"Leftovers" - November 29, 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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FrankH
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#161

Post by FrankH »

My first rabbit hole was 21A Gluttons's Thanksgiving helping and the answer THIRDS, thinking perhaps I should look at the third letter of each word. That led nowhere, and once I Iooked through the grid and saw CANDID, I was off to the races to find the other words.
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MarkL
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#162

Post by MarkL »

Was a little slow to understand the numbers as position markers, then had MAE used in 17A until LAM made much more sense. Great puzzle.

Be safe in the snow!
'tis... A lovely day for a Guinness!
MaineMarge
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#163

Post by MaineMarge »

This year I have been working through the older metas I had missed in order to get more up to speed ( in swimming to shore). Whenever I’ve seen these parenthetical numbers, they have indicated the total number of letters in the answer and which clues will yield which letters, as here. So new Muggles, bank that info for the future.
So I knew what those numbers were, and figured were were looking for an extra letter somewhere. Candid jumped out first for most of us ( thanks Mike). The rest came easily once I saw the extra letters were coming from the theme answers, not the grid words. So I didn’t consider the word recon.
And I, as your official stern gardener( and longtime real gardener) was delighted to fill “raceme” getting a grid shoutout.
A fun meta all around for me.
Inca
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#164

Post by Inca »

MAY (couldn't fit in Amy) I be perfectly CANDID, there are no longer any NEW DIETS that I can begin. I know them all, tried and failed; now they are all old diets. Anyway, am I THE only one who feels like others are trying to RACE ME (sorry couldn't fit in RACEME either), all working so quickly as if on the LAM, faces ORC-like in concentration, to make sure no one NABS the best spots on the beach before they get there?
Last edited by Inca on Mon Dec 02, 2019 10:03 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Bob cruise director
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#165

Post by Bob cruise director »

I got waylaid because of RECON. It had CORN in it so I thought that the leftovers were the reverse - the extra letter was outside the theme answers. So I spent time trying to find the other seven answers.

After I got that rabbit hole out of the way, it came pretty quickly
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MajordomoTom
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#166

Post by MajordomoTom »

Raceme and Candid were the ones that jumped out to me. Raceme - very unusual, and luckily right next to Creamed in the grid. Candid/Candied ... almost too obvious, once you started looking.

Recon was tempting, but (a) it didn't work and (b) it was longer than Corn, so that troubled me, so I suspected it was wrong. I also was on the Meat/Matte wagon, also didn't like that Matte was longer, but at least it gave me the "T" I needed. Once I figured out Orc, I then found my Mae and was happily ashore.
"Lots of planets have a North", the Ninth Doctor.
Hidden in 3D
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#167

Post by Hidden in 3D »

MajordomoTom wrote: Mon Dec 02, 2019 10:19 am Raceme and Candid were the ones that jumped out to me. Raceme - very unusual, and luckily right next to Creamed in the grid. Candid/Candied ... almost too obvious, once you started looking.

Recon was tempting, but (a) it didn't work and (b) it was longer than Corn, so that troubled me, so I suspected it was wrong. I also was on the Meat/Matte wagon, also didn't like that Matte was longer, but at least it gave me the "T" I needed. Once I figured out Orc, I then found my Mae and was happily ashore.
Raceme and Candid stood out to me, too, when I hurried through the grid on Friday morning. Just had no time to work on the meta this busy holiday weekend. I was hoping to have a few quiet moments last night, but instead spent 4.5 hours in an advisory board meeting at a small local college. When I finally arrived home, after driving through dense fog on small two-lane roads, all I could do was veg in the recliner and watch the end of the New England/Houston game. (Condolences to Bob and other Patriots fans.)
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Meg
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#168

Post by Meg »

I never got it. I should have. No worries. There’s another one coming.
Check out and support http://CrosswordsForCancer.com.
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Deb F
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#169

Post by Deb F »

MaineMarge wrote: Mon Dec 02, 2019 8:04 am This year I have been working through the older metas I had missed in order to get more up to speed ( in swimming to shore). Whenever I’ve seen these parenthetical numbers, they have indicated the total number of letters in the answer and which clues will yield which letters, as here. So new Muggles, bank that info for the future.
So I knew what those numbers were, and figured were were looking for an extra letter somewhere. Candid jumped out first for most of us ( thanks Mike). The rest came easily once I saw the extra letters were coming from the theme answers, not the grid words. So I didn’t consider the word recon.
And I, as your official stern gardener( and longtime real gardener) was delighted to fill “raceme” getting a grid shoutout.
A fun meta all around for me.
I had pretty much the same reaction. I saw Candid and Raceme and married them to the long answers then let the numbers stump me for a while. Then had the aha moment when I realized no number from 1 to 8 was repeated. That did it.
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Tom Shea
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#170

Post by Tom Shea »

The nuns always told me my bad penmanship would get me in trouble some day.

