"Variety Show" - March 20, 2020

[Bob cruise director]

Long time WSJ subscriber and first time WSJ crossword solver here. Big NYT crossword solver and got the grid fairly quickly but definitely still Lost at Sea on the meta. Excited to have joined this.

And we are thrilled to have you here. Keep plugging.

[Joe Ross]

I’ve got nothing. No longer trying.

Keep trying. Mike Shenk gave good direction.

[Homer Buckle]

Took a fresh look this morning and got ashore! Phew.

[Joe Ross]

Finally made it to shore (with a story to tell on Monday). Is there still room enough on the beach for me to stay 6 feet away from everyone?

Don't know'bout alls y'allses', yinzes', and youses' guyses', but I am setting an alarm to have popcorn popped & buttered in anticipation of reading Al's story, come 12:01 AM, Monday. I've already laid in an adequate supply of Guinness in my 46°F fruit cellar.

[Al Sisti]

Finally made it to shore (with a story to tell on Monday). Is there still room enough on the beach for me to stay 6 feet away from everyone?

Don't know'bout alls y'allses', yinzes', and youses' guyses', but I am setting an alarm to have popcorn popped & buttered in anticipation of reading Al's story, come 12:01 AM, Monday. I've already laid in an adequate supply of Guinness in my 46°F fruit cellar.

Listen my children and you shall hear
Of my midnight tale with an ice cold beer.

[eagle1279]

On shore. Felt lucky that one of the first rabbit holes I tried actually worked (I hope). Very accustomed to walking into a bar and everyone staying 6 feet away. (My daughter tells me the "social distance" in New Zealand is only one meter.) Stay safe everyone!

[Al Sisti]

So yeah, my "story" is going to be nothing more than a quick description of "La chasse du lapine." But I did want to mention something cool I'm doing with my grandkids (I never had grandparents, so I wasn't familiar with the whole "when I was young, my grandfather used to..." kind of thing). But I've always done mystery hunts with my kids, and now my grandkids -- you know, read a clue which leads you to another clue, etc., until you find the treasure. But this time, I'm writing a kids mystery in the style of the old Juvenile Fiction mystery books -- even using the same font and style. They are the characters -- the Adventure Kids Detective Agency -- and I mail them a chapter every week or so which, so far, sets up the story and had them solve a coded message from Mr. E who has heard of their agency, and wants to hire them to find his lost [something or other]. Eventually, it'll get out of the book phase and into the physical stage, where they'll have to solve puzzles, collect objects to use later on (e.g., they might get a blank sheet of paper and remember that they found a black light a couple of steps ago...). They're loving it, I'm loving it... and hopefully someday they'll tell their kids "when I was young, my grandfather used to..."

[Ann]

Lightbulb! Finally ashore.

[Scott M]

Finally on shore. Not sure how I missed it; I thought I had previously taken the step I used to solve it. I'll blame it on the fact that staying home and "social-distancing" has me drinking way more than my usual fair share. Oh well, guess it's time for another.

[Bob cruise director]

Good Saturday Morning Muggles

If you have not done the Matt Gaffney puzzle tied into the WSJ+ article about us, it has a lot of muggle references in it and is great. Thanks to Matt.

And we have a large number of new muggles including: Jamespower56, allisonkp, ectoplasm, Uncle Teeter, and Robert B. Glad to have new muggles on both the ship and the shore. Our clan is up to 572 of us.

So far we have 12 on the ship with Isaac and 81 on the shore, all practicing safe distancing.

On the ship are:
TPS
Jamespower56
Josh
spotter
PeterL
Homer
Fishmagik
boharr
Janet P
edot
Brian
and allisonkp

On the shore within reach of the tiki bar are:

Frankie
joequavis
Mike H
Meg - who is reveling in TB12 part of the Bucs???
Tony
Beth T
ky-mike
Laura
Beth A
les
Moi
Jazzvibist
Rita and George
Joe R
Al
Julie O
oldjudge
dplass
CPKdad
RDaleHall
Omnibus
joes
Glyn
Steveb
BarbaraK
Tom S
docison
Fkelly
ectoplasm
Uncle Teeter
mark L
damefox
Frank
CallMeShane and again, if you have not read his posting it is great
MajorDomTom
michaelm
MaryCC
Blair
Barry
Robert B
Chris
WBYonder
Jennifer
Lucas
Cynthia J
femullen
Heidi
Ed S
scooby
SusieG
Wendy
Cindy
Brian M
Trey and Marion
natalie
the Geoduck, Geoduck, Geoduck and Geoduck (atoning for my past sins)
Anita
VincentM
yourpalsal
higgysue
streroto
BillKatz
DBMiller
Eric P
Scott M
UTHfan
phofer
Tina
Jim and Anita
Matthew M
headscratcher
Debbie
lusophile
Tmart
Kay
MaineMarge
Guy L
Hidden in 3D
Beth C
Ann
eagle1279

Good luck to all and stay safe

And sad to say, Kenny Rogers passed away. As a poker player, The Gambler is one of my favorite songs of all time.

[DrTom]

Well apparently Corona Virus eats away your brain. I am 0 for 2 on the WSJCC and the MGWCC, nothing is coming at all. The consolation is that I have a lot of down time in which to solve it so I'll keep trying. I see bunnies everywhere but none of them seems to work out more than a hop or two and I'm REACHING which usually means I am way off of a relatively simple (and always elegant) AHA.

Stay safe all. Oh, and just for fun....

[tim1217]

Well I finally made it to shore. Such a slog and that was even with help from several fellow Muggles. Not my favorite construction...but that of course may have to do with being brain dead for so long.

[Joe]

I am exactly nowhere. Got the MGWCC though!

[MarkL]

For those struggling... "Slow is smooth, and smooth is slow."

PS: is there a way for the non-subscribers to access the TH article?

[tim1217]

For those struggling... "Slow is smooth, and smooth is slow."

PS: is there a way for the non-subscribers to access the TH article?

Here it is. I'm not a subscriber and the full article showed up.

https://www.wsjplus.com/articles/meet-the-muggles

[tim1217]

Too bad they left out Brian Mac. Without him, this forum would not have been created!

[Rad26]

On shore. Nice puzzle. Nice meta.

Good luck to all.

[Joe Ross]

Is there a way for the non-subscribers to access the TH article?

Both articles and the Muggles crossword are posted HERE.

[MarkL]

For those struggling... "Slow is smooth, and smooth is slow."

PS: is there a way for the non-subscribers to access the TH article?

Here it is. I'm not a subscriber and the full article showed up.

https://www.wsjplus.com/articles/meet-the-muggles

Thanks! Pretty cool!

[MarkL]

Is there a way for the non-subscribers to access the TH article?

Both articles and the Muggles crossword are posted HERE.

Thanks!