"Just Stop" October 20, 2023

[DBMiller]

I didn't need anything other than PLENTY, the title, and the middle down of CAP to get to the meta. When the themers were all eight letters long, it had to be correct.

Watched it when growing up. Could name Dick Van Patten and Willie Aames right away. Came up with Adam Rich and Grant Goodeve after my last post. Could picture the mother (Abby) but blanked on the actress's name. Could picture a few of the daughters as well.

[Inca]

As usual lately, I am late to the party here. I didn't have high hopes for this one, never having had a TV. And if there's one thing I've discovered, if you believe you probably can't solve it, chances are high that you won't because I solve most of these through my subconscious recognizing the metanism, and by believing I can't solve, my subconscious is working against me.

Having said that, now that I've seen the solution, I really like this puzzle. Well done, Matt!

I doubt anyone will actually even see this post but how's this for a rabbit hole: Since collecting the letters PLENTY didn't do it for me, I decided that maybe I needed all the letters of those incomplete word that WERE in the grid, namely: UANGEVICDOWNESLUC. I believe that's an anagram for DOWN CLUES CAN GIVE U and then add on PLENTY and I started re-reading all the down clues carefully (I hate reading clues) and finally just gave up. (I know anagrams are not part of the metanism usually, but I thought maybe Shake It Up has some significance).

[lacangah]

As an aside, there is an actor named Mo Plenty on Yellowstone. I don’t consider that show a classic at present IMO, but that sentiment could change.

[mikeB]

Impressive to me is the way the title, entries, clues and the structure of the grid itself work together to help complete the solve. The nature of the six themed entries gets us to P-L-E-N-T-Y fairly quickly. But then what? I was stuck at that point, trying to do something with other letters in the grid and scanning the Clues for clues. That’s where the puzzle components collaborated to help me out. One leg of the stool was that there aren’t any entries longer than eight letters. I think that is pretty rare – certainly odd enough for me to notice. (It is easy to imagine this was intentional: glancing at the dozen most recent grids, I found exactly zero of them had no entries longer than eight letters. Such a departure from custom is no coincidence, in my opinion.) The second leg of the stool was the 37D Clue and Entry. I was haunted by 37D because of its location in the grid – one of the traditional spots for endogenous nudges. But what was its relevance, if any? Well, after noticing the unusual maximum of eight letters per grid entry, 37D suddenly seemed far more relevant to the solve. They are telling us that there is an intentional limit – a cap – of eight letters per grid entry. That was when I took my umpteenth look at the title – Just Stop, the third leg of the stool. Titles often help to guide the solve, but I had no insight into its implication. I needed to focus on the title and figure out what it was trying to say to me. Was it an aid, or was it only a provider of the “final click” at the end? Noticing the title has eight letters (An accident? I don’t think so . . .) triggered an urge to understand it now, not later. I reminded myself of the relevance of the title being an imperative sentence. That typically helps by telling the solver to DO something – but do what? Thinking about those alternate entries (the show titles with nine letters), the mandate revealed itself: Just Stop at eight letters, because in this meta, eight is enough. So the title, the grid design, and the Clue/Entry conspicuously located at 37D work together to offer a collective nudge to anyone who otherwise might be plenty stuck at the first step, such as I was.

This reminds me that there is much more to constructing a meta than meets the eye. Getting these components to work together to help guide the solve – making it more fun for more people – is a remarkable combination of art and engineering, for which Matt and his colleagues deserve our praise and thanks.

[femullen]

Welp, that susplains why the beach had no bar.

"Plenty," the TV Guide website assured me, was a show back in the 80s. Never heard of "Eight is Enough" either.

Gotta go apologise to Isaac for bolting on Thursday. Hope I left him a decent tip.

[hunkra]

Honestly I sympathize with those who had never heard of this show, I never would have thought to Google "plenty" synonyms along with the number of letters in each shortened title. I thought of Eight is Enough pretty quickly but it took some time to realize how it really fit.

I was amused at the themer choices because, although I don't think I watch a ton of TV and this was kind of an eclectic mix, I knew all of these shows right off, and could have named the premise and at least one of the stars for each one without looking it up. Also true for the answer show.

I guess Eight is Enough didn't stick around in the pop culture consciousness and so maybe wasn't fair game for a meta, but I have to take issue with those crying "Boomer." This is clearly a GenX show, blame the right generation please

You are correct. I am a Gen-Xer and once I was helped with the second part of the mechanism, I got the answer right away. For what it's worth... I remember wishing Dick Van Patten was my Dad. He was so understanding and always said the right things!

[kurtalert]

I'd never heard of this show- before my time, and I've never had the urge to go back and watch "classic" TV shows. Once I found PLENTY, and saw pretty quickly that there really aren't any popular shows that contained the word PLENTY, I went to Googling PLENTY synonyms with "classic tv show." Eight is Enough came up right away, and then I saw that each theme answer had eight letters- that sealed the deal. This was probably a lucky jump for me, but it came quickly- easily on page 1- which is super weird for me, I think I've only been that quick once before.

[HellZiggy]

I'm old enough that I remember watching Eight is Enough when it first aired, but after getting the PLENTY part of the meta I just never managed the leap to figure out the show.

[Susan Goldberg]

I actually thought of Eight is Enough at one point but I didn’t think there was “enough” there. Oh well.

[B Wayne]

I did it!!!! I've tried unsucessfully four times. Last night I was about to workout because I missed the previous two days. But I told my self if I solve the puzzle, which has been on my list for a long time, I will accomplish a unique feat versus working out which I have done thousands of times. Mind over matter! So I started about 5 Pacific time, made dinner, then about 8:50 PDT, ten minutes beore the deadline, entered my first answer. I figured it was a long shot. I had no help.

