"One False Note" - May 22, 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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zacmoretz
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#321

Post by zacmoretz »

OGuyDave wrote: Mon May 25, 2020 6:35 am I dabbled, befogged, asea, fazed. Had an idea, and exceeded each daffy ragged defect. Yea! Gaffnee gem! Bye / G'Day. Feedback?
Awesome Dave!!!!!
zacmoretz
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#322

Post by zacmoretz »

Y’all are kind of brutal on the ratings. I thought it was a great fun puzzle. Fun/clever rating is a four at least. Difficulty rating, OK, if I figured it out on a Saturday, it must have been pretty easy.
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BarbaraK
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#323

Post by BarbaraK »

zacmoretz wrote: Mon May 25, 2020 9:20 am Y’all are kind of brutal on the ratings. I thought it was a great fun puzzle. Fun/clever rating is a four at least. Difficulty rating, OK, if I figured it out on a Saturday, it must have been pretty easy.
Not sure why rating the puzzle here as easy is "brutal". I was a bit surprised at how many presumably non-musicians still remember the basic notes from elementary school, but clearly almost everyone did.

The only quality rating I know of is the one on crossword fiend, and it's at 3.85 right now.
Last edited by BarbaraK on Mon May 25, 2020 10:07 am, edited 1 time in total.
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BarbaraK
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#324

Post by BarbaraK »

OGuyDave wrote: Mon May 25, 2020 6:35 am I dabbled, befogged, asea, fazed. Had an idea, and exceeded each daffy ragged defect. Yea! Gaffnee gem! Bye / G'Day. Feedback?
I'm impressed!

I tried to come up with a set of words that would give a brief comment on the puzzle. Realized that nice, fun, good, like it, and whatever else I could think of wouldn't work because they all had an a-g already and gave up there.
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Joe Ross
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#325

Post by Joe Ross »

BarbaraK wrote: Mon May 25, 2020 9:52 am
zacmoretz wrote: Mon May 25, 2020 9:20 am Y’all are kind of brutal on the ratings. I thought it was a great fun puzzle. Fun/clever rating is a four at least. Difficulty rating, OK, if I figured it out on a Saturday, it must have been pretty easy.
Not sure why calling a puzzle easy is "brutal". I was a bit surprised at how many presumably non-musicians still remember the basic notes from elementary school, but clearly almost everyone did.

The only quality rating I know of is the one on crossword fiend, and it's at 3.85 right now.
Meta Ratings big vs little screens.gif
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boharr
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#326

Post by boharr »

Bob cruise director wrote: Mon May 25, 2020 2:21 am Clever puzzle but the nit I had (and it may be a regional definition) was 34 A

When we were in college and the drinking age was 18
If you ordered a depth charge, the bartender would bring the shot and the beer and drop the shot glass into the beer
if you ordered a boilermaker, the bartender would bring the shot and the beer and pour the shot into the beer
and if you ordered a shot and a chaser he would bring the shot and the beer and leave both of them for you

So technically with the boilermaker there was no chaser.
While I'm sure there may be regional variations, these definitions applied back in my bartender days in New York. Still do in most places I might patronize.
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OGuyDave
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#327

Post by OGuyDave »

BarbaraK wrote: Mon May 25, 2020 9:56 am
OGuyDave wrote: Mon May 25, 2020 6:35 am I dabbled, befogged, asea, fazed. Had an idea, and exceeded each daffy ragged defect. Yea! Gaffnee gem! Bye / G'Day. Feedback?
I'm impressed!

I tried to come up with a set of words that would give a brief comment on the puzzle. Realized that nice, fun, good, like it, and whatever else I could think of wouldn't work because they all had an a-g already and gave up there.
Whipped up a perl program that goes against a dictionary file, looking for words that have exactly one letter from 'h' to 'z'. Ended up with 1129 words. Longest was 'deadheaded'. With more time and dedication. who knows what possibilities there were.

