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.
According to Mr. G there are 12478 five-letter words. So I got that goin' for me, which is nice.
Gunga galunga... gunga, gunga-lagunga.
I don't know what that means but I'm amused.
Oh, and thanks to multiple shoves of some friendly strangers, I'm ashore. Definitely in the category of "I am just not [redacted] enough to get this one."
Do you KNOW how frustrating it is to see everyone proclaiming the ease of the puzzle and the amazing construction when you are sitting there looking at a GRID and there is nothing but sounds of silence (and I'm not talking a S&G song). I see what I believe are bunnies galore and I am just not getting the tie-in from the mega hint.
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!
DrTom wrote: ↑Fri Jul 24, 2020 7:59 am
Do you KNOW how frustrating it is to see everyone proclaiming the ease of the puzzle and the amazing construction when you are sitting there looking at a GRID and there is nothing but sounds of silence (and I'm not talking a S&G song). I see what I believe are bunnies galore and I am just not getting the tie-in from the mega hint.
Yes, yes I do know how frustrating it is. Sometimes the thing you need to see/do just pops right out. Or it doesn’t. I have no idea why. I may have said this before, but I believe that having done a lot of cryptic crosswords has led to some flexibility with words. Cryptics are very challenging when you start out, but all those mini Aha! moments are wonderful.
On shore, but it took a nudge to get me off the boat. I’ll pass on submitting for the mug.
So far this week, I’ve needed nudges for MMM, PGWCC, and WSJCC. This is after having had such a good week last week. Which only proves that as soon as you think you’re getting good at these ...
DrTom wrote: ↑Fri Jul 24, 2020 7:59 am
Do you KNOW how frustrating it is to see everyone proclaiming the ease of the puzzle and the amazing construction when you are sitting there looking at a GRID and there is nothing but sounds of silence (and I'm not talking a S&G song). I see what I believe are bunnies galore and I am just not getting the tie-in from the mega hint.
I do not think this one is easy. Took me a while to figure out what was going on.
I have an answer that is somewhat elegant, but doesn’t quite make the whole puzzle hang together as well as I’d like. I think I’ll spend some more time with Issac because, um, well.....I like to drink.
DrTom wrote: ↑Fri Jul 24, 2020 7:59 am
Do you KNOW how frustrating it is to see everyone proclaiming the ease of the puzzle and the amazing construction when you are sitting there looking at a GRID and there is nothing but sounds of silence (and I'm not talking a S&G song). I see what I believe are bunnies galore and I am just not getting the tie-in from the mega hint.
I do not think this one is easy. Took me a while to figure out what was going on.
Yeah, seconded. This is not easy. Elegant yes, once you see it (I'm a tough critic and probably wouldn't call it "amazing"), but not easy.
boharr wrote: ↑Thu Jul 23, 2020 10:14 pm
On shore. Took an early shove because I really wanted to watch baseball tonight (Go Yanks). But, alas, we may have a rainout. Bummer. Goes without saying I won't be submitting.
Official game-Yanks won 4-1. Cole only allowed one hit.
This could be a wacky season. Some unexpected team or guy could get hot - or some rookie you never heard of. Will records count if they are made this year??
DrTom wrote: ↑Fri Jul 24, 2020 7:59 am
Do you KNOW how frustrating it is to see everyone proclaiming the ease of the puzzle and the amazing construction when you are sitting there looking at a GRID and there is nothing but sounds of silence (and I'm not talking a S&G song). I see what I believe are bunnies galore and I am just not getting the tie-in from the mega hint.
DrTom wrote: ↑Fri Jul 24, 2020 7:59 am
Do you KNOW how frustrating it is to see everyone proclaiming the ease of the puzzle and the amazing construction when you are sitting there looking at a GRID and there is nothing but sounds of silence (and I'm not talking a S&G song). I see what I believe are bunnies galore and I am just not getting the tie-in from the mega hint.
Yes, yes I do. I would still be hanging with Isaac all weekend had it not been for the kindness of strangers.
boharr wrote: ↑Thu Jul 23, 2020 10:14 pm
On shore. Took an early shove because I really wanted to watch baseball tonight (Go Yanks). But, alas, we may have a rainout. Bummer. Goes without saying I won't be submitting.
Official game-Yanks won 4-1. Cole only allowed one hit.
This could be a wacky season. Some unexpected team or guy could get hot - or some rookie you never heard of. Will records count if they are made this year??
That's a good question. Maybe MLB has stocked away barrels of asterisks. The stuff of future crossword clues. And what happens if an entire starting lineup goes out with COVID? Still, my daughter and I are happy it's back. As is BudLight. Maybe the stuff for one of those beloved musical metas:
Feeling blue in the bar
Green with envy of those who said it’s easy
Red with rage that it won’t pop for me
Yellow with fear that I’ll sweat it all weekend
Orange you glad you’re on the beach?
yourpalsal wrote: ↑Fri Jul 24, 2020 10:35 am
Green with envy of those who said it’s easy
People on the first page always say it's easy, and it's often the same people. By page three, people are saying, well, maybe it's not so easy. Perhaps even hard. When the pages get to the teens, we see the many struggles. This is a trend.
I'm at the crowded bar still. I need to get this figured out quickly because I'm starting to feel unsafe... I thought that maybe if I try to interpret things a little differently I'd find my way to the beach, but I'm still not seeing anything. Hopefully MGWCC will be a relatively quick solve as it's supposedly a week 3 difficulty for week 4.
yourpalsal wrote: ↑Fri Jul 24, 2020 10:35 am
Green with envy of those who said it’s easy
People on the first page always say it's easy, and it's often the same people. By page three, people are saying, well, maybe it's not so easy. Perhaps even hard. When the pages get to the teens, we see the many struggles. This is a trend.
It's a sampling problem. The people on the first page -- and they're not always the same people -- say it's easy because it was easy . . for them. That's why they're on the first page. But they're a highly skewed sample. Also, we tend to attribute our performance to the meta, not to ourselves. If I got it quickly and am on page one, it must be easy. If it took me a while, or if I didn't get it at all, it must be hard. But maybe what's different is not the difficulty of the meta but me -- better at some kinds of metas, worse at others.
DrTom wrote: ↑Fri Jul 24, 2020 7:59 am
Do you KNOW how frustrating it is to see everyone proclaiming the ease of the puzzle and the amazing construction when you are sitting there looking at a GRID and there is nothing but sounds of silence (and I'm not talking a S&G song). I see what I believe are bunnies galore and I am just not getting the tie-in from the mega hint.
The only muggle who said the meta was easy hadn't solved it & was making an assumption. Some said the grid was easy, but nobody who solved has said that the meta was easy.
yourpalsal wrote: ↑Fri Jul 24, 2020 10:35 am
Green with envy of those who said it’s easy
People on the first page always say it's easy, and it's often the same people. By page three, people are saying, well, maybe it's not so easy. Perhaps even hard. When the pages get to the teens, we see the many struggles. This is a trend.
It's a sampling problem. The people on the first page -- and they're not always the same people -- say it's easy because it was easy . . for them. That's why they're on the first page. But they're a highly skewed sample. Also, we tend to attribute our performance to the meta, not to ourselves. If I got it quickly and am on page one, it must be easy. If it took me a while, or if I didn't get it at all, it must be hard. But maybe what's different is not the difficulty of the meta but me -- better at some kinds of metas, worse at others.