At midnight I learned my answer was correct. Wow!! I'm a member of the club! So proud not so much that I solved the puzzle, but that I was able to manage my busy (beleive it or not I've been "retired" over two years with a long list of things to do) life to accomplish this!

Does WSJ send notice that your name was not picked for the mug?

Thank you everybody!

[boharr]

Does WSJ send notice that your name was not picked for the mug?

They send you a notice if your named is picked.

[Jace54]

This reminds me that there is much more to constructing a meta than meets the eye. Getting these components to work together to help guide the solve – making it more fun for more people – is a remarkable combination of art and engineering, for which Matt and his colleagues deserve our praise and thanks.

Very nice summary and I had not noticed CAP in the puzzle or that the title was only 8 letters. Definitely agree with your comment about appreciating the meta construction.

It is interesting to consider the population that Matt had to work with in developing this puzzle:

• Start with TV shows with titles that are exactly 9 letters.

• Eliminate the shows that cannot make a plausible grid answer with the last letter removed.

• Find shows where the removed letters will anagram to a word that fits the puzzle theme.

That process must significantly narrow the options, and then the theme entries have to be appropriately ordered in the grid.

[MikeMillerwsj]

The contest answer is EIGHT IS ENOUGH. Each theme answer can add a letter to form a nine-letter TV show: SHAKE IT UP, DARK ANGEL, MIAMI VICE, PARTY DOWN, EMPTY NEST and I LOVE LUCY. Those ninth letters spell PLENTY, suggesting the contest answer, since each theme show has been shortened to eight letters.

Another black-belt construction this week (as noted above: find 6 9-letter TV shows whose last letters spell a keyword and whose remaining 8 letters can fit a funny clue!). We had a big turnout with 1,666 entries, and several wrong guesses with big turnouts, including PLENTY (245), BRADY BUNCH (146), BONANZA (56) and FULL HOUSE (33). Plus 16 solvers saw that there was a 10-episode 2001 British TV series called "IN A LAND OF PLENTY."

Congratulations to this week's winner: Heidi McCarthy of Johnstown, Colo.!

[B Wayne]

Does WSJ send notice that your name was not picked for the mug?

They send you a notice if your named is picked.

Thank you

[psg117]

I’ve been playing along with this lovely group for a few years, and it goes without saying that I haven’t always gotten the meta answer, or even had a guess at all sometimes! But, I’ve always found the mechanisms to be fair and valid. Even those darn tarot cards! Until this week, in which case the only thing I’ve found the solution to be is disappointing.

I also quickly found PLENTY in the truncated grid answers.“Eight is Enough” was the very first thing I thought as the spitballing phase was starting, but I dismissed it as quickly as it appeared because there was no way the lead was that weak. There were too many other shows that were equally plausible, but again, each was an incredibly weak connection.

That's why the eight letters and "Just stop: You don't need the full nine-letter title: Eight is Enough" were needed

With only the PLENTY I figure "eight is enough" only was and 23%er with "Full House" being an 16% and the Three's company an 11% and Brandy Bunch and 8%er. I was dubious of 'Eight is enough" as there were only 6 themers. But once I saw that all themers had 8 letters that was enough to put "eight is enough" to 80%. And then realizing the title "Just stop/Eight/is Plenty" is a solid high eighties low nineties lock.

Thanks to you and others who pointed out the 8-letter thematic answers, I was very much hoping there was more to the solve that I happened to overlook. Despite looking for references to “8” and subsequent ways to validate (or invalidate) EiE I missed that completely. It still feels like a bit of a mail-in, but definitely less junk mail-esq!


**This has been bugging me and I’d like to further retract my above frustrations. Humbly eating some Halloween crow amid what I suppose are Contest Crossword growing pains! My sincerest apologies to Mike and others. Happy Halloween, everyone!

[flyingMoose]

We had a big turnout with 1,666 entries, and several wrong guesses ...

Mike omitted the % that he normally provides. Who (@Bob cruise director?, @Joe Ross?, @Wendy Walker?) does he pay attention to so the % can be added? I know it is not me. :)

[muggleunity]

I submitted "Eight is Enough" just based on the "Plenty" clue. Here I thought I was cruising around with Isaac, and I was actually on shore. Makes me question just how many of those fruity drinks I got served....

[auee89]

Guessed 8 is enough, but didn’t submit as I couldn’t see the lock. On to next week.

[mkmf]

It is true that this required some “classic” knowledge, but that is true of any puzzle.

People do the Music Meta which I can never do because of a general lack of knowledge.

Other constructors have done puzzles with more topical clues like rappers, performance artists, TV shows aimed at a non-boomer crowd, etc. I try them all because that is how one grows their database and gets better. The things I have learned from puzzles has made me a better conversationalist, has helped me understand some other written or broadcast work and has made me entirely annoying to my wife when a question on Jeopardy comes up and I answer it. “How in the world could you know that?” she cries. “Crosswords!”

My point is that we should probably not criticize something outside our comfort zone, but embrace it for what it is, enlightenment.

So well said, Dr. Tom! Thank you.

To the moderators:
Is there a repository for posts like this? It is not at all specific to this puzzle, and it speaks in such a positive way to an issue that occurs over and over.

[Zobo3737]

This is one time, pretty much the only time, when being literal helped. While I was doing the grid, I was irritated that the 8 letter theme answers were truncated, clever or not.