"Hitting the High Notes" January 5, 2024

[HunterX]

Mentioning that Piano is a musical term and that it begins with a P is not, in my opinion, a prompt to look for the letter P. It could be a prompt to look for instruments, for musical terms, or for other grid entries that can be abbreviated by their first letter but to look for Ps seems like one is just throwing words at us.

"'Mr. Left drove his car...' Okay, it has the word 'left' so that means we must do subtraction"

Oh, it was a huge hint for me. The clue was sufficient as "Instrument that's also a musical term for 'soft'." The "...abbreviated by its first letter" was extraneous in a overly obvious manner. There was absolutely no reason to include that additional fact... except to say, "Look for the P's!"

[femullen]

I remember grand-pere coming back from deer hunting one time upset at himself for having had a chance but having blown it. After listening to this self-remonstration for a while, grand-mere said, "Boys, dinner will be ready in ten minutes. We're having shouldahaddam stew."

I circled the letters P and looked up (and down, thinking, you know, an upright piano is kind of a vertical thing) but--dang it!--not right.

Shouldahaddam!

[ship4u]

Cynthia knew straight away that "UP RIGHT" was an important clue. Mr. Shenk likes to use literal clues. So, I started looking in the upward and right direction. Then, I saw ECHO proceeding from square 43 and I was distracted to look for other sounds.

[drbockel2]

I always get them right after I read the answer.

[iggystan]

"Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug..." (Mary Chapin Carpenter)

Let's give credit where credit is due. It's a Dire Straits (Mark Knopfler) tune, from On Every Street, that was covered by Mary. I have and like both versions and both artists.

[Streroto]

So as I mentioned I m a musical chowderhead but my wife took classic piano. She was not much help I should add but when I showed her the solution (as posted previously I was assisted by a massive blow to the head with a blunt object from a kind muggle), she pointed out that the up-right could refer to the black keys on a piano, which are also the "high(er) notes" and up and to the right of the corresponding white key. Also a p looks like a musical note. Sadly, while I went down that rabbit hole very early on, it seems I just did not dig deep enough.

Sigh. Thursday soon come.

[MikeMillerwsj]

The contest answer is HONKY-TONK. As suggested by the clue for PIANO and the answer UPRIGHT, take the letter one box up and right from each P in the grid to spell the contest answer.

This was quite a tricky one! Though the clues were all there in plain view, we had 596 entries, with only a bit more than half correct (53%). Incorrect guesses included OPERA HOUSE (27), LA SCALA (19), CARNEGIE HALL (14), GRAND OLE OPRY (9), and RED ROCKS, among many others.

Congrats to this week's winner: Morgan Chase of Portland, Ore.!

[The XWord Rabbit]

The Xword Rabbit was saddened to see the lackluster response to Mr. Shenk’s “Hitting the High Notes” this week.
Given the low number of submissions and equally low successful answers, your Rabbit’s hopes were dashed, rabbit hole-wise.
Oh, there was the usual grumbling, of course, but nothing note-able (pun intended).

Your Rabbit thought long and hard about something appropriate he could leave you with.
A piano concerto, maybe? Perhaps, but he already used Victor Borge recently, so that’s out.

He did, however, find something that suits his peculiar tastes:
It’s The Flight of the Bumblebee played on the piano … and theremin.
Enjoy! And see you next week!

[ZooAnimalsOnWheels]

I at first considered that high notes referred to high-C, and wanted to fill in C's above the grid to form vertical words (the idea would have been supported by UPRIGHT). When I saw that 1D was OVID which could be turned into COVID, I thought I had something, but CANT and CAPPS (multiple comic strip Andys?) were the only other ones that were tenable.

Although for half a second I wanted 9D to be the end of 'Beggars can't be...' CHOSERS? Whoops.

[Damaged]

I too submitted OPERA HOUSE...
Playing it like a word search, I started by connecting "OPERA" in the lower left corner from "DOPE". Using the same "A" from "NEAR," made another "OPERA". Proceed up three spaces, and that "R" in "LOSER" becomes another "OPERA". Having been convinced it had to be OPERA HOUSE, I looked for a HOUSE. And found it... starting with the "H" in CASH.

Crude, but the progression of highlighted OPERAs up to the HOUSE at the top had me convinced I was hitting the eponymous "High Note."

[Deb F]

Wow! Dire Straits is having a big week here. Adding to Cynthia, Henry, and Iggystan:

DIRE STRAITS--The Bug
… Sometimes you're the windshield
Sometimes you're the bug
Sometimes it all comes together baby
Sometimes you're a fool in love
Sometimes you're the Louisville slugger baby
Sometimes you're the ball
Sometimes it all comes together baby
Sometimes you're going to lose it all

Enjoy your week, Muggles.

[C=64]

Hey, I'm Morgan Chase of Portland Oregon!

[BarbaraK]

Hey, I'm Morgan Chase of Portland Oregon!

Woo hoo! Congratulations!!!

[Merry Potter]

Hey, I'm Morgan Chase of Portland Oregon!

Sounds like a name you can bank on! Congratulations!