"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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FrankieHeck
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#121

Post by FrankieHeck »

Colin wrote: Mon Apr 22, 2019 10:26 am 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?
I took the title as a way to blend two meanings of "physical," one being "relating to the body."
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#122

Post by 31 Down »

Had to apply body english to solve this one! Followed a similar arc as BethA, Figured the answer must be _T_M. 2 possibilities, STEM and ATOM. Concluded ATOM must be it since it involved science. Googling COSTAL and PALMAR confirmed.

I grade according to minutes spent on the meta portion. This was a par on my scale:

Ace - solve before finishing grid
Eagle - within 5
Birdie - 5-15
Par - 15 - 60
Bogey - over 60
Double bogey - lost at sea
Thomas W (since there's already a Tom W)
Graham
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#123

Post by Graham »

I noticed the BONEup, the IRIS, the EARns and the lurking urCHIN, but they didn't seem to lead anywhere.

The 1A clue helped me spot the pattern. Unfortunately I didn't know the word "costal"and I was very dubious of "palmar", so I spent a while searching for other adjectives.

The unusual SAROYAN was obviously, clearly, hiding some adjective! Perhaps SARYAN? Or a SAROAN? But Mr Google refused to help!

Eventually I found COASTAL and convinced myself that "palmar" really was a word.
Graham
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#124

Post by Graham »

FrankieHeck wrote: Mon Apr 22, 2019 10:58 am
Colin wrote: Mon Apr 22, 2019 10:26 am 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?
I took the title as a way to blend two meanings of "physical," one being "relating to the body."
I took "Physical" in the sense of a doctor's "Physical Exam", but kept in mind the ambiguity, which helped later.
pgw
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#125

Post by pgw »

This was a great theme idea but feels like a bit of a missed opportunity in the execution to me. My very minor quibble is that while ATOM appears in theme-entry-it's-related-to order, it seems like it wouldn't have been too difficult to put it in grid order also. But that's no big deal. The bigger issue is that the word "atom" isn't really related to the theme, but it's halfway to ANATOMIC which would be a perfect answer to this puzzle! To pull that off you'd need a bigger grid and (unless I missed something better) a couple of obscure entries, but I think it might be worth it. My list:

CO(A)STAL
PE(N)DAL or A(N)URAL
NASAL(A)
REN(T)AL
PAL(O)MAR
(M)ORAL
PALAT(I)AL
(C)OPTIC or RADI(C)AL

Anyway - don't get me wrong, I thought it was a good puzzle.
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Bird Lives
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#126

Post by Bird Lives »

TMart wrote: Mon Apr 22, 2019 7:51 am
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.....
Yep. I should have noticed.
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DrTom
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#127

Post by DrTom »

Hooray - I got one after weeks of heavy drinking at the ships bar. Being in the medical field certainly helped, but it took me several "put it down then look at it laters" to finally come up with the answer and then only after I did the WWMD (what would Mike do of course, as opposed to my usual what would Matt do) and said "OK, four letters, four themed answers (though bone, iris, chin were a bit distracting) it HAS to be there. Coastal was the trigger because in CPR classes we often talk about the intercostal margin and I know that the ribs form that. From there I saw Rental and the game was afoot. So, for this week at least, I feel good about myself - probably only last until Friday.
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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Bob cruise director
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#128

Post by Bob cruise director »

DrTom wrote: Mon Apr 22, 2019 2:32 pm Hooray - I got one after weeks of heavy drinking at the ships bar. Being in the medical field certainly helped, but it took me several "put it down then look at it laters" to finally come up with the answer and then only after I did the WWMD (what would Mike do of course, as opposed to my usual what would Matt do) and said "OK, four letters, four themed answers (though bone, iris, chin were a bit distracting) it HAS to be there. Coastal was the trigger because in CPR classes we often talk about the intercostal margin and I know that the ribs form that. From there I saw Rental and the game was afoot. So, for this week at least, I feel good about myself - probably only last until Friday.
Definitely a Kas 3 for you. LOL
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BarbaraK
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#129

Post by BarbaraK »

MikeMillerwsj wrote: Mon Apr 22, 2019 10:44 am 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.)
Thank you, Mike!

