This puzzle came to me as I tried to fall asleep one night. This sort of thing has happened before, and when I get up the next morning to construct the grid I very quickly discover that what my sleep-deprived brain thought would work, doesn't in fact hold together in the cold, hard, light of day. But this one actually did work, much to my surprise! Good luck finding the answer to the meta, which is a mathematician. Answer and explanation: https://www.xword-muggles.com/viewtopic.php?p=85385#p85385
Check out "The MOAT Mini Pack of Marching Bands" here: https://www.ephesusscroll.com/about/interest4.html. US$5 gets you 7 Marching Bands which, hard enough on their own, now contain metas too. And once again there's a mega-meta!
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oldjudge solved 2022-03-02T09:42:07.053Z
Shmuel Schmell solved 2022-03-02T10:22:01.577Z
Cindy Weatherman solved 2022-03-02T12:39:08.302Z
Wendy S HeadinHome solved 2022-03-02T13:08:22.540Z
DJB solved 2022-03-02T13:27:43.715Z
Meg solved 2022-03-02T13:36:37.204Z
BarbaraK solved 2022-03-02T13:37:37.140Z
Mwoychick solved 2022-03-02T13:56:57.333Z
Tom Wilson solved 2022-03-02T14:11:50.703Z
SJMcK solved 2022-03-02T14:32:39.732Z
Capn Rick solved 2022-03-02T14:52:08.052Z
I K Snamhcok solved 2022-03-02T14:58:39.624Z
Hector solved 2022-03-02T15:05:57.204Z
Chaddog solved 2022-03-02T15:50:07.284Z
RPardoe solved 2022-03-02T15:51:49.394Z
boharr solved 2022-03-02T15:57:43.137Z
rjy solved 2022-03-02T16:05:04.706Z
lbray53 solved 2022-03-02T16:05:55.863Z
DIS solved 2022-03-02T16:12:23.692Z
Cindy Heisler solved 2022-03-02T16:27:05.534Z
woozy solved 2022-03-02T16:59:02.232Z
cwillmore solved 2022-03-02T17:39:17.841Z
kymike solved 2022-03-02T17:53:58.822Z
Mike D solved 2022-03-02T17:57:37.129Z
Dave C solved 2022-03-02T17:58:30.625Z
whimsy solved 2022-03-02T18:16:17.712Z
Ergcat solved 2022-03-02T19:00:29.658Z
Jeremy Smith solved 2022-03-02T19:14:53.240Z
Johnny Luau solved 2022-03-02T19:29:39.625Z
Laura M solved 2022-03-02T20:42:14.243Z
DrTom solved 2022-03-02T21:01:27.194Z
jasonwestley solved 2022-03-02T21:48:07.131Z
Gutman solved 2022-03-02T23:09:00.878Z
Berge solved 2022-03-02T23:28:18.728Z
Golem solved 2022-03-03T01:00:02.319Z
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Tyrpmom solved 2022-03-03T05:32:47.876Z
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dot solved 2022-03-03T07:11:50.835Z
MamaEllen solved 2022-03-03T07:46:06.686Z
Idriss Z solved 2022-03-03T17:14:47.299Z
KayW solved 2022-03-03T17:48:41.184Z
BrennerTJ solved 2022-03-03T23:15:40.501Z
vandono solved 2022-03-05T04:52:02.343Z
Dow Jones solved 2022-03-06T02:42:06.860Z
LisaT solved 2022-03-07T14:12:54.864Z
Charles Montpetit solved 2022-03-08T16:56:11.296Z
SporcleMirror solved 2022-05-03T07:54:44.444Z
Darrell solved 2022-08-05T22:56:10.475Z
Comments
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Wendy S HeadinHome 22:03 · 2022-03-02T13:14:54.166Z
That was challenging! Grid was tough, but following the directions took some brain fuel too (more coffee!). Once I figured out where to start (clever clues!), I was able to get around correctly for the most part (with one brief hiccup that had me sure we were starting PTOLEMY… but that map took me nowhere - ha ha). Back on track when I re-thought that second clue.