I'll blame them for not getting the answer.
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BarbaraK
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#171

Post by BarbaraK »

Meg wrote: Mon Dec 02, 2019 11:45 am I never got it. I should have. No worries. There’s another one coming.
Huh? You got MGWCC Week 5 but not this? That's amazing! And a good example that everyone sees these differently and whether a given puzzle is easy or hard will be change from person to person and puzzle to puzzle.
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Meg
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#172

Post by Meg »

By the time I finally got MGWCC I had 10 minutes out here on the west coast and it didn’t work. I was also meta brain exhausted.
Check out and support http://CrosswordsForCancer.com.
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Bob cruise director
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#173

Post by Bob cruise director »

Tom Shea wrote: Mon Dec 02, 2019 12:08 pm The nuns always told me my bad penmanship would get me in trouble some day.

I'll blame them for not getting the answer.
I blame my bad penmanship on being left handed. I remember in sixth grade having to pass a Zaner Bloser penmanship test using a fountain pen. I had more ink on my left hand and shirt cuff than on the paper. They had three levels of passing and I passed the lowest level - just barely - and probably by the grace of a generous teacher.
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billkatz
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#174

Post by billkatz »

BethA wrote: Mon Dec 02, 2019 12:14 am NEW DIETS

It took me a day to shake off using the numbers in parentheses as indices into the theme answers, which led nowhere. They were only to be used as ways to put the letters in order. Finally realized that there were no repeated numbers! Candied and candid helped me a lot!
When the numbers are ordinal and don't repeat they are almost always a way to organize the final letters. You will see this trick again...
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Tom Shea
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#175

Post by Tom Shea »

Bob cruise director wrote: Mon Dec 02, 2019 1:06 pm
Tom Shea wrote: Mon Dec 02, 2019 12:08 pm The nuns always told me my bad penmanship would get me in trouble some day.

I'll blame them for not getting the answer.
I blame my bad penmanship on being left handed. I remember in sixth grade having to pass a Zaner Bloser penmanship test using a fountain pen. I had more ink on my left hand and shirt cuff than on the paper. They had three levels of passing and I passed the lowest level - just barely - and probably by the grace of a generous teacher.
I have printed in block letters since hi skool and still had a messy puzzle!
Rufus T. Firefly
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#176

Post by Hidden in 3D »

Bob cruise director wrote: Mon Dec 02, 2019 1:06 pm
Tom Shea wrote: Mon Dec 02, 2019 12:08 pm The nuns always told me my bad penmanship would get me in trouble some day.

I'll blame them for not getting the answer.
I blame my bad penmanship on being left handed. I remember in sixth grade having to pass a Zaner Bloser penmanship test using a fountain pen. I had more ink on my left hand and shirt cuff than on the paper. They had three levels of passing and I passed the lowest level - just barely - and probably by the grace of a generous teacher.
Oh the days when penmanship was important! As a wannabe calligrapher and third grade teacher, cursive practice was my favorite part of the school day. I like to think I was more nurturing and supportive than Tom's nuns and that some of my students actually enjoyed those lessons. (And I simply can't believe that those very students will be turning 50 in a couple of years! Yikes!) I post this hoping you will not envision me as a prim and proper school marm with a tight bun on the nape of my neck! And I realize that I only reinforce that image when I tell you how glad I was that a bill was approved in 2013 by NC lawmakers requiring that public schools teach cursive handwriting once again. My children will happily report that their mother is anything but prim and proper. :lol:
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MikeMillerwsj
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#177

Post by MikeMillerwsj »

Another challenging contest! Your correspondent (like someone above) also assumed that 23A, "Glutton's Thanksgiving helping" (THIRDS) was a tipoff to look for the third letters... nice head-fake, Mike.

We had 1096 entries, about 80% correct.
The incorrect ones included DIET (32) and many variants: DIETING (8), NEWS DIET (2, so close!), and LOW CARB DIET, GO ON A DIET, BEGIN A DIET, RAW DIETS, and STRICT DIET.

Congrats to this week's winner: John Haug of Roeland Park, KS!
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KayW
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#178

Post by KayW »

MaineMarge wrote: Mon Dec 02, 2019 8:04 am
And I, as your official stern gardener( and longtime real gardener) was delighted to fill “raceme” getting a grid shoutout.
My slow on the uptake moment: It wasn't until I saw this comment a second time that it occurred to me you did not mean you rule the garden with an iron fist :lol: ...or do you?
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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FrankH
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#179

Post by FrankH »

Meg wrote: Mon Dec 02, 2019 11:45 am I never got it. I should have. No worries. There’s another one coming.
I was very surprised by it. You must have had a fantastic Thanksgiving meal.
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MajordomoTom
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#180

Post by MajordomoTom »

KS, they're getting closer and closer ... come to me, little mug, please!
"Lots of planets have a North", the Ninth Doctor.
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