The word you're looking for is PAGEANT. And yes, this is a good example of the phenomenon.
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KayW
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#130

Post by KayW »

What an embarrassing thud and a classic KAS 4. I was on the right track - saw the four starting nouns and the 1A clue. But never found the right combination of adjectives, nor the corresponding words in the grid with the extra letter to extract ATOM. I kept staring at "ORAN" as an "ORAL with a switch", but never noticed MORAL.

I ended up submitting SUDO - which yes indeed is a noun, I can tell you speaking as a 20+ year linux geek:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudo

That was the closest thing I could derive from my possible adjectives:
SKELETAL/THORACIC/COSTAL,
URINARY/ENDOCRINE/RENAL,
DERMAL/EPIDERMAL (somehow missed PALMAR),
ORAL/ALIMENTARY/GASTRO-INTESTINAL.

I never saw the corresponding words with an extra letter in the grid tho I knew something had to be there. I also thought SUDO was way too obscure a term to be the solution but I ran out of time and threw a hail mary.

Kudos to all who solved!
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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DrTom
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#131

Post by DrTom »

Well heck, we will just consider that a Super Answer? Sudo Kudos to you though.
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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KayW
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#132

Post by KayW »

:) Thank you DrTom! and I thought at least it was science-related. But perhaps only sudo-science.
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.
Inca
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#133

Post by Inca »

KayW wrote: Mon Apr 22, 2019 5:36 pm :) Thank you DrTom! and I thought at least it was science-related. But perhaps only sudo-science.
:D We really need a like button with comments like this one.
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Jeremy Smith
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#134

Post by Jeremy Smith »

BarbaraK wrote: Mon Apr 22, 2019 4:39 pm
MikeMillerwsj wrote: Mon Apr 22, 2019 10:44 am 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.)
Thank you, Mike!

The word you're looking for is PAGEANT. And yes, this is a good example of the phenomenon.
And I was PAGEANTED!
MaineMarge
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#135

Post by MaineMarge »

I have reintroduced myself in that spot on this site. If you haven’t gone there yet, please put it on your to-do list. It is so nice to be able to put an actual person behind all these comments we all so enjoy. BrianMac has promised not to use any more of that disappearing ink. Go to the Come Aboard section, then Introduce.
Also an interesting conversation in the Acapulco Lounge on why we crossword.
My best nonproductive rabbit hole came from two almost anagrams crossing- with one extra letter- rosh/shorn and Sinai/Iranis. Close, but no cigar there, but it got me started on the extra letter idea. Finally got to atom when I realizing why Mike had worded 1a as he had.
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CPJohnson
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#136

Post by CPJohnson »

Inca wrote: Mon Apr 22, 2019 10:24 pm
KayW wrote: Mon Apr 22, 2019 5:36 pm :) Thank you DrTom! and I thought at least it was science-related. But perhaps only sudo-science.
:D We really need a like button with comments like this one.
:lol:
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JJD
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#137

Post by JJD »

Inca wrote: Mon Apr 22, 2019 1:00 am
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.

I found my way to the mechanic by noticing COASTAL - COSTAL, and I was thinking that our nautically themed completion lingo fit, because I got "On shore" by way of COASTAL.So I was going to same something about being on shore could be a hint in itself.
Inca
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#138

Post by Inca »

JJD wrote: Wed Apr 24, 2019 7:01 pm
Inca wrote: Mon Apr 22, 2019 1:00 am
I miss those clever comments. They were almost a reward for having done the meta...I could "get" the comments.

I found my way to the mechanic by noticing COASTAL - COSTAL, and I was thinking that our nautically themed completion lingo fit, because I got "On shore" by way of COASTAL.So I was going to same something about being on shore could be a hint in itself.
:D :D :D
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