"Then and Now" - December 6, 2019
- oldjudge
- Posts: 1637
- Joined: Fri Apr 19, 2019 4:16 am
- Location: Pasadena, CA
Late inspiration. I’m on a shore. Hopefully, not the Jersey Shore, although I do see someone who looks a like like Snooki. Great weekend otherwise with my Badgers finding out that they are playing on New Year’s Day in the Rose Bowl, which is literally down the hill from my house.
- BethA
- Posts: 633
- Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 6:44 pm
- Location: Beaver, PA
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- Posts: 85
- Joined: Thu Apr 25, 2019 11:18 pm
I'm still stuck on the ship, with no obvious way off. Oh, well.
EDIT: I just saw the solution on Crossword Fiend, and I can safely say that I have never heard of this particular duo and could never have solved the meta no matter how much time I spent on it.
EDIT: I just saw the solution on Crossword Fiend, and I can safely say that I have never heard of this particular duo and could never have solved the meta no matter how much time I spent on it.
Last edited by Jeff S on Mon Dec 09, 2019 12:06 am, edited 1 time in total.
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- Posts: 324
- Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 9:09 pm
It really amazes me that some have solved it in 25, 26, 32 minutes. So quick, it can't that complex. Or is it that I've seen the answer and just don't recognize it as the answer its so obscure? Looks like I stepped in the Scooby Doo this time.
- MajordomoTom
- Posts: 1410
- Joined: Sat Nov 02, 2019 12:09 am
- Location: St. Louis, MO
I think you either got this one or struggled. Or both.
"Lots of planets have a North", the Ninth Doctor.
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- Posts: 385
- Joined: Sun Nov 17, 2019 11:42 pm
After reading everyone's posts, I am so glad I spent most of my weekend enjoying a visit from our daughter, son-in-law and sweet little granddaughter! For once, I am content to be lost at sea!
Sara
- MajordomoTom
- Posts: 1410
- Joined: Sat Nov 02, 2019 12:09 am
- Location: St. Louis, MO
The "obvious" part:
The four "themed" answers are:
BatedBreath
WashDishes
FrankBruni
PlaysGoalie
embedded in those are two words, one the past/then tense of the verb, the other a present tense/now of the verb.
ATE/ EAT
WAS/ IS
RAN/ RUN
LAY/ LIE (I would argue that this one isn't really past tense, but let's move on)
There are five "(d)" clues in the puzzle. Four of them "correspond" to these. I.e., move(d) quickly would be RAN/RUN. Live(d) would be WAS/IS.
The fifth (d) clue - Emerge(d) victorious ... doesn't have one of those word pairs in the puzzle. If it did, that would be WON/WIN.
Now is the leap of faith - that this word pair - WON/WIN is the past tense/present tense of a fifth clue ... that's not in the puzzle ... that would be the cartoon duo required.
The only one I've found that matches this would be WONDER TWINS. Which is what I have submitted. And, prior to today, had never heard of.
We'll see if that's the answer.
The four "themed" answers are:
BatedBreath
WashDishes
FrankBruni
PlaysGoalie
embedded in those are two words, one the past/then tense of the verb, the other a present tense/now of the verb.
ATE/ EAT
WAS/ IS
RAN/ RUN
LAY/ LIE (I would argue that this one isn't really past tense, but let's move on)
There are five "(d)" clues in the puzzle. Four of them "correspond" to these. I.e., move(d) quickly would be RAN/RUN. Live(d) would be WAS/IS.
The fifth (d) clue - Emerge(d) victorious ... doesn't have one of those word pairs in the puzzle. If it did, that would be WON/WIN.
Now is the leap of faith - that this word pair - WON/WIN is the past tense/present tense of a fifth clue ... that's not in the puzzle ... that would be the cartoon duo required.
The only one I've found that matches this would be WONDER TWINS. Which is what I have submitted. And, prior to today, had never heard of.
