"Leading Men" - October 4, 2019

[Joedbee]

Onshore. I'm not in any of the top mug-winning states so am not chilling the champagne just yet.

[Toby]

Solved. Nice classic meta that took just the right amount of time to solve.

Where have you been. I have not seen you in a few weeks. Hope everything is OK

Thanks, Bob, for asking. I was away for a couple of weeks in London and Wales. A couple of weeks ago, I got in trouble with the spoiler police on the blog because the answer to the meta was PINT, and I said something in my blog about being in England and going to go for an appropriate drink, which was too much of a hint I suppose, so the post was removed. (It's pretty amazing, isn't it, how participation in this blog has exploded.)

[Geoduck]

An explanation for having the three time winner from Cotuit,MA which is not a town in MA

For those who don't understand Massachusetts, we have strange naming for villages within towns. Cotuit is a village of about 3500 residents within the town of Barnstable on Cape Cod. Villages in general have no legal standing and may or may not have their own post office. Some towns have no villages and some towns have seven or eight villages. There are historic reasons for this - usually going back a few hundred years. The villages were separated but since then the population has grown so these villages merge and soon or later get incorporated into bigger towns or cities.

However natives refer to their addresses by these villages which in many cases do not appear on a map. Newer GPS's may or may not recognize the village names.

Boston is like that with 22 neighborhoods/villages in the city https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neighborhoods_in_Boston. When Boston incorporated these neighborhoods, no one thought to change the road names so you have things like having four Washington Streets in the city of Boston (and you would have to get a true native to tell you where they are). It drives GPS's nuts and it requires the city to send out multiple ambulances when someone calls 911 and says that they are at XXX Washington Street and can not tell which which neighborhood they are in.

I have only been here 50 years and I still don't know the locations of the seven villages in the next town over.

All of this is to totally confuse invaders from the other 48 states. Mainers are not invaders as they were once part of Massachusetts.

Slight correction: We Mainuhs threw you folk out in 1820. You've been buying us back ever since, one houselot at a time.


The situation here in Maine is also strange. Many of our "towns" were laid out before anyone lived here -- the township-and-range system. A system of mostly square townships laid out on a map of the state with the occasional oddly shapes slice of land (often called a "gore") fitted in to partly compensate for the curvature of the earth's surface, I presume. Many have populations of 50, or 12, or 4, -- or 0. They have name like T2-R6, and so on.

"What town you from up thayuh"

"T1-R7"

"Wha???"

I live in one of these square towns, which is densely populated, so is incorporated, and we even have a name. (We are teeming with a little over 1000 people.) I live about 2 miles as the crow flies from the town center (a gas station and convenience store and a corrugated community center). But my car doesn't fly and there's a river and a lake in between and no bridges. The corner of the square I live in is isolated from the rest of the town. So when I have to make a trip to the transfer station (which is at what we used to call the town dump) it's a full 30 minute drive through two other towns -- each way. Several miles unpaved. Same with voting, town meetings, etc. A half hour each way. In the summer. Could be longer in the winter.

Oh -- and because of the separation, my ZIP code is the same one of the towns I have to drive through -- two towns away. This definitely confuses people who want to find me. If they know my postal address, they think I live on a town 20 minutes away, and if they know the town I'm really in, their GPS devices can't find me. They "can't get thayuh from heeyuh."

[Inca]

Solved. Nice classic meta that took just the right amount of time to solve.

Where have you been. I have not seen you in a few weeks. Hope everything is OK

Thanks, Bob, for asking. I was away for a couple of weeks in London and Wales. A couple of weeks ago, I got in trouble with the spoiler police on the blog because the answer to the meta was PINT, and I said something in my blog about being in England and going to go for an appropriate drink, which was too much of a hint I suppose, so the post was removed. (It's pretty amazing, isn't it, how participation in this blog has exploded.)

No matter how it has exploded, we still look out for (and miss when we don't see them) our good old friends whom we knew and who knew us when.

[billkatz]

I am safely on shore. As others noted there was some work getting the grid, as well as one minor detour. The MGWCC is queued up for this evening.

[billkatz]

An explanation for having the three time winner from Cotuit,MA which is not a town in MA

For those who don't understand Massachusetts, we have strange naming for villages within towns.

But at least in Massachusetts each bit of land is in exactly one town/city. (I grew up in Pittsfield, the county seat of Berkshire County). And the city provided all of the services you need. When I was in high school the town of Mount Washington (the SW corner of Mass) was well known for being the smallest of Mass towns, with a population of 49. And they still had selectmen and an annual town meeting.

