"Out Of The Elements" - November 15, 2019

[rexthree]

I’ve actually been hidden for quite some time! Many thanks to Mike for providing me with the perfect handle from this week’s puzzle so that I might join this happy group of Muggles. At last I am leaving the Land of the Lurkers! I am but a novice compared to the many in this community who complete the grids and metas in record time. I thought I was getting the hang of this with my previous best streak of coming ashore 7 weeks in a row. Alas, taking an actual 2-week cruise, brought that to an end and I’ve been struggling somewhat ever since. Happy to report that I am on shore once again!

Welcome to the group. We love it when lurkers come out to comment.

Your are our 500th muggle.

And we were all novices at one time. And fortunately for most of us, time is not a factor in who wins the mugs.

Hope to see you next week

Hi Bob, Have any of our 500 actually WON the weekly mug? (I'm newer to the group so don't know). Sounds like some have, by your comment -- how fun! I have never seen WSJ make any congratulatory announcement for the weekly winner...have I missed it somewhere?

[BarbaraK]

Hi Bob, Have any of our 500 actually WON the weekly mug? (I'm newer to the group so don't know). Sounds like some have, by your comment -- how fun! I have never seen WSJ make any congratulatory announcement for the weekly winner...have I missed it somewhere?

Sometime each week, usually on Monday afternoon, Mike Miller of the WSJ posts here and on the WSJ site the name of the winner along with stats about the number of submissions, the percentage that were correct, and the most common or interesting wrong answers. Also, the winner's name is printed with the puzzle in the next Friday's paper (and in the online PDF).

Yes, several of us have won. I did back in 2016.

[pddigi]

Late addition (I have had problems logging on, and sent a message through the "Contact us" to the admins): Dom, as expected, made it to shore late Sunday night. He had been on a camping trip, did the grid, and by his reckoning, solved the meta 5 seconds later.

[pddigi]

And my all-spoiler haiku:

Caesar! No! Mary!
Columbia! To the chief!
Holy Queen! Damage!

[Bob cruise director]

I’ve actually been hidden for quite some time! Many thanks to Mike for providing me with the perfect handle from this week’s puzzle so that I might join this happy group of Muggles. At last I am leaving the Land of the Lurkers! I am but a novice compared to the many in this community who complete the grids and metas in record time. I thought I was getting the hang of this with my previous best streak of coming ashore 7 weeks in a row. Alas, taking an actual 2-week cruise, brought that to an end and I’ve been struggling somewhat ever since. Happy to report that I am on shore once again!

Welcome to the group. We love it when lurkers come out to comment.

Your are our 500th muggle.

And we were all novices at one time. And fortunately for most of us, time is not a factor in who wins the mugs.

Hope to see you next week

Hi Bob, Have any of our 500 actually WON the weekly mug? (I'm newer to the group so don't know). Sounds like some have, by your comment -- how fun! I have never seen WSJ make any congratulatory announcement for the weekly winner...have I missed it somewhere?

Each week Mike Miller from the WSJ posts here who the winner is, how many entries, the percentage correct and some of the more interesting wrong answers. Part of the reason for posting the wrong answers is to show those of us that got it wrong that we are not the only people on the planet who took the wrong approach.

This group is always about encouragement and never about embarrassing anyone for not taking the right approach. Very often on Monday muggles will post their wrong or right approaches partly as learning and partly as cathartic.

As far as muggles winning the mug, it happens frequently. On average there are a little over 1000 entries to the contest and we have about 100 or so correct. So typically we have about a 10% chance of having a muggle win the mug. In the Acapulco lounge there is a section called WSJ winners roll call so that will give you an idea of the winners.

Good luck

[Bob cruise director]

Hi Bob, Have any of our 500 actually WON the weekly mug? (I'm newer to the group so don't know). Sounds like some have, by your comment -- how fun! I have never seen WSJ make any congratulatory announcement for the weekly winner...have I missed it somewhere?

Sometime each week, usually on Monday afternoon, Mike Miller of the WSJ posts here and on the WSJ site the name of the winner along with stats about the number of submissions, the percentage that were correct, and the most common or interesting wrong answers. Also, the winner's name is printed with the puzzle in the next Friday's paper (and in the online PDF).

Yes, several of us have won. I did back in 2016.
WSJ mug.jpg

Barbara
Is it a sin to covet they fellow muggle's mug?

[BarbaraK]

Yes, several of us have won. I did back in 2016.
WSJ mug.jpg

Barbara
Is it a sin to covet they fellow muggle's mug?

Is it a sin to gloat?

[MarkL]

It was hard not to comment about how close you were! What was your "Hail" Mary?

As it was with "Waiter, may I..." which danced close to the line IMHO.

Oh man... entirely unintentional! I hope that didn't tip anyone...

No worries. I used "also" as capitalized first word in comment last week!

[FrankieHeck]

I covet the mug
If a sin, I am guilty.
One day may I gloat.

[Al Sisti]

Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
Sugar is sweet,
Mug.

[Joe Ross]

Roses grow
beer

[Joe Ross]

Have any of our 500 actually WON the weekly mug? (I'm newer to the group so don't know). Sounds like some have, by your comment -- how fun! I have never seen WSJ make any congratulatory announcement for the weekly winner...have I missed it somewhere.

WSJ Mug Winners Roll Call!

Some have won more than once. One muggle has won three mugs, possibly?

Welcome to... The Quest! (dramatic chord...)

[oldjudge]

I won two years ago, but just got a normal WSJ mug and a congratulatory certificate. I was surprised that they did not have special mugs for contest winners. Evidently, at some point they did.

[Joe Ross]

Yes, several of us have won. I did back in 2016.
WSJ mug.jpg

Barbara
Is it a sin to covet they fellow muggle's mug?

Is it a sin to gloat?

:::showCOUGHoff:::

[mheberlingx100]

For all those like me still looking forward to winning a mug...

I did some quick math, and assuming 1,000 correct answers each week, if I got the right answer every week it would take me about 13.5 years to have a better than 50% chance of winning the mug at least one time.

In the meantime, I will look on with envy to see each week’s winner.

[MikeMillerwsj]

Hello all, just a note to say we're a little behind our usual Monday schedule, hope to post a winner tomorrow.

[Joe Ross]

Hello all, just a note to say we're a little behind our usual Monday schedule, hope to post a winner tomorrow.

It's a very long name and can be difficult to speel:

J O E R O S S

[MajordomoTom]

it ain't gloating/bragging if it's true.

[billkatz]

I won two years ago, but just got a normal WSJ mug and a congratulatory certificate. I was surprised that they did not have special mugs for contest winners. Evidently, at some point they did.

I thought I had seen pictures of mugs that say something like "Crossword Champion". Is that no longer true?

[Deb F]

Perhaps one of our math genius Muggles can shed light. When the mug winner is chosen, I believe we were told that it is not selected from the correct answers. Instead, an entry is selected and, if correct, is declared the winner. If not, they move on until a correct entry is chosen. So, my question is--how does that effect the odds of winning the coveted mug? Come on, muggles, doesn't that system increase the odds? Who's the math/statistics guru out there? Obviously, I am not one of them!!! Back to my wine!