"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.
Locked
User avatar
Joe Ross
Moderator
Posts: 5000
Joined: Fri Apr 12, 2019 4:46 am
Location: Cincinnati

#421

Post by Joe Ross »

The meta clue, "a U.S. president", was a clear indication that initials were involved.

Setting up the Excel spreadsheet form gave me a strong indication that there weren't traditional Theme Answers based on long across answers, symmetrical within the grid.

Clue 67A was a neon sign & gave twelve Theme Answers in an initial-friendly format.

Abandoning the initials for a minute, I found a few presidents within PUOHKQALDVXCIWYRSFEBNMGJ, but was frustrated with the amorphous mass, so I copied and sorted the list of U.S. presidents, then sorted PUOHKQALDVXCIWYRSFEBNMGJ. The missing T & Z made Zachary Taylor obvious.

My first thought was, "Pure Gaffney... Well done!"

20200605 WSJCC Executive Search JPR.gif
Last edited by Joe Ross on Mon Jun 08, 2020 7:21 am, edited 1 time in total.
MaineMarge
Posts: 1597
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 9:57 pm

#422

Post by MaineMarge »

My apologies in advance for any upcoming punctuation errors. ๐Ÿคฃ
I scored totally zero on my own. No, thatโ€™s not really really easy on the KAS scale.
Thatโ€™s zilch on the chance to get the mug scale.
A kind nudge got me as far as a nearby coral reef late last nightโ€”(space?) the beach was under curfew by then.
Welchโ€™s and Starbucks led me to search for CEO type executives whose letters could morph into the answer. No Z for Zuckerman or Bezos ๐Ÿ˜
All those double letters (19A) went nowhere.
Then surely all the synonymous grid words
were the key:
Clone/Xerox copy
Calyx/pod
Unite/couple
Alee/Ang Lee
I won/strut
Ante/pay up
I played with the 12 two word toys every way except the right way.

Mega meta kudos to Matt and all you smart solving Muggles.
Zoom Time now ๐Ÿ™‹โ€โ™€๏ธ
Schmeel
Posts: 1642
Joined: Sun Mar 29, 2020 2:38 pm

#423

Post by Schmeel »

Kudos to all those that saw the mechanism!

I saw there was no Z in the grid but couldn't put 2 and 24 together.
I was stuck trying to make sense out of patterns similar to "Two-word" in the grid, where you could pair two letters at the end of one word with two at the beginning of another: chop-oper, needy-dyed, cohab-abides etc. It got tricky where there was more than one word for a match - hater/ulcer-eras/ere, and many others. I knew that couldn't be the correct path but had trouble turning around.

Now that I saw the answer I probably wouldn't have got it in a month of Sundays. Yet another thing to look out for when solving metas.
User avatar
MarkL
Posts: 385
Joined: Fri Apr 12, 2019 8:44 am
Location: Tampa Bay, FL

#424

Post by MarkL »

Long-time solvers, and/or anyone willing to go through the archives, may recall similar mechanisms in Non-Starter, 3.09.18, and Nothing Left to Prove, 01.18.19. Proving, once again, experience is one of the best tools to have in the solving toll box. The 24 available letters vs 26 in the alphabet got me on the correct path.
Cheers!
Last edited by MarkL on Mon Jun 08, 2020 7:45 am, edited 1 time in total.
'tis... A lovely day for a Guinness!
User avatar
TMart
Posts: 816
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 7:13 am
Location: Malvern, PA

#425

Post by TMart »

BarbaraK wrote: โ†‘Mon Jun 08, 2020 12:13 am So I said this one gave me deja vu. It was because of this MGWCC from two years ago.

https://crosswordfiend.com/2018/05/01/mgwcc-517/

They say great minds think alike. In this case, the other great mind was also Matt's, just two years younger.
Matt also used a similar mechanism a few months back on the MGWCC where the grid border contained the first letter of every state except one, and the border had 49 letters with an oddly missing corner.

