"Build Your Brand" - May 8, 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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Joe Ross
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#521

Post by Joe Ross »

20171215 WSJCC Mystery Woman.gif
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TPS
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#522

Post by TPS »

Holy crap - That one is obscure. That’s PGW level. I don’t even understand the solution with the grid and explanation.
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Bob cruise director
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#523

Post by Bob cruise director »

TPS wrote: Tue May 12, 2020 9:07 pm Holy crap - That one is obscure. That’s PGW level. I don’t even understand the solution with the grid and explanation.
Neither did most of us. Only 348 submissions with 47% correct.
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#524

Post by TPS »

If you had told me the over/under on the number of people getting that right was 5 - I’d have taken the under. I mean I’ve never heard of the author or the books. It’s one time to do a meta about a song by one of the most popular bands of all time but it’s something different to do one about an author 99% of the population has never heard of.
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#525

Post by Nycerjohnnie »

What was the explanation for “W”?
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BarbaraK
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#526

Post by BarbaraK »

Bob cruise director wrote: Mon May 11, 2020 3:20 pm
Past experiences would indicate about 780 submissions to the WSJ with about 585 correct. Hopefully we will know soon
Actual result: 802 submissions and 297 correct.

Amazingly close on your prediction of submissions but a bit overoptimistic about the success rate.
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Al Sisti
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#527

Post by Al Sisti »

...I think she died like two weeks after this puzzle, something like that.
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TPS
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#528

Post by TPS »

Al Sisti wrote: Tue May 12, 2020 10:17 pm ...I think she died like two weeks after this puzzle, something like that.
Maybe she tried to do the puzzle and it killed her.
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BethA
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#529

Post by BethA »

Al Sisti wrote: Tue May 12, 2020 10:17 pm ...I think she died like two weeks after this puzzle, something like that.
I couldn’t believe it was that soon! She died on Dec 29, same day as the infamous Pageant puzzle! (I’m hearing Twilight Zone music now).
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#530

Post by Nlobb »

She wrote a series of mysteries starting with A is for Alibi...all the way through the alphabet but no Z mystery since she died. Fun books to read.
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yourpalsal
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#531

Post by yourpalsal »

Joe Ross wrote: Tue May 12, 2020 6:34 pm 20171215 WSJCC Mystery Woman.gif
I wasn’t around then but I never would’ve got that. I’m staring at the solution and I still don’t get it! But I got ADOBE! :-)
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#532

Post by Joe Ross »

TPS wrote: Tue May 12, 2020 9:42 pm If you had told me the over/under on the number of people getting that right was 5 - I’d have taken the under. I mean I’ve never heard of the author or the books. It’s one time to do a meta about a song by one of the most popular bands of all time but it’s something different to do one about an author 99% of the population has never heard of.
Be careful. You'll start with "A is for Alibi" and, several dozen Quarter Pounders with Cheese later, you'll have read through "Y is for Yesterday", maybe even twice.
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#533

Post by oldjudge »

I had to read it three times, but I finally understand the solution. I have never read any of her novels so that one would have been awfully tough for me. It came out just a little after I started doing metas. I’m fairly certain I would have whiffed on it.
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#534

Post by oldjudge »

BethA wrote: Tue May 12, 2020 10:53 pm
Al Sisti wrote: Tue May 12, 2020 10:17 pm ...I think she died like two weeks after this puzzle, something like that.
I couldn’t believe it was that soon! She died on Dec 29, same day as the infamous Pageant puzzle! (I’m hearing Twilight Zone music now).
I was still relatively new when the Pageant puzzle came out. I had very few preconceived notions of how to solve metas so somehow I got it right.
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Bob cruise director
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#535

Post by Bob cruise director »

BarbaraK wrote: Tue May 12, 2020 10:16 pm
Bob cruise director wrote: Mon May 11, 2020 3:20 pm
Past experiences would indicate about 780 submissions to the WSJ with about 585 correct. Hopefully we will know soon
Actual result: 802 submissions and 297 correct.