Here is California much land is in no town or city at all - it is just in the given county and unincorporated into any city. There are also cities that form islands within other cities (like Beverly Hills or Piedmont) as well as cities that take up the entire county (San Francisco). The other odd thing here is that districts that provide schools, water, sewage, and fire protection are not necessrily aligned with city or county borders, or even each other.

[ErikThor]

This went pretty quick. Not sure I even boarded the cruise ship before I was back on shore.

[hcbirker]

Statistics for the last 200 Puzzles!

As a celebration for the 200th Contest Crossword (started tracking online for the puzzle: "You Better Shop Around" on 12/11/15 by Matt Gaffney), I thought I would share some interesting statistics regarding winners, states, and more! If you would like more information about any of the stats below, let me know in a reply.

By the way, I am on shore this week, and looking forward to another 200 contests.

Top 5 states for Winners

• California – 22
  Massachusetts – 19
  New York – 17
  Ohio – 12
  Texas – 12

This is great! As a fellow nerd, I love the reminder that I've found my tribe:)

I'm surprised that California has more winners than New York. I'd have guessed that the highest density of WSJ subscribers is in New York, then the northeast, then the rest of the country.

California has a lot of lawyers (my husband is one), that's how I found out about this contest when he brought the WSJ home. Maybe I still have a chance! (Heidi)

[hcbirker]

An explanation for having the three time winner from Cotuit,MA which is not a town in MA

For those who don't understand Massachusetts, we have strange naming for villages within towns. Cotuit is a village of about 3500 residents within the town of Barnstable on Cape Cod. Villages in general have no legal standing and may or may not have their own post office. Some towns have no villages and some towns have seven or eight villages. There are historic reasons for this - usually going back a few hundred years. The villages were separated but since then the population has grown so these villages merge and soon or later get incorporated into bigger towns or cities.

However natives refer to their addresses by these villages which in many cases do not appear on a map. Newer GPS's may or may not recognize the village names.

Boston is like that with 22 neighborhoods/villages in the city https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neighborhoods_in_Boston. When Boston incorporated these neighborhoods, no one thought to change the road names so you have things like having four Washington Streets in the city of Boston (and you would have to get a true native to tell you where they are). It drives GPS's nuts and it requires the city to send out multiple ambulances when someone calls 911 and says that they are at XXX Washington Street and can not tell which which neighborhood they are in.

I have only been here 50 years and I still don't know the locations of the seven villages in the next town over.

All of this is to totally confuse invaders from the other 48 states. Mainers are not invaders as they were once part of Massachusetts.

My husband and I visited Boston thirty years ago (no GPS) and ditched the rental car for public transit or taxi. Very confusing! (Heidi)

[Geoduck]

An explanation for having the three time winner from Cotuit,MA which is not a town in MA

For those who don't understand Massachusetts, we have strange naming for villages within towns.

But at least in Massachusetts each bit of land is in exactly one town/city. (I grew up in Pittsfield, the county seat of Berkshire County). And the city provided all of the services you need. When I was in high school the town of Mount Washington (the SW corner of Mass) was well known for being the smallest of Mass towns, with a population of 49. And they still had selectmen and an annual town meeting.

Here is California much land is in no town or city at all - it is just in the given county and unincorporated into any city. There are also cities that form islands within other cities (like Beverly Hills or Piedmont) as well as cities that take up the entire county (San Francisco). The other odd thing here is that districts that provide schools, water, sewage, and fire protection are not necessrily aligned with city or county borders, or even each other.

I have no idea how old you are but my first college roommate in 1972 was from Pittsfield. Ellis Sumy, may he rest in peace. Does the name ring a bell?

[Beth C]

Safely ashore. Good luck Muggles!

[Thurman8er]

On shore. MMMM done. Fireball done. WSJ done.

MGWCC, here I come. It is a very good time to be a meta fan.

[KayW]

Since it's early, I'll make mine a Stiegl Radler graperfuit.

I find it best with a shot of Malört at the bottom of the glass.

I had never even heard of Malört... and was surprised to learn it is the "unofficial beverage of Chicago". I guess I'll have to try this one day, tho the descriptions do not sound at all appetizing. On the other hand, I do enjoy things like bitters and tonic water so.... cheers!

https://www.chicagomag.com/city-life/Ma ... s-Amazing/

This forum is SO educational!

[jamescarter]

On shore

[Bob cruise director]

Statistics for the last 200 Puzzles!

As a celebration for the 200th Contest Crossword (started tracking online for the puzzle: "You Better Shop Around" on 12/11/15 by Matt Gaffney), I thought I would share some interesting statistics regarding winners, states, and more! If you would like more information about any of the stats below, let me know in a reply.

