Safe Cracking (Meta)
■ · By benchen71 · Published 2023-11-08T05:00:33.062Z
Meta Prompt
The answer to the meta is a quotation of dubious origins
Here's another MEOW for you where the grid entries are all made up and the clues don't matter. That's right, the clues are like signatures on credit cards or bank websites that prevent you pasting your ID number - two excellent examples of security theatre! The answer to the meta is a quotation of dubious origins (whose line is it, anyway?)
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!
Checking for previous play data...
Leaderboard (updated hourly)
- Mr Tex solved 2023-11-08T06:26:15.340Z
- kurtalert solved 2023-11-08T13:10:02.078Z
- merlinnimue solved 2023-11-08T13:13:19.324Z
- Pair O Ducks solved 2023-11-08T14:40:19.060Z
- Hector solved 2023-11-08T17:58:15.399Z
- woozy solved 2023-11-08T18:01:38.031Z
- boharr solved 2023-11-08T18:24:36.494Z
- Meg solved 2023-11-08T18:56:39.169Z
- Cindy Weatherman solved 2023-11-08T20:14:04.826Z
- Sharkicicles solved 2023-11-08T20:26:58.391Z
- DIS solved 2023-11-08T20:52:29.508Z
- I K Snamhcok solved 2023-11-08T22:56:24.719Z
- DrTom solved 2023-11-08T23:22:43.172Z
- hoover solved 2023-11-09T06:28:41.434Z
- Ergcat solved 2023-11-09T19:17:01.048Z
- Darrell solved 2023-11-10T04:21:32.040Z
- Jaclyn solved 2023-11-10T22:23:57.233Z
- Johnny Luau solved 2023-11-10T22:34:50.539Z
- MatthewL solved 2023-11-10T22:58:04.529Z
- JM solved 2023-11-10T23:06:03.576Z
- KayW solved 2023-11-11T00:33:29.692Z
- ajk solved 2023-11-11T01:00:47.228Z
- whimsy solved 2023-11-11T01:01:28.795Z
- Berto solved 2023-11-11T01:40:40.595Z
- Laura M solved 2023-11-11T01:44:35.962Z
- Sasha Campbell solved 2023-11-11T07:51:00.926Z
- Cindy Heisler solved 2023-11-11T12:36:05.899Z
- Gutman solved 2023-11-11T13:12:48.426Z
- lbray53 solved 2023-11-11T14:57:41.413Z
- edestlin solved 2023-11-11T19:22:26.259Z
- SamKat9 solved 2023-11-12T00:05:45.035Z
- Eric Porter solved 2023-11-12T02:41:45.283Z
- HeadinHome solved 2023-11-12T04:26:06.482Z
- SeamusOL solved 2023-11-12T05:03:25.783Z
- Tyrpmom solved 2023-11-13T04:18:10.735Z
- Darth solved 2023-11-13T21:30:20.516Z
Comments
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- Hector 🤓1:24 · 2023-11-08T18:17:17.157ZWikipedia article concerning the quotation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutton%27s_law
- woozy 🤓2:09 · 2023-11-08T18:01:57.376ZVery very very cute.
- Hector 🤓1:24 · 2023-11-08T18:10:20.923ZWhew, an interestingly different kind of challenge. I ended up making a spreadsheet that would "turn the dials" given a three-number combination. But instead of running through the 480 combinations, I ended up maneuvering MONEY to be in reading order, and the rest fell in place in short order -- something I could easily have done without the spreadsheet. Thanks!
- Pair O Ducks 🤓22s · 2023-11-08T18:54:27.532ZI'm glad I'm not the only one to try spinning the rings through ALL the possibilities, I should have known Ben wouldn't be so cruel. I ROB BA... was what finally clicked it into place for me.
- Sharkicicles 1:44 · 2023-11-08T20:27:51.559ZHa, I wrote an iPhone app to be able to turn the dials by clicking. Probably took less time than doing it by hand!
