"Missing Links" - July 10, 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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MajordomoTom
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#381

Post by MajordomoTom »

One of my undergrad degrees is in animal/behavioral psych.

We're all animals, so it's very useful.
"Lots of planets have a North", the Ninth Doctor.
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sanmilton
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Location: New York, New York

#382

Post by sanmilton »

I spotted all the APEs (five, so unlikely a coincidence) almost before I finished filling in the grid, but the MANs (men?) were another story. I can imagine why they escaped my notice for so long! Fortunately, I found them before the weekend got too far along! Kudos, Mr. Shenk! Another great construction!
Amy
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#383

Post by Amy »

MajordomoTom wrote: Mon Jul 13, 2020 12:05 am On my later review of the grid, I suddenly noted - "there are a LOT of APEs in this grid".

I then went ... how many? 5 - ok, what else? Then saw the "MAN" and went - 5 of them, ok what connects?

And it just fell into place.

EDIT: one of my rabbit holes was looking at numbers in the answers in the grid - ICENINE and others with "TEN" in them ... was a very interesting distraction. Looking at the squares with those numbers in them, trying to spell something ... went nowhere, so I abandoned it. But I could see spending a chunk of time trying to make that work.
Amy
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#384

Post by Amy »

I went down this same path in the beginning 😂
iceNINE
redONE
enTENtes
ONEaday
lessonTEN
I tried to connect these with 27A. Nos.
Fortunately I was too was able to find a new path.
Last edited by Amy on Mon Jul 13, 2020 12:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Bob cruise director
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#385

Post by Bob cruise director »

To make sure everyone knows, we have been having zoom telecconferences Tuesday evening

Yourpalsal will put the link and time here later Monday
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ImOnToo
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#386

Post by ImOnToo »

I initially started to look for golf references.
Even looking for iconic courses.
Saw “ape” on Friday. Tried many 3-letter replacements for that.
Had a lot going on this weekend. Picked up the puzzle after visiting my son and his girlfriend today.
BAM! “man” was right there!
Funny how you sometimes have no clue and then it just jumps out and says, “Yo!”
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ImOnToo
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#387

Post by ImOnToo »

Before the deadline, my husband said I should post that I saw the first part of the solution early on...but it took a while for the answer to evolve. 😄
Konnie
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Colin
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#388

Post by Colin »

Arrrgghh! And I love The Kinks too!
Good week everyone.
One world. One planet. One future.
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Abide
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#389

Post by Abide »

My main delay was thinking LESSONTEN was signaling some direction because (a) it’s sort of a “green paint” entry (not really “in the language”) and (b) there was an X in the clue.
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FrankH
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#390

Post by FrankH »

Like some others, I was overthinking it. When I first looked at the title, I thought missing link referring to human evolution would be too obvious, so I went about looking at other meanings of links, like golf, sausages, URLs, and connecting words in the grid. And I also went down some other rabbit holes, and not getting anywhere. Eventually in another round of going through the grid, and again looking at the pair of words PARAPET and PAPEETE that shared many letters (and there are other pairs that are off by one letter), finally noticed APE in both of those words, and I immediately recall seeing MAN in the grid multiple times (and MAN is so common that by itself it just doesn't trigger any response). It didn't take long after that to find all 5 of those pairs and the answer.
Last edited by FrankH on Mon Jul 13, 2020 12:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
Rad26
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#391

Post by Rad26 »

Saw the APES right away and played with them all weekend. Never found the men. Makes me a monkey’s uncle. Oh well.
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FrankH
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#392

Post by FrankH »

Abide wrote: Mon Jul 13, 2020 12:33 am My main delay was thinking LESSONTEN was signaling some direction because (a) it’s sort of a “green paint” entry (not really “in the language”) and (b) there was an X in the clue.
That's also one of the other rabbit holes that I went through. The clue and answer just looked odd.
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pookie
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#393

Post by pookie »

My answer was VOWEL
5 pairs of words switching one letter
PIER
TIER
OMAN
OMAR
CAPERS
TAPERS
READ
REAL
RTE
ATE
The switched letters are PTNRCTDLRA
C(A)T, L(E)D A(I)R. P(O)T, R(U)N
The missing links are AEIOU to form new words.
Tony S
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#394

