XWord Muggles Forum

Ahoy, Muggles!

Happy New Year, everyone! I just watched the ball drop, gave Mrs. Cap'n a kiss, watched the Boston fireworks across Broad Sound, and now I'm posting my first meta puzzle of 2024! Life is great, isn't it!? I got the idea for this one while recently at the optometrist's office. Surprisingly, my eyesight actually improved since my last visit, which I guess is somewhat common among us folks "of a certain age". Hopefully my good experience with eye chart resolution will carry over to my 2024 New Year's resolutions. We'll just have to wait and "see"! I'd like to thank @Abide, @Al Sisti, @boharr, and @Joe Ross for pretesting and technical help.

The meta answer is a good look for solvers.

"I Can See Clearly Now" - Crosshare

"I Can See Clearly Now" - PUZ

"I Can See Clearly Now" - PDF

"I Can See Clearly Now" - Spreadsheet




Difficulty
I think this one will play harder than usual. I'm calling it "A Bit Choppy", but a few anxious surfers are surveying the conditions from the parking lot.
Nudges are here.
Solution is here.

Good luck!
Cap'n Rick

Note: I'll be traveling this week, but I'll do my best to keep up with postings and PMs.

Thanks to @Cap'n Rick for getting MMM off to a fresh year!

Now that Will is back on Sunday, the SSS will go on hiatus.

Well, you can guess what kind of New Year’s Eve we’re having at my house. Hoorah for a meta puzzle!

Couch has been vacated! Happy new year, everyone!

OTC with a shove in the right direction. Very nicely done, Cap’n! Great start to the new year!

I have come up with so many great mechanisms that could be inspired by this title and/or a trip to the optometrist! Unfortunately, none of them work on THIS puzzle….

Meg wrote: ↑Mon Jan 01, 2024 11:15 am OTC with a shove in the right direction. Very nicely done, Cap’n! Great start to the new year!

HeadinHome wrote: ↑Mon Jan 01, 2024 12:10 pm I have come up with so many great mechanisms that could be inspired by this title and/or a trip to the optometrist! Unfortunately, none of them work on THIS puzzle….

Hmm, maybe my eyesight isn't as good as I thought. Upon further reflection, that eye chart may have looked like this:

HeadinHome wrote: ↑Mon Jan 01, 2024 12:10 pm I have come up with so many great mechanisms that could be inspired by this title and/or a trip to the optometrist! Unfortunately, none of them work on THIS puzzle….

What she said....

Hmm, nearly 4:00 ET, and still only a handful of solvers. Either folks are still recovering from late-night New Year's Eve parties, or this meta is harder than expected. Before Mrs. Cap'n and I head out on the road tomorrow, let me offer up a special New Year's Day nudge to help get this party started!

I hope the weather is nice for travel tomorrow - not too wet!

Finally! The hint helped. Still had to back solve for one letter. Very nice Cap'n!

Actually figured what the nudge was, but was missing some letters. Like @hcbirker, had to backsolve for the last one (I'll bet it was the same one). Thanks for the puzzle, Rick!

OTC though I was stuck on the couch for much of the day. Meg patiently dragged me off the couch but it was still quite an effort to stand up!

I hear what the nudge is telling me but I must be applying it wrong because I still have jibberish. Getting some help from other solvers to help me see more clearly. (UPDATE - gently nudged into a different but similar tack. Got it.)

OTC with the New Year's Day nudge - thanks for the puzzle (and the nudge), @Cap'n Rick! Happy new year, and I look forward to many more of your puzzles in 2024

HeadinHome wrote: ↑Mon Jan 01, 2024 10:02 pm I hear what the nudge is telling me but I must be applying it wrong because I still have jibberish. Getting some help from other solvers to help me see more clearly.

What she said...again! I thought this a long time ago but the application did not make sense then and it doesn't now, obviously I am NOT seeing clearly.

Leaderboard

Well, it's official - it's a harder than average meta. Despite the fact that several folks have completed the grid (Crosshare says 132 so far), we only have a dozen solvers including testers:

Abide (TS)
Al Sisti (TS)
boharr (TS)
benchen71
Cindy Weatherman
Meg
Hector
DIS
hcbirker
MatthewL
lbray53
MarkWoychick

Before I hit the road, let me leave you with another subtle nudge:

You've seen this mechanism before in "one" of my earlier metas.

Good luck! More nudges tomorrow!

Edit: Emphasis added to "Roadtrip Nudge" above...

OTC!

Fun! Though I needed a nudge.

Thanks, Cap’n! HNY!

Got it now, thanks to a great nudge (From Meg… did not look at the second posted nudge yet). I was doing something very close to the right thing, but backwards, sort of (which ALSO would have made a great mechanism… I’m writing all these down in my handy-dandy notebook of stuff I can do after I retire, page titled “metanisms to make a puzzle from”).

OTC.

Great puzzle and a real mind tonic for the new year. Took forever and needed a MEGa nudge, but arrived at the destination with a clearly novel use of the language. Thanks Rick!

Now I am interested to see the "Son of Clearly" by HeadinHome! The MEOW would welcome it Wendy - I'm just sayin.

DrTom wrote: ↑Tue Jan 02, 2024 9:35 am Now I am interested to see the "Son of Clearly" by HeadinHome! The MEOW would welcome it Wendy - I'm just sayin.

I would be deeply grateful to have that kind of down-time in my schedule right now. But I look forward to it, some day!