Amazingly close on your prediction of submissions but a bit overoptimistic about the success rate.
The ratio of the number of entries to the number of muggles on shore is amazingly consistent at 13 to 1.
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#536

Post by Nlobb »

I MIGHT have gotten that one because I have read all her books. But if you hadn't, it would be ridiculously hard...
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#537

Post by MattGaffney »

Copying and pasting an e-mail I wrote to a solver who asked about my misuse of "row" in the clue at 55-D:

B-SIX is not great fill, but it was necessary in order to get BOW into the grid. But then I made the (critical, it turns out) error of referring to the left side of a bingo card as a "row" and not a "column," which is a very unfortunate mistake for me to make in a meta grid. As you and others noticed, it looks highly likely that it would be part of the meta, since a) it's cluing a somewhat strange and meta-suggestive entry (B-SIX), b) it's in the bottom-right corner, a common place for revealers, and c) the fact that there's an error in it (using "row" instead of "column") suggests even further that it's meta-related. Even the error itself seems like it could be meta-related, asking you to search rows and/or columns for a B-6 of some kind.

Unfortunately, none of this is true. It's just fill that I needed to use to make the meta work, and I accidentally used "row" there instead of "column" for the clue, and then it all looks meta-related even though it's not.

My apologies to solvers for this slip-up. I comb these metas looking for the tiniest errors since I know they can have larger-than-normal consequences in terms of wasted time and annoyance for solvers. This is one of the most unfortunate of these "small" errors that I've ever allowed to slip into a meta, and a reminder to me that I need to be extra-vigilant for issues like this in the future.

--Matt
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Bob cruise director
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#538

Post by Bob cruise director »

MattGaffney wrote: Wed May 13, 2020 10:46 am Copying and pasting an e-mail I wrote to a solver who asked about my misuse of "row" in the clue at 55-D:

B-SIX is not great fill, but it was necessary in order to get BOW into the grid. But then I made the (critical, it turns out) error of referring to the left side of a bingo card as a "row" and not a "column," which is a very unfortunate mistake for me to make in a meta grid. As you and others noticed, it looks highly likely that it would be part of the meta, since a) it's cluing a somewhat strange and meta-suggestive entry (B-SIX), b) it's in the bottom-right corner, a common place for revealers, and c) the fact that there's an error in it (using "row" instead of "column") suggests even further that it's meta-related. Even the error itself seems like it could be meta-related, asking you to search rows and/or columns for a B-6 of some kind.

Unfortunately, none of this is true. It's just fill that I needed to use to make the meta work, and I accidentally used "row" there instead of "column" for the clue, and then it all looks meta-related even though it's not.

My apologies to solvers for this slip-up. I comb these metas looking for the tiniest errors since I know they can have larger-than-normal consequences in terms of wasted time and annoyance for solvers. This is one of the most unfortunate of these "small" errors that I've ever allowed to slip into a meta, and a reminder to me that I need to be extra-vigilant for issues like this in the future.

--Matt
Do you and/or Mike have a good idea how difficult a contest is when you publish it? Our data (we are nerd so we have a lot of data that we play with) shows both very hard and very easy metas. I was wondering if there was a "sweet spot" that you shoot for.

We also hope that you and Mike get some amusement out of our random wanderings here on the blog.
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Al Sisti
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#539

Post by Al Sisti »

Bob cruise director wrote: Wed May 13, 2020 1:32 pm
MattGaffney wrote: Wed May 13, 2020 10:46 am Copying and pasting an e-mail I wrote to a solver who asked about my misuse of "row" in the clue at 55-D:

(Matt G's post)

--Matt
Do you and/or Mike have a good idea how difficult a contest is when you publish it? Our data (we are nerd so we have a lot of data that we play with) shows both very hard and very easy metas. I was wondering if there was a "sweet spot" that you shoot for.

We also hope that you and Mike get some amusement out of our random wanderings here on the blog.
^this^... I can't speak for everyone, but I think it's pretty cool that you, Pete Muller, Peter Washington and other noted constructors know about this forum and pop in to talk to us. Our "door" is always open to you...
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#540

Post by camandsampowercouple »

Love to hear the response about BSIX. That clue tickled me the wrong way all weekend. It's a good lesson learned that if an entry feels forced, it might be not because of the meta, but because it intersects an entry for the meta...hmmm
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