"Think Different" August 11, 2023

[Bob cruise director]

One extremely important person left off the list because he is humble is @Joe Ross . Joe provides a HUGE amount of behind the scenes support to keep everything going. Go on to the postings of SSS, MMM and the others and they mention how much their creative efforts depend on Joe to go from concept to a posting that we can all appreciate.

And the first WSJ posting every week by myself or Wendy that has the excel file in it was created by Joe.

As someone who benefits from his work a HUGE THANK YOU JOE

[jenirvin]

Never got a chance to get off the bar stool. I think I'd just have ended up on the floor anyway.

[michaelm]

@Joe Ross, thank you for this wonderful post. I often think about the fact that we Muggles are spoiled by this fantastic forum. We tend to forget about the many people who work tirelessly to make this the phenomenal site that it is. But I also notice that you didn't mention one very important person who absolutely must be recognized for the many hours that he devotes to the XWord Muggles Forum - and that would be YOU! You and everyone you listed are true heroes. Thank you ALL!

In this case, I believe none of us THINK DIFFERENT!
Again, thank you all who contribute to this insanely great forum, listed and unlisted.

[DrTom]

Let me echo what Bob Stevens has said about Joe Ross. I doubt any of us know, or appreciate, the time Joe devotes to this forum. He was an early influencer for me and without his guidance and patience I know I would probably have given up very near my start.

Now onto my particular hell on the WSJCC. I too would have probably fared better if the title were "Opposites Attract" or "Consider the Opposition" because I got stuck in "different" land. Surely one had to take the starred Clue/Answer and manipulate the words to get two words that would spell the answer either with (A) the new letters (B) new words they identified (C) left over letters from a 3 letter word [well it was nice to know I was right about SOMETHING]. Also, in my differential thinking, I felt I had to stay true to the clue. Each clue had two things, and each could have a different answer. My first foray was "Avoid the spotlight" DUCKDOWN...what to do, what to do, well there are duck and chickens and down and out, AHA CHICKENOUT, avoids the spotlight. No three letter word, no alternate meanings in the grid, must be CO...OK, I can see that two letters to come next could be MA, MONDAY COMA - that is a possibility. "Time tested method" = RIGHTWAY, well ACCEPTED PATH - Oh YEAH baby, AP, if the FARMTOOL works out to be CR I know it will be CRAPPY COMA. Hmm, FARMTOOL...well as a kid I worked on a farm and I knew quite a few tools, but that can't be what Matt meant, so what about FIELD IMPLIMENT, OK FI. so maybe it is ACCEPTED ROUTE and now I have FAIR...

This went on for some time and through many iterations and finally I gave it up because it just could not be that "open", Finally @HeadinHome dragged me out of the deep hole and said Look at RIGHTWAY, and referenced OPPOSITE as distinct from DIFFERENT and that was enough.

Well OK, then - Think Night and Day

[zach]

Chiming in on the title: The title actually helped me solve this one. I thought it was odd that it was titled “Think Different” instead of the grammatically appropriate “Think Differently.” This led me to believe that the word “different” related not to how I was supposed to think, but to the word play itself. Because of this, I begin playing around with the two words in each starred answer to make “different” words, leading me to the meta.

Edit to add: I’m just now poring through the comments, and I see that @mikeB did indeed already mention this. We think alike, Mike!

[Al Laubenstein]

I thought that "Different" was pointing us to the adverbs, and in the second line, there were two "L_Y" words. Thought we were off to the races. Not so much.

[HeadinHome]

Chiming in on the title: The title actually helped me solve this one. I thought it was odd that it was titled “Think Different” instead of the grammatically appropriate “Think Differently.” This led me to believe that the word “different” related not to how I was supposed to think, but to the word play itself. Because of this, I begin playing around with the two words in each starred answer to make “different” words, leading me to the meta.

Same. I read that as "Think along the lines of "different," since I know very well that our constructors and editors know that you'd have to add -ly to make "different" an adverb (as @mikeB also pointed out). So not "think differently" but think about words pairs that are different (from each other?).

Anyhoo, with that in mind, it was simply the sound of the pairs said aloud repetitively that led me to try opposites. Particularly, RIGHTWAY and BALLSPORT suggested pairs of antonyms that rhymed with them (NIGHTDAY, TALLSHORT). Others of course didn't follow quite the same pattern (they didn't end up rhyming), but I saw their similar solutions without too much trouble. I dunno -- just didn't find this one as hard as many. Probably because sound is big, in my thought process (I can pretty easily memorize a LOT of long readings/passages).

I ECHO THE THANKS TO ALL YOU HARD-WORKING MUGGLES who contribute time, talent, and even money to keep us all in the crazy game. Appreciate you!

[DBMiller]

I fell into the "theme answers are clues" category.

FARMTOOL -> ADZ?
RIGHTWAY -> ALIGNER?
LASTROUND -> BEER / PAR (Round of golf)
WELLBUT -> THO
BALLSPORT -> PAR (Golf) / BEER (pong)
DUCKDOWN -> ITCHY?
SAILPAST -> ?????

Also spent a bit looking for anything related to EIDER.