We'll see if that's the answer.
"Lots of planets have a North", the Ninth Doctor.
- BethA
- Posts: 633
- Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 6:44 pm
- Location: Beaver, PA
Double dang! I was googling for the right thing, but could never find it!
- MajordomoTom
- Posts: 1410
- Joined: Sat Nov 02, 2019 12:09 am
- Location: St. Louis, MO
From the WON/WIN and the duo, I guessed the TWINS part and that helped my G search.
"Lots of planets have a North", the Ninth Doctor.
- tim1217
- Posts: 299
- Joined: Wed Apr 10, 2019 12:58 pm
- Location: Small Town America
- FrankH
- Posts: 242
- Joined: Sat Apr 13, 2019 4:15 am
I am surmising that the 80% crew are relative newcomers. If you are looking for the fifth answer in the grid, then you won't find it as it is not there, because it is the meta answer that you are supposed to provide. There have been a few metas in the past (but not recently) where the instruction to find the answer would include wording like: something to complete the theme of the puzzle. This one is in the same vein.
- MajordomoTom
- Posts: 1410
- Joined: Sat Nov 02, 2019 12:09 am
- Location: St. Louis, MO
per the WSJ website, that's the answer. "which leads to WONDER TWINS".
"Lots of planets have a North", the Ninth Doctor.
- Al Sisti
- Posts: 2068
- Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 1:28 pm
- Location: Whitesboro NY
The more I thought about my answer all weekend, the more confident I was that mine was correct, even though I don't think I knew them. But I'll take it.
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- Posts: 188
- Joined: Thu Apr 25, 2019 9:14 pm
This has to be the worst meta ever. I got to WON/WIN and that's as far as I could go. I'm supposed to infer Wonder Twins, an obscure cartoon if there ever was one, from that? Margaret Cho and Marie Kondo move over --- you have been evicted!
- Jeremy Smith
- Posts: 993
- Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 5:45 pm
- Location: Tampa Bay area
At least the answer was not described as a “famous” cartoon duo.
- hcbirker
- Posts: 2022
- Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 7:24 pm
- Location: Studio City, CA
I was lucky enough to google the answer correctly (Wonder Twins). I was slowed by the answer to 39 across as to look at "emerge" or "emerge victorious" as the clue to the meta. Is it emerge or victorious? Once I googled "cartoon with wonder" in the title I got it.
Heidi
- Eric Porter
- Posts: 480
- Joined: Sun May 05, 2019 2:19 am
- Location: Nashville, TN
Wonder Twins was the only possibility I could find. Fortunately they were on Wikipedia.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Animated_duos
If I were devious, I would would have edited them out of the article. (I'm not.)
I kept looking for win/won in the grid, before realizing I wasn't going to find those words in the grid.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Animated_duos
If I were devious, I would would have edited them out of the article. (I'm not.)
I kept looking for win/won in the grid, before realizing I wasn't going to find those words in the grid.
- BrianMac
- Site Admin
- Posts: 787
- Joined: Mon Apr 08, 2019 11:45 pm
- Location: Connecticut
This was like an early Christmas present from Matt Gaffney to us Gen Xers. If you were born before or after that, you were probably scratching your head. But if you grew up watching Saturday morning cartoons in the late 70's and early 80's, you are very familiar with the Wonder Twins. You may not remember their names were Zan and Jayna, but you probably remember their pet monkey, Gleek!
I got a big kick out of this one. Thanks for the nostalgia, Matt!
I got a big kick out of this one. Thanks for the nostalgia, Matt!
- Tom Shea
- Posts: 603
- Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 6:37 am
- Location: Freedonia, NH/VT/HI/Earth
You forgot Yma Sumac.
Rufus T. Firefly
- FrankH
- Posts: 242
- Joined: Sat Apr 13, 2019 4:15 am
Using Google or other search engine is fair game for Matt Gaffney. So be prepared to use it for his metas.