I am waiting for the Eureka! moment…
Not getting anywhere with this one, despite synonym googling.
I figured I had to be, but it’s not like there’s only one A and one B that can match up.
Hmm, the only extra letters I’m sure of in row G are an A (between columns 2 and 3) and a B (between 23 and 24). That seems significant.
Some fresh new businesses are those that deliver packages with fruit treats (8)
Robot Arm, reread your own spoilers. You got this.
Okay, so 11D is FOES (but I’m not sure why) and GA is SOLES. And A and B are the only extra letters in row G, so that’s probably what the folding instructions refer to. Now, if I fold those together, I get:
AS
O
S__N
P__E
AW_
CORS
ELET
I’m still missing something.
You are not missing anything. You are just not seeing it. Again, reread your very accurate spoiler.
Well, I can fold the puzzle so the top row of the grid says ALPHABETAMOS, but nothing jumps out at me when I do. The rest of the grid doesn’t spell out anything. I’m even looking at the blank squares to see if they take on some interesting shape when the puzzle is folded. So far, no joy.
You are right. The grid does not spell out anything. I don’t know what to say that will not just give it away, but… reread your spoiler again. And again. Your are really dead on, more than you know.
Don’t worry or look for the ALPHABETAMOS angle. That’s not it. What *else * might it be?
Fold page, drop jaw (4)
Eureka.
Congrats, **Robot Arm **. I am still amazed at how well the gimmick was disguised. Like you, I solved the whole puzzle without seeing or even suspecting the trick, despite having been a huge fan of that magazine growing up. A very hard puzzle, but worth the effort.
Now if you could tell me how to solve Bluebeard’s Castle. I got the keys (I think), I have used the keys correctly in room 7, (I think)… yet I cannot get the answer from that room.
[spoiler]I made the last post after discovering how the fold worked. There were a few new clues to work through, but they fell quickly enough.
I hadn’t actually done the fold before. I was looking for an answer within the puzzle grid, so I just held the paper together and looked at what words it might make. I wasn’t sure where the fold should go, so I didn’t crease the paper.
Oddly, the breakthrough came when I was not even looking at the puzzle. I was in bed last night and I realized the puzzle title “Middle of the Road” could be folded in to make “Mad”, so maybe what I was looking for wasn’t in the grid after all.[/spoiler]And can you explain 11D, Repel endless group of fighters standing opposite?
I’ll take a crack at it, but at the rate I go on these things don’t expect to hear from me before Christmas.
Here are the clues from this thread for which I do not see an answer yet. Have I missed anything-- either an unsolved clue or an answer already given?
+++++
Pitching ace, king was her mistake (7)
First ban literature, music, and painting, then finish with a restriction for a movie featuring returning Rat Packer. (4,5)
Way of measuring poor opinion entirely misguided (7, 4)
House? Yes, for Russian exclave in Africa! (7)
Some fresh new businesses are those that deliver packages with fruit treats (8)
SDMB opponent stealthily canoeing around river (9)
Fold page, drop jaw (4)
Crazy fellow found in stamp store (10)
+++++
And once more a link to that awful “Bluebeard’s Castle” puzzle… Please someone help!
Bluebeard’s Castle
GAPE
Ne’er-do-well letter addition keeps the thread alive (5)
Well, I’ve made one pass through the clues and made more progress than I expected; got maybe 25%-30%, which is pretty good for me without any crossing letter to help out. I filled the Floor Plan answers into the grid, but I don’t have enough in one area to start making any of the Plot answers yet.
One thing I did notice; if I add up the number of letters in the Plot answers, it’s more than the number of squares in the grid. Either the Plot crosses over itself and uses some squares more than once, or those answers become the secret words within the rooms in the grid. The instructions say “the completed grid is fully checked”, I wonder if that means that the Plot traverses every square in the grid.
I’m making progress on Bluebeard’s Castle. Got the grid not quite half filled in, and I see where it’s going in terms of the Plot clues (which wind their way around the grid) and the secret words in the rooms. Give me some time to keep plugging away at it.
Two months, and I still cannot get a handle on room #7, even when I have the keys (or at least I think I do).
Made great progress tonight. I’ve got the whole main grid filled in, except I don’t have the key word for room #3 (which means I also don’t have an answer for clue p.). I don’t know what the key words mean, and I haven’t even started on the sub-grid in room #7, but I’m doing okay so far. Biotop, maybe I’ll be able to offer some help sooner than I thought.
I did like the bit about what’s beyond the 7th door.