But the key for me was all the odd 3-letter fill. NDA, WCS, DIL, FSD, ADZ, OFD, and such. Looking at NDA and trying to "Think Different" about the starred clues, I made the NIGHT/DAY connection. Most of the others fell into place. DUCKDOWN was the toughie, and I had to re-visit the 3-letters answers to find SAO and make DUSK/DAWN.

[Marika55]

Holy guacamole I won the mug!
A huge thank you to all the muggles. I was at Friday's zoom and left quickly after getting a nudge. I'm new at this meta stuff and trying to learn. (My abject apologies for leaving w/o saying thank you to everyone who is so helpful - and brilliant). You all are indeed an awesome group. Thank you again and again. Your generosity with your time and talent is inspiring.

For those interested in this kind of thing: I emailed my solution around 9pm Sunday. 450 folks submitted the correct solution. I got THE e-mail just before noon today.
Marita - aka Marika

[KayW]

Let me second (or third or eleventy-seventh) adding @Joe Ross to that list. Not only does Joe create and upload spreadsheets for many of the meta puzzles on this forum, he was instrumental in uploading and publishing the huge archive of past WSJCC puzzles and solutions, and he continues to keep that archive up to date each week. When the incredible @BrianMac finally asked for some help running the site, Joe was the first person he turned to. And for a long time it was just the two of them keeping all these balls in the air.

To Joe, Brian and all the other hard-working and wonderful muggles here:

[BarbaraK]

Holy guacamole I won the mug!
A huge thank you to all the muggles. I was at Friday's zoom and left quickly after getting a nudge. I'm new at this meta stuff and trying to learn. (My abject apologies for leaving w/o saying thank you to everyone who is so helpful - and brilliant). You all are indeed an awesome group. Thank you again and again. Your generosity with your time and talent is inspiring.

For those interested in this kind of thing: I emailed my solution around 9pm Sunday. 450 folks submitted the correct solution. I got THE e-mail just before noon today.
Marita - aka Marika

Woo hoo!! Congratulations!!!

And it’s perfectly acceptable to leave the zoom solve when you’ve heard as much as you want, before you hear more than you want.

[The XWord Rabbit]

First of all, please forgive your Rabbit for not beginning his review with a walkthrough of the solution to Mr. Gaffney’s “Think Different” puzzle. Clearly, it was a multi-step affair that is fully explained in hcbirker’s Post #249.

The XWord Rabbit has gone on record, saying that the difficulty of a puzzle doesn’t necessarily translate to the number of notably sad stories of Muggles lost at sea. This was just such a week.

Much flailing around, as is generally the case. Crowded Zoom calls and numerous comments of frustrations and resignations. In spite of it all, many of you gave credit to the master, Mr. Gaffney, for creating a brilliant, satisfying and fair puzzle – and that’s what it’s all about.

With your Rabbit at loose ends it’s time to go into his library of music and humor and find something appropriate for Muggles. This week’s puzzle didn’t have anything to do with palindromes, but it’s only a matter of time before one does – and then you can fondly remember this gem from Weird Al –

[Fogway]

Amusing video. Still, I would have preferred Sam Cooke's vocals on Sad Mood.

[Aragorn]

Not sour grapes, but I wasn't a big fan of this one. I think discovering the meta should be an "aha" moment where the theme makes sense and everything falls into place, but I'm not really seeing "Think Different" in the solution in any unique way. Yes, the solution requires discovering that the theme clues can be turned into opposites, but "different" and "opposite" are not the same thing.

[Joe Ross]

Left out of the original post, but added and copied here, by way of apology:

• Emma @damefox and Will @AnswerPfinder, along with a great group of creators, created the fantastic Contest Crosswords Combating Cancer.

[damefox]

Left out of the original post, but added and copied here, by way of apology:

• Emma @damefox and Will @AnswerPfinder, along with a great group of creators, created the fantastic Contest Crosswords Combating Cancer.

To be clear, this was all Will. But many Muggles contributed in the form of constructing puzzles and test solving, and @BrennerTJ designed the great solution graphics.

[MikeMillerwsj]

The contest answer is SAD MOOD. Change a letter in each word of the starred answers to form a pair of antonyms: WARM/COOL, NIGHT/DAY, LOST/FOUND, SELL/BUY, TALL/ SHORT, DUSK/DAWN, FAIL/PASS. Use these changed letters plus another letter to form three-letter grid answers: WCS, NDA, OFD, SYM, THO, SAO, and FSD. Those added third letters spell the contest answer, itself an example of the theme (BAD/GOOD).

An unusually tricky one this week! We had just 458 entries, about 73% correct (in line with our typical percentage). Another 14 were close with BAD MOOD, plus PICKLE (15), QUANDARY (7), RABBIT HOLE (6), FIX (2) and various others.

Congrats to this week's winner: Marita L. McMahon of White Plains, NY!

[Cruciverbalisticexpi]

Dang it! Thought I'd finally get a shot at the mug this week since I knew the success rate would be low. That's probably at least 100 to 150 correct submissions with no luck on the mug. Anyone have a longer streak going? Let's commiserate, lol.

[Joepickett]

I'm at 140 right now.

[MMe]

Holy guacamole I won the mug!

I was at Friday's zoom and left quickly after getting a nudge.

Understanding that this is controversial, I think ideally the mugs should go to people who have solved the puzzles