- boharr 4s · 2023-11-08T18:29:05.670ZI don't understand this line in the intro: "clues are like signatures on credit cards or bank websites that prevent you pasting your ID number."
- benchen71 constructor · 2023-11-08T21:07:02.047ZIt's just part of my riff on the opening monologue from "Whose Line Is It Anyway".
- benchen71 constructor · 2023-11-08T21:29:51.288ZSo "signatures on credit cards" and "bank websites that prevent you pasting your ID number" are two examples of things that don't matter.
- boharr 4s · 2023-11-09T00:25:47.403ZAha. They are two things. Got it.
- DrTom 🤓1:39 · 2023-11-08T23:25:27.707ZFun, but frustrating. I figured one has to twirl the dials the right number of turns each way BUT, (1) I know the famous quote and (2) I know he did not say it really so I went with what I thought and then finally did a process of elimination (I kept putting THAT IS instead of THAT'S - should have known old WIllie didn't use the best English)
- benchen71 constructor · 2023-11-09T08:06:54.688Z... plus I needed to fit the quote into exactly 36 letters!
- DrTom 🤓1:39 · 2023-11-08T23:34:39.917ZI'm not completely sure how it was supposed to have been solved, but I see I got it exactly right, but backwards, with my first turn, I went 6 L with the outer dial (since there were 6 letters - so SIYENO on the top, and 4 R with the second - so EHTE there, and left the middle alone. Dumb luck obviously.
- benchen71 constructor · 2023-11-09T08:08:42.143ZI was assuming solvers would use trial and error. When you turn the outer "dial" 90 degrees clockwise, you get IROBBA; I was hoping people would see ROB and connect that to safe cracking!
- hoover 🤓2:24 · 2023-11-09T06:31:04.947ZBecause this is how I open combination locks, I went right first, then left, then was a little confused at having to turn the middle 180º.
- DrTom 🤓1:39 · 2023-11-09T19:52:16.040ZDitto, standard is R-L-R and I saw it COULD have been that way if the middle was slightly different. But, if you go R 6 spaces (the number of letters per side) then L4 spaces with the next “dial” and finally R 2 spaces with the last it all lines up to make the quote. I don’t know if that was intentional, to have the side letters be the number of “clicks” but it works it appears.
- MatthewL 3s · 2023-11-10T23:01:47.997ZFinally got it, but only with the nudges. Would never have thought to "turn the dials". But, with that nudge, saw "I ROB BA" in one row and it fell pretty easily after that. Thanks for the puzzle, Ben!
- ajk 1:07 · 2023-11-11T01:06:19.644ZAs usual I was kind of but not really doing the right thing pre nudges. Had the dials idea, but forgot the answer was a quotation so I was thinking about picking out certain letters after rotating a certain number of spaces in a L/R/L sequence or something. Fun idea, thanks.
- Laura M 🤓34s · 2023-11-11T01:47:04.881ZNice one! I had almost entirely the right idea but needed the hints because it seemed like there were too many combinations and I'd never get it, so I gave up... If I had stuck to multiples of 90 degrees I would have figured it out :-)
- SamKat9 🤓2:03 · 2023-11-12T00:06:15.495ZTricky one! I got it with nudges :). Thanks, Ben
- HeadinHome 🤓43s · 2023-11-12T04:29:14.001ZFINALLY! Just kept marching those letters around their circles and coming up with nothing! Not til I looked at the last nudge did I just get out some scissors and start turning the whole shapes (rather than move the letters around a random number of spaces, marquis style). I thought maybe the number of the puzzle (#154) was the combination! Wow that was challenging.
- Tyrpmom 12:05 · 2023-11-13T04:22:43.927ZI wonder how many times I did it right before reading the whole thing. Pitiful solving, but I did it!
1A
ACHEMS
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Across
- 1AACHEMS
- 3AETUK
- 5AWS
- 7AES
- 8AEHTE
- 9AINAARO
Down
- 1DABBORI
- 2DSIYENO
- 3DETHE
- 4DKSBE
- 5DWE
- 6DSS
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