"What Not To Do" - March 27, 2020

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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DrTom
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Joined: Sat Apr 20, 2019 6:46 pm
Location: Jacksonville, FL

#81

Post by DrTom »

Well it is nice to see I am far from alone on my confusion. Worked the grid late last night and got nowhere, gonna retry with coffee and something to eat, perhaps low sugar is the culprit?
NUDGES!I am always willing to give nudges where needed; metas should be about fun, not frustration. Send me what you have done so far because often you are closer than you think!
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Janet P
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#82

Post by Janet P »

Another drink, please.
Then back to the stern garden
Where spring flowers bloom 🌸

Stay well, Muggles!
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DrTom
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Location: Jacksonville, FL

#83

Post by DrTom »

Joe Ross wrote: Fri Mar 27, 2020 10:36 am I've paddled back to the boat, too. Several posts "wanting to sleep on it" encouraged me, but a few "100%" posts from respected veterans and no verification of my initial makes me sure that I have the incorrect meta answer. However, one muggle's post has given me a clue as to where to look, next. Is there a recommended quarantine or penalty for preposture emancipation?

Received a couple of golf-themed funnies, this morning. They help to ease the pain of delayed majors & tee-offs. Apologies to non-duffer muggles, but the second is a jewel.

- The proper way to give high fives:

proper high 5.png



- The proper way to call someone a _______:

A guy was getting ready to tee off on the first hole when a second golfer approached and asked if he could join him. The first said that he usually played alone, but agreed to the twosome.

They were even after the first two holes. The second guy said, "We're about evenly matched, how about playing for five bucks a hole?" The first guy said that he wasn't much for betting, but agreed to the terms. The second guy won the remaining sixteen holes with ease.

As they were walking off number eighteen, the second guy was busy counting his $80. He confessed that he was the pro at a neighboring course and liked to pick on suckers.

The first fellow revealed that he was the local parish priest. The pro was flustered and apologetic, offering to return the money. The Priest said, "You won fair and square and I was foolish to bet with you. You keep your winnings."

The pro insisted, "Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?"

The Priest said, "Well, you could come to Mass on Sunday and make a donation. If you want to bring your mother and father along, I'll marry them."
Preposture emancipation I don't know, but premature emancipation following bated breath mastering of METAs , well those adverse effects are well known: You will go blind to obvious connections and grow hair on your solving pencil.

So, my golf joke...

A guy is about to play a solo round when a stranger approaches him and asks if he would like to play together. He agrees and the two have a pleasant first 8 holes. On getting ready to tee off for 9 they observe two women who are taking an inordinately long time on the fairway.

The first guy says, “Tell you what, I’m going to go up and ask them if we could play through”, and with that starts for the twosome. He gets within 50 yards when the second man sees him turn quickly and sprint back.

“What happened” he asked? The first man replies, “When I got closer I realized that it was my wife and she was playing with my girlfriend, you are going to have to be the one to ask them.”

So the second guy starts out and as he nears the duo he also turns back.

“Why didn’t you say something to them” the first guy asks? The second fellow says, “You know what you said about your wife and your girlfriend” he says, “well mine too!”


Oh, and finally - I noticed that the file with the proper high five was Proper high 5.png, shouldn't that have been Ping?
NUDGES!I am always willing to give nudges where needed; metas should be about fun, not frustration. Send me what you have done so far because often you are closer than you think!
go_oboe
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2020 11:17 am

#84

Post by go_oboe »

Hello! Followed the community without an account but figured I'd finally join in.

The grid is donzo, but definitely still lost at sea for the meta.
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Bob cruise director
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Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 2:38 pm
Location: Any golf course within 500 miles of Littleton MA

#85

Post by Bob cruise director »

go_oboe wrote: Fri Mar 27, 2020 11:19 am Hello! Followed the community without an account but figured I'd finally join in.

The grid is donzo, but definitely still lost at sea for the meta.
Welcome to the group. We are always thrilled to have new muggles. This one has left a lot of us lost at sea
Bob Stevens
Cruise Director
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Bob cruise director
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Location: Any golf course within 500 miles of Littleton MA

#86

Post by Bob cruise director »

Good morning muggles. We seem to have a lot of us who want an answer but can't justify it so we are in the grey sea between the ship and the shore.

But we welcome our newest muggle: go_oboe.

And we have 13 on the ship and 40 on the shore - more than a few are questioning whether they are really on the shore or not.
Bob Stevens
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Scooby
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Joined: Tue Apr 23, 2019 2:30 pm

#87

Post by Scooby »

Being in lot of holes, but no 'scwewy wabbit' still...on ship, Bob!
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spotter
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Location: SLO, CA

#88

Post by spotter »

Joe Ross wrote: Fri Mar 27, 2020 10:49 am
spotter wrote: Fri Mar 27, 2020 10:38 am If I get stuck, I'll often recreate and fill in the grid using excel. Then I can highlight and un-highlight things to help myself see more clearly. It was helpful this time for me.
Great advice!