Did you realize that 'Barb' fits the requirement. 'Dave', too!
zacmoretz
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#328

Post by zacmoretz »

Joe Ross wrote: Mon May 25, 2020 10:11 am
BarbaraK wrote: Mon May 25, 2020 9:52 am
zacmoretz wrote: Mon May 25, 2020 9:20 am Y’all are kind of brutal on the ratings. I thought it was a great fun puzzle. Fun/clever rating is a four at least. Difficulty rating, OK, if I figured it out on a Saturday, it must have been pretty easy.
Not sure why calling a puzzle easy is "brutal". I was a bit surprised at how many presumably non-musicians still remember the basic notes from elementary school, but clearly almost everyone did.

The only quality rating I know of is the one on crossword fiend, and it's at 3.85 right now.

Meta Ratings big vs little screens.gif
Ah. Gotcha. I’m on my phone. Thanks Joe!
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BethA
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#329

Post by BethA »

I thought it was pretty tricky that even when you started down the right path, it looked like it wasn’t going to lead anywhere! What name would start k-t-o-s- ? Glad I kept going anyway.

Someone earlier mentioned the mnemonic for the staff lines. I learned it as Every Good Boy Does Fine. But the FACE (staff spaces) of BALDFACED really jumped out at me.

I started playing the flute in 5th grade and continued on through high school in symphonette and marching band. Still play occasionally, but mainly around certain holidays. Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Irish jigs around St Patrick’s Day. I listen more to classic rock or classical, no country (or western), but have heard of kt oslin.

Ps. I tried playing the TRUE notes - remaining letters from the theme answers, but couldn’t recognize it as a tune. That would have been really cool! Probably impossible to construct!
flyingMoose
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#330

Post by flyingMoose »

BethA wrote: Mon May 25, 2020 11:09 am Someone earlier mentioned the mnemonic for the staff lines. I learned it as Every Good Boy Does Fine. But the FACE (staff spaces) of BALDFACED really jumped out at me.
And I learned sharps as Go Down And Eat Breakfast First.
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TPS
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#331

Post by TPS »

BarbaraK wrote: Mon May 25, 2020 9:52 am I was a bit surprised at how many presumably non-musicians still remember the basic notes from elementary school, but clearly almost everyone did.
I didn’t - I knew the meta answer was going to have something to do with notes - I assumed it was going to be something more difficult but when SO MANY people got it so quickly I thought well maybe it’s just letters that aren’t notes - So I googled notes and then when I saw KT I google country singer KT and then looked to see if the methodology led to that. I was very pleased to have solved this one because music is definitely my weakest area.
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Al Sisti
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#332

Post by Al Sisti »

BethA wrote: Mon May 25, 2020 11:09 am

Ps. I tried playing the TRUE notes - remaining letters from the theme answers, but couldn’t recognize it as a tune. That would have been really cool! Probably impossible to construct!
I believe that Pete Muller did that for one of his mega metas...yeah, here it is: https://pmxwords.com/2014-finale-sound-it-out-solution/
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BethA
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#333

Post by BethA »

Al Sisti wrote: Mon May 25, 2020 12:24 pm
BethA wrote: Mon May 25, 2020 11:09 am

Ps. I tried playing the TRUE notes - remaining letters from the theme answers, but couldn’t recognize it as a tune. That would have been really cool! Probably impossible to construct!
I believe that Pete Muller did that for one of his mega metas...yeah, here it is: https://pmxwords.com/2014-finale-sound-it-out-solution/
Nice! I haven’t been doing MMMM that long.
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KayW
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#334

Post by KayW »

Al Sisti wrote: Mon May 25, 2020 12:24 pm
BethA wrote: Mon May 25, 2020 11:09 am

Ps. I tried playing the TRUE notes - remaining letters from the theme answers, but couldn’t recognize it as a tune. That would have been really cool! Probably impossible to construct!
I believe that Pete Muller did that for one of his mega metas...yeah, here it is: https://pmxwords.com/2014-finale-sound-it-out-solution/
Yikes. I wasn't doing MMMM back then but safe to say I would not have gotten that.
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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bigmelr1180
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#335

Post by bigmelr1180 »

