"Color Code" - July 24, 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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Andrew Bradburn
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#441

Post by Andrew Bradburn »

Thanks for all the comments on my post. It seems some do, some don't find comments about construction to be spoilerish. And then I can always avoid reading the comments until I have solved!
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Tom Shea
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#442

Post by Tom Shea »

Streroto wrote: Sun Jul 26, 2020 4:44 pm
Tom Shea wrote: Sun Jul 26, 2020 4:29 pm
Streroto wrote: Sun Jul 26, 2020 3:39 pm

How old? Bordeaux lasts a LONG time. The 2000 are in their infancy and delicious with tons of fruit. Had an 89 Leoville Las Cases not long ago still drinking very well. I think you will do better than 10%...unless they are ancient or from bad years or both.
They are good years and chateaux, all purchased at the vineyards. Storage, not so much - hence the issue. Recent ones we've opened were not vinegar, but had lost much of their flavor. You could still detect how good they would have been. Not a bitter taste in the lot. Probably all needed to be recorked over a decade ago. Most went from Bordeaux Toulouse to CT to Toulouse and back to CT. It sure was fun helping our friends obtain them when we could join them!
Will be fun anyway!!!
Tonight a 1990 Pommard (a burgundy, not a Bordeaux, but that's what we randomly pulled). Not vinegar, but too far gone. After letting it breathe for an hour, some of the taste broke through, but more reminiscent of Willie Mays on the Mets. Great to taste, but 5-10 years too late.
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Streroto
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#443

Post by Streroto »

To the zoom crew-today’s NYT summary has an obit feature for John Saxon

“Lives Lived: He was a familiar face on “Falcon Crest”; battled Bruce Lee in “Enter the Dragon”; and arm-wrestled Marlon Brando, to whom he was sometimes compared, in “The Appaloosa.” John Saxon, who accumulated almost 200 film and TV credits in a career that began in the 1950s, died at 83.”
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DrTom
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#444

Post by DrTom »

Tom Shea wrote: Tue Jul 28, 2020 9:27 pm
Streroto wrote: Sun Jul 26, 2020 4:44 pm
Tom Shea wrote: Sun Jul 26, 2020 4:29 pm

They are good years and chateaux, all purchased at the vineyards. Storage, not so much - hence the issue. Recent ones we've opened were not vinegar, but had lost much of their flavor. You could still detect how good they would have been. Not a bitter taste in the lot. Probably all needed to be recorked over a decade ago. Most went from Bordeaux Toulouse to CT to Toulouse and back to CT. It sure was fun helping our friends obtain them when we could join them!
Will be fun anyway!!!
Tonight a 1990 Pommard (a burgundy, not a Bordeaux, but that's what we randomly pulled). Not vinegar, but too far gone. After letting it breathe for an hour, some of the taste broke through, but more reminiscent of Willie Mays on the Mets. Great to taste, but 5-10 years too late.
Oh GOODY more winos - sorry, oenophiles! I do love a good wine, and I have found over years of drinking them that there really isn't a wine I don't like. There are those I like better than others, but really nothing I dislike. We have been treating ourselves out of the "cellar" (and in Florida that is always a relative term because a REAL cellar would rapidly be called a pool) that we normally "save for special" because (1) we are getting older and it would really annoy me if my special wines were consumed at my wake or by the person who attends the estate sale (2) hasn't been a whole lot of special during the 'plague' so we are making our own. I have also become more adventuresome in the kitchen so I am trying to cook up to the wines.

Most of my wines were bought through wine merchants or wholesalers (I worked in a wine shop for a while helping out a buddy of mine) in the US. However I do have a little corner devoted to Burgundy, and a case or two that I acquired at le Marché aux Vins en Beaune when we visited. They are 2002 - 2005 and are drinking BEAUTIFULLY, I'll be sad when I have run through them. I also have a pretty good collection of CDP including my favorite Vieux Télégraphe (some of which I got at the vineyard.) However, I have found that buying them there and shipping them back is a LOT more expensive than simply buying them here. So, If I can carry back a case I do, otherwise I just buy it here.

