"From Top to Bottom" - November 20, 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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Grover
Posts: 139
Joined: Fri Aug 14, 2020 8:35 pm

#241

Post by Grover »

Finally joining the shore horde. Looks like it is five deep at the bar!
mitchel674
Posts: 79
Joined: Sat Aug 08, 2020 11:05 am
Location: Clearwater, Florida

#242

Post by mitchel674 »

On shore for the first time this month.
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Colin
Posts: 546
Joined: Sat Apr 13, 2019 11:57 pm

#243

Post by Colin »

Finally got done,
A busy weekend - what fun!
Beach is overrun!
One world. One planet. One future.
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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

#244

Post by Bob cruise director »

Final call

We have our newest muggle - rosiegirl - always great to have more muggles

The final total is 5 on the ship and 180 on the shore with muggles getting to the shore all afternoon

Getting to the shore since lunch are:
ALS
copperriver
Eguinan
Jarrod
ReB
halseymac
Domenic
Paul D
Susan G
Grover
Tom Wilson
mitchel674
and Colin.

Long odds this week with about 2000 entries.
Bob Stevens
Cruise Director
matthewmoravec
Posts: 59
Joined: Mon Aug 12, 2019 11:37 am

#245

Post by matthewmoravec »

On shore!
higgysue
Posts: 334
Joined: Thu Dec 19, 2019 7:43 pm
Location: Duluth, MN

#246

Post by higgysue »

Tom Wilson wrote: Sun Nov 22, 2020 6:32 pm Made it to shore, with relative moments to spare!

And speaking of relatives ... here's wishing all of you a blessed, safe and satisfying Thanksgiving with family and friends, whether around the table or across the country. Better days ahead! But in the meantime, please know how grateful I am for this forum and the clever souls who inhabit it.
I agree! Grateful for you all!
diplomatt
Posts: 80
Joined: Thu Apr 25, 2019 10:43 pm

#247

Post by diplomatt »

First time on shore in months!!
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escapeartist
Posts: 419
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2020 12:24 am

#248

Post by escapeartist »

Nothing - Staring at the grid for four days like:

Image
* 2022 WSJ Mug Winner - I bask in its Glory *
bradisbrad
Posts: 33
Joined: Fri Jan 10, 2020 12:57 am

#249

Post by bradisbrad »

After a brief hiatus from solving, always nice to come back and get on shore.
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whimsy
Posts: 2718
Joined: Sun Jun 21, 2020 9:51 am
Location: Hopkinton MA

#250

Post by whimsy »

BrianMac wrote: Fri Nov 20, 2020 2:10 pm That took way too long, but I finally saw it.
Been itching to post this since Friday --- I guess it's safe enough now. :D
Wonder no more, BrianMac. These are MALLSISTAS:
Capturemallsistas.JPG
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Joe Ross
Moderator
Posts: 5000
Joined: Fri Apr 12, 2019 4:46 am
Location: Cincinnati

#251

Post by Joe Ross »

20201120 WSJCC From Top to Bottom.gif
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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FrankH
Posts: 242
Joined: Sat Apr 13, 2019 4:15 am

#252

Post by FrankH »

I was not taking the title literally enough, and so was looking at words situated at the top of the grid and comparing them against words at the bottom of the grid. After a day of trying different things fruitlessly, finally decided to look for AS and SO in the grid; but because the hints are situated at 7D and 48D, started looking for those letters in the DOWN direction. That led nowhere, and so eventually had to look for those letters in the horizontal direction. Bingo! Sure took a long, hard and circuitous route.
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escapeartist
Posts: 419
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2020 12:24 am

#253

Post by escapeartist »

I did notice that there was a lot of "ASS" in the grid - thought it tied to "bottom" somehow, but it didn't. :lol:

I was way off in every way I tried - I wouldn't have gotten this if I stared at it for another week.
* 2022 WSJ Mug Winner - I bask in its Glory *
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whimsy
Posts: 2718
Joined: Sun Jun 21, 2020 9:51 am
Location: Hopkinton MA

#254

Post by whimsy »

My favorite rabbit hole too! ^^
flyingMoose
Posts: 828
Joined: Sun Mar 22, 2020 2:35 pm

#255

Post by flyingMoose »

When I first saw the title, I wondered if a key part of the mechanism was vertical rather than horizontal as in the common Theme Entries. While filling out the grid, I wondered if 7D and 48D would be important beyond the connection they had in the cluing.

Was I able to carry those thoughts around in my head? Of course not! Did I follow the suggestion of many and write down interesting things I saw along the way? Of course not! Sigh.

Later in the day, the light finally came on and I found the short, quick path to the solution.
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Eric Porter
Posts: 466
Joined: Sun May 05, 2019 2:19 am
Location: Nashville, TN

#256

Post by Eric Porter »

Here's what I was hinting at in my earlier post about Easter eggs. Easter egg is not quite right, because they're not exactly hidden, but I was using the term to apply to something that one of us would notice and maybe get a kick out of it.

The first thing I saw was pASSOvers and lASSO. They have AS and SO right next to each other and are both down clues. It could be a coincidence, but with 2 of them, I think Matt did it on purpose. It's close to the solution, but not quite.

The other one is the answer itself. The title of the July 10 puzzle was "Missing Links". That was a Shenk puzzle, but it has a very similar solve method.

As Dplass reminded me, we have AT SEA for 15A.

As another Muggle pointed out to me, APES is in 10A, an homage to the Missing Links puzzle?
Dplass
Posts: 1739
Joined: Sat Dec 28, 2019 10:09 am

#257

Post by Dplass »

7D/49D Were an expression I never heard of and then seconds later my eyes saw AS and SO separated by a line in the grid and Bob's your parent's sibling.
RichA2
Posts: 135
Joined: Sun Jul 05, 2020 4:22 pm

#258

Post by RichA2 »

After the past several weeks, it’s nice to have a meta solution for which the explanation fills less than five lines.
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Mister Squawk
Posts: 241
Joined: Fri Sep 04, 2020 9:15 am
Location: Boston

#259

Post by Mister Squawk »

Was I the only person who saw "PASSOVERS ENTRE" and started looking for Brisket?
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John77
Posts: 156
Joined: Fri Jun 19, 2020 12:09 pm
Location: New Jersey

#260

Post by John77 »

I also noticed the similar mechanism appearing in the 7/10/20 puzzle (see Eric Porter's post above). Made me wonder whether there were three more steps to go through.
Wir sind zu früh alt und zu spät schlau.
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