"Mark My Words" December 15, 2023

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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vandono
Posts: 256
Joined: Sun Dec 26, 2021 7:15 pm
Location: Texas

#281

Post by vandono »

Floated ashore Thursday but have been busy with birthday things for one of my sweet daughters, a graduation and a major implementation at work.

After all of that, I'll have a nice single malt. Maybe a Tomintoul.
Penny_Keatley
Posts: 86
Joined: Sat Feb 05, 2022 3:19 pm

#282

Post by Penny_Keatley »

I spent a good amount of time staring at this one before it hit me! Nice to make it to shore before time ran out.
kimbo.k
Posts: 6
Joined: Thu Mar 23, 2023 12:14 am
Location: Tennessee

#283

Post by kimbo.k »

Solved the grid Friday evening and got nowhere with the meta. Looked at it last night and immediately saw what I was looking for. Went through another step that couldn’t have come together by accident, but didn’t have that 100% feeling enough to say I’m ashore. I’ll turn in my guess and find out tomorrow, but sounds like I may be in a “boat” with others. :?
kgiano
Posts: 45
Joined: Mon Mar 22, 2021 10:45 am

#284

Post by kgiano »

On the beach
JoeFlanders
Posts: 43
Joined: Fri Aug 27, 2021 6:48 am

#285

Post by JoeFlanders »

Ashore. Was basically what I thought the construct of the meta was, but not exactly. Clever as always
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hcbirker
Posts: 2274
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 7:24 pm
Location: Studio City, CA

#286

Post by hcbirker »

Image


Image
Heidi
Ergcat
Posts: 853
Joined: Mon Jun 22, 2020 8:12 pm
Location: Seneca SC

#287

Post by Ergcat »

SMILE can be expressed by an emoticon ! And I think that clue 1d CMU was A confirmation!

From Britannica.com:
“Emoticons are punctuation marks, letters, and numbers used to create pictorial icons that generally display an emotion or sentiment.

The emoticon came into being after a joke went wrong at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in 1982. A gag about a fake mercury spill posted to an online message board sent the university into a tizzy, and because of this confusion, Dr. Scott E. Fahlman suggested that jokes and nonjokes be marked by two sets of characters we now recognize as standard emoticons: the smiley face :-) and the frowning face :-(. After this, emoticons were a big hit among Internet users.”
Last edited by Ergcat on Mon Dec 18, 2023 6:11 am, edited 1 time in total.
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mheberlingx100
Posts: 573
Joined: Sun Jul 14, 2019 11:39 am

#288

Post by mheberlingx100 »

How is a smile something you can write? My answer was emoticon, which is the representation of a word like smile through punctuation. All the punctuation hidden in the long answers are used in emoticons, and the smile is the classic emoticon.
altosax
Posts: 54
Joined: Fri Jul 29, 2022 5:41 pm
Location: Weatherford, OK

#289

Post by altosax »

I still think “punctuation “ is a better answer. I don’t care for the other answer.
JeanneC
Posts: 676
Joined: Sat Apr 25, 2020 11:25 am
Location: Florida

#290

Post by JeanneC »

FWIW Department:
“Miles” can also be expressed in numbers as well as letters. The numbers appear on mile MARKers.
Congrats to those who solved.
“I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year’s fashions”. Lillian Hellman
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Gman
Posts: 374
Joined: Mon Apr 13, 2020 2:47 pm
Location: Encinitas CA

#291

Post by Gman »

I submitted EMOTICON ☺️
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Bonnibel
Posts: 244
Joined: Sat Mar 27, 2021 10:40 pm
Location: Westlake Village & La Jolla CA

#292

Post by Bonnibel »

Ergcat wrote: Mon Dec 18, 2023 12:05 am SMILE can be expressed by an emoticon ! And I think that clue 1d CMU was A confirmation!

From Britannia.com:
“Emoticons are punctuation marks, letters, and numbers used to create pictorial icons that generally display an emotion or sentiment.

The emoticon came into being after a joke went wrong at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in 1982. A gag about a fake mercury spill posted to an online message board sent the university into a tizzy, and because of this confusion, Dr. Scott E. Fahlman suggested that jokes and nonjokes be marked by two sets of characters we now recognize as standard emoticons: the smiley face :) and the frowning face :-(. After this, emoticons were a big hit among Internet users.”
WOW this is why I love this forum! Thank you for this very interesting factoid! I did solve the meta but I did not know this CMU backstory. LOVE IT! :) ;)
🌴🍹
SHIWUTONG
Posts: 34
Joined: Fri Jul 01, 2022 8:34 pm

#293

Post by SHIWUTONG »

I almost had the right answer
Last edited by SHIWUTONG on Thu Dec 21, 2023 4:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Tom Shea
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Location: Freedonia, NH/VT/HI/Earth

#294

Post by Tom Shea »

I submitted smile, but was torn about submitting smiley face -- from the prompt.

Couldn't find a mechanism to get smiley face so went with smile. I guess that means I'll get the mug :D
Rufus T. Firefly
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Damaged
Posts: 43
Joined: Sat Dec 09, 2023 9:27 pm
Location: San Diego, CA

#295

Post by Damaged »

Also, the letter "I" where the emoticon's "eyes" would be - happy coincidence or not, mind blown.

2 for 2 since discovering this new obsession.
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femullen
Posts: 502
Joined: Fri Feb 28, 2020 1:02 pm
Location: Shenandoah Valley, Virginia

#296

Post by femullen »

SMILE, MILES, LIMES, SLIME. I still don't get it.

8^(
For nudges, feel free to PM me. I won't have a clue how to help you, but you might shove me ashore.
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Miki
Posts: 268
Joined: Fri Sep 13, 2019 8:32 am

#297

Post by Miki »

TGWWNP!

Thank God we were not pageanted
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femullen
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Joined: Fri Feb 28, 2020 1:02 pm
Location: Shenandoah Valley, Virginia

#298

Post by femullen »

I was going to guess "music," but step 1 was clear on what the available letters were. A typed glyph never occurred to me. Alas, another week at sea.

But while we're on this subject, here are some other "typos" I sometimes use.

Happy

8^)

Joyous

8^D

Giddy

<|^D

Sad

8^(

Angry

>8^(

Irate

>8^<

And, my favourite, asleep

|^o
For nudges, feel free to PM me. I won't have a clue how to help you, but you might shove me ashore.
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Wendy Walker
Posts: 1963
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 7:44 pm
Location: Unionville, PA

#299

Post by Wendy Walker »

A bakery we walked past on Saturday! We don't normally walk past bakeries but we were on our way to Mimi's Tea Cottage for a sumptuous tea (sandwiches, scones, mini-desserts) after a performance of "The Nutcracker." Mark is a VERY good sport -- who, by the way, really wanted the meta answer to be either SIMILE or EMAILS (because the latter are written without postal letters).
Attachments
smile.jpg
Good luck, fellow Muggles!
heroine.chic
Posts: 18
Joined: Mon Oct 16, 2023 9:02 am

#300

Post by heroine.chic »

I must say, I was extremely relieved to have confirmed that I submitted the correct answer.

In my mind one can draw or type a SMILE, but I've never in my life mentioned writing one, so I was unsure about my answer.

PHEW!
Fluctuat Nec Mergitur
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