XWord Muggles Forum

When I found soap, I was pretty sure the answer would be soap operas, but it wasn't til I actually wrote it down on the page though, that I noticed that it followed the 4 + 6-with-4 pattern too and quit looking for another way to find operas.

My comment with my submission was nice cueing. I later realized I could have gone with nice cluein'.

ErikThor wrote: ↑Mon Feb 17, 2020 9:17 am A couple things that I'm not sure have been mentioned yet: Once I had the word SOAP, I looked back to the title. I immediately thought of Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle operas which set me on a quest looking for operas hidden in the grid. No joy. Well, a quick Google search of "Soap opera character XXXXX" while tossing in the names Steph, Mona, Adam, and Ethel hit paydirt.

I'm curious to know if this was intentional. It feels like a coincidence to me. The Doctors was on for 20 years and had hundreds of characters, so many random sets of four names would be there. But I don't know anything about soaps in general or that one in particular, so if there's some deeper connection between those four, I'm missing it.

It's way past 4PM - where is that Tuesday puzzle? C'mon WSJ!

Dplass wrote: ↑Mon Feb 17, 2020 6:14 pm
2. The description was a "ten letter entertainment category". This is disingenuous, because the answer, while it *totals* to 10 letters, is made up of a 4 letter and a 6 letter word; it's not a 10-letter word. I'll admit this is a bit of poetic license but it still bugged me.

I always have to remind myself to read the instructions carefully, because they definitely write them carefully. Often they ask for an x-letter word. When they phrase it differently, that's a good hint that it may not be one word - a phrase, an acronym, something else.

Oh gee! That’s the problem with holidays... so much time, so little to do! Thank goodness for this wonderful outlet! Now, c’mon y’all ... We’ve got to 15 pages of comments and the ‘part 2’ mystery is still unsolved,,, surely we can make it to 30 pages before the answer posts!

Bob cruise director wrote: ↑Fri Feb 14, 2020 12:01 pm Good Friday Morning muggles and happy St. Valentine's Day. My wife and I went to dinner last night at the Black Trumpet Bistro in Portsmouth NH which I would recommend to anyone in the area.

Almost made it out there this weekend. Was very cold on Saturday (Single digits), went thru Portsmouth, but we already had a big breakfast and weren't hungry. Made it to Hampton Beach (NH) and the Nubble Lighthouse (ME) on Sunday when the weather was more palatable.

What is the meaning of the title?

If you change 67A to HOGRA (yes, it's a word, albeit obscure, and even more obscure than HOLLA) and 70A to SWEEP, then 64D becomes ERE, which would give a nice closure to having a three-letter word in the grid that begins with ER and completes the theme of SOAP + ER = OPERAS.

Still a nicely-constructed meta, even without that final cherry on top.

DBMiller wrote: ↑Mon Feb 17, 2020 10:24 pm

Bob cruise director wrote: ↑Fri Feb 14, 2020 12:01 pm Good Friday Morning muggles and happy St. Valentine's Day. My wife and I went to dinner last night at the Black Trumpet Bistro in Portsmouth NH which I would recommend to anyone in the area.

Almost made it out there this weekend. Was very cold on Saturday (Single digits), went thru Portsmouth, but we already had a big breakfast and weren't hungry. Made it to Hampton Beach (NH) and the Nubble Lighthouse (ME) on Sunday when the weather was more palatable.

20-02-16 Hampton Beach 0011 - Linda.jpg

20-02-16 Sohier Park 0013 - Linda.jpg

What a geological difference a few miles can make. The top pic I assume is from Hampton Beach -- that would be an outcropping of the mudstone of the Kittery formation you're perched upon.

Then a nice shot of the Cape Neddick gabbro in the picture of you with Nubble Light.

DBMiller wrote: ↑Mon Feb 17, 2020 10:24 pm

Bob cruise director wrote: ↑Fri Feb 14, 2020 12:01 pm Good Friday Morning muggles and happy St. Valentine's Day. My wife and I went to dinner last night at the Black Trumpet Bistro in Portsmouth NH which I would recommend to anyone in the area.

Almost made it out there this weekend. Was very cold on Saturday (Single digits), went thru Portsmouth, but we already had a big breakfast and weren't hungry. Made it to Hampton Beach (NH) and the Nubble Lighthouse (ME) on Sunday when the weather was more palatable.

