Explanation: Six symmetric 6-letter words follow the pattern of having one single letter, one double letter, and one triple letter: TEETER, SALSAS, FARRAR, MAMMAL, PEPPER, INNING. Form a 3-letter word from each of these using the letters that appear, respectively, once, twice, and thrice in the word: RTE, LAS, FAR, LAM, REP, GIN. Play alternates with their clues in the grid: ISL, DOS, ICY, DOT, IMG, TEA, whose initial letters spell out the exclamation "I DID IT!" Note, of course, that exclamation also follows the pattern of 1-2-3! (Gee, I wonder which puzzle number this was.)
I did it and I liked it! ( : So some false fires were: finding ALL the entries that have just 3 letters (omitting the 3-letter entries of course)… EELER, AMAT, OLEOLE… but the other 6 were symmetrically placed so I eventually ruled those out. Then was thinking that we should take the three letters and find a 3-letter entry that has 2 of those but one different: tea for TER , etc. (but several would be able to share one of those, so no good). Then saw that ARFS offers all the letters in FAR but adds one, but that was the only one like that (I think), so gave that up. Then saw that PEARLS combines two of them (SAL and PER)… but found just one of those. Then saw that STEELTRAP combines two of them (TERSAL) with the addition of one letter (p), so maybe that’s where the letters come from? Nope. All these dead ends. In the end, the giveaway was LAM, which actually was my first thought when I read the clue “On the ___”. FAR (distant) fell quickly after, and then it was on. The hardest one for me was REP (I had PER written down, so was looking for that meaning somewhere… had to backsolve to get IMG. So fun — thanks!
First, it was calculating 6!/(3! * 2!) to realize there are 20 patterns, such as AAABBC or ABABCA. Then, I had to put in every one of the 20 patterns manually into a cryptogram solver. Then, I had to remember the order that would give the three-letter arrangement (so, for ABABCA, I'd have to scan the 543 block and see if it spelled anything). When I DID IT came up, I shelved that for a cool revealer - so that was serendipitous. Had about 15 of these (one I can remember that didn't make it in included COCOON/NCO; it looks like I overrode the notepad, though!), which is how I spent one evening a few months back, haha. Then played around with alternates - the IMG/REP was the last to drop, I think. Actually, no reason that the alternates had to be 3 letters long! But the first few were, and I just went with it for consistency's sake.
Wow, I stand corrected because I said, "it probably was not that hard to build", it was a thunderclap of genius, bu tthe back work must have been a slog. Luckily there were not a lot of U, K, V or Q words.
So did you put EVERY combination in, like ABBCCC, BAACCC, CBBAAA, CAABBB, ACCBBB, etc. If so I am surprised this is not waiting to come out in 2028!
Very clever! This puzzle is practically perfect in every way.
ELSavage 🤓5:38 · 3 months ago
Very satisfying! Thanks for a great puzzle. The title was key - as is often the case for me.
And then, the classic "there has to be a better answer for this clue."
I love the "alternates" sub-mechanism; I think the first time I saw that on MGWCC, my mind was completely blown. I don't put it in all the time, but I try to honor it time and time again!
Carolyn 2s · 3 months ago
Excellent puzzle
rjy 1s · 3 months ago
I’m so glad I come in and read Mikey’s explanations… there’s always an extra bit of creativity or artfulness in these puzzles that often blows me away. Kudos!
Bbaack 18:30 · 3 months ago
Great mechanism and I love it when the submechanism is the alternate answer type. Thanks for the fun!
Very nice. Got too caught up for a while on focusing on what letter changed between the first half of each of these words and the second half- teEteR, saLsaS, FarRar, maMmaL, pePpeR, inNinG... each word featured the same sort of symmetry with regards to only 1 letter differing.
hoover 3s · 3 months ago
Same here! And then I took those parts that didn't change and added a different letter to make a word in the grid. TEeTEr -> TEA. fARrAR -> MAR. MAmMAl -> MAR (uh oh). SAlSAs -> PSA (hmm).