In this one, the last across answer that referenced a dozen two-word answers made me think of 24 = almost the alphabet right away. I think MGWCC subscribers had a distinct advantage on this one.
Last edited by TMart on Mon Jun 08, 2020 7:53 am, edited 1 time in total.
Jackie88
Posts: 92
Joined: Fri Dec 20, 2019 6:57 pm
Location: McKinney, TX

#426

Post by Jackie88 »

I so did not get this one. I was thinking it might be Ronald Reagan as he passed on June 5th, but I couldnโ€™t make that work.
Then I noticed that there were twelve two-word across clues. They were distinct from the two-word answers but for the last: I WON. So I thought maybe I had to somehow find the loser of a particular election. Also, by considering I WON I knew the answer could not be Gerald Ford. So that left me with only 44 from which to pick. I think I was taking Executive Search to literally and thought I had to search out a pattern of letters or somehow use the answers to direct me. Path was much simpler than I imagined. Oh well, its only 4 days to the next meta!
Dplass
Posts: 1739
Joined: Sat Dec 28, 2019 10:09 am

#427

Post by Dplass »

This is a "never in a million years" for me. Why just the first letters? Shrug. What do they have to do with presidents? Nuthin. All's fair in metas. I wonder what the numbers are on this one.
User avatar
Bird Lives
Posts: 2607
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 6:43 pm
Location: NYC
Contact:

#428

Post by Bird Lives »

Joe Ross wrote: โ†‘Mon Jun 08, 2020 7:13 am The meta clue, "a U.S. president", was a clear indication that initials were involved.

Clue 67A was a neon sign & gave twelve Theme Answers in an initial-friendly format.
To again quote one of my favorite book titles, Everything is Obvious . . . Once You Know the Answer. Even with MGWCC Weeks 4 or 5 that I can't solve, when I see the solution, I kick myself because it was obvious. But it was obvious to the 129 (or whatever) who got it, just not to the thousand that didn't.
Last edited by Bird Lives on Wed Jun 10, 2020 11:28 am, edited 1 time in total.
Jay
User avatar
Scott M
Posts: 455
Joined: Fri Apr 12, 2019 1:10 pm
Location: Charlottesville, VA

#429

Post by Scott M »

These are the kind of metas I never get. I'm just not good at seeing what's not there. After getting nowhere looking at the 24 words, I ended up going with our only two-word president, Martin VAN BUREN.
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.
Mark Twain
User avatar
Joe Ross
Moderator
Posts: 5000
Joined: Fri Apr 12, 2019 4:46 am
Location: Cincinnati

#430

Post by Joe Ross »

Bird Lives wrote: โ†‘Mon Jun 08, 2020 8:05 am
Joe Ross wrote: โ†‘Mon Jun 08, 2020 7:13 am The meta clue, "a U.S. president", was a clear indication that initials were involved.

Clue 67A was a neon sign & gave twelve Theme Answers in an initial-friendly format.
To again quote one of my favorite book titles, Everything is Obvious . . . Once You Know the Answer. Even with MCWCC Weeks 4 or 5 that couldn't solve, when I see the solution, I kick myself because it was obvious. But it was obvious only to the 129 (or whatever) who got it, not to the thousand that didn't.
True & acknowledged in a previous post. However, both follow crossword conventions & Contest Crossword conventions.

