"Two By Two" - August 23, 2019

A place to discuss the weekly Wall Street Journal Crossword Puzzle Contest, starting every Thursday around 4:00 p.m. Eastern time. Please do not post any answers or hints before the contest deadline which is midnight Sunday Eastern time.
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lusophile
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#161

Post by lusophile »

As usual, solved the grid in just a few minutes Friday afternoon, but then saw no immediate answer, so put it aside until a few minutes ago, when the obvious answer popped out immediately. I'm a bit more certain this week, but since being pageanted last week, am cautiously on the beach.
If I can do it it must be a KAS 1 or 2 at best. Cheers
martimeryard
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#162

Post by martimeryard »

Finally made it ashore. Had a couple rabbit holes that I couldn't simply let go.
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Scott M
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#163

Post by Scott M »

Solved grid on Thursday before a weekend away with friends. Looked at it on returning home tonight and am not seeing what appears to be obvious to most others. I have an answer but confidence is low that it's THE answer.
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.
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Bob cruise director
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#164

Post by Bob cruise director »

Our final count is 4 on the ship with Isaac and 113 on the shore hoping for an email from Mr. Miller in the morning

Good luck to all winning the mug
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blau210
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#165

Post by blau210 »

Bob cruise director wrote: Sun Aug 25, 2019 9:50 pm Our final count is 4 on the ship with Isaac and 113 on the shore hoping for an email from Mr. Miller in the morning

Good luck to all winning the mug
Better make it 5. :cry:
ALS
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#166

Post by ALS »

Traveling so little time to spend on this. I looked again just now and found the shore albeit too late to submit --but since I haven't seen the answer anywhere yet, I'll call that a solve.

ALS
blau210
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#167

Post by blau210 »

ALS wrote: Mon Aug 26, 2019 12:11 am Traveling so little time to spend on this. I looked again just now and found the shore albeit too late to submit --but since I haven't seen the answer anywhere yet, I'll call that a solve.

ALS
What was it? I'm dying to know what it was that just caused me to blow through my weekend staring blankly at a folded, chicken-scratched newspaper. :roll:

Do they post the answer somewhere?
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Eric Porter
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#168

Post by Eric Porter »

The thing about this puzzle that caused me the most problems is that I was looking for animals in the grid. 21A is similar to kangaroo. 11D has pig. 17A is similar to monkey. All are mentioned in "The animals went in two by two".
If the answer is X, you usually have to find X in the grid, then do something to find another X.
I was only looking for words inside of the theme answers, then at the initials of the two words that most contain.

The first thing I saw, which sounds so ridiculous now, is that the beginnings of 60A are Latvia. 21A becomes Hungary by adding a letter. 36A contains Utah and 50A becomes Oregon by adding a letter. 11D contains pig and 17A becomes monkey by adding a letter. I thought that was something.

I also wasted a bunch of time looking at 2x2 grid areas but of course found nothing.

I slept well last night and after some coffee I finally made the connection. Thanks everyone for keeping my spirits up while I was failing to solve it!
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hcbirker
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#169

Post by hcbirker »

The answer is Mountain Goat. You can find it below the Monday WSJ puzzle they just posted. (Heidi)
Heidi
GlennG
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#170

Post by GlennG »

BarbaraK wrote: Thu Aug 22, 2019 10:08 pm
GlennG wrote: Thu Aug 22, 2019 9:37 pm And...the easy metas end. Absolutely no clue. Good luck to the geniuses that get this one that you win the mug.
You're probably overthinking it. Take a fresh look in the morning. You will get it!
Actually I wouldn't and I didn't. I've learned to not spend very much time on these things (and save my sanity) since they're the puzzle equivalent of in-jokes. You either get them or you don't. I usually don't. Like with this one, I wouldn't have seen it if I had a year to look at it. There's always next week.
Emmaa
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Joined: Sat Jun 29, 2019 11:16 am

#171

Post by Emmaa »

Glenn,
You are probably closer than you think. I have not gotten my first 2 metas in a row, after about 6 weeks lost at sea.
A agree with the common strategy to sleep on it. Frequently, my grid goes quicker the second time around after a good night’s sleep. This is even more true once I get to the meta. Hang in there.
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Commodore
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#172