I still don’t know where the last letter comes from. Will wait to see the reveal to figure out what I missed! I am NOT a maths fan, but this was fun!
I K Snamhcok 2s · 2022-03-02T14:59:14.694Z
Beauty! My wife, a retired math teacher, helped me get started.
My first answer - knowingly incorrect - was PYTHAGOROA. Unless I misstepped, following the slope from G thru the origin and then continuing to complete the right triangle, you go over 2 down 1 to R, over 2 down 1 to O, over 2 down 1 to A. Not sure what the more precise path would have been for the last two letters: pAStas or pastAS? Or maybe I was completely off and still stumbled into the correct answer??
Anyhoo - once again, a clever concept... thanks Ben!
To pick up the R-A-S, you complete the triangle shape. The A is at one vertex, and the S is collected heading back towards the starting P.
rjy 21:32 · 2022-03-03T02:45:27.057Z
Aaaaaah, I didn't consider that it was the S on the way back. My bad, but still a very cool concept, Ben. Thanks for explaining!
woozy 11:58 · 2022-03-05T23:33:04.379Z
Okay.... wait... Let me see if I've got this? The triangle has the three vertices of 1) the G at 23, 2) the A where pastAs intersects kenyA, and 3) the H at 54. We are to start at the P at 59 (as the origin is to O in MOI, so the P at 59 is (2,-3)). we skip the blank square to get the Y at 58, we skip over the A to get the T and 57. Now I misunderstood the instructions and that when you said "Three squares" that you meant we had done three squares and not that we were to skip three more square (blank, the G at 56, the E at 55) to land on the H at 54. That was on me and my mistake. But now the instructions are "You have (gone) through one of these, so jump up to the other one". I am supposed to interpret this as we go up the second side at a right angle? and go to the A where xAxis meets galAs? How was I suppose to interpret it that way? Because the "one of these" refers to y axis so I have to jump to the x axis which is an A directly above me? Then I continue going two squares to the G. I suppose if I know I am supposed to be spelling PYTHAGORAS and I had managed to interpret instruction 3 (which I could only do through the most obscure back-solving) it works. Step 5 Visiting the origin was clear that we had to go to the O in MOI but it was hard to figure out how that find in with in any of the paths we were doing. It only works after I back engineered step 3 and realize our start point, the P and (2,-3) was NOT a vertex of the triangle at all. Then continuing the slope of the hypotenuse of -1/2 and going right 2 and down 1 the next two letters are R, A and we are now at the third vertex, the A where pastAs intersect kenyA. The final S is to go left to fill in the missing spot on the first side (the S in paSta). Is that correct?
I think so. Apologies if step 3 was less clear than it might have been. But yes, since you have already stopped on the yaxis, you now have to go directly up and stop on the xaxis. Having both these words in the grid was doubly significant: they indicate the grid system, but they both provide a letter for the answer.
I still don't even know where to start. Luckily crosshare is lenient.
Chaddog 19:46 · 2022-03-02T15:54:06.802Z
Great idea, Ben! I definitely backsolved to see where the last few letters come from. All in all, fun puzzle
RPardoe 🤓1:23 · 2022-03-02T15:52:24.032Z
Guessed the answer after 2 letters, now to do the actual solve.
DIS 🤓6:54 · 2022-03-02T16:14:15.780Z
Very nicely done! Great to see a math puzzle.
Cindy Heisler 2s · 2022-03-02T16:28:27.374Z
Amazing that some of my past math knowledge actually stuck with me! Nice one.
woozy 11:58 · 2022-03-02T17:02:47.173Z
Fun puzzle and enjoyable. But to be honest I couldn't follow your instructions past the second step. But the answer was very clear once you had the first four letters.
Same, and I still don't quite understand the 2nd step...
whimsy 15:27 · 2022-03-02T18:23:41.348Z
A little dicey for me at the end but close enough to get there! Thanks, Ben!
Johnny Luau 2s · 2022-03-02T19:30:05.272Z
Very clever!
