"Executive Search" - June 5, 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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juliet
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Joined: Sun Jul 14, 2019 11:11 pm

#381

Post by juliet »

juliet wrote: Sun Jun 07, 2020 10:38 pm
TPS wrote: Sun Jun 07, 2020 3:39 pm
LaceyK wrote: Sun Jun 07, 2020 3:21 pm And my grammar sin...ellipsis junkie. :)
In informal writing like texts, e-mails, Tweets, and FB posts I use a lot of dashes - way too many dashes - like sooo many dashes - that I’m sure people wonder like why is he doing that. To be honest, I don’t know but I also don’t particularly care...
In typing, the horizontal lines in your post would be called hyphens. A dash would be created with two hyphens, and no spaces before, after, or in between.
. . . and there would be a space between each dot of an ellipses.
juliet
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#382

Post by juliet »

However, I'm a bit nerdy about punctuation and "typos."
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Flamel616
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Location: Pennsylvania

#383

Post by Flamel616 »

Had a busy weekend, but I can happily say (I think) I made it ashore! Second meta I've ever solved without help! Just a water will be fine; it's so hot today.
As much money and life as you could want! The two things most human beings would choose above all — the trouble is, humans do have a knack of choosing precisely those things that are worst for them.
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TPS
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#384

Post by TPS »

juliet wrote: Sun Jun 07, 2020 10:38 pm In typing, the horizontal lines in your post would be called hyphens. A dash would be created with two hyphens, and no spaces before, after, or in between.
That’s interesting because technically a hyphen joins two or more words together while a dash separates words into parenthetical statements. There are also different types of dashes - if you ever do academic legal writing or draft an appellate brief you will become familiar with En dashes (which are the length of a N) and Em dashes (which are the length of a M). I remember the first time someone told me I needed to use an Em dash and being like WTH are you talking about? And then having to google how to even make one in Word.
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Cindy N
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#385

Post by Cindy N »

Our paper has a weekly column from "Grammar Guy". A couple of weeks ago was all about dashes. (The link is not to my paper - ours is behind a paywall. And yes, I know I'm violating one of the dash rules. I'm a two-spacer, too!)
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TPS
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#386

Post by TPS »

juliet wrote: Sun Jun 07, 2020 10:44 pm . . . and there would be a space between each dot of an ellipses.
Also, since I was making a joke about writing informally I wasn’t really concerned with typos or style but since you brought it up. There are actually different style guides for when to use what style of ellipses - if I had been say drafting a legal document or something where I wanted to adhere to the Red Book or the Chicago Manual then yes you do add a space “ . . . “ but if you are doing more informal professional writing most people defer to “...” which is the AP style.
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boharr
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#387

Post by boharr »

TPS wrote: Sun Jun 07, 2020 10:49 pm
juliet wrote: Sun Jun 07, 2020 10:38 pm In typing, the horizontal lines in your post would be called hyphens. A dash would be created with two hyphens, and no spaces before, after, or in between.
That’s interesting because technically a hyphen joins two or more words together while a dash separates words into parenthetical statements. There are also different types of dashes - if you ever do academic legal writing or draft an appellate brief you will become familiar with En dashes (which are the length of a N) and Em dashes (which are the length of a M). I remember the first time someone told me I needed to use an Em dash and being like WTH are you talking about? And then having to google how to even make one in Word.
En dashes and Em dashes are not just of lawyerly provenance. They are used in just about all publishing — newspapers, books, etc. That Em dash I just typed was created by typing two consecutive hyphens. The iPad joined them on its own. And the widths do correspond to the N and M. As for spacing before and after these marks ... it varies by publications’ conventions and rules. At the paper where I worked, a space went before and after an Em dash. And the Em dash I typed above, constructed of two hyphens, would not be considered a true Em dash, just an approximation. But now we’re taking picas folks.
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tonyrobots
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#388

Post by tonyrobots »

Still swirling in the abyss, sadly, after filling two pages with some rabid rabbit chasings. It's just a 2.5 star? Would take the gentlest of nudges, if anyone would be so kind.

EDIT: Got it, with a little bit of help. Thanks all!
juliet
Posts: 119
Joined: Sun Jul 14, 2019 11:11 pm

#389

Post by juliet »

Getting ready to dive into the water. I see a floatie--doubt it will hold air long enough for me to paddle to shore.
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yourpalsal
Posts: 177
Joined: Fri Feb 07, 2020 2:28 am

#390

Post by yourpalsal »

I submitted an answer that I can fully justify, but I think my path is more complicated than feels right. Count me wading in the surf and looking forward to the reveal. Onward!
UTHfan
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Joined: Fri Mar 13, 2020 9:13 pm

#391

Post by UTHfan »

I'm loving the boat, I tell you what. All you folks on shore are all wet. I'll be interested to see what elegant thing I missed.
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yourpalsal
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#392

Post by yourpalsal »

Re the spaces and periods, I’m a professional and I left the double space behind long ago. Just empty calories... ;-)
Last edited by yourpalsal on Mon Jun 08, 2020 2:17 am, edited 1 time in total.
Hidden in 3D
Posts: 379
Joined: Sun Nov 17, 2019 11:42 pm

#393

Post by Hidden in 3D »

Yikes! It's been a busy weekend! I didn't even start on the grid until tonight and it's pretty clear to me that I would not have solved this meta no matter how many hours I might have spent chasing rabbits.

