SOLVED - The GL Collaborative Meta-Puzzle

[jbvntx]

Sorry, hit enter too soon. The Atomic Symbols are then...

Lv He Cr Mt Li Rg Po

and the second letter of each one spells VERTIGO.
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jbv

[novice]

Very nice puzzles and solving all over!

Now for the meta.

[Suspence]

Reposting the meta here for ease:

Back in the Old Days by Suspence

1) In The Middle by MNOWAX - CLOSER
2) Extra Complications by novice - DEFIANCE
3) A King's Tale by Elethiomel - MISERY
4) Slithering Words by jbvntx - LIMITLESS
5) Sil″ly-cros′tic by Suspence - XANADU
6) This Puzzle is Tougher Than You! by Gomez - INVINCIBLE
7) Dizzy Spell by Jack_Ian - VERTIGO
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I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[Oscar]

Just to get these out of the way (they are all films apparently):

Call in NAMES NOT NUMBERS
Call in A NUMBERS GAME
Call In CHRONICLES OF THE ROMAN NUMERAL X

[Suspence]

I'm quite surprised this hasn't been solved yet. Part of it may be due to the post below, which contains at least one faulty assumption.

[gpagano]

For the record, The books on the top come from this picture:

http://salonduthe.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/penguin-classics-clothbound-hardback-spines.jpg

So we're probably right to stick with books in this meta.

One idea I had: Could "Back in the old days" also be interpreted as "once upon a time"? It could be all of these words have a connection to fairy tales...

EDIT: OR maybe there is a film connection. All of the words Suspence named above are words that are also film titles. All of them also contain roman numerals other than those at the start of the words.

Were any of these films based on books or connected to books somehow? Besides the obvious Misery, Vertigo was based on D'entre les morts .

[Jack_Ian]

[novice]

[3iff]

Xanadu was mentioned in a famous poem (which I looked up last week and can't now remember...ah, something about Kubla Khan?) by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Off now to look up the rest...stand by for edits to this post.

Limitless > The dark fields by Alan Glynn
Defiance > Defiance by Nechama Tec

Inconclusive/nothing for the rest (Misery & Vertigo already covered)

Just getting a blank on this one.

[Thok]

Closer is based on a play by Patrick Marber.

I'm not sure about Invincible. The 2006 film about Greg Papale doesn't seem to be based on a book. The 2001 film about Zishe Breitbart might be based on the children's book Zishe the Strogman by Robert Rubenstein.

[novice]

A bit more data on the movies. Publishing year, director, and three actors.

[Thok]

It's unclear if Invincible is the more well known 2006 Mark Walhberg movie or the less well known 2001 Tim Roth movie.

[3iff]

No pattern as far as I can see...Suspence reckons that once we get the answer it'll be obvious it's the answer.

Other than the roman numerals thing, I can't really link any 3 of the clues...let alone all 7.

Although I just had an inkling about 7 deadly sins...I know these aren't the ones...perhaps 7 is significant though?

[novice]

This information also needs to be taken into account...

[Oscar]

I don't think this is correct because there are so many candidates out there but all these are names of independent record companies (including Valkyrie, Volcano and Volver) and you can at least pluck one letter from each of them to form the word 'records' so here goes anyway:


Call in RECORDS

[edit] I see there is also a label called ROMAN Records[/edit]

[Scurra]

Oh that's a very good spot.
Although given the whole Book theme of the meta image, Record companies would seem a bit of a left-field connection...
_________________
_{still Quiz Olympiad champion. Must get a life.
New definitions: COFFEE - someone who is coughed upon}

[Jack_Ian]

I had assumed the books were a hint towards a French Novel, turned into a movie, but I couldn't find anything appropriate.

[3iff]

So how does that fit with the puzzle title "Back in the old days"??

[Oscar]

In the old days records would have been kept in books....

[Suspence]

RECORDS is not correct. I promise you are over-thinking this.
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I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[jbvntx]

I don't think anyone's called in ROMAN NUMERALS. Could it be?
_________________
jbv

[Scurra]

[Oscar]

OK this will be my (almost )last guess:

Call in NUMBERS

(As in Book Of Numbers in the Old Testament?)

[novice]

CALL IN UNPAVED

[Suspence]

[jbvntx]

Maybe it still is simply something to do with adding the roman numerals to get 1666.

Call in ANNUS MIRABILIS.
Call in ISAAC NEWTON
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jbv

[Suspence]

All these are incorrect:
ANNUS MIRABILIS
ISAAC NEWTON
UNPAVED
NUMBERS
ROMAN NUMERALS

There really isn't much to the meta, yet you all are overlooking a very important part.
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I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[Oscar]

Call in CLUELESS

[Suspence]

Hmmm...

I wish I hadn't spoiled Jack_Ian's puzzle. It's too bad his had to be #7.
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[Thok]

Closer C
dEfiance E
miSery S
limItless I
xanaDu D
invinCible C
vertigO O

In ivxlcdm order: CODICES, aka an ancient type of book.

CALL IN CODICES

Edit: How do you make Valkerie work without the O?

[Suspence]

CODICES is indeed correct.

[Scurra]

A very fine meta solution with a method that I really should have spotted given that I use it myself all the time!

I do think, however, that my original mistaken assumption was not entirely misplaced: when someone suggests that X or Y could have been used, but Z was used in the end, it does sound as though this relates to the final solution, not to the construction process, although I do agree you did specifically mention the compilation in your comment..

It looks as though my throwawy comment earlier in the thread was also valid: I think you could have used MASK and CRASH in place of MISERY and CLOSER. That would have given a set of titles of increasing letter length, which would have provided a nice blind alley - although perhaps it might have made a back-solve of Vertigo even easier!
_________________
_{still Quiz Olympiad champion. Must get a life.
New definitions: COFFEE - someone who is coughed upon}

[novice]

Nice puzzles.

When you're only using the surface readings and the roman numerals in the meta, isn't having all the words be movie titles a red herring?

[3iff]

I tried the successive letter from each word thing...and as it didn't make a word I left it...never thought to anagram it...(must kick myself!)

Equal measures of very interesting and frustrating...well done to everyone involved.

[Oscar]

Nice meta, Suspence, which we really should have nailed some time ago! It must have been *almost* as frustrating for you, watching us stumble around, as it was for us doing the stumbling! Interesting that Scurra's reaction was that it would have been improved by adding another blind alley to stumble around in!

Thanks to you and all the puzzle setters for their fine efforts and with lessons learned let's hope the next one is even better!

[Scurra]

[Elethiomel]

A fine set of puzzles, overall. Personally, I don't see how a blind alley would improve the quality of a puzzle? Or maybe I do... I guess I try to make blind alleys when I construct cryptic clues, but it's the kind of blind alley you know to expect.

E.g.,

Shell sounds like a slave master. (Answer: surface)

Where "shell sounds" is arguably a blind alley of sorts.

[novice]

I think the best puzzles are the ones where the different alleys meet up at the intended solution.

[Scurra]

Well, a list of answers that could be arranged in ascending order of length would provide a pointer to perhaps reading diagonally, even if that order turns out to be neither the correct set of letters nor the correct sequence!
Although I grant you that it would probably annoy a lot more people than it would help...
_________________
_{still Quiz Olympiad champion. Must get a life.
New definitions: COFFEE - someone who is coughed upon}

[Jack_Ian]