"Never Forget" March 22, 2024

[Bob cruise director]

Good evening muggles

Our final count is 16 on the ship and 162 on the shore.

Good luck winning the mug

[ELSavage]

I'm hanging around for a while if anyone wants a last-minute nudge...

[Scott M]

Late to report I'm still w/ Isaac. Too much hoops and a visit from my son kept me from spending more fruitless time looking for patterns and themes.

[hcbirker]

[Scott M]

Not in a million years...

[Tom Shea]

This is one of those where I blame bad penmanship (about a third of my misses seem to be caused by that). Plus it would have taken me all weekend looking at it (and I didn't).

But, wow, great construction.

[JerryF]

Wow! I don't even know what a mnemonic is. And then there's the "alphabetically symmetrical" part. Kudos to those who got it.

[MajordomoTom]

my best examples of mnemonics is this - to remember the keys for the lines on a piece of music, from the bottom:

For the notes on the lines: Every Good Boy Does Fine
For the notes in the spaces: FACE

[Relic]

Wow! I don't even know what a mnemonic is. And then there's the "alphabetically symmetrical" part. Cudos to those who got it.

So, a mnemonic is a memory device so you never forget something you learned. I've had two practical experiences using mnemonics:

1. When taking my brokerage licensing exams way back when (Series 7 and Series 8), we were taught specific mnemonics to remember the information.

2. When meeting people I employ word associations to remember the person's first name.

With these experiences when I realized MN was missing from the pattern I knew the answer.

And FWIW, I went down several fruitless rabbit holes before landing on the right rabbit Saturday afternoon. KAS 5 maybe?

[woozy]

I learned two new mnemonics this weekend while researching a meta in retaliation for this one. My two old favorites are "Even red nuns drink beer from odd green cants" (to go along with "red, right returning") and "Timid virgins make dull company. and whisky"

Then there is

[Tom Shea]

I learned two new mnemonics this weekend while researching a meta in retaliation for this one. My two old favorites are "Even red nuns drink beer from odd green cants" (to go along with "red, right returning") and "Timid virgins make dull company. and whisky"

Then there is

I wish I knew the resistor color codes while I was still working.

...and being a bad amateur astronomer, I'm upset I didn't know the one for the planets.

In Boston, if you want to remember the green line stops inbound from Kenmore, it's Kathy makes cakes and bakes pies. Kenmore, Mass Ave., Copley, Arlington, Boylston, Park.

(I used to remember them by the (not pleasant) smells)

[DannyWalter]

Heh. Glad I didn't spend TOO much time on this one. Mnemonics are also symbolics for machine instruction op codes. If there was ever a puzzle with LR, LA, MVC, CLC, TRT, ICM, BXLE, it would be a quick solve.

[woozy]

My favorite mnemonic would be the one for the geological ages except mnemonics really shouldn't make things harder to memorize:

Camels often sit down carefully - perhaps their joints creak? Early oiling might prevent permanent rheumatism

(Cambrian, Ordovician,
Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, Permian,
Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous,
Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene, Pliocene, Pleistocene, Recent)

[mikeB]

At first glance after completing the grid, the puzzle seemed like a barren landscape, hint-wise. The design of the mechanism may have imposed some restrictions on endogenous nudges (i.e., help from the title, prompt, and clues). For example, the title was of little use until after you reached MN. Moreover, it is hard to imagine a different title that could have helped at the onset of the solving. Likewise, the prompt is very ethereal – again, until you have a handle on what the "theme pattern" is. The prompt could have been strengthened, but not without paying a price. For example, we have seen similarly situated prompts that provided more help, typically by implicating another grid entry, as in last November’s “. . . the entry that’s a hidden sixth theme answer.” In today’s case, that would have required using MNEMONIC as an entry and, it could be argued, may have provided too much information. (A hidden thirteenth theme answer? Really?) It would also have limited the solution space to a small collection of words sitting there on the page in front of you. (Of course, a different title would have also been required – good luck with that.) Instead of using such a blunt and baggage-laden instrument, the constructor chose to guide us more subtly and, I would suggest, more classically, by simply occupying the top row of the grid with the initial three entries of the theme pattern, without accessory road signs. He thus narrows our focus, which helps, but he leaves it up to us to notice the A-B-C and the Z-Y-X appearing in that row. Sink or swim. That bit of artistry struck a wonderful balance, it could be said. It is easy to imagine a much tougher time of it, if those first three theme entries had simply appeared in, say, the second or third row of the grid (or maybe even different rows). Also note the elegance of the theme pattern starting in the first Across entry and ending in the last one. It’s not a descending staircase, but it sure is pretty. Classic is arguably a perfect term to describe this meta. Matt gives us a wonderfully elegant puzzle, and in the process reminds us that the art and science of construction is about much more than developing the mechanism itself.

[Mister Squawk]

Like many others, the solution to this puzzle came suddenly. I spent a lot of time trying to come up with a connection between what I presumed to be the theme answers:

DWELLING ON
SASHIMI
NACRES (maybe)
SASHIMI
FUNERAL
LYCEUMS
SCOPED (maybe)
DAYS TO COME

Rather than bore you with my numerous contrived rabbit holes, I offer instead ChatGPT's analysis:

I would say that I am now a little less concerned about generative AI taking all our jobs...

By the way, does anyone have a good mnemonic for the adjective order in English? (Article or determiner, number, opinion, size, age, shape, color, origin, material and purpose.)

[benchen71]

By the way, does anyone have a good mnemonic for the adjective order in English? (Article or determiner, number, opinion, size, age, shape, color, origin, material and purpose.)

Perfect timing! I just saw this pop up on Boing Boing today

https://boingboing.net/2024/03/24/there ... it-is.html.

It lists two mnemonics for adjective order:
1. Never OPEN My Purse ("number, opinion, physical condition, essentials (size, shape, age, color), nationality, material, and purpose.")
2. ANOSASCOMP for "article, number, opinion, size, age, shape, color, origin, material and purpose."

[mattythewsjpuzzler]

Once again saw the key data: AZ,jw,cx. Couldn’t figure out what to do with it was also trying to figure out for too long what were the theme answers and thought it was the four 10 letter words. Didn't suss out what he meant by theme pattern. The title was also a bit misleading until you finally solved some more confirmatory than anything else. A good puzzle! Just one I couldn’t get. Congrats to all the solvers! Add to my solving list that whenever I suspect a "theme" or a "Theme" is mentioned, to write out the alphabet and see where some interesting letters fall.

[chart]

A favorite of mine.

[Gman]

I spent waaaaay too much time on the 8 "ON" combinations hidden in the grid. Of course there were also several down NOs to go with the ONUP. 8 of something, must be it! "ON this day in history?" Ah, numbers, birthdays, Ronald Reagan???

Amazing how confused one can get down the rabbit hole.

[martimeryard]

My dry spell continues. Yeesh.