Post by Tony S »

FrankH wrote: Mon Jul 13, 2020 12:37 am
Abide wrote: Mon Jul 13, 2020 12:33 am My main delay was thinking LESSONTEN was signaling some direction because (a) it’s sort of a “green paint” entry (not really “in the language”) and (b) there was an X in the clue.
That's also one of the other rabbit holes that I went through. The clue and answer just looked odd.
ICENINE and LESSONTEN were strange enough to delay my solving the meta on Thursday. I had to refocus and start fresh on Friday to find the apes and men. I don't like metas I solve instantly and I certainly don't like the ones I never get so this was just right.
Geoduck
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#395

Post by Geoduck »

Geoduck wrote: Sun Jul 12, 2020 7:47 pm
802puzzler wrote: Sun Jul 12, 2020 7:05 pm
Geoduck wrote: Sat Jul 11, 2020 4:31 pm Ashore! I found the first step right away, but it took some time to notice step 2.

I wonder who will be the first to post the obvious music video this one inspires?
You're killing me! I too found the first step right away, but my second step is NOT bringing to mind a music video! LOL
I'll post it if I remember (and am up) at midnight -- unless someone else does so first!
Well, here you go!

https://youtu.be/cklpO4kYZKs
Last edited by Geoduck on Mon Jul 13, 2020 12:56 am, edited 1 time in total.
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DaveKennison
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#396

Post by DaveKennison »

pookie wrote: Mon Jul 13, 2020 12:48 am My answer was VOWEL
5 pairs of words switching one letter
PIER
TIER
OMAN
OMAR
CAPERS
TAPERS
READ
REAL
RTE
ATE
The switched letters are PTNRCTDLRA
C(A)T, L(E)D A(I)R. P(O)T, R(U)N
The missing links are AEIOU to form new words.
Wow! That is clever! I also noticed some of the word pairs you mention, but eventually gave up on the idea. Then, like others, I suddenly noticed that I was surrounded by APEs and never looked back ... but I’m impressed, nevertheless ... 😜.
LaceyK
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Location: San Diego

#397

Post by LaceyK »

We have a pinball machine that supposedly (according to my father-in-law) delivered the insult "you are the missing link!" We have never been able to replicate the occurrence. But in my head I hear it spoken by the woman on TV who said "you are the weakest link, goodbye!"
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oldjudge
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#398

Post by oldjudge »

hcbirker wrote: Sun Jul 12, 2020 7:52 pm
steveb wrote: Sun Jul 12, 2020 6:33 pm
hcbirker wrote: Sat Jul 11, 2020 4:36 pm

I grew up in Palo Alto and we would go to the original Round Table. So much better than the chain, but the chain is pretty good, too.
The one on El Camino in Menlo Park! It's still there, one of the few things in town that hasn't changed much since 1959.
I have great memories of that place!
Does anyone remember the St James Infirmery, the Oasis, and Rozzotti’s?
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oldjudge
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#399

Post by oldjudge »

BarbaraK wrote: Sun Jul 12, 2020 10:38 pm
Bob cruise director wrote: Sun Jul 12, 2020 9:16 pm
ImOnToo wrote: Sun Jul 12, 2020 8:59 pm

I’m so old that when I was on the “cutting edge” of punch cards in college, I submitted my cards to the ONE center that could run them. And then I waited, sometimes hours, to go back and find out if the program worked or not!
And you would go back and find one of three things
1) one card was in the wrong place and it would not run so you got one page back
2) one card was in the wrong place and it printed out dozens of sheets of paper until the system operator terminated your program
3) they dropped your deck and you have to sort through 100+ cards to get them in the right order

Love it
Of course you'd drawn a diagonal line with magic marker across the top of the card deck to make it easier if you did have to resort them.
Between first and second year of business school I worked for Exxon’s systems group and built the Treasury Departments first cash management model. That was over a thousand punch cards (does anyone remember key punch girls?).
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yourpalsal
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#400

Post by yourpalsal »

The grid took forever. Then I saw OMAN, OMAN then noticed a bunch of MANs. And then several APES. And bada bing. LookIng forward to see you, my pals, at the muggle meetup: Tues at 4:30p Pacific!
Last week we had 20...
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89184367093
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