I felt lucky to solve & quickly. I'm not used to it!
Whole blood, platelets, or plasma: Donate 4 in 2024

PLATELET ๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ.
๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ถ๐˜€ ENORMOUS ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ:
๐Ÿฐ๐Ÿฌ% ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฐ,
๐Ÿฏ๐Ÿฌ% ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ต, ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฐ,
๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ & ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜‚๐—บ๐—ฎ. ๐—ฃ๐—Ÿ๐—˜๐—”๐—ฆ๐—˜ ๐—ฆ๐—›๐—”๐—ฅ๐—˜!
User avatar
camandsampowercouple
Posts: 140
Joined: Fri Apr 24, 2020 2:58 am

#431

Post by camandsampowercouple »

Dang I was nowhere near this answer. A whole bunch of the two word answers had clues that also worked for them:

Make a twin of - XEROX COPY
Get out of the house, say - SELL FOR
Prior to, poetically - NO MORE
Starbucks feature - GRAPE JUICE
"Let me think" - KEEP QUIET

I was having trouble finding a clue for every single one, but I was unable to look at this puzzle in any other way to get an answer.
User avatar
femullen
Posts: 448
Joined: Fri Feb 28, 2020 1:02 pm
Location: Shenandoah Valley, Virginia

#432

Post by femullen »

How can Gaffney be so wrong? Taylor, piff! The answer was obviously U.S. Grant, the only "U.S." president.

More proof:

14A: "Oh, hi" (and 15A, "Oona," providing the final O), which gives you Ohio.
And its clue: "What a PLEASANT surprise to see you here"

11D: "You're right," indicating that here was to be found the rest of the answer, after which you would indeed be. Right, that is.
And its clue: "I concede the POINT."

Point Pleasant, Ohio, birthplace of U.S. Grant.

You're welcome.
Last edited by femullen on Mon Jun 08, 2020 10:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
For nudges, feel free to PM me. I won't have a clue how to help you, but you might shove me ashore.
User avatar
eagle1279
Posts: 307
Joined: Mon Nov 11, 2019 7:00 pm
Location: Indianapolis

#433

Post by eagle1279 »

Count me as on the Love Boat all weekend. The closest I got was writing out the 12 two-word answers (incorrectly at first, I guess CO-HAB is one word) then chasing variants of the CLONE XEROXCOPY DEJAVU strategy. Also tried to use the title to find the letters of EXECUTIVE in the grid. Kudos to those who saw Z and T missing.
User avatar
BethA
Posts: 624
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 6:44 pm
Location: Beaver, PA

#434

Post by BethA »

Nope. Kas 5 for me. I had written Zachary Taylor on one of my scribble sheets because he was the 12th president, but I felt too strongly that the answer should have 12 letters. Sent in Harry S Truman as my wild guess because I saw bits and pieces of his name in the grid. Thatโ€™s strike 3 for 2020.

Iโ€™ve been Gaffneyed!
User avatar
ChrisKochmanski
Posts: 2158
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 9:51 pm
Location: Saline, Michigan

#435

Post by ChrisKochmanski »

I had to be led by the nose, via nudges, to the correct answer. (So I didn't submit for a chance at the mug.) Though if I had been forced to answer, without the nudges, I'd probably have guessed ZACHARY TAYLOR, because he was the 12th U.S. president. Though I also noticed that NOMORE anagrams to MONROE, and I'd found that by "searching" through the two-word entries, so it's possible I'd have guessed that instead.
Big Mac
Posts: 114
Joined: Fri Apr 10, 2020 1:01 pm
Location: Vienna, VA

#436

Post by Big Mac »

I think if you solved MGWCC โ€œNow you sea it, now you donโ€™tโ€ just a couple weeks ago you had a huge advantage here. It would have led you directly to the instructions in the last across clue (there were 13 entries of note that week). Also, Matt had been promoting a daily pangram puzzle by a Peter Gordon around that time on the contest website so pangrams were absolutely in my head when I got to that point in the puzzle. Funny how context, even as it relates to the constructor, can point you the right direction.
User avatar
Bird Lives
Posts: 2607
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 6:43 pm
Location: NYC
Contact:

#437

Post by Bird Lives »

Joe Ross wrote: โ†‘Mon Jun 08, 2020 8:15 am
Bird Lives wrote: โ†‘Mon Jun 08, 2020 8:05 am
Joe Ross wrote: โ†‘Mon Jun 08, 2020 7:13 am The meta clue, "a U.S. president", was a clear indication that initials were involved.

