"In Character" - February 19, 2021

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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Olof
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#281

Post by Olof »

On shore. As easier metas go, this was delightful.
Grover
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#282

Post by Grover »

On shore. We need a Hawaii sized island. Oahu would never hold this crowd.
CopperRiver
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#283

Post by CopperRiver »

Beached! Liked this one!
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Tom Shea
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#284

Post by Tom Shea »

Grover wrote: Fri Feb 19, 2021 11:12 pm On shore. We need a Hawaii sized island. Oahu would never hold this crowd.
That's why they call it the Big Island. Watch for lava flows though.

Because, well, Lava Hot:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1FrzTazY7A
Rufus T. Firefly
EmilyW
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#285

Post by EmilyW »

On shore even though I have never read this book so not sure how I knew the answer. Celebrating with a Perennial Sump Coffee Stout.
Ann
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#286

Post by Ann »

Solved!
BreeZynCO
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#287

Post by BreeZynCO »

Reading a book on the beach.
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Al Sisti
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#288

Post by Al Sisti »

SewYoung wrote: Fri Feb 19, 2021 8:12 pm
auee89 wrote: Fri Feb 19, 2021 10:17 am Ashore! Again, I wait until Friday mornings to start and that's when the puzzle is loaded on the WSJ iPad app anyway. Makes Fridays even more enjoyable!

I see posts saying the construction was elegant. Not sure I am tracking. As a newer solver of the WSJ Thursday and Friday puzzles (I am now addicted!), I would love to have a conversation with folks about your perspectives. February has been a good training ground as I now go back and work through the 2020 Friday puzzles. Feel free to message me if you want to have the conversation. Thanks!
Join us on the Tuesday evening Zoom meeting. It happens at 6:30 Central / 7:30 Eastern time. A link to the meeting can be found on the "Come Aboard" page under FAQ Community/Solving Resources topic as "YourPalSal's Muggle Meetup".
This is the most recent link

if pw needed, use muggle
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DrTom
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#289

Post by DrTom »

HunterX wrote: Fri Feb 19, 2021 8:33 pm On shore.

Wait... I tipped the cabana boy QUITE well to ensure he set up a well appointed and well equipped cabana for me, with a sunset view over the bluest part of the ocean, just above high-tide mark, and a ready supply of appropriately chilled Vinho Verde. Yet where is he? Too busy running around serving umbrella-drinks to the ladies, I see? And there's no room for my cabana? He left me a sandy Smurf towel to sit on!?! WELL I NEVER!!! (Okay, maybe once in the 70's...)

Fine... I'll just get a burger and one of those $12 bottles of wine that's been "aged" in bourbon barrels to give it more kick. If I can't live in style, at least I can live in a blissful stupor.
LOOK! Up on the beach...is it a bird, is it a crane....no it's Stuporman. Able to leap tall sandy towels with a single bound

Yes, it's Stuporman ... strange visitor from another zip code, who came to the island with powers and abilities far beyond those of moral men! Stuporman ... who can change the course of mighty rivers of thought, bend words with his bare mind, and who, disguised as Hunter X, mild-mannered meta solver for a great metropolitan newspaper, fights a never-ending battle for [6 letter word for veracity], [7 letter word for fairness], and the [Expresso shot topped with hot water at Starbucks] way!
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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#290

Post by DrTom »

Tom Shea wrote: Fri Feb 19, 2021 11:30 pm
Grover wrote: Fri Feb 19, 2021 11:12 pm On shore. We need a Hawaii sized island. Oahu would never hold this crowd.
That's why they call it the Big Island. Watch for lava flows though.

Because, well, Lava Hot:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1FrzTazY7A
Oh, I don't know, I don't know - where ya gonna go when the volcano blows?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PECjfHjvVQA
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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#291

Post by Tom Shea »

DrTom wrote: Sat Feb 20, 2021 12:33 am
Tom Shea wrote: Fri Feb 19, 2021 11:30 pm
Grover wrote: Fri Feb 19, 2021 11:12 pm On shore. We need a Hawaii sized island. Oahu would never hold this crowd.
That's why they call it the Big Island. Watch for lava flows though.

