"Sound Logic" November 17, 2023

[Aragorn]

Before even finishing the grid I was reminded of the 7-"XI"s puzzle of a few months back.

One bit of trivia I find amusing about this reference is that Marshall amps at the time really did go to 11 (that wasn't a movie prop). Now they go to 20, so clearly much louder than the old ones.

[HunterX]

I don't think I'm going to win the mug because right before I hit send, I spontaneously combusted.

Well, it's better than dying in a bizarre gardening accident, or choking on... well, let's just leave it at "choking."

(Sorry to those who haven't seen the movie. If you're curious, google "spinal tap how drummers died.")

[Tom Mueller]

Aargh! My initial thought was “This is Spinal Tap” after seeing the 11 amps in the grid and the 1D answer “music.” Unfortunately, I decided to overthink it and look for more of a mechanism beyond the implied. I noticed “and” was in the absolute center of the grid and thought “amp” might have been short for ampersand. Anyway, I searched everywhere for 80s movie titles with an & symbol but got nowhere. Congratulations to all the solvers who got it with confidence.

[hoover]

If you have no idea what "amp goes to 11" means you are into the world of google and that is if you know to even look.

Even if you do know "amp goes to 11," you might still not get it if you don't jump from "11 AMPs" to "AMPs go to 11." I have seen the movie at least twice and would immediately have associated "amp goes to 11" with TIST, but for this meta I was one of the AMPERSAND people. Oddly, I did solve the 7-11 puzzle earlier this year.

Oh well, this week is another puzzle.

[OliviaL]

I was lucky to stumble upon the Wikipedia article for “up to eleven” on my first Google search. The very first sentence:

"Up to eleven", also phrased as "these go to eleven", is an idiom from popular culture, coined in the 1984 film This Is Spinal Tap, where guitarist Nigel Tufnel demonstrates an amplifier whose volume knobs are marked from zero to eleven, instead of the usual zero to ten.

I can’t seem to find the movie on any streaming services that I have though bummer!

[DBMiller]

I was lucky to stumble upon the Wikipedia article for “up to eleven” on my first Google search. The very first sentence:

"Up to eleven", also phrased as "these go to eleven", is an idiom from popular culture, coined in the 1984 film This Is Spinal Tap, where guitarist Nigel Tufnel demonstrates an amplifier whose volume knobs are marked from zero to eleven, instead of the usual zero to ten.

I can’t seem to find the movie on any streaming services that I have though bummer!

Was free for me on Pluto TV. See if you can get that

[Yoda66]

I don't think I'm going to win the mug because right before I hit send, I spontaneously combusted.

Well, it's better than dying in a bizarre gardening accident, or choking on... well, let's just leave it at "choking."

(Sorry to those who haven't seen the movie. If you're curious, google "spinal tap how drummers died.")

"You can't really dust for vomit" (Nigel)

[woozy]

I don't think I'm going to win the mug because right before I hit send, I spontaneously combusted.

Well, it's better than dying in a bizarre gardening accident, or choking on... well, let's just leave it at "choking."

(Sorry to those who haven't seen the movie. If you're curious, google "spinal tap how drummers died.")

"You can't really dust for vomit" (Nigel)

There is a novel "Everyone Smokes In Hell" by John Ridley in which a rock star does actually die in a bizarre gardening accident. I've always wondered if that was an intentional reference to Spinal Tap.

[Joe Ross]

So CrossHare suggests A.C. Ross, and I wonder, "gee, is A.C. Ross some-one I actually know and do I think my audience will know or appreciate it". And so I google A.C. Ross and ....

One of the herd of my sisters is an A. C. Ross.

[woozy]

So CrossHare suggests A.C. Ross, and I wonder, "gee, is A.C. Ross some-one I actually know and do I think my audience will know or appreciate it". And so I google A.C. Ross and ....

One of the herd of my sisters is an A. C. Ross.

I will use that as a clue than.

[ZooAnimalsOnWheels]

In fact, in 2000 The American Film Institute ranked it as #29 on their list of 100 funniest movies – sandwiched between “Ghostbusters” and “Arsenic and Old Lace”. Pretty decent company, wouldn’t you say?

This is Spinal Tap is also at #401 on the meta-list of The 1000 Greatest Films, just below Jean Cocteau's Orpheus (1959) and Bernardo Bertolucci's 1900 (1976), and just ahead of George Romero's Dawn of the Dead (1978) and Jonathan Demme's Silence of the Lambs (1991).

This is a list put together by the website They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? https://www.theyshootpictures.com/gf1000.htm A meta-ranking because it weights 15,294 unique lists of best or favorite movies to come up with its list of 1000 Greatest films. And talk about a rabbit hole! It's so easy to dive down into this list and get both excited ("Hey, Clueless is at #873! Robocop is at #712!), and overwhelmed ("haven't seen it, haven't seen it, haven't seen it, haven't even heard of it! haven't seen it...)

