"Physical Science" - April 19, 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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hcbirker
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#101

Post by hcbirker »

Can't believe how long it took me to see "moat" as "atom". Doh! (Heidi)
Heidi
Inca
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#102

Post by Inca »

JJD wrote: Sat Apr 20, 2019 5:21 pm On shore, KAS 3 for me.

I’m going to resist the urge to make vague but (IMHO) clever comments that could be construed as hints. Instead I’ll just say I appreciated the ‘aha’ moment.
I miss those clever comments. They were almost a reward for having done the meta...I could "get" the comments.
Barry
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#103

Post by Barry »

Would anyone share the answer? I only did the puzzle this week but I am curious nonetheless.
steveb
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#104

Post by steveb »

Barry wrote: Mon Apr 22, 2019 1:37 am Would anyone share the answer? I only did the puzzle this week but I am curious nonetheless.
From Monday's crossword PDF:

"The contest answer is ATOM. The four theme answers begin with body parts (RIB, KIDNEY, PALM, MOUTH). The adjectives (as suggested by 1-Across) for these body parts (COSTAL, RENAL, PALMAR, ORAL) can be found as answers with one extra letter each (COASTAL, RENTAL, PALOMAR, MORAL). The extra letters spell the contest answer."
Barry
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#105

Post by Barry »

Thank you for both the answer and the tip. Now I know where to find it.
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Tom Shea
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#106

Post by Tom Shea »

Suspected the route, but this was never going to happen for me.
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Jim and Anita
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#107

Post by Jim and Anita »

While we know you don't give a "humorous rabbit of the week" award, our favorite fun rabbits this week which led to some new google knowledge were "eris" and "chem". Eris the dwarf planet discovered by the palomar observatory (47 across) and a star (51 down) and inspired by the television series xena which has a vague connection to alexa(15 across) the warrior princess. And on a more Easter theme since hop is in 32 down, tickler within 17 across for crown, bean from 26 across for head, sunday from 43 across for Easter and music for piece in 53 across, the first letters of which spell chem. Obviously these rabbits never led to the confirming "aha" moment, more like a "he he" smile. Happy week all.
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TMart
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#108

Post by TMart »

Bird Lives wrote: Sun Apr 21, 2019 8:55 pm
MaineMarge wrote: Fri Apr 19, 2019 9:20 pm On shore. Thanks to Mike for hiding one valuable clue among many of the red herring variety. Always a great brain workout session. I’m ready for the cool down under a beach umbrella now.
I got the answer, but I must have missed this valuable clue. Please mention it in a comment on Monday.
The clue was in 1 Across - "Wd. like nasal or neural" as a clue to ADJ. Odd choice of examples for an adjective unless.....
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BarbaraK
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#109

Post by BarbaraK »

pddigi wrote: Sun Apr 21, 2019 12:21 pm Add my son and me to the shore party - but let the record show that I got there before him! We found it amusing that my college major and his are equally important components of this week’s solution.
So one of you studied biology? And the other English? Or physics?
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Bob cruise director
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#110

Post by Bob cruise director »

My wanderings around the rabbit hole began with the title Physical Science which are like math and physics. After I completed the grid, I saw Palomar (47A) and though Astronomy and Tin Ore (24D) and though metallurgy but then what!! I had coastal which would lead to oceanography but that was it.

Then I had the two related answers in 15A and 27D which suggested that the answer might be spelled backwards.

So I focused on the body parts which had nothing to do with physical science so I figured the first words had to do with the physical part and the second words had to do with the science part so I had "tick" which is arachnology, "bean" which is carpology, "sun" which is astronomy or more closely helioseismology and "pi" which is mathematics. No help there

Then I saw rib and jib, and ending with mou and you so I looked for letters in between to spell jury or something but no success

Next was rib - and bone (38D who ever heard of the word costal), kidney led to or(g)an from 34A, mouth led to (m)oral in 45D but no luck with palm unless I went back to palomar but there were too many extra letters.

So that was full circle unless I add in the you/ewe connection and the (c)row/roe connections which also led no where.

So Isaac, set them up for the next week.
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FrankieHeck
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#111

Post by FrankieHeck »

Bob cruise director wrote: Mon Apr 22, 2019 8:05 am Next was rib - and bone (38D who ever heard of the word costal)
Your brain got a workout with that one!!

Believe it or not, CO(A)STAL was the one that did it for me. I was staring at the puzzle and my eyes kept going from RIB to COASTAL. I studied speech pathology, and intercostal muscles were discussed a lot. Then I think I looked for ORAL, and when I was able to find RENAL as well, I may have squealed.
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pddigi
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#112

Post by pddigi »

BarbaraK wrote: Mon Apr 22, 2019 7:54 am
pddigi wrote: Sun Apr 21, 2019 12:21 pm Add my son and me to the shore party - but let the record show that I got there before him! We found it amusing that my college major and his are equally important components of this week’s solution.
So one of you studied biology? And the other English? Or physics?
I was a biology/pre-med major (now a pathologist). My oldest son (Domenic) was a physics major (now an electrical engineer).

When we independently solve, as was the case this week, it's not really fair to say who got there first, as work and other home life matters may limit access to the puzzle for one or the other of us in any given week. I think Dom had some work-related matters Thursday afternoon followed by a Krav Maga session, so I used the head start to "beat" him.

