This was another night-time meta idea that survived the cold light of day. That said, constructing the grid was far harder than I anticipated which has probably upped the difficulty slightly. There are definitely some unusual entries in this grid! But I love this metanism, so hopefully you get as much joy out of it as me! The answer to the meta is a two-word phrase. Answer & explanation: https://www.xword-muggles.com/viewtopic.php?p=145475#p145475
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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Leaderboard (updated hourly)
Laura M solved 2023-10-17T07:48:16.439Z
Berto solved 2023-10-17T10:31:01.871Z
Alex Sisti solved 2023-10-17T13:10:47.160Z
KayW solved 2023-10-17T13:32:58.124Z
Hector solved 2023-10-17T13:40:58.817Z
SamKat9 solved 2023-10-17T14:54:41.052Z
DebbieC solved 2023-10-17T15:13:17.782Z
imontoo solved 2023-10-17T15:31:14.928Z
Ergcat solved 2023-10-17T15:59:05.702Z
merlinnimue solved 2023-10-17T16:42:26.926Z
heidi solved 2023-10-17T17:02:23.738Z
MatthewL solved 2023-10-17T18:17:23.237Z
boharr solved 2023-10-17T19:52:22.679Z
markhr solved 2023-10-17T19:54:09.359Z
kurtalert solved 2023-10-17T20:05:15.524Z
Meg solved 2023-10-17T20:45:34.731Z
Cindy Weatherman solved 2023-10-17T20:57:17.913Z
CPJohnson solved 2023-10-17T22:13:30.981Z
JM solved 2023-10-17T23:05:46.982Z
Katiedid solved 2023-10-18T01:50:51.167Z
Darrell solved 2023-10-18T03:44:05.821Z
Cindy Heisler solved 2023-10-18T12:59:15.489Z
I K Snamhcok solved 2023-10-18T15:12:40.579Z
Alvibu67 solved 2023-10-18T19:34:36.864Z
woozy solved 2023-10-18T22:42:47.095Z
Mr Tex solved 2023-10-18T23:40:36.226Z
MrTheHan solved 2023-10-18T23:46:42.749Z
SeamusOL solved 2023-10-19T00:00:16.672Z
Carolyn solved 2023-10-19T00:22:51.324Z
DrTom solved 2023-10-19T04:28:26.389Z
lbray53 solved 2023-10-19T11:05:35.424Z
Mg305 solved 2023-10-19T11:29:22.545Z
DCBilly solved 2023-10-19T14:50:52.300Z
Darth solved 2023-10-19T16:07:17.054Z
rjy solved 2023-10-19T16:56:19.320Z
hoover solved 2023-10-19T17:40:32.916Z
Jaclyn solved 2023-10-20T01:39:21.159Z
Tyrpmom solved 2023-10-20T03:53:59.567Z
Sharkicicles solved 2023-10-21T18:29:22.158Z
Gutman solved 2023-10-22T01:13:39.819Z
Mikey G solved 2023-10-22T05:59:05.474Z
Peter Abide solved 2023-10-22T22:33:47.324Z
Tane solved 2023-10-24T04:07:46.554Z
iceman solved 2023-10-25T15:30:26.818Z
Qmark solved 2024-03-02T19:31:36.500Z
Comments
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Laura M 🤓7:06 · 2023-10-17T07:55:40.002Z
Very nice! I had to unscramble the pieces before I could understand the ordering (down->up, right->left).
That was necessary in order to have MAGNETS function as the meta hint and as part of the mechanism!
Berto 6:35 · 2023-10-17T10:35:10.672Z
Didn’t see it at first, had some horizontal N—S entries messing with the magnetic field, but the answer came to me in a bout of insomnia and I was able to back/down/up solve! Great puzzle, thanks Ben!
Yes, it's the opposite of what you might have expected!
Hector 🤓8:44 · 2023-10-17T14:41:17.116Z
All in flux until backsolving got me there. Thanks!
DebbieC 12:14 · 2023-10-17T15:14:43.667Z
Well, I entered the first thing that popped into my head after finishing the grid, based only on MAGNETS and POLES APART. Now I have to backsolve.....
SamKat9 🤓12:08 · 2023-10-17T14:58:13.406Z
Very clever mechanism, it stumped me for a bit! Thanks for the fun puzzle!
imontoo 2s · 2023-10-17T15:32:12.724Z
Enjoyed it. Thanks, Ben!
Ergcat 🤓12:32 · 2023-10-17T15:59:33.945Z
I liked that meta-mismatch too! Thanks, Ben!
merlinnimue 🤓7:20 · 2023-10-17T16:53:22.243Z
i too had to randogram the pieces before backsolving the metanism... genius as always, way above my $0 paygrade
(i know i should sit quietly and just appreciate the boundless wellspring of amazingly clever ideas you geniuses come up with, but i still desperately wish i had anything to offer anyone in return, even one tiny speck of an ill-formed idea... alas its just not to be i guess)
MatthewL 🤓8:16 · 2023-10-17T18:20:42.167Z
I knew this had to be the answer, but it took me a while to see the mechanism. Very clever! Also liked the way you snuck in yet another cryptic-type clue at 19D. Guess you didn't use them all up last week. Thanks for the puzzle, Ben!
I was initially down the rabbit hole of looking at grid answers that only contained NSEW. But there weren't enough of those to make any sense.
Then, the magnet answer got me into just N/S. I noticed enough words that had both N and S in them, and figured that was the correct path. I got a little bit sidetracked at that point because I was including the horizontal N-S entries, but fortunately my brain saw the PO/IS/OP entries and magically expanded & anagrammed it to OPPOSITE, and the answer was pretty obvious from there.
Now, knowing that it's only vertical entries, and that they're pieced together Down to Up, Right to Left... the OPPOSITE of what we're always used to doing... it's even more incredible.
A wildly clumsy solve for me- I'm fairly stunned that I actually got here. I rarely escape rabbit holes!
Did this on my computer (as opposed to my phone, on which I can doodle), so I just used an anagram solver. Was thiiiis close to guessing "crappiest tattoos" or maybe "petticoat pastors". OK not really, but the alternates gave me a chuckle.
I got the general idea quickly but tried way too long, because of magnets, to do POS and NEG. I did see several POS and OPS ang could finagle NEGS but never thought of N and S until much later. Nice one Ben
lbray53 2s · 2023-10-19T11:14:52.388Z
I found the letters for POLES connected in jumbles in the upper right and lower right quadrants. SO apart! But, alas, no others.
I had the correct letters all written down. I found ARTIST which was wrong but that made it easier to see OPPOSITES. Backsolved to see the elegance. Brilliant.
Hints told me I was on the right track and encouraged me to keep going.