"Unfinished Business" September 29, 2023

[Bob cruise director]

Good evening Muggles
Our final count for this week is 12 on the ship and 129 on the shore.

Good luck winning the mug and stay safe

[KayW]

I had a chance to explore a new local nature area today. And best of all I got to meet with local birding expert @ladybird

[cheryl w]

One last look and...there it is! On shore.

[Bonnibel]

I m lost.

We have had a weekend away (sorely needed) but now I can't seem to unscrew my brain in the right direction.

Grid done, seeing nothing that produces results.

Sigh.

I'll have a chardonnay.

[LadyBird]

On shore thanks to a nudge, so no mug submission for me. A new trick to add to my growing list of solving hints. Congrats to those who figured it out on your own and good luck winning that mug!

[Libbypibby]

Oh well. Not ashore

[escapeartist]

Oh well. Not ashore

Count me too.

This meta seemed to be well clued but I didn't see nuthin'!

[Adajeo]

Don't close the Tiki Bar just yet - I've made it ashore. Bottle of Dom Perignon for that grueling performance.

[hcbirker]

[otlaolap]

I asserted without proof that I was ashore or in posession of the mother of all rabbits. Here's my story. While filling in the grid, it seemed to me that there were a lot of Fs. They sprang up everywhere. Nonetheless, when the grid was complete, I did the standard thing of looking at the long two-word answers, but nothing was obvious quickly, and the Fs were nagging just like the Zs were nagging last week.

So I scruitinized the Fs, beginning with their neighbors, and immediately read out DISCONTINUED. The probability that this was random was so minuscule as to be nonexistent. It was possible that it was a red herring, and the mother of all rabbits, but the puzzle authors say, and this group believes, that red herrings are not deliberately introduced into the puzzles because (1) it is not necessary since (2) we all make our own red herring out of thin air (this from the meet-Gaffney-and-Shenk session a year or two ago). Consequently I believed that this had to be the answer and submitted it.

Still, I had no proof (up to the publishing of the answer tonight) for this answer because I was not observant enough to see anything in the puzzle to confirm it. Un"f"inished business? Weak. In"f"? Week. I failed finding features forming foundations for finality. What did all of you see? What was the click?

In passing, it is a shame that this puzzle followed so closely the A-to-Z puzzle last week. The mechanisms are very similar: a specific
letter bombardment and neighborliness. Without last week's puzzle fresh in my mind this week's puzzle would have been very difficult indeed.

[I prepared this post before the midnight result was posted, and now I see the first click, above. Very nice.]

[hcbirker]

[Berto]

Left of F. I just didn’t think to read it that way.
Really should have printed out the grid, may have noticed how many F’s there were!

[benchen71]

I don't know what's going on at WSJ (maybe something to do with the Murdoch "succession" process?) but the crossword editor there has got Mike Shenk's genius puzzle all wrong!

For a start, Mike has given us two centrally-located hints. 25D is obvious since it repeats the two words from the puzzle title. But 37A is also a hint because of a similarity in the wording: they both refer to the solver as "one": LEFT OFF = "Stopped while one's business was unfinished" and BEST FIT = "Optimal choice for one's purposes". These two hints, therefore, together give us the instructions for the solve:

1. Take the LEFT word OFF the themers (the 5 long, symmetric, answers).
2. Select an optimal word that BEST FITs with the remaining part of the themers.

Then, as per usual, this leads to another grid entry, the first letters of which spell the answer:

Note the genius elements in this construction:

1. 37A is both a meta hint and a themer!
2. FESTS helps confirm the solving method since, as a quick check of onelook confirms, FESTSCHRIFT is essentially the only way to continue that themer! Then, of course, as anyone knows who's read one of those things, the jump to NAPA is as natural as can be.
3. The other confirming entry is FIT. Just looking at the grid, you simply cannot not see FIT BIT ERA! The rest is, as we try not to say here on this forum, easy from there on.
4. Finally, the answer SPENT is brilliant. It relates to business and being so tired you have to leave off with your business unfinished. That was a great aha moment, let me tell you!

So don't let the WSJ crossword editor fool you with his (admittedly simpler) explanation. Mike Shenk deserves all credit for putting together this masterful meta! (And I deserve another nomination by the XWord Rabbit! )

[escapeartist]

wow - did not see that in any of the possible ways this could go!

[lacangah]

My interpretation of 'Left off' was to take the left-most letter off. I started with 'RURAL AREA' -> 'URAL REA,' which is a local call away from 'ARAL SEA.'

Never got past that - I was 'lost in the sands around the Aral Sea' for the rest of the weekend - lol.

Congratulations to everyone who solved it - have a great week

[hoover]

Nope.

[Cindy N]

LEFT OFF

LEFT OF F

The instructions are clearly there, no guessing needed. Take the letter that is LEFT OF F

[Sleepy]

LEFT OFF

LEFT OF F

The instructions are clearly there, no guessing needed. Take the letter that is LEFT OF F

Clearly! Lol

[Cindy N]

I snatched up this brass goose as soon as I saw him. Eric had long ago similarly snatched up our version of the Xword Rabbit. Both well loved garden critters here in the North Country.

I saw your goose and it immediately made me think of the crane my Mom had in front of her house.

[ZooAnimalsOnWheels]

LEFT: 1)What remains after subtraction
2)To the left-hand side
3) Westward on a map or grid
OFF: 1) Displaced
2) Discontinued
3) Incorrect

There were so many ways to interpret "Left Off", with it as a grid entry rather than a title, I had no hope.