"Counting Calories" - December 20, 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.
Locked
User avatar
BarbaraK
Posts: 2592
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 2:37 pm
Location: Virginia

#201

Post by BarbaraK »

Wendy Walker wrote: Mon Dec 23, 2019 8:27 am That is why I was so amused when I got the answer to THIS puzzle. I failed to solve that earlier puzzle and even dragged poor Mark down the candy aisle at Wegman's hoping for inspiration!
I remember well your distress with that puzzle, so when I saw your comment here, before I'd even looked at the puzzle, I knew what the answer was going to end up being.

And you call yourself the spoiler police?! :lol: Tsk Tsk. :D

(Just kidding; no worries. Getting there was the fun part.)
User avatar
sphorning
Posts: 118
Joined: Mon Apr 22, 2019 4:24 pm
Location: Steamboat Springs, CO

#202

Post by sphorning »

Didn't enjoy this one very much. I was thinking "counting" the number of "calories" would be counting the K's because calories are K-cals. Then I looked for numbers in the answers to add those up and find corresponding letters in the grid, etc. Finally saw the eleven and seven, but there were 12 seven letter words, not eleven...
Bah humbug!
User avatar
MajordomoTom
Posts: 1401
Joined: Sat Nov 02, 2019 12:09 am
Location: St. Louis, MO

#203

Post by MajordomoTom »

I also wanted it to be SLURPEE, or HOTDOG, or COFFEE, but couldn't find any support for those anywhere (thank the gods I'm not an anagrammer).
"Lots of planets have a North", the Ninth Doctor.
User avatar
tim1217
Posts: 299
Joined: Wed Apr 10, 2019 12:58 pm
Location: Small Town America

#204

Post by tim1217 »

I saw the themers right away on Thursday afternoon and went with the 'go to' mechanism of first letters. Unfortunately (as Al mentioned in his comment) I threw a hurdle up by combining the 3 letters of the 4 groups of seven and reading them each DOWN and then ACROSS when trying to make a 15-letter word. So I ended up with TRE HEM USK EER TES, which was just gibberish to me. So I abandoned the idea and then spent the next three days exploring elsewhere. Then on Sunday afternoon I realized my mistake and read the letters literally from 'top to bottom' and of course, there it was. The amazing thing was that in almost all cases (there was one this summer than ran 'left to right') this mechanism runs from 'top to bottom', but because I threw up that mental hurdle, it blocked me from seeing the obvious.
User avatar
Eric Porter
Posts: 466
Joined: Sun May 05, 2019 2:19 am
Location: Nashville, TN

#205

Post by Eric Porter »

At first I tried common methods like looking for common words. Then you have Elector/Elektra, NOCAL / LOWCAL (taking the start of 35D) which threw me off. Finally, there was "haha good 1" (27D), which led me to go hunting for numbers.

When there's a new solution method and the title only confirms a 100% answer, these frustrate me. I probably solved it in a little under an hour after noticing that the grid was unusual. We usually have 3 grid entries across the top/bottom, not 2. I was also focusing on 7 and 11 after everything else failed.
User avatar
spotter
Posts: 311
Joined: Thu Sep 12, 2019 5:48 pm
Location: SLO, CA

#206

Post by spotter »

This one broke a 7 week solve streak for me. Funny I had looked at the end of the 7 and 11 letter clues, but completely overlooked the simple task of taking the first letters. Oops! I got too caught up with the title. It really didn't help on this one.
User avatar
MajordomoTom
Posts: 1401
Joined: Sat Nov 02, 2019 12:09 am
Location: St. Louis, MO

#207

Post by MajordomoTom »

RDaleHall wrote: Mon Dec 23, 2019 9:22 am Like the answer - saw the THREE METEERS part but didn't catch on to add the 3 other clues. Long, wild stretch alternative: If you take the bottom right of the puzzle, and then count out "CAL" OR "IES", the remaining letters anagram to SLURPEE.
more detail, please? I'm not able to follow the rabbit tracks on this one.
"Lots of planets have a North", the Ninth Doctor.
User avatar
tim1217
Posts: 299
Joined: Wed Apr 10, 2019 12:58 pm
Location: Small Town America

#208

Post by tim1217 »

My WAG's at the very beginning were the obvious 'SLURPEE' but I thought it was too obvious and would be an easy guess that anyone could randomly get. The other was SUSHI. 7-Eleven is now a Japanese-owned company and yes, they do sell sushi (I think there's a common joke about that).
juliet
Posts: 119
Joined: Sun Jul 14, 2019 11:11 pm

#209

Post by juliet »

Eric Porter wrote: Mon Dec 23, 2019 9:52 am Finally, there was "haha good 1" (27D), which led me to go hunting for numbers.
I followed that rabbit for quite a while--there were seven clues with numbers (several years, plus the "1" mentioned by Eric, and the "538" electors), calling attention to themselves.
Last edited by juliet on Mon Dec 23, 2019 11:35 am, edited 1 time in total.
juliet
Posts: 119
Joined: Sun Jul 14, 2019 11:11 pm

#210

Post by juliet »

Joe Ross wrote: Mon Dec 23, 2019 8:54 am
Bill Bovard wrote: Mon Dec 23, 2019 12:25 am Did anyone else notice that 30A is NOMEN and that all the gender-specific clues/answers going across are female? And 7D is GREATMEN and all the gender-specific clues/answers going down are male? Coincidence? Red herring?
If this was intentional, Matt Gaffney should send Bill Bovard a mug!
This is so clever of Bill to notice! Perhaps noting "gender-specific clues/answers" is worth keeping in mind for a future meta-solving strategy.
Jeanrosz
Posts: 306
Joined: Fri Apr 12, 2019 1:16 pm
Location: New Richmond ohio

