"Just Stop" October 20, 2023

[Joe Ross]

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.

Mike lists almost 500 incorrect submissions. It's fair to assume another 30+ had been submitted making a 1/3 of the submissions incorrect, or there about. That's a higher than normal failure rate.

[Joe Ross]

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.

Quote the post, then cut & paste it to Hints for Solving Meta Contests, or wherever you prefer. I agree Tom gives great perspective, as usual.

[Janet]

This "classic" show was not one I ever saw. I had to do searches to find it. I guess that's what keeps these metas interesting (also frustrating).

I remember one where the "famous comedian" was Margaret Cho. I knew who she was, but apparently she wasn't that famous, according to the muggles.

[Abide]

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

Dang, I was rooting for @B Wayne

[hcbirker]

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.!

Dang, got the first name right!

[mkmf]

RE: DrTom's post #278

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.

Quote the post, then cut & paste it to Hints for Solving Meta Contests, or wherever you prefer. I agree Tom gives great perspective, as usual.

Thanks Joe. I pasted Dr. Tom's post there.

[Bob cruise director]

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.!

@MikeMillerwsj What was the percentag e correct?

[benchen71]

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."

Woo hoo! I was mentioned in a MikeMillerwsj post! I'm one of the BONANZA crowd!!!

I knew it wasn't the right answer but I considered it a "protest" vote on behalf of all of the international meta solvers who often struggle without the requisite US-centric knowledge.

There's a MOAT puzzle coming up in November that might give my US solvers a taste of how that feels...

[The XWord Rabbit]

This week’s “Just Stop” puzzle from Mr. Gaffney caused a lot of discussion, mostly about
the “classic” TV show at the end.

First, the methodology: Each 8-letter answer was one letter too short for the entry. Those six unused letters spelled PLENTY, directing some (but certainly not all) to the meta: EIGHT IS ENOUGH.

Apparently that answer wasn’t “classic” enough for some of you Muggles and that caused a bit of a ruckus. With early television being one of your Rabbit’s favorite areas of expertise let’s get right to it…

We have Mirage, worthy of an honorable mention for trying to shoehorn Joe E. Ross into the clue for 54D (Post #290). Joe E. Ross is the guy pictured with Fred Gwynne, dressed as policemen. They were the stars of “Car 54 Where Are You?”. This is a show from the early 1960’s that would also likely cause trouble for a lot of you Muggles, if worked into a puzzle. But your Rabbit digresses.

Joe E. Ross is not to be confused with Joe Ross, also pictured here. Some would say Joe Ross Is a policeman of sorts on this website.
Sorry, but your Rabbit digresses once again...

We do have a nominee this week and that would be Inca(Post #303) who tried anagramming all of the remaining letters in the six incomplete words, creating “DOWN CLUES CAN GIVE U …” and added “PLENTY”. That makes sense in an odd, I’m-so-desperate-I’ve-resorted-to-anagramming kind of way. Anyway, bravo, Inca.

This week The XWord Rabbit hopes to educate you poor souls who are too young or distracted to know what “Eight is Enough” was all about. It was actually a show that was briefly among the most watched TV series in the late 1970’s. Courtesy of Data Broz and You Tube it’s time to take scary ride in a time machine. (Some advice -- turn the sound off -- it's very obnoxious). Until next week, then.

[Mister Squawk]

<snark>
After much fruitless searching, I concluded the answer was "Happy Days", because this one jumped the shark.
</snark>
But truthfully, a subtle one that escaped my leaden, plodding, attempts.

[JoDave]

The theme clue for the letter E could have been “CNN debate program about an angry pine tree” = CROSSFIR. There is a connection to the puzzle answer with one of the original hosts.

[muggleunity]

After immediately coming up with "eight is enough" as an obvious step from Plenty, but I expected it would be more complicated and obvious than that.
Since Plenty led to "8 is enough," I felt like the ultimate answer had to have something to do with clue 8. I spent an unacceptable amount of time trying to figure out how to get clue 8 with "just stop" to come to a classic show. Ultimately, I couldn't figure anything out, so I just submitted "Eight is Enough" as a desperation shot.

[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.!

PS, forgot to mention the % correct: 63 this week, a bit below average!

[SamKat9]

My initial google searches with "PLENTY" didn't give me much that I thought was convincing. Then I noticed the truncated theme entries all had 8 letters, so I thought, "What if the title has 9 letters?" I actually searched "classic TV show 9 letters" and "Eight is Enough" was tucked away in one of search results even though it didn't match my search criteria. I hadn't heard of the show before, so it was sheer luck that I came across the title this way.

[moron]

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.!

I didn't submit anything this week, but I also discovered "In a Land of Plenty" LOL. I'm glad others wandered upon it too in their search.

[B Wayne]

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

Dang, I was rooting for @B Wayne

Thank you!

[Jayboy1]

Ashore!