[hunkra]

There was no way I was going to get this one wrong (quite unusual for me) as it came out when I was in college and was (I believe) an instant cult hit and then I went on to work in the music biz as an A&R rep. For anyone who is very familiar with the movie, we used to always call record label promo guys "Artie Fufkin" because they were always willing to offer up their derrieres for kicking... Google that clip!

[mheberlingx100]

There must be so many correct submissions this week that it’s taking a long time to count them all.

Note to WSJ: if you’re running out of time on Thanksgiving Eve, just send me the mug and fake the numbers. No one will ever know. It’ll just be between you and me.

[woozy]

There must be so many correct submissions this week that it’s taking a long time to count them all.

Note to WSJ: if you’re running out of time on Thanksgiving Eve, just send me the mug and fake the numbers. No one will ever know. It’ll just be between you and me.

Ditto!

Why don't we just claim we all won the mug? No-one need ever know. I tell you, I was absolutely thrilled to see in hand delivered to my porch this morning! It was such an unexpected surprise... especially as I had forgotten to submit my answer.

[MikeMillerwsj]

Sorry for the delay this week! The contest answer is THIS IS SPIN̈AL TAP. The theme answers contain a total of 11 instances of the letters AMP, echoing the film’s famous line “These go to 11,” referring to one of the band’s amps.

We chuckled out loud when we got this solution, and then wondered how many solvers would get this movie joke. Answer: a lot! We had 1,744 entries, with a way-above-average 93% correct. Nigel Tufnel would be proud.

Incorrect answers included SHAMPOO (6), BACK TO THE FUTURE (5), AMADEUS (5), LET THERE BE ROCK (4), and a few others.

Congrats to this week's winner, Jan Garmany! And happy Thanksgiving to all!

[The XWord Rabbit]

From ZooAnimalsonWheels:

This is a list put together by the website They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? https://www.theyshootpictures.com/gf1000.htm A meta-ranking because it weights 15,294 unique lists of best or favorite movies to come up with its list of 1000 Greatest films. And talk about a rabbit hole! It's so easy to dive down into this list and get both excited ("Hey, Clueless is at #873! Robocop is at #712!), and overwhelmed ("haven't seen it, haven't seen it, haven't seen it, haven't even heard of it! haven't seen it...)

The Rabbit was unfamiliar with this website, but it is fascinating. He is a bit clueless when it comes to the large number of foreign films and while he is an enormous admirer of Hitchcock he feels the list tilts too much in his favor, pushing down some of his favorites. Still, should we have another meta with movie references, he will keep it among his research material. Thanks!

[BethA]

Decided to go ahead and post this, much after the fact. These were my initial thoughts on solving the meta, and I don’t recall seeing it mentioned earlier —

————
I don’t understand all the instances of AM words in the clues and grid — LAMB OR SPAM, HAM, BAM, SAM, RAMA, in addition to AM being a subset if the 11 instances of AMP. Deliberately causing confusion for us?

After seeing all of those I was trying to see if the Spam Song was somehow part of The Meaning of Life, the only 1980s Monty Python movie.

Also initially considered National Lampoon’s Vacation, because of the AMP.

Oh well, I got there eventually…
————

Happy Thanksgiving to all!!!

[femullen]

I don’t understand all the instances of AM words in the clues and grid — LAMB OR SPAM, HAM, BAM, SAM, RAMA, in addition to AM being a subset if the 11 instances of AMP. Deliberately causing confusion for us?
...

Could @BethA be a second person in the world who'd never seen this film?

In the early part of the 80s I was at sea so didn't see many movies. In the latter part of the 80's I did what most sailors do when they come ashore, and I was kept out of theatres by the resulting children.

[Bob cruise director]

I don’t understand all the instances of AM words in the clues and grid — LAMB OR SPAM, HAM, BAM, SAM, RAMA, in addition to AM being a subset if the 11 instances of AMP. Deliberately causing confusion for us?
...

Could @BethA be a second person in the world who'd never seen this film?

In the early part of the 80s I was at sea so didn't see many movies. In the latter part of the 80's I did what most sailors do when they come ashore, and I was kept out of theatres by the resulting children.

@BethA is not alone. I have never seen the movie and before this meta, I had never heard of it. The only thing I knew for sure was that there were 11 instances of the word AMP so I googled that and the movie showed up. Was I positive that it was the answer - not even close.

[Bonnibel]

I don't think I'm going to win the mug because right before I hit send, I spontaneously combusted.

Well, it's better than dying in a bizarre gardening accident, or choking on... well, let's just leave it at "choking."

(Sorry to those who haven't seen the movie. If you're curious, google "spinal tap how drummers died.")

This is best comment. Ever.