Never had a 1st growth Bordeaux or anything from DRC, but I've decided that there is little they can do to a wine to make it worth 4-5 figures. I don't buy to collect or invest, I buy to drink. Now if only I could stop responding to "great bargains..." I might actually drink through the lot. We tend not to drink wine just for a cocktail, we consume it around a meal, though when we are with our wine loving friends "around" takes on a multidimensional meaning. Who knows, maybe Matt or Mike will have a wine themed META some day?
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!
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DrTom
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#445

Post by DrTom »

Abide wrote: Tue Jul 28, 2020 8:57 pm
Streroto wrote: Tue Jul 28, 2020 8:20 pm
Abide wrote: Tue Jul 28, 2020 7:58 pm Another Morse Code puzzle
https://crosswordfiend.com/2011/11/29/mgwcc-182/
All I can say is wow
Ha! I just read the comments from this 8.5 year old thread. Meg missed this? And I uploaded a pic of my grid which looks like a DrTom masterpiece.
So where can I find this homage to confusion and misdirection? I want to see what my descriptions must sound like! I looked at the puzzle and the WSJ was WAY easier than that one. Good Lord I would never have gotten that, but if I had I'm afraid I would have said "GREAT construction"!! :D
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!
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Meg
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#446

Post by Meg »

Abide wrote: Tue Jul 28, 2020 8:57 pm
Streroto wrote: Tue Jul 28, 2020 8:20 pm
Abide wrote: Tue Jul 28, 2020 7:58 pm Another Morse Code puzzle
https://crosswordfiend.com/2011/11/29/mgwcc-182/
All I can say is wow
Ha! I just read the comments from this 8.5 year old thread. Meg missed this? And I uploaded a pic of my grid which looks like a DrTom masterpiece.
And you know WHY I missed it?? I write capital letters in my grid. No dots. That was a killer meta.
Check out and support http://CrosswordsForCancer.com.
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spotter
Posts: 311
Joined: Thu Sep 12, 2019 5:48 pm
Location: SLO, CA

#447

Post by spotter »

Meg wrote: Thu Jul 30, 2020 7:53 am
Abide wrote: Tue Jul 28, 2020 8:57 pm
Streroto wrote: Tue Jul 28, 2020 8:20 pm

All I can say is wow
Ha! I just read the comments from this 8.5 year old thread. Meg missed this? And I uploaded a pic of my grid which looks like a DrTom masterpiece.
And you know WHY I missed it?? I write capital letters in my grid. No dots. That was a killer meta.
For someone who has only been doing these for about a year, this was fun to see. No wonder some of you muggles seem so much better at these if you've been going since 2011 and earlier! Also, Matt's comment on the post saying only 24 people got the meta cracked me up! And lastly, joon criticizing the lower case for proper nouns, but referring to "matt" with a lowercase m several times was pretty funny.
LesY
Posts: 678
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 4:21 pm

#448

Post by LesY »

Meg wrote: Thu Jul 30, 2020 7:53 am
Abide wrote: Tue Jul 28, 2020 8:57 pm
Streroto wrote: Tue Jul 28, 2020 8:20 pm

All I can say is wow
Ha! I just read the comments from this 8.5 year old thread. Meg missed this? And I uploaded a pic of my grid which looks like a DrTom masterpiece.
And you know WHY I missed it?? I write capital letters in my grid. No dots. That was a killer meta.
Meg, I was reading the Fiend write-up this morning - and thinking I would NEVER have gotten this one for the exact same reason! #ALLCAPS
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DrTom
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#449

Post by DrTom »

Finally managed to wend my way through the comments on "fiend" site and saw Abide's grid/ I am humbled and proud that you would think that I could produce something like that. Mine get a bit twisted but nothing as thorough as that. If I could do that I'd solve a lot more. But like many have commented, I do the grid in CAPS so the dots would not have been evident and therefore not have led to the dashes either.

