Solving Really Hard Puzzles

Nov 24 2011 ≫

MGWCC 181: Where’s The Party?

Check Answer:

This week’s MGWCC took me over 90 minutes, as I danced all around the right method in two attempts.  I didn’t finish until early Tuesday morning.

By the way, this Thanksgiving Weekend I will be solving the Thankstravaganza and will try to blog the solves of some of the puzzles here. 

The MGWCC puzzle is here and my solving log is after the cut.

Log (strange format, tumblr is sucking):

  • 0:00:00 :: Solving puz, so a bit slower solving/blogging than usual…
  • 0:00:50 :: Looking for a 3-letter exclamation…interesting.
  • 0:01:05 :: 1a may be DIN, not sure
  • 0:01:57 :: 6d OWENS? (can’t blog every answer, just too slow changing apps)
  • 0:03:11 :: top left done via ONION IRON DIN ORE DOJO.
  • 0:05:28 :: bottom left: VOA IVANA NICKS ANTED SONIC ACHE ORRINHATCH
  • 0:09:50 :: left, bottom, filled in. stuck getting into center, top, top right, right.
  • 0:17:07 :: Stuck with lots of holes… 9a, 16, 20a,30a, 41a crossing 9d,12d,15d,21d,36d… hmmm
  • 0:18:32 :: 12d FINDS, 15a OMANI. 9d AMY
  • 0:19:03 :: 15d OBVERSE. 30a FABRIC, 21d EBB? no clue on 8d/20a or 36d/41a. (may have nearby things wrong.)
  • 0:20:18 :: But meta… starred entries are JOHN GLENN, EVAN BAYH, MIKE BEEBE across, LARRY CRAIG, ORRIN HATCH down.
  • 0:22:31 :: with the title, “WHERE’s THE PARTY”… we should get the parties for all 5?
  • 0:22:55 :: D, D, D across, R, R down. hmmm 4 have double letters.
  • 0:25:56 :: two vowel first names… so JEMLO… or just JEM for the democrats.
  • 0:30:56 :: ok, not all senators.. but they all have states…
  • 0:31:14 :: OH, IN, AR, ID, UT… weird that they all start with vowels?
  • 0:34:28 :: how are we getting 3 letters out of this? and how could we use these 5 answers? hmmm
  • 0:35:02 :: maybe we want the left-hand letters of the dems and the right-hand of the gop? so JEMGH or JEMYN or GBBGH … no
  • 0:40:21 :: DEM is in the puzzle (in DEMANDS…) but none of Ps are part of REP or GOP
  • 0:43:41 :: maybe DEIRDRE is important because it has D,I,R,D,R? probably not. especially since we don’t have an independent.
  • 0:44:05 :: something like JeELMOe… not that great. how about last names GeBHBCe … I don’t feel like I’m at all close.
  • 0:46:49 :: I bet DEE AURAS heading SW from 8 is nothing…
  • 0:52:00 :: The names kind of have letter sounds in them? (OH/EN)? AY? BEE? ARR? (OR/IN/ATCH.. maybe not)… NABRH
  • 0:53:34 :: Maybe silent letters? H, H, E, I, T… sort of.
  • 0:58:07 :: middle names/initials (reaching)… HERSCHEL, EVANS, DALE, EDWIN, GRANT. so, HEDGE? doesn’t seem to mean much.
  • 1:03:22 :: Stopping for now. stumped.
  • 1:03:23 :: Ok, it’s Monday night (after midnight). Time to finish or fail.
  • 1:05:12 :: That DEIRDRE in the middle is suspicious… but it only has 2 each of D and R… and it must have been pretty forced since it’s wedged between EVAN and BAYH. maybe it’s nothing
  • 1:06:26 :: None of the clues mention states… kind of feels like states are important. That was OHIO, INDIANA, ARKANSAS, IDAHO, UTAH (again, all vowels)
  • 1:09:44 :: I want to put D and R after each name… but that doesn’t seem to do anything useful.
  • 1:15:12 :: So all the clues for guys have numbers… oh except Hatch. and is that 1234 54454 clue important? or just a way to clue BEEBE?
  • 1:16:09 :: If we take their names in that order, first inits: JEML OLLOL… maybe it’s LOL? (reaching, I know)
  • 1:16:46 :: Maybe there are some answers that can be changed D<->R or, DEM inserted for D and REP for R? or something.
  • 1:20:45 :: doesn’t look like it.
  • 1:25:24 :: There are only 3 U’s in the puzzle!… that’s not it.
  • 1:27:58 :: ordered by grid #, ID,OH,UT,IN,AR … I DO HUT IN AR… not a thing
  • 1:28:51 :: there’s an OH off JOHN GLENN (HOL)… there’s an ID off LARRY CRAIG (RID). There’s a RUT next to ORRIN HATCH
  • 1:30:05 :: There’s an AR off MIKE BEEBE (EAR in SEAR).
  • 1:30:36 :: Or just 3 letter entries in the grid with their party/states, like R-ID (RID, 22a)
  • 1:30:58 :: DAR, 38a, RUT, 43d. that’s 3. good sign.
  • 1:32:06 :: DIN, 1a. (duh). just missing DOH?
  • 1:32:31 :: oh, DOH. That’s probably the right answer. double checking that it’s not in the grid.
  • 1:33:04 :: ok, DOH it is! at 1:26am.

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