (per the clue for FIFTY-FIFTY) of ELLE, also confirmed by the spanner.

And not only are there no "L"s in the grid, the only two "L"s to appear anywhere in the clues are in the two clues for MAAM ("Ladies' title") and TOOT ("Loud sound from a tugboat"), which are necessary for the main mechanism to occur.

Half-Century Mark

And, indeed, this is a fitting for Meta #50, as the meta answer ELLE is a homonym of the Roman numeral for 50.

See you on Saturday for a Level 1 meta! Thanks, as always, for solving!

Mikey G

[KayW]

A very clever metanism and love the Easter egg. Congratulations - and many thanks - for reaching your silver metaversary. Looking forward to many more!