"Tense Situation" August 26, 2022

[Cbaudhuin]

Ashore.
Had fun getting there!

[jimmyd]

11th hour start (literally) on this busy weekend, but made it ashore in time to submit… I like the easy ones

[Joe Ross]

[Joe Ross]

[Limerick Savant]

What’s past is prologue

My solution is simple so try it
Here’s the method and how to apply it
If the tense is recast
From the present to past
What was naught turns to ought. Can you buy it*?

*(Seems this is also the only way I’ll ever get the prized mug)

[Colin]

Forehead hurts from slap.
Stuck in mechanical trap,
Present tense - not back.

[Hidden in 3D]

ASHORE! I solved yesterday after banging my head against the wall for much of the day on Friday. What hurts the most (besides my head) is that I actually came up with something that would have helped me solve the meta while I was filling out the grid. I really ought to pay more attention to my first inclinations!!

After I posted this, I was worried that one of our wonderful moderators (thank you for all that you do!!) would redact my last sentence because of the word OUGHT. My second sentence originally read "...I actually THOUGHT of something...", but I noticed that potential spoiler and changed it.

[Dplass]

I don't understand why Matt wrote that at 62A. "What hath God wrought?" immediately jumped to mind.

[DBMiller]

My rabbit hole that was partially shared with someone else in the Zoom meeting…

I saw all the present tense answers but didn't know what to do with them at first. I looked for more in the grid and found several, but which one to choose? AIM AT was the only across one, but I had.nothing to tie it with the others.

At that point I noticed the following…

SEEK ADVICE, which led me to ORACLE
WREAK HAVOC, which led me to RUIN.

I thought I was on to something, but the rest were pretty thin…

BRING TO THE TABLE … USE IT
THINK FAST … HEY
FIGHT CLUB … GEAR

These words got me an anagram for ROUGH, which could mean the meta is ABRASIVES?

I had no way of sorting the letters, and I expected a better tie in with the puzzle. Back to the title…

Maybe because I was looking at ROUGH, which would be the center of BROUGHT or WROUGHT, but I made the past tense switch and it all fell into place.

[DBMiller]

I don't understand why Matt wrote that at 62A. "What hath God wrought?" immediately jumped to mind.

It's because the past tense of WREAK is actually WREAKED. WROUGHT is actually an archaic past tense of WORK. WROUGHT is often misused here, hence the clarification.

[Dplass]

I don't understand why Matt wrote that at 62A. "What hath God wrought?" immediately jumped to mind.

It's because the past tense of WREAK is actually WREAKED. WROUGHT is actually an archaic past tense of WORK. WROUGHT is often misused here, hence the clarification.

Well, today I learned something.

[Joe Ross]

I don't understand why Matt wrote that at 62A. "What hath God wrought?" immediately jumped to mind.

It's because the past tense of WREAK is actually WREAKED. WROUGHT is actually an archaic past tense of WORK. WROUGHT is often misused here, hence the clarification.

I don't necessarily disagree, but 'misused' might not be correct. There are respected, centuries-old, non-internet-based dictionaries that attribute 'wrought' as a non-standard past participle:

wrought
verb
not standard
(only as a past participle and in the past tense) caused (something to happen):

• She says the new visa rules wrought havoc at the local consulate.

[DBMiller]

I don't understand why Matt wrote that at 62A. "What hath God wrought?" immediately jumped to mind.

It's because the past tense of WREAK is actually WREAKED. WROUGHT is actually an archaic past tense of WORK. WROUGHT is often misused here, hence the clarification.

I don't necessarily disagree, but 'misused' might not be correct. There are respected, centuries-old, non-internet-based dictionaries that attribute 'wrought' as a non-standard past participle:

wrought
verb
not standard
(only as a past participle and in the past tense) caused (something to happen):

• She says the new visa rules wrought havoc at the local consulate.

I'll leave semantics to any true grammarian, but if enough people misuse something, is that when it becomes non-standard? I'd say the point is moot, but which meaning of moot do I mean?

[Dplass]

"It's a moo point", as Joey would say.

[pjc]

My rabbit hole that was partially shared with someone else in the Zoom meeting…

I saw all the present tense answers but didn't know what to do with them at first. I looked for more in the grid and found several, but which one to choose? AIM AT was the only across one, but I had.nothing to tie it with the others.

At that point I noticed the following…

SEEK ADVICE, which led me to ORACLE
WREAK HAVOC, which led me to RUIN.

I went down a similar path that I couldn't let go of (until I did ), but it started with seeing that the clue for FIGHT CLUB could also apply to grid answer THE MATRIX. So I was determined to find other answers in the grid that fit the clues for the theme answers.

On a separate note, Lollapuzzoola was tons of fun on Saturday. In addition to the tournament puzzles, they also provided two metas - one was a simple-to-see crossword meta (awesomely overlaid on top of a map of NYC) and the other was a packet of non-crossword puzzles that add up to a meta solution (haven't finished solving this one yet).

[drbockel2]

Well hell, I actually got to shore. I just didn't believe it...THOUGHT I was hallucinating...

[Ergcat]

My rabbit hole::
First, I did think about the title and “verb tense” but then when I saw all the verbs in the grid , I couldn’t see a mechanism to choose one. Second, I thought it was odd that the clue for “Fight Club” was NOT like the other clues ( action phrases). And that was when THE rabbit popped up when I realized that “The Matrix” was also a CULT FILM FROM 1999! Coincidence? I think not! So I pursued a common mechanism of finding alternate grid answers for the theme clues, take first letters, reverse back to an answer::
1) I took the 5 themers ( with asterisks) and found alternate answers in the grid

(17a) seek advice = (32a) oracle
(25a) Think fast = (15a) aim at
(39a) bring to the table = (11d) lend a
(48a) Fight Club = (3D) The Matrix
(62a) Wreak Havoc. = (50 d) Go mad

(2) first letters of the alternate answers anagramed to spell
“GLOAT”

(3) Reverse step 1 and I get

GLOAT ———> TYPE A (68a) like some aggressive people

Confirm : TYPEA/ aggressive people/Gloat would be a “Tense Situation”
THAT was my golden rabbit hole of the week!
-Elaine (Ergcat)

[Flying_Burrito]

To me this was the easiest MG in a long while. I debated for a short while only on 2 things: 1) does "Buy it" need to be chained to something else (and my lean was Ikea, which also had the word chain in the def) since an MG can't be that easy? 2) does he want the answer in tbe present or past tense? After rereading the instructions both option were eliminated

[Flying_Burrito]

Quick dad joke of the day:
The past, the present and the future walked into a bar. It got tense.

[SusieG]

I immediately saw the past/present tense, but forgot about the instruction to find a “grid answer.” I spent too much time trying to come up with a phrase containing “buy”…buy a vowel, buy time, buy low…how am I supposed to choose?!? Then I came to the forum and saw that the shore was flooded with people and luckily saw a reminder to read the instructions.