For the record, I was a two space, Oxford comma gal until two young whippersnappers joined the staff at a non-profit where I worked. They brought all of us old fogeys up to speed on the modern ways and I've adhered to their methods (within reason) ever since. There are just some times when you gotta add that comma for clarity!
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Dow Jones
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#394

Post by Dow Jones »

I'm not on the ship...but probably not the the correct shore. Hail Mary !!!
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Joe Ross
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#395

Post by Joe Ross »

20200605 WSJCC Executive Search.gif
Last edited by Joe Ross on Mon Jun 08, 2020 12:07 am, edited 1 time in total.
Big Mac
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#396

Post by Big Mac »

Holy moly I guessed and submitted at the last second based on no Zs in the 12 two-words and was correct. A meta hail mary for the ages for me.
Last edited by Big Mac on Mon Jun 08, 2020 12:05 am, edited 1 time in total.
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DrTom
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#397

Post by DrTom »

Well this one was quite a test! I had no idea and, along with the things I had already tried, I sent a guarding angel a nudge request. I told them that I had been playing with double meaning words (hmmm, wonder why I’d choose that after having been beaten up by last week’s MGWCC). But this was different, I saw scads or words that with a little manipulation were anagrams of other words, STRUT was TRUST, HATER was EARTH. AHA I exclaimed, I have you now Mr. Gaffney, I’ll just take the alternate word first letter and substitute if for the actual grid word and I’ll have the answer. So I went through the list:

REA---------ERA--------EAR---------ARE
SLUMP------PLUMS---- LUMPS
RAILS------ LIARS
TENS-------SENT-------NEST
ERAS-------SERA-------RASE--------ARES-------EARS
RAITA------ATRIA------TIARA
UPS-------- SUP
ALE-------- LEA
ARLEN-----LEARN------RENAL
STRUT------TRUST
POLO-------POOL
HATER-----HEART------EARTH
OGLE-------LOGE
ARLO-------ORAL
ULCER-----CRUDE------LUCRE
CHET-------ETCH
PASTES-----SPATE
ABIDED-----BADDIE
OPER-------PORE-------ROPE
DYER-------EDDY
UNITE------UNTIE
ANY-------- NAY
(dashes added because I am OCD and this editor eliminates extra spaces as we have been told

Then I took out any word that had more than two meanings and ignored any that gave me the same letter, ala UNTIE/UNITE, and I was left with 12 WORDS – giddy with anticipation I took the letters and lo and behold: LSLTPLOESBEN. So now you know the origin of BEN PLOTLESS from my post. I also sent my collection of letter from taking the 1st letter of each word:
P U
O H
K Q
A L
D V
X C
I W
Y R
E B
S F
N M
G J

My friend immediately warned me away from the double spelling/meaning (hard to do, I liked it SOOO much) and suggested I focus on what I already had. Well one quick look and BOOM ANGLEE, AL stood out! What better president to choose during the current trauma rocking our nation, Mr. 16, the great emancipator. So with Abraham Lincoln I confidently declared myself ashore and then…

My lifeline asked what my answer was and in my best cocky “ain’t I a smarty’ text (indistinguishable from my regular text) I told him. NOPE was his reply! WHAT, how could this be, it is the only reasonable answer, of course them I saw James Polk and thought, wow he is one of the few people whose name I can spell with the given letters, so maybe that is it. But luckily my candle in the darkness said for me to sort through my list and I luckily took him quite literally. Doing an alpha sort showed me what my mind had subliminally known already, there was ALMOST every letter of the alphabet except T and Z. So all of a sudden the randomness was replaced by order (well it would have been better if T had preceded Z, but the alphabet does have rules). Zachary Taylor, the only one that the META absolutely will let you pick with no ambiguity. With A.L. I was about as far, literally and figuratively, away from the correct answer as possible

As a side note, someone I was helping pointed out after they got it that ole Zach was the 12th president, coincidence – probably not, Matt Gaffney must love those little Easter eggs (left by an Easter eggman) in his puzzles. So good one Matt, and harder than it seemed it should be, but really once you got it, easy – but then aren’t they all once you get them?
NUDGES!I am always willing to give nudges where needed; metas should be about fun, not frustration. Send me what you have done so far because often you are closer than you think!
Laura M
Posts: 1385
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 11:49 am

#398

Post by Laura M »

Wow. Really? Wow.

I'm not sure whether to call this a Kas 4 or 5. I should have noticed that all of the 2-word entries started with different letters, but I'm still not sure that would have led me to the solution. Major props to all the solvers.
PQ63
Posts: 138
Joined: Sat Jun 06, 2020 4:17 pm

#399

Post by PQ63 »

And ZT was the 12th President which left me confident I had the correct answer.
steveb
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Location: Silicon Valley, CA

#400

Post by steveb »

steveb wrote: Fri Jun 05, 2020 8:37 pm
tim1217 wrote: Fri Jun 05, 2020 8:32 pm I was just waiting for this reply, totally irrelevant. That clue does not equal that answer...ever, full stop.
"Ever"? I'll give you an example on Monday.
Last year, Nicholas Castellanos led the major leagues with 58 doubles, one for every 2.6 games he played. If he endured an extended period of time, say 10 or 12 games, without hitting a double – a “stretch without doubles” – then he was in a SLUMP.
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