That is a puzzle solve I'd have framed!!!
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!
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Tom Shea
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Location: Freedonia, NH/VT/HI/Earth

#450

Post by Tom Shea »

DrTom wrote: Wed Jul 29, 2020 11:55 pm
Tom Shea wrote: Tue Jul 28, 2020 9:27 pm
Streroto wrote: Sun Jul 26, 2020 4:44 pm

Will be fun anyway!!!
Tonight a 1990 Pommard (a burgundy, not a Bordeaux, but that's what we randomly pulled). Not vinegar, but too far gone. After letting it breathe for an hour, some of the taste broke through, but more reminiscent of Willie Mays on the Mets. Great to taste, but 5-10 years too late.
Oh GOODY more winos - sorry, oenophiles! I do love a good wine, and I have found over years of drinking them that there really isn't a wine I don't like. There are those I like better than others, but really nothing I dislike. We have been treating ourselves out of the "cellar" (and in Florida that is always a relative term because a REAL cellar would rapidly be called a pool) that we normally "save for special" because (1) we are getting older and it would really annoy me if my special wines were consumed at my wake or by the person who attends the estate sale (2) hasn't been a whole lot of special during the 'plague' so we are making our own. I have also become more adventuresome in the kitchen so I am trying to cook up to the wines.

Most of my wines were bought through wine merchants or wholesalers (I worked in a wine shop for a while helping out a buddy of mine) in the US. However I do have a little corner devoted to Burgundy, and a case or two that I acquired at le Marché aux Vins en Beaune when we visited. They are 2002 - 2005 and are drinking BEAUTIFULLY, I'll be sad when I have run through them. I also have a pretty good collection of CDP including my favorite Vieux Télégraphe (some of which I got at the vineyard.) However, I have found that buying them there and shipping them back is a LOT more expensive than simply buying them here. So, If I can carry back a case I do, otherwise I just buy it here.

Never had a 1st growth Bordeaux or anything from DRC, but I've decided that there is little they can do to a wine to make it worth 4-5 figures. I don't buy to collect or invest, I buy to drink. Now if only I could stop responding to "great bargains..." I might actually drink through the lot. We tend not to drink wine just for a cocktail, we consume it around a meal, though when we are with our wine loving friends "around" takes on a multidimensional meaning. Who knows, maybe Matt or Mike will have a wine themed META some day?
"Oh GOODY more winos - sorry, oenophiles!" Both are correct.

"Never had a 1st growth Bordeaux or anything from DRC, but I've decided that there is little they can do to a wine to make it worth 4-5 figures."
Never went to DRC, but we got a lot of the Bordeaux Grand Cru for under $30 a bottle. That was in the early 90's though.

The trick is buying to store. The second trick is storing correctly. I have come to the conclusion that 'a man has got to know his limitations' and allow others to store wine for me. It ends up being much more expensive, but I don't have to pay for my surprises. I will go into low 3 figures at a nice restaurant, but not often. Same couple made a trip with us to Louis XV in Monte Carlo -- we easily surpassed the $300/bottle mark (in 1996), but never again.

Latest splurge vineyard for us is Mollydooker. Worth the price in most restaurants. A friend from Baltimore turned us onto it in Honolulu (go figure), then we went to Australia for 3 months. Coonawarra reds are quite good (despite what Monty Python said).
Rufus T. Firefly
Trying my best
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#451

Post by Trying my best »

I must be getting slower with age -- but I haven't found the answer. What is the 5-letter word?
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Joe Ross
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#452

Post by Joe Ross »

Trying my best wrote: Sat Aug 01, 2020 11:50 am I must be getting slower with age -- but I haven't found the answer. What is the 5-letter word?
The answer - WIRES - is in this month's Past WSJCC Solutions.
Whole blood, platelets, or plasma: Donate 4 in 2024

PLATELET 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝗿𝗲.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘀 ENORMOUS 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲:
𝟰𝟬% 𝗽𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰,
𝟯𝟬% 𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰,
𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿 & 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘂𝗺𝗮. 𝗣𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗘 𝗦𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗘!
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BarbaraK
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#453

Post by BarbaraK »

Trying my best wrote: Sat Aug 01, 2020 11:50 am I must be getting slower with age -- but I haven't found the answer. What is the 5-letter word?
There's another good visual explanation in the third picture here:

forums/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=135&p=27654#p27393
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