"Tense Situation" August 26, 2022

[ReB]

So is "IT" the pronoun for "THE FARM"? Inquiring minds want to know...

[Limerick Savant]

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?

For me Matt’s feetnote was a bit of a spoiler that actually clinched my line of think and kept me from falling into other possible rabbit holes. If we really want to quibble about usage, I would suggest that 48A does not really lend itself to the apparent mechanism and we haven’t yet gotten into a fought over that yet. It all makes me past tense. Let’s iron out our differences and acknowledge the puzzle we worked was generally well wrought.

[MMe]

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

Our kid and a pal killed at a 2nd grade talent show with, "Doctor, doctor! Sometimes I feel like a teepee, sometimes I feel like a wigwam." "You're too tense."

[Bob cruise director]

For those keeping score at home, the total on the shore was 250 this week. A respectable showing but nowhere near the record of 290 from July 1.

[kurtalert]

All of the movie stuff had me seriously rabbit holed- a Gaffney puzzle with OSCAR in the lower right corner, and FARGO symmetrically in the lower left- then throw in THE MATRIX and ORACLE (huge character in The Matrix), FIGHT CLUB, BLADE, etc... it didn't feel like all of that could just be a coincidence. And, perhaps, the theme was actually part of the secret- it wasn't the 5 obvious starred clues, those were a red herring... sigh.

Fortunately, after a while of getting absolutely nowhere on the movie path, I focused more on the TENSE part of the title and hit the answer really quickly after that.

[Cindy N]

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.

I actually changed my post as well after using THOUGHT.

[sharkicicles]

So here’s that book I was talking about. A quick light read and very enjoyable.

[Joe Ross]

So here’s that book I was talking about. A quick light read and very enjoyable.

Thank you! I downloaded the Epub version from the library.

(Ohio residents, the Dayton Metro Library has this.)

[Barney]

I found Matt’s caveat at 62A slightly confusing. Methinks he might have overthunk* it, because “wrought” is in my dictionaries. Maybe wrought and I are both archaic ~~ or overwrought.

Did anyone/everyone else write down all the other possible verb/object “sixth theme” possibilities? I at first tried to match five (lend a; ace it; use up; aim at) with the theme answers … until “bought” jumped out.

*Also archaic and I love it.

[Dplass]

So here’s that book I was talking about. A quick light read and very enjoyable.

It's on my list!

[Joe Ross]

I may change my screenname to "overthunked."

Thunk(?) you, @Barney!

[femullen]

The grandchildren visit just once in a year,
And this was the week that they chose to be here.
The older one looked at the meta and thought,
"A week in the past, then, must surely be 'wought.'"

With a mind like that, in 20 years she'll be a Gaffney. These are the children of The Smarter Half's sister. Their wise mother severely restricts what they call "screen time," so we were offline throughout their visit. Even did the meta on--gads!--paper.

I didn't find this as easy as the number of early beach arrivers suggested. I kept Isaac company for a couple of days, stuck at 48A, where FIGHT is used as an adjective instead of a verb.

[JAQT]

I was on the wrong beach, and selected GO MAD at 50D.

My rationale was that all the themers were present tense verbs describing the escalating stages of a crisis. Thus, from Seek Advice through to Wreak Havoc, to me, the next stage was to Go Mad.

Oh well, next week.

[Relic]

For the 2nd time this month I took the weekend off only to pick the puzzle up Sunday evening. I ended up with Buy It as the solution based solely on the following logic:
1. All the theme answers had present tense verbs (aligned with the puzzle title)
2. The answers seemed to be following an escalating progression so I figured the sixth themer had to be a Down answer that would resolve the progression.
3. Since the 5 themers had present tense verbs, the sixth would have to also.
4. There were only a few present tense verbs in the Down positions and 13D seemed most logical, although 50D Go mad would have been a realistic though dark-humored outcome following my logic.
5. The progression reminded me of the working process involved with many joint major buying decisions made by my wife and me over the years. And, yes, Go mad resulted more than once from some of the decisions we (more accurately, I) made - and yes I learned from my mistakes. I could be taught after all.


Ultimately I never submitted because I failed to find an actual mechanism, and I figured there was one.

Overall fun puzzle from Matt. I wish I hadn't taken the weekend off. I'll be rejoining the cruise this week.

[hoover]

So here’s that book I was talking about. A quick light read and very enjoyable.

Thank you! I downloaded the Epub version from the library.

(Ohio residents, the Dayton Metro Library has this.)

((But you have to wait until @Joe Ross returns it.))

[LadyBird]

So here’s that book I was talking about. A quick light read and very enjoyable.

I put that on my Goodreads list a while back--just one of the 833 books that I "want to read".

[Bonnibel]

All of the movie stuff had me seriously rabbit holed- a Gaffney puzzle with OSCAR in the lower right corner, and FARGO symmetrically in the lower left- then throw in THE MATRIX and ORACLE (huge character in The Matrix), FIGHT CLUB, BLADE, etc... it didn't feel like all of that could just be a coincidence. And, perhaps, the theme was actually part of the secret- it wasn't the 5 obvious starred clues, those were a red herring... sigh.

Fortunately, after a while of getting absolutely nowhere on the movie path, I focused more on the TENSE part of the title and hit the answer really quickly after that.

I was CONVINCED it had to do with The Matrix because of all that you just said...or BLADE Runner, etc. I'm not a sci-fi fan but spent a lot of time googling around in that rabbit hole until Captain Obvious pulled me out and I suddenly got it. Sigh.

[Joe Ross]

So here’s that book I was talking about. A quick light read and very enjoyable.

Thank you! I downloaded the Epub version from the library.

(Ohio residents, the Dayton Metro Library has this.)

((But you have to wait until @Joe Ross returns it.))

Check out:

• Cuyahoga County Public Library (on loan)

• The Ohio Digital Library (on loan)

• Toledo Lucas County Public Library (available)

[MikeMillerwsj]

The contest answer is BUY IT at 13-Down. Each of the five starred theme answers begins with a verb whose past tense ends with –ought: SEEK/sought, THINK/thought, BRING/brought, FIGHT/fought, WREAK/wrought. The sixth answer that fits the pattern is BUY IT with BUY/bought.

This one appeared to be a little more accessible than some of the recent brainteasers. We had a very robust 2,477 entries, with about 78% correct (roughly in line with an average week). A lot of near misses, including 103 submissions of BOUGHT (not quite right, the instructions called for a grid answer that fits the theme). Plus 37 for BUY IN and another 10 for BUY.

Congrats to this week's winner, Steve Sivyer of St. Augustine, Fla.!

[hoover]

Thank you! I downloaded the Epub version from the library.

(Ohio residents, the Dayton Metro Library has this.)

((But you have to wait until @Joe Ross returns it.))

Check out:

• Cuyahoga County Public Library (on loan)

• The Ohio Digital Library (on loan)

• Toledo Lucas County Public Library (available)

Thanks, but I don't have borrowing privileges at those libraries, even though my ancestors kicked around Cuyahoga and Summit for a few generations. I found it at one of my locals instead.