I solve the grid using the WSJ online app, first. I then use Excel, too, for the second time, which often gives me an answer (and had thought it did, yesterday). Further highlighting, notetaking, & sorting haven't helped, yet this morning, but will, eventually.

If you have Excel tips or wish to post your solution after the deadline, please add here! Thank you!
On Monday morning I'll post what I do in there. I'm not doing anything very complicated at all so it may be a good thing to share.

Essentially all I'm doing is changing the column width to make all cells square(ish), making a 15X15 outer border, filling in the black squares and retyping the grid. I'll show my highlighted grid on Monday with a brief write up!
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KayW
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#89

Post by KayW »

LAS. I'm fighting for a 113 sqft circle (pi * 6 ** 2) on the life raft with the others who see something but don't know what to do with it. Maybe BrianMac can lend me his social-distance donut. Preferably glazed, like my eyes.

Time to set this aside and let my subconscious work on it a bit.
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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Meg
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#90

Post by Meg »

I have it, but I had to get a nudge. Parallel tunnels. I was on the right track, just not quite there. Now I’m on the beach in the sand.
Check out and support http://CrosswordsForCancer.com.
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TPS
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Joined: Sun Mar 15, 2020 2:19 pm
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#91

Post by TPS »

Meg wrote: Fri Mar 27, 2020 1:01 pm I have it, but I had to get a nudge. Parallel tunnels. I was on the right track, just not quite there. Now I’m on the beach in the sand.
I couldn't even get it with a shove. I'm just not smart enough or my vocabulary is insufficient.
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lacangah
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Location: Claremont, CA

#92

Post by lacangah »

On shore, humming 'The Gambler' (nice acknowledgement on 37A).

A toast to yinzes good health - have a good weekend,
edot
Posts: 97
Joined: Fri Mar 06, 2020 9:48 pm
Location: New York, NY

#93

Post by edot »

Count me ashore! Like some other muggles--not 100% confident in my answer. If anyone who's in the same situation wants to PM me to see if we're aligned, feel free. Will submit tomorrow--have a great weekend, all!
DaveWa
Posts: 45
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 1:43 pm
Location: Lincoln, NE

#94

Post by DaveWa »

TPS wrote: Thu Mar 26, 2020 7:38 pm
edot wrote: Thu Mar 26, 2020 7:35 pm Grid done in ~15. All the signs are staring right at me but I can't seem to figure out what to do with them!
Same - This really might be the last one I do if I don't figure it out this week. This is so frustrating I'm gonna end up smashing my laptop if I keep trying these - I wish I had never heard of meta. I used to really enjoy crossword puzzles.
I was in the same position as you when I first started doing the meta puzzles several years ago but I'm glad I stayed with it. I can now solve about one out of two or three and that's about the right level of difficulty for me. If you'd like some help getting started on this one, feel free to private message me. Once you start to get the general ideas behind the construction of these puzzles, you might find yourself pleasantly surprised.
DaveWa
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Location: Lincoln, NE

#95

Post by DaveWa »

I'm ashore, a bit faster than normal since there's not much else to do during these self-isolation days.
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Al Sisti
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Location: Whitesboro NY

#96

Post by Al Sisti »

Well I'm shot for the day now, thanks to ChrisKochmanski. Since he posted the video clip of SNL's Aer Lingus skit, I'm now reading all these posts in my head with a female Irish accent. T'anks a boatload, Chris...
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SusieG
Posts: 431
Joined: Sat Feb 01, 2020 9:20 pm
Location: Arkansas

#97

Post by SusieG »

I am also on the boat. In my cabin, of course. For some reason I am stuck on a method that seems to make so much sense to me, but it only gives me five letters. How do you get un-stuck from flawed thinking and move forward with something else? (Sounds like OCD.)

I also use Excel after I solve it online (if I don't pick it up immediately). Not sure it helps me. I don't paste a jpg in, I just have my column width set to 2.73, row height of 18 and use Calibri 11 font. Have it set for conditional formatting so blank cells are black. Honestly, I don't know how much the Excel helps me. I tend to either figure it out quickly or spend the weekend making myself crazy and never get it. I may be on track for the latter.
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Wendy Walker
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Location: Unionville, PA

#98

Post by Wendy Walker »

KayW wrote: Fri Mar 27, 2020 12:51 pm LAS. I'm fighting for a 113 sqft circle (pi * 6 ** 2) on the life raft with the others who see something but don't know what to do with it. Maybe BrianMac can lend me his social-distance donut. Preferably glazed, like my eyes.

Time to set this aside and let my subconscious work on it a bit.
Kay, you are so awesome to donate platelets! I have seen the amazing impact that they can have on cancer patients. Hope you get the meta; it's a fun one!
Good luck, fellow Muggles!
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TPS
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#99

Post by TPS »

I am onshore - I wouldn't exactly say I got there on my own - more like I was dragged than nudged. There are 2 clues that are borderline unfair IMO. In a sense the answer was perfect for my experience with this.
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MajordomoTom
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#100

Post by MajordomoTom »

38A+54A

just saying.

:)
"Lots of planets have a North", the Ninth Doctor.
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