Laura M 🤓10:12 · 2022-03-02T20:49:42.632Z
Very nicely constructed! Although I agree with another commenter that I didn't quite see how the last two letters were supposed to work. The rest of the letters were enough though... actually the first two letters were enough :-)
Charles Montpetit 🤓1:39 · 2022-03-08T18:20:00.840Z
I had absolutely no problem with 28a's clue, because I interpreted it to mean "You have already gone right through one A (between the Y and the T), so you must now go straight up to another A (in X-AXIS).
2. Go left, jumping one, then another, and then ___ squares, collecting letters as you go
14A
Objective
15A
Actor who sang a duet with Nicole entitled "Come What May"
16A
Movie about Keyser Soze, "The ___ Suspects"
17A
"Ah yes, but does it pass the ___?"
19A
One of a 1492 trio
20A
What there are eight of in a coxed eight
21A
Jennifer Lopez hit, "___ Funny"
22A
Feature of marriages between older men and (much) younger women
26A
Shrill bark
28A
3. You have ___ through one of these, so jump up to the other one
29A
Parts of an Eisenhower Jacket that are wide
30A
Got together
32A
Musk of SpaceX fame
33A
Scottish author, ___ M. Banks, of "The Culture" series of sci-fi novels
36A
Tennis player, Naomi ___
41A
Horizontal graph line
43A
Miss Piggy's favourite pronoun
44A
Thesaurus author
45A
Thus far
46A
"Are you ___ out?" (Charlie's question to Rob in "High Fidelity")
48A
Late-night host, Jay ___
49A
Brain scan, for short
51A
Word derived from a name
53A
4. Continue moving in the same direction, jumping two squares to land on ___
57A
What to put sugar in, according to the old song "Drill, Ye Tarriers, Drill"
59A
Rigatoni and linguini, for two
60A
The one with the seven evil exes in "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" (and a really cool song by Beck)
62A
Elvis' middle name
64A
Bring together
65A
Being
70A
Legal wrongs
71A
Sigourney Weaver movie, "Gorillas in the ___"
72A
Bro and sis
73A
5. Of course you need to ___ the Origin
74A
Takes advantage of
75A
6. Follow the shape you have been creating, collecting the ___ 9 across letters of the answer as you go (because, by now you must know what the answer is!)
Down
1D
British sports cars
2D
Long, long time (US spelling)
3D
Deep red-brown Pacific sea bream, eaten as a delicacy in Japan
4D
"Alien Life Form" (for short)
5D
Fraternity founded at NYU in 1847
6D
Oft-painted porcelain jug
7D
Impertinent
8D
Substance originally used as a yellow dye (its potential as an explosive was not recognized for three decades, mainly because it was too difficult to detonate)
9D
Indigenous Brazilian people group, one of the most numerous before colonisation
10D
Founder of the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist order, ___ Yun
11D
Bryan Adams song, "___ You"
12D
Dine at home
13D
Delight
18D
Young horse
21D
Imitate
22D
Disembodied voice of Amazon devices
23D
Black-tie affairs
24D
Strong adhesive
25D
Robin Williams' "Aladdin" character
27D
Prenatal test, for short
31D
Craggy peak
34D
Friend, south of the border, down Mexico way
35D
Lithium-___ battery
37D
Shredding opportunities, for a lead guitarist
38D
Maxwell Smart, for example
39D
Country in which you can find the Great Rift Valley
40D
Building blocks of everything
42D
Ile ___-Helene, an island in the St. Lawrence river
47D
Shares again, on social media
50D
Greek vowel
52D
Emulate a hot dog
53D
"Impractical Jokers" airer
54D
Mathematical puzzle, "Towers of ___" (that has a nifty recursive solution, if you're interested)
55D
Dubai dignitaries
56D
Titular role for Travolta in which he played a mob boss in a movie that was nominated for six Razzies
58D
Vertical graph line
61D
Bird's construction
63D
Numerator in the gradient formula
65D
Bird on the Australian coat of arms
66D
Subj. for immigrants, often
67D
"My Big Fat Greek Wedding" writer, ___ Vardalos (and did you know there's a third movie planned?)