Post by Commodore »

RATS.
Dennis
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#173

Post by Dennis »

My answer was "turkey," and in the light of morning and the real answer, it does seem like a giant rabbit hole. Several of the "to's" in the grid have animals "by" them (rat, pig, and ram), but "two" of them actually spell "TOM" "BY" using "to." Thus, a male turkey! And I thought Mike was giving us a clue with the word "TRUSS" in 39A. Oh, well, next week.
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MarkL
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#174

Post by MarkL »

The 2x2 grid blocks did yield NENE and STAG, but that and a firm belief the answer had to be associated with Chinese zodiac were the main distractions before better interpretation of the title!
'tis... A lovely day for a Guinness!
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Joe Ross
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#175

Post by Joe Ross »

KayW wrote: Thu Aug 22, 2019 5:18 pm On shore 100%! Another clever and fun meta.

Happily I did not need much time to solve. More time for foo-foo drinks on the beach!
WTG, Kay! Will you post your mark-ups?

A golf trip happened & a Sunday "nap" was interrupted by the "HEY! It's 11:55 PM! Did you email your answer?" alarm, so nothing to post, here. On the plus side, drinks were flowing TH-FR-SA and the value of # strokes/$ paid was maximized.
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Julie O
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#176

Post by Julie O »

I too was convinced there had to be something in 2x2 squares in the grid. Once I gave that idea up, and looked more closely at the long entries, the answer appeared, like this juvenile we saw in Zion NP this summer...
IMG_20190616_095800.jpg
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KayW
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#177

Post by KayW »

Joe Ross wrote: Mon Aug 26, 2019 7:33 am
KayW wrote: Thu Aug 22, 2019 5:18 pm On shore 100%! Another clever and fun meta.

Happily I did not need much time to solve. More time for foo-foo drinks on the beach!
WTG, Kay! Will you post your mark-ups?

A golf trip happened & a Sunday "nap" was interrupted by the "HEY! It's 11:55 PM! Did you email your answer?" alarm, so nothing to post, here. On the plus side, drinks were flowing TH-FR-SA and the value of # strokes/$ paid was maximized.
Joe I like your idea of setting a meta-alarm. I think I'll do that myself, altho it's probably not necessary. What I think may be a touch of OCD usually has me checking my email sent folder multiple times over the weekend anyway ;)

My markup is pretty mundane and not nearly as artistic as yours usually are. But it saved me from having to print out the grid, and highlighting the repeated letter pairs led me immediately to the solution.
twobytwo.gif
Contest Crosswords Combating Cancer (CCCC) is a bundle of 16 metapuzzles created to help raise money for cancer-related charities. It is available at CrosswordsForCancer.com.
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Streroto
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#178

Post by Streroto »

So the gift I was referring to was 29D “double duty?” Which turned out to be STENT. As someone who has placed many stents of the medical type, this confused me for a while, until Mr. G educated me that stent can also mean tax. Still, the double part didn’t really make sense to me until I realized it had two T’s and I took that as my cue to pull the double letter combos out and voila. Not sure if deliberate but it was in the right place for a gift hint. Thoughts?
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KayW
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#179

Post by KayW »

Streroto wrote: Mon Aug 26, 2019 10:00 am So the gift I was referring to was 29D “double duty?” Which turned out to be STENT. As someone who has placed many stents of the medical type, this confused me for a while, until Mr. G educated me that stent can also mean tax. Still, the double part didn’t really make sense to me until I realized it had two T’s and I took that as my cue to pull the double letter combos out and voila. Not sure if deliberate but it was in the right place for a gift hint. Thoughts?
I think you are right about that being the gift clue this week - which I never even noticed so thank you for pointing it out! But the answer I got was STUNT, as in a movie stunt double. Crossing with bridge support TRUSS.
Contest Crosswords Combating Cancer (CCCC) is a bundle of 16 metapuzzles created to help raise money for cancer-related charities. It is available at CrosswordsForCancer.com.
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DBMiller
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#180

Post by DBMiller »

My quick rabbit hole was looking at the double letters instead of the long answers. After iNN, truSS, smEE, mEEt, gaFFe and teNN quickly led nowhere, I looked at the long answers, where the two pairs of two letters hopped out.
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