"Group Outings" - September 18, 2020

[Tom Shea]

On shore after whiffing last week! Celebrating with an Alpha King - Indiana Pale Ale (that’s a pale ale from Indiana. Not an IPA).

Did 3Floyds ever re-open or are they still just bottling? Spent many a Thursday evening there. And bootlegged a few hundred bottles into Illinois. Even bootlegged a few T-shirts to the east coast for bartenders (airlines don't allow beer in carry-ons for some reason). They have some of the best 'named' beers, as well as some of the tastiest. And what an audio visual experience dining there.

Oh man, that sounds amazing (the hundreds of bottles, not the closing). I'm not sure if they opened back up - moved from Indiana a few years ago and (besides the food) the number #1 thing I miss is the beer. We would take trips up from Indy to Munster, grab two cases of Zombie Dust each, and drink them like they were the elixir of life. One of my buddies came to visit me in Durham and brought a case of AK and ZD. Trying to save them for Sundays but the temptation is too much sometimes.

Haven't been in over a year, but used to do projects at a plant in East Chicago -- motto: "gateway to Hammond". Whined that there was no where to eat good food except Mexican. A consultant from Philly said "we're all going to 3Floyds." They knew about the place. From that week on, I would take all of the plant supervisors to dinner there on Thursdays before flying home on Friday. After that, anything I needed at the plant was never a bother. You could tell when Zombie Dust was available for take-out, the parking lot was full at 5 o'clock. It was almost always available inside. That, Alpha King and Robert the Bruce were my standby's. But I would try whatever stout or porter they had to offer also.

[Tom Shea]

P.S. On Shore. A short and enjoyable journey.

I always enjoy Mr. Berry's puzzles.

[Jacksull]

I made it to the shore.

Re 3D:

Spanish, French and African influences.

Name derived from Provençal.

Creole — tomatoes. Cajun — no tomatoes.

Hank Williams song.

[M and M]

Classic and clever. We're done.

I agree with the rave reviews for the Mike/Matt/Mike show. All three are so expert and so gracious to each other that it is a pleasure to watch, and they were pouring out a lot of good tips for solving puzzles.

[Eric Porter]

It took me longer than it should have to get to shore, but I think I must be missing something because I believe Patrick Berry created a more elegant route to the solution than I found.

I'd like to know the easy way to the solution, if my hard way yielded the correct answer.

Edit: I was not on the correct shore when I wrote this.

[wordsmith]

On shore! Fun and satisfying after drowning last week...I love these again

[MatthewB]

Quickly on shore this week... I expect a crowd... Social distancing might be difficult.

[FKelly]

On the beach.
Shenkian with a very Berry twist. Could it be the name of a mixed drink? "Isaac, a round of Shenkians with a very Berry twist to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the WSJ Crossword Contest. Hip hip hooray"
A relatively straight forward D-19, but Shenk "when you come to the fork in the road" may have picked a different fork.

[C=64]

Finished the grid Thursday afternoon, didn't see the meta. Thursday evening, I thought "Hmm, I bet the answer is [META ANSWER]." Then within two minutes I figured out the mechanism.

[Miki]

On Shore. And a new year's resolution for Rosh Hashanah. I will write down every rabbit hole, and use it as a jumping board to try and create my own metas. Today's puzzle yielded three such workble rabbit holes.

[Joepickett]

Ashore. Solved it online this time even with the broken website.

[Commodore]

https://www.wsj.com/live-qa/wsj-live-ac ... 9DB8E451D6 [Starts up after 1:20 of Intro Screen.]

Cannot recommend enough the thoroughly enjoyable Live Across and Down show with Mike & Matt. Brilliantly hosted by the effervescent Mike Miller, Messrs. Shenk & Gaffney proceed through a number of their favorite, most elaborate Meta puzzles, including the famous "Pageanted." Well done, gents. And thank you for all you do to torture us each week. (In a good way!)

[Inca]

Solved

[Anita]

On shore after some blank staring. Am learning!

[hcbirker]

Loved the Q and A this week! And Mike Miller gave a lovely and heartfelt shout out to the Muggle Forum. Back at you Mike, Mike and Matt! (But Matt you have to put a battery in that clock).

[edot]

On shore!

[Tony S]

Ashore. Whenever I solve a meta on Thursday I know the beach will be jammed by Sunday. I actually enjoyed the grid as much as the meta --- Patrick Berry's one of the best in the business.

[Beth C]

All done on Thursday night! Highly unusual for me. Pretty high confidence level, 99+% in solving the meta. Good luck Muggles!

[Tina]

On shore. Took me longer than it should have. Brain out of whack for some reason.

[Abide]

Second to the beach last week. This week - nothing so far.

Reading all these “easy” comments make me feel a lot better. Will look at it in the morning.