Clue 67A was a neon sign & gave twelve Theme Answers in an initial-friendly format.
To again quote one of my favorite book titles, Everything is Obvious . . . Once You Know the Answer. Even with MCWCC Weeks 4 or 5 that couldn't solve, when I see the solution, I kick myself because it was obvious. But it was obvious only to the 129 (or whatever) who got it, not to the thousand that didn't.
True & acknowledged in a previous post. However, both follow crossword conventions & Contest Crossword conventions.

I felt lucky to solve & quickly. I'm not used to it!
The trouble is that there are so many of these conventions. A year or so ago, Tina posted a list of strategies. There were dozens of them.

I'm not sure why I decided early on to look for missing letters, though I did remember a previous puzzle that used that mechanism. Even then my first try was a search of the entire grid (Q and Z were the two absentees). Only then did I focus on the initial letters of the two-word answers.
Jay
User avatar
tim1217
Posts: 299
Joined: Wed Apr 10, 2019 12:58 pm
Location: Small Town America

#438

Post by tim1217 »

MaineMarge wrote: โ†‘Mon Jun 08, 2020 7:14 am My apologies in advance for any upcoming punctuation errors. ๐Ÿคฃ
I scored totally zero on my own. No, thatโ€™s not really really easy on the KAS scale.
Thatโ€™s zilch on the chance to get the mug scale.
A kind nudge got me as far as a nearby coral reef late last nightโ€”(space?) the beach was under curfew by then.
Welchโ€™s and Starbucks led me to search for CEO type executives whose letters could morph into the answer. No Z for Zuckerman or Bezos ๐Ÿ˜
All those double letters (19A) went nowhere.
Then surely all the synonymous grid words
were the key:
Clone/Xerox copy
Calyx/pod
Unite/couple
Alee/Ang Lee
I won/strut
Ante/pay up
I played with the 12 two word toys every way except the right way.

Mega meta kudos to Matt and all you smart solving Muggles.
Zoom Time now ๐Ÿ™‹โ€โ™€๏ธ
I also went down both the CEO (including looking for the word 'executive' in the grid) and the synonym (SELL FOR/RUN) rabbit holes.
User avatar
Bob cruise director
Cruise Director
Posts: 4512
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 2:38 pm
Location: Any golf course within 500 miles of Littleton MA

#439

Post by Bob cruise director »

GAAGH!!!!

I got the 12 two word answers but then got hung up on similar pairs
The 9A could pair with 48D
17A could pair with 2D
29A could pair with 64A
59A could pair with 24D
31D could pair with 24A

So I banged my head trying to pair up others plus the pairing did not result in anything

And I did look at the first letters of the first words then the last words but they did not spell anything

And I looked at the large number of clues with quotation marks

GGGGGGGGGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bob Stevens
Cruise Director
User avatar
ReB
Posts: 667
Joined: Sun Mar 29, 2020 9:34 pm
Location: East Tennessee

#440

Post by ReB »

The author with 67A pointed me to the twelve two-letter words as key. And when I translated "executive search" to "head hunt", I focused initially on the starting letters of those words.

But in looking at the twelve words and the starting letters for each word, but it just never occurred to me to look for missing letters - or to connect these letters that with Presidents' initials. While I saw some unusual letters involved (e.g. Q,X, J), that just added to frustration; I just didn't see that all the letters were unique, even though I had written them all down.

I then got lost in the swelter of letters and couldn't untangle anything but just kept tightening knots heading down fruitless paths. Veteran solvers I suspect had a big leg up knowing that "missing letters" had been used before. I suspect I could have had a week and would never have come close.

Overall, this is the most brute-force-solution meta that I've encountered to date.

It is interesting that the hardest metas seem to be a piece of cake for others, and others struggle over what pops out at me quickly. I guess the sea looks very different to some versus others.
Locked