Because, well, Lava Hot:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1FrzTazY7A
Oh, I don't know, I don't know - where ya gonna go when the volcano blows?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PECjfHjvVQA
Ironically, he recorded that song here:
https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2013/ ... no/100509/

That studio had a pretty good history of recording before they closed.
Rufus T. Firefly
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DrTom
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#292

Post by DrTom »

BrianMac wrote: Fri Feb 19, 2021 5:13 pm
auee89 wrote: Fri Feb 19, 2021 10:17 am Ashore! Again, I wait until Friday mornings to start and that's when the puzzle is loaded on the WSJ iPad app anyway. Makes Fridays even more enjoyable!

I see posts saying the construction was elegant. Not sure I am tracking. As a newer solver of the WSJ Thursday and Friday puzzles (I am now addicted!), I would love to have a conversation with folks about your perspectives. February has been a good training ground as I now go back and work through the 2020 Friday puzzles. Feel free to message me if you want to have the conversation. Thanks!
Welcome to the group! The more metas you solve, the more you will come to appreciate the "elegance." To me, an elegant puzzle is devoid of bad fill, meaning abbreviations, partial phrases, obscure foreign language words, prefixes, etc. Constructing a "clean" crossword puzzle is challenging enough when you're not trying to include a meta mechanism. Sometimes the meta mechanism requires the trade-off of some bad fill, so if you can include a lot of meta material in your grid without resorting to OMOO, NNE, ANIL or CCVII, that's one aspect of elegance.

There may be hints or "easter eggs" hidden in the grid that you don't recognize when solving. Realizing that the constructor included that without you even noticing makes you appreciate the elegance...thoughtful aspects of the construction you didn't even notice. I'll send you a PM with an example relating to this week's puzzle.

Another aspect of elegance is the solving experience. Is the meta mechanism consistent across all its steps or components? Do the steps unfold in a logical manner that leads to a solution that is absolutely, unequivocally, definitively, 100%, without-a-doubt the one and only possible solution to the meta? Elegant! Maybe most importantly, is the meta mechanism clever and original? This standard has been going up, in my opinion, over the few years I've been doing these.

Opinions vary of course. Someone might think that a meta that requires you to Google something is, per se, inelegant. Others, such as myself, are not bothered by that. I could go on longer, but need to run. I'm sure others will chime in (without giving spoilers!)
I think Brian gives a pretty complete representation of "elegance". The one other thing I might add is that an aspect of elegance for me is when the Title, hint and mechanism all mesh. You don't always see it at first (for example I got the 'When Harry...' last week without ever noticing that the crossings spelled FIRE). Sometimes you just have to ask yourself, "how do they do that!" (case in point, 'Opposites Attract' the MGWCC from a week or so ago)
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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tigerfly222
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#293

Post by tigerfly222 »

Ashore!
martimeryard
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#294

Post by martimeryard »

Ashore!
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Bird Lives
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#295

Post by Bird Lives »

BrianMac wrote: Fri Feb 19, 2021 5:13 pm [re: Elegance]

Is the meta mechanism consistent across all its steps or components?
I have snipped out most of Brian's excellent post, but for me elegance lies in the fitting together of multiple steps. Sometimes -- but it seems to me, not so often -- these elegances are pointed out in the Monday post-solvem. Maybe that's because once you see the solution, they become obvious. But maybe there should be more of that.

And then there's the other hard-to-define-but-I-know-it-when-I-see-it term: "fun. A puzzle can be fun without being elegant, and vice versa.
Jay
Beth C
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#296

Post by Beth C »

Done and done, easy-peasy. Actually, I knew the meta before finishing the grid. It's not often I can make that claim. Good luck Muggles!
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KscX
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#297

Post by KscX »

Scoot over, y’all. I’m ashore.
Olaf
Posts: 56
Joined: Fri Sep 20, 2019 7:12 pm

#298

Post by Olaf »

On shore! It’s been several in a row for me with these easier puzzles. I am also dreading the potential payback as they start increasing in difficulty again!
WSJosh
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Location: Nashville, TN

#299

Post by WSJosh »

Ashore!
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Natalie
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#300

Post by Natalie »

Ashore!

Knocked off the puzzle proper last night, then was interrupted so didn't even think about the meta. Then I had a dream featuring the grid in a much more realistic way than dreams usually do and took it as an omen to look at the thing. What a surprise! No moral to this story, other than to suggest to newcomers that sometimes 'sleeping on it' works. Happy weekend to all!
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