20-02-16 Hampton Beach 0011 - Linda.jpg

20-02-16 Sohier Park 0013 - Linda.jpg

Yeah, let me know when they reopen Yokens!
(I live in Pasadena CA but grew up in New England and Yokens was a family favorite).
And my Mom was born in Hampton Beach and some of her family still lives there.

Not with a bang, but a whimper.

Like the final episode of the final season of so many soap operas... a bit of an anticlimax. Maybe all will be revealed in the first episode of the “ER” comeback season?

I found the SOAP, and inferred the OPERAS, but I believed that I had missed some pointer to the OPERAS part. I applaud the suggestions of major domo for an alternative title (GRID GIRDER or DIVA VARIED) that would have made such a pointer.

Actually, I think the "ER" derives from myself being overheard at the bar while struggling with the meta and groaning, "er," "er," "er." All to no avail.

#168Post by Abide » Sun Feb 16, 2020 9:47 am
FInally made it last night after treading water for the last two days. I had the idea for the "second part" early on, but took me way too long to figure out the "first part". Nice work by the Meta Master!

Maybe I am to blame for the "second part" mystery. I should have said "second step" instead. By "idea for the second part" I meant using the first word to calculate the second word. But I did not find the path to SOAP (the "first step") for two days.

I never came up OPERAS independently, although I see another solver came up with the entire phrase as a potential backsolve.

Geoduck wrote: ↑Mon Feb 17, 2020 11:45 pm What a geological difference a few miles can make. The top pic I assume is from Hampton Beach -- that would be an outcropping of the mudstone of the Kittery formation you're perched upon.

Then a nice shot of the Cape Neddick gabbro in the picture of you with Nubble Light.

Correct. Hampton up top.

Late adding this, but in regard to the missing "ER", I thought the PEAR in the middle of the puzzle was MGs Easter egg confirming OPERAS.

my wife thought it was the OREO at the NW corner of the grid. If forced to choose, I was going with the ERIE in the SE corner.

and wanted to do something with CAAN (loved that clue/answer), but to no avail.

when you're looking for a rabbit, there are a lot of rabbit shadows in the underbrush.

Be vewy quiet, I'm hunting wabbits.

Greetings and congrats to all of you who cracked this extremely clever contest. We had 1184 entries, about 82% correct. 22 entries for TELEVISION and several others that seemed to be 10-letter guesses (as always, please advise if there are other explanations), including VAUDEVILLE (7), LITERATURE (5), FAN FICTION (2), and 1 each for FREAK SHOWS, WATER PARKS, NIGHT CLUBS, and several others.

Congrats to this week's winner: Jen Bennion of Dallas, Tex.!

Upon reaching SOAP, I thought it was a sudsy segue to other clues. Given the timing of the puzzle posting, I thought there might be a connection to entertainment categories related to Valentine's Day.

nova -> LAva
pose -> DoVe
chasm -> cOasT
ally -> OlAy
less -> ZesT

LADVOTOAZT -> ADALT ZOO TV (lol)

Of the soaps mentioned, they didn't include Dial, which seemed inelegant, so I dropped that.

I also thought that the title 'Grid..' might be alluding to football or sports, but that went nowhere. So I settled on Soap Operas.

Congrats to all who solved it - good luck in your respective quests.

lacangah wrote: ↑Tue Feb 18, 2020 11:11 am Upon reaching SOAP, I thought it was a sudsy segue to other clues. Given the timing of the puzzle posting, I thought there might be a connection to entertainment categories related to Valentine's Day.

nova -> LAva
pose -> DoVe
chasm -> cOasT
ally -> OlAy
less -> ZesT

LADVOTOAZT -> ADALT ZOO TV (lol)

Of the soaps mentioned, they didn't include Dial, which seemed inelegant, so I dropped that.

I also thought that the title 'Grid..' might be alluding to football or sports, but that went nowhere. So I settled on Soap Operas.

Congrats to all who solved it - good luck in your respective quests.

LOL re: your alternative path. Impressive!

Interesting that several people tried to use the title as a fifth theme answer. I don't believe I've ever seen that done, but I'm going to keep it in mind. I can imagine one of the meta writers reading this blog and saying, hey, I should do that.