By the way, I am on shore this week, and looking forward to another 200 contests.

Top 5 states for Winners

• California – 22
  Massachusetts – 19
  New York – 17
  Ohio – 12
  Texas – 12

This is great! As a fellow nerd, I love the reminder that I've found my tribe:)

I'm surprised that California has more winners than New York. I'd have guessed that the highest density of WSJ subscribers is in New York, then the northeast, then the rest of the country.

Barbara = we are all nerds - just with different areas of knowledge.

[Bob cruise director]

Solved. Nice classic meta that took just the right amount of time to solve.

Where have you been. I have not seen you in a few weeks. Hope everything is OK

Thanks, Bob, for asking. I was away for a couple of weeks in London and Wales. A couple of weeks ago, I got in trouble with the spoiler police on the blog because the answer to the meta was PINT, and I said something in my blog about being in England and going to go for an appropriate drink, which was too much of a hint I suppose, so the post was removed. (It's pretty amazing, isn't it, how participation in this blog has exploded.)

Toby - most of us saw that and laughed as the temptation was there to put in a spoiler as we have so many comments about having pints.

Welcome back.

[Bob cruise director]

An explanation for having the three time winner from Cotuit,MA which is not a town in MA

For those who don't understand Massachusetts, we have strange naming for villages within towns. Cotuit is a village of about 3500 residents within the town of Barnstable on Cape Cod. Villages in general have no legal standing and may or may not have their own post office. Some towns have no villages and some towns have seven or eight villages. There are historic reasons for this - usually going back a few hundred years. The villages were separated but since then the population has grown so these villages merge and soon or later get incorporated into bigger towns or cities.

However natives refer to their addresses by these villages which in many cases do not appear on a map. Newer GPS's may or may not recognize the village names.

Boston is like that with 22 neighborhoods/villages in the city https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neighborhoods_in_Boston. When Boston incorporated these neighborhoods, no one thought to change the road names so you have things like having four Washington Streets in the city of Boston (and you would have to get a true native to tell you where they are). It drives GPS's nuts and it requires the city to send out multiple ambulances when someone calls 911 and says that they are at XXX Washington Street and can not tell which which neighborhood they are in.

I have only been here 50 years and I still don't know the locations of the seven villages in the next town over.

All of this is to totally confuse invaders from the other 48 states. Mainers are not invaders as they were once part of Massachusetts.

Slight correction: We Mainuhs threw you folk out in 1820. You've been buying us back ever since, one houselot at a time.


The situation here in Maine is also strange. Many of our "towns" were laid out before anyone lived here -- the township-and-range system. A system of mostly square townships laid out on a map of the state with the occasional oddly shapes slice of land (often called a "gore") fitted in to partly compensate for the curvature of the earth's surface, I presume. Many have populations of 50, or 12, or 4, -- or 0. They have name like T2-R6, and so on.

"What town you from up thayuh"

"T1-R7"

"Wha???"

I live in one of these square towns, which is densely populated, so is incorporated, and we even have a name. (We are teeming with a little over 1000 people.) I live about 2 miles as the crow flies from the town center (a gas station and convenience store and a corrugated community center). But my car doesn't fly and there's a river and a lake in between and no bridges. The corner of the square I live in is isolated from the rest of the town. So when I have to make a trip to the transfer station (which is at what we used to call the town dump) it's a full 30 minute drive through two other towns -- each way. Several miles unpaved. Same with voting, town meetings, etc. A half hour each way. In the summer. Could be longer in the winter.

Oh -- and because of the separation, my ZIP code is the same one of the towns I have to drive through -- two towns away. This definitely confuses people who want to find me. If they know my postal address, they think I live on a town 20 minutes away, and if they know the town I'm really in, their GPS devices can't find me. They "can't get thayuh from heeyuh."

You brought tears to my eyes laughing.

I am one of those people buying up Maine one lot at a time. The deed to the lot has borders on each side of the people who owned the lots 125 years ago, the back is the stone wall and the front is a road that does not exist. One border of the lot behind me is "a gate" which is no longer there.

For those who do not know their history, Maine was created as part of the Missouri compromise.

By the way, I have never met a person in Maine that I did not like. They are friendly and helpful.

[Julie O]

Decided to head for shore, and enjoy the weekend. If you can't be on the shore you want, love the the shore you're on...

[Colin]

Love the US geographic education here! Makes great reading while sitting at the bar with Isaac. What with that and the rugby World Cup, I may not make it to the lifeboat, let alone the shore!

[Streroto]

Statistics for the last 200 Puzzles! ....

Sweet! I love data. Thanks for this!

Daaaaataaaa (spoken as Homer to donuts)