#211

Post by Jeanrosz »

I found 11 capital C’s in the clues so I was hoping to find 7 capital I’s too for ICEEs ...but no. So maybe seven seas?.. then I hunted capital R for RC. As in cola... even though it didn’t quite fit. I submitted to you I was on shore but I guess wrong beach!
User avatar
pookie
Posts: 137
Joined: Mon Aug 12, 2019 5:46 pm

#212

Post by pookie »

I thought the answer was a $3.25 can of cat food.
Tina
Posts: 391
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 5:56 pm

#213

Post by Tina »

Having begun constructing crosswords myself, the first thing I notice when I start a new puzzle is the grid design. In this case, I noticed the triple-stacked 7's in every corner and the three 11's going across the middle. (Along with several other long entries.) This is an unusual grid design for a meta and looked more like a themeless. So when I saw the SEVENELEVEN entry, I had a pretty good idea what the meta mechanism probably involved. This is a good tip for a beginning meta solver: Anything unusual about the grid probably has something to do with the meta.
jag
Posts: 43
Joined: Sun Oct 20, 2019 8:02 am

#214

Post by jag »

I completely missed the rabbit on this one. I got wrapped around the axle on using Roman Numerals in some fashion. Given the large number of I, V, M, D, L, and C's I felt justified in pursuing this trail.

I attempted to add up all the Roman numerals (in various permutations, some of which are non valid/well-formed Roman numerals - e.g. CDC) and got various numbers such as 7013. My "hail mary" answer was "M&Ms", on the assumption that somehow one could add up the numbers and obtain a sum evenly divisible by 1000 (M) - e.g. MMMMMMM - M and M's.
User avatar
MajordomoTom
Posts: 1401
Joined: Sat Nov 02, 2019 12:09 am
Location: St. Louis, MO

#215

Post by MajordomoTom »

The excessive number of IVs and VIs in the grid also caught my eye. Also the six Ks.

Failed to note the "CDC", which is ironic, given that I have an older BMW 750 with the license plate DCCL (yes, I'm proud of that one).
"Lots of planets have a North", the Ninth Doctor.
User avatar
Bob cruise director
Cruise Director
Posts: 4512
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 2:38 pm
Location: Any golf course within 500 miles of Littleton MA

#216

Post by Bob cruise director »

Tina wrote: Mon Dec 23, 2019 12:48 pm Having begun constructing crosswords myself, the first thing I notice when I start a new puzzle is the grid design. In this case, I noticed the triple-stacked 7's in every corner and the three 11's going across the middle. (Along with several other long entries.) This is an unusual grid design for a meta and looked more like a themeless. So when I saw the SEVENELEVEN entry, I had a pretty good idea what the meta mechanism probably involved. This is a good tip for a beginning meta solver: Anything unusual about the grid probably has something to do with the meta.
Excellent advice for us all.
Bob Stevens
Cruise Director
User avatar
Wendy Walker
Posts: 1701
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 7:44 pm
Location: Unionville, PA

#217

Post by Wendy Walker »

BarbaraK wrote: Mon Dec 23, 2019 9:32 am
Wendy Walker wrote: Mon Dec 23, 2019 8:27 am That is why I was so amused when I got the answer to THIS puzzle. I failed to solve that earlier puzzle and even dragged poor Mark down the candy aisle at Wegman's hoping for inspiration!
I remember well your distress with that puzzle, so when I saw your comment here, before I'd even looked at the puzzle, I knew what the answer was going to end up being.

And you call yourself the spoiler police?! :lol: Tsk Tsk. :D

(Just kidding; no worries. Getting there was the fun part.)
That is completely amazing. What an incredible memory! So sorry I provided a spoiler!
Good luck, fellow Muggles!
User avatar
tim1217
Posts: 299
Joined: Wed Apr 10, 2019 12:58 pm
Location: Small Town America

#218

Post by tim1217 »

Another rabbit hole I went down (after my initial mistake) was taking Counting Calories literally. So I counted all the C's, A's, L's, etc. And then looking to the letter in the grid number that corresponded. Again, gibberish.
User avatar
MajordomoTom
Posts: 1401
Joined: Sat Nov 02, 2019 12:09 am
Location: St. Louis, MO

#219

Post by MajordomoTom »

I did that and also took the number of Cs, As, etc and said "ok, what letter in the alphabet does that number correspond to" ... which produced pretty deep gibberish. I didn't even finish that - I got to either the O or the R and realized that I had one vowel and something like a J and a Q and ... nope, didn't see that path leading anywhere I wanted to be, anytime of day or night.

It clearly wasn't a path into Apu's Kwik-E-Mart.
"Lots of planets have a North", the Ninth Doctor.
User avatar
DBMiller
Posts: 537
Joined: Wed Apr 10, 2019 8:59 pm
Location: New Hampshire

#220

Post by DBMiller »

The calories part led me to finding a 2x2 square in the grid that held DIET. And I found a chain of letters that spelled SODA. But nothing tying it all together. Also went down the NOxxx path as noted by others.

Three Musketeers was going to be my guess as that and a Pepsi are the two things I buy most often at 7-11. I knew somehow those numbers had to be a clue and after sleeping on it overnight, I took another look and the grid pattern jumped out.
If I'm around, I am willing to join the Muggle Zoom room at other times to lend a hand to those in need.
Locked