I got it, but got lost in the weekend and didn't beat the deadline. This newbie is just pleased to be onshore even if I missed the party.
Nlobb
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#336

Post by Nlobb »

I had the letters k t o s l i n right away. But I got bogged down for awhile trying to figure out what it spelled. Never heard the last name oslin. Never heard of the singer either. Finally the bell rang that k.t. could be initials. Boy, was I surprised to Google it and see that my answer was right!!! Lots of fun!!!!!!
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Bob cruise director
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#337

Post by Bob cruise director »

What amazed me was that the constructors could find anyone of note's name where the two initials and a five letter last name did not contain any of A/B/C/D/E/F/G

So I was wondering how many muggles would qualify. I limited the count to those who had a WSJ account because I knew the first and last names and counted first initial and last name with five or more letters. Out of 417 who qualified we have 18. (Hey, it is cold and overcast here in southern Maine, there are no sports on TV and I am tired of watching old movies/documentaries or doing jig saw puzzles)

T Wilson
T Murphy
T Roszkowski
R Winski (sorry George)
T (or M) Runnion
R Otis
J Irvin
L Simon
R Johnson (sorry Cynthia)
W or S Horning
J Horton
S Timmons
R Wilkinson
W Koslosky
J Rising
S Smith
K Quinn
M Wolff
Bob Stevens
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Bird Lives
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#338

Post by Bird Lives »

boharr wrote: Mon May 25, 2020 10:17 am
Bob cruise director wrote: Mon May 25, 2020 2:21 am Clever puzzle but the nit I had (and it may be a regional definition) was 34 A

When we were in college and the drinking age was 18
If you ordered a depth charge, the bartender would bring the shot and the beer and drop the shot glass into the beer
if you ordered a boilermaker, the bartender would bring the shot and the beer and pour the shot into the beer
and if you ordered a shot and a chaser he would bring the shot and the beer and leave both of them for you

So technically with the boilermaker there was no chaser.
While I'm sure there may be regional variations, these definitions applied back in my bartender days in New York. Still do in most places I might patronize.
Wikipedia: A boilermaker can refer to two types of beer cocktail. In American terminology, the drink consists of a glass of beer and a shot of whiskey.[1] The beer is either served as a chaser or mixed with the whiskey. When the beer is served as a chaser, the drink is often called simply a shot and a beer. In Philadelphia, it is commonly referred to as a Citywide Special; in Texas, it is known as a Two-Step.
Jay
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Bird Lives
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#339

Post by Bird Lives »

tigerfly222 wrote: Mon May 25, 2020 2:37 am
matthewmoravec wrote: Mon May 25, 2020 12:32 am This was a fun puzzle, and very easy for me but I have been reading music for 25 years--I wonder what it was like for those who never played an instrument.
I too wondered whether someone who doesn't read music would have agreed with the 1-star rating this week. I mean, I suppose after staring at it you might notice the repeating B's, E's and so forth in the answers to the starred clues, and eventually realize the gimmick. But this isn't the first time that I've been grateful that I learned music at a young age!
I'm also grateful that I didn't learn the notes in German or that H would have been a problem.
Jay
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CPJohnson
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#340

Post by CPJohnson »

Bob cruise director wrote: Mon May 25, 2020 1:52 pm What amazed me was that the constructors could find anyone of note's name where the two initials and a five letter last name did not contain any of A/B/C/D/E/F/G

So I was wondering how many muggles would qualify. I limited the count to those who had a WSJ account because I knew the first and last names and counted first initial and last name with five or more letters. Out of 417 who qualified we have 18. (Hey, it is cold and overcast here in southern Maine, there are no sports on TV and I am tired of watching old movies/documentaries or doing jig saw puzzles)

T Wilson
T Murphy
T Roszkowski
R Winski (sorry George)
T (or M) Runnion
R Otis
J Irvin
L Simon
R Johnson (sorry Cynthia)
W or S Horning
J Horton
S Timmons
R Wilkinson
W Koslosky
J Rising
S Smith
K Quinn
M Wolff
I’m actually married to R Johnson..R L, in fact.
Cynthia
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