Also, living in the South, we frequent rib joints, especially for special occasions. And being the dad-jokester/pedant that I can be, I would often rhetorically ask "Why do we call them ribs when what we eat are the intercostals?" That provided a nice tie-in (and the first glaring clue to solving the meta) for me! I delayed myself by getting sidetracked by the not-so-biological connection of kidney/ilks, but palomar and moral finally got me out of that rabbit hole.
ron
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#113

Post by ron »

KIDNEY/RENAL and MOUTH/ORAL I got to pretty quickly. PALM/PALMAR took quite a while. From there, I actually went to ATOM (couldn't think of any other xTOM words, and I know grid order is usually observed in these), and then started eliminating any A's in remaining answers to see if a word was left that might refer to RIB. COSTAL was a total Google-job for me, never heard of it. I see others mentioning MOAT and I'm glad that didn't pop up for me as a distraction. I think I would have leaned to ATOM even if it had, just because of the "science" reference.
sheilaco
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#114

Post by sheilaco »

I headed down that path (renal, oral, etc) but didn't take it far enough. I never saw the similar words in the grid.
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BethA
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#115

Post by BethA »

Thursday night, I gave up, having written the 4 long theme answers on my worksheet, plus COSTAE (ribs in Latin), RENAL (next to kidney), and ORAL (next to mouth). Wasted a lot of mental energy wondering if 25A YOU was supposed to be some kind of tip-off!

Friday, looking over the whole puzzle again, trying to figure out how to get one letter from each theme answer, saw RENTAL and MORAL in the grid! And also the wording of 1A. Eureka! Then learned 2 new words, PALMAR and COSTAL.

Someone above mentioned MOAT vs ATOM. But if you list the theme answers in order as I had, the extra letters added to the related adjectives spell ATOM in order. I’m very sensitive about that now, having gone with Mali/Bamako instead of Lima before!

Great puzzle!
Inca
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#116

Post by Inca »

TMart wrote: Mon Apr 22, 2019 7:51 am
Bird Lives wrote: Sun Apr 21, 2019 8:55 pm I got the answer, but I must have missed this valuable clue. Please mention it in a comment on Monday.
The clue was in 1 Across - "Wd. like nasal or neural" as a clue to ADJ. Odd choice of examples for an adjective unless.....
Wow, I totally missed that. Thanks for enlightening me.
Inca
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#117

Post by Inca »

I tried hard to remember what I learned decades ago and first thought of all the "systems" (respiratory, excretory, digestive...but what system was the palm part of?), then I thought of the medical specialists (orthopedist, nephrologist/urologist, dentist/oral surgeon...but again who specializes in the palm? a palm reader?? Hands & wrists, yes, but palms?) And that's when I saw rental and then found moral and from there I had to learn about costal from Mr. G. (I'm with Bob on that one) and just figured palmar must have something to do with the palm, but googled that one too just to make absolutely sure. And there it was.
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Colin
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#118

Post by Colin »

I jumped ship to the HMS Pedantic after learning that Physical Science is the study of non-living things, whereas Life Science is the study of... well... living things. Once I learnt that, it seemed only proper to ignore references to ribs, kidneys and the like. This has delivered a blow to my confidence in getting ashore next week because it seems misleading metas are now also fair game?
One world. One planet. One future.
Carla
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#119

Post by Carla »

I was right there with you, Bob! Even more embarrassing, I am a biology major who has taken anatomy!
Bob cruise director wrote: Mon Apr 22, 2019 8:05 am My wanderings around the rabbit hole began with the title Physical Science which are like math and physics. After I completed the grid, I saw Palomar (47A) and though Astronomy and Tin Ore (24D) and though metallurgy but then what!! I had coastal which would lead to oceanography but that was it.

Then I had the two related answers in 15A and 27D which suggested that the answer might be spelled backwards.

So I focused on the body parts which had nothing to do with physical science so I figured the first words had to do with the physical part and the second words had to do with the science part so I had "tick" which is arachnology, "bean" which is carpology, "sun" which is astronomy or more closely helioseismology and "pi" which is mathematics. No help there

Then I saw rib and jib, and ending with mou and you so I looked for letters in between to spell jury or something but no success

Next was rib - and bone (38D who ever heard of the word costal), kidney led to or(g)an from 34A, mouth led to (m)oral in 45D but no luck with palm unless I went back to palomar but there were too many extra letters.

So that was full circle unless I add in the you/ewe connection and the (c)row/roe connections which also led no where.

So Isaac, set them up for the next week.
MikeMillerwsj
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#120

Post by MikeMillerwsj »

Greetings--a quick report on this week's contest. I am blanking out on the Muggle term for a superficial answer that shows up in high volumes--but misses the elegant extra step you need to get the correct answer! This week had a lively turnout--900 entries in the nose--with a big example of that phenomenon: BODY, with 226 responses, roughly 25%. The correct answer, ATOM, had 507 (or about 56%). Plus lots and lots of other 4-letter words (PART, CALF, ROCK, RIOT, TRIP, BOMB, many many others.)

Congrats to this week's winner: Scott Trerotola of Newtown Square, PA!

(We will also be posting this at wsj.com/puzzles.)
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