The Measure Of A Meta (Meta)

This is my 250th meta, just in case you were wondering about the significance of the number.

Huh, today I learned that while Australia DOES have cups, they're not the same size as US cups? Absolutely wild. I was very confused why the answer was 236.6, and even more so when it wasn't accepted even after trying a variety of decimal places. 250 sure is a nicer number anyway! Congrats on 250 metas, Ben!

I tried all manner of “cup” > #ML ratios before following directions in 1down. must read things in asterisks

Tricky for me. Didn’t know there was a metric cup measurement. Thanks, Ben. Really needed the brain distraction today!

I thought that number might be significant! Congrats, Ben! Here's to your next 250 metas! Cheers! :D

My first Google yielded 237. I had no idea that a cup is not a cup is not a cup.

Congrats. A quarter of a metric quart (liter) -- makes sense. Are there any other metric measures that are not based only on factors of 10?

I first entered 240, but figured perhaps a rounder number would be better. Congrats on the 250th!!

Add me to the list of people trying 237, 236, 236.6, 236.588, and then even subtracting 1 from each because we already have 1ml and just need (236, 235, 235,6, 235,588) more! Also my first guesses were 946+ because I was converting from 4 cups.

Congrats, Ben, on reaching such an impressive milestone. (I won't do the math on how many of those metas I DIDN'T solve, but I'm selfishly looking forward to many more!)

Tried all sorts of combinations before finally finding a Google entry that said "Yes, 250 milliliters (mL) is the same as one cup in some countries, but it depends on the measuring cup and the country." Figured it was an Aussie thing again. Who knew? Thanks for the puzzle, Ben!

WOW! Happy SEMIQUINCENTENNIAL or BISESQUICENTENNIAL or whatever you call it in Australia. Very impressive by any measure! And count me in the 237 and every permutation thereof camp for the first dozen or so entries I tried. Even google is US-centric.

Had to flail to get 250. But googling various informal recipe conversions I stumbled on the correct incorrect answer rather than a correct incorrect answer of 236.8

Yup -- I had it to three decimal points. Are you certain this isn't merely your 236.588th meta construction, Ben? In any case, as they say, Good on you! -- and many thanks for the puzzles!

Well that was an exercise in perseverance. I knew it was mL to CUP, but then to do the "OK, a cup is 250 mL" (because of course for the obstinate Yanks it is 237-240). I went in all KINDS of ways, Kilocalorie (since I saw ICAL and that could be 1 CAL or because we were talking metric, and temperature and SPECIFIC, the amount of heat to raise 1 liter of water 1 degree centigrade at sea level and is abbreviated C), 946.35 (ounces, very specifically, in 4 cups of water). I also looked for "Relative of a guinea pig" and "Vacation aim", or similar to find a 4 letter word. In the end it was obvious, although it might be argued that it could be 249 since it is 1 mL short of a cup (because you removed 1 mL). Enjoyed it though, after I got it.

Thanks Ben

It would appear I was in good company in my confusion. As with all the others, congrats on 250!

Seeing CUP took forever… not sure why. It was the saucer one that finally did it, and I did indeed have an AHA moment. I submitted a lot of numbers, based on google answers. Apparently it’s not a straightforward question, how many MLs in a cup? Thanks, Ben!

Spotted the MLs pre-nudges, but would never have connected this. With nudge 4 I of course spotted that CUP could swap in for ML, but then I went off looking for alts for the new words, thinking there would be another step. Didn't expect the answer to be explicitly given in the nudge. Eventually I caught on though. Fun concept, thanks.

As with Meg, I was thrown off because Mr. Google told me there were 237 mls in a cup.

As with others, getting CUP was easy, getting the exact ratio you wanted was a bit harder!

Congrats! No nudges; no wrong guesses; no peeking at Forum