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Re: "What Not To Do" - March 27, 2020
Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2020 7:03 am
by DrTom
Had this delicious wine with supper the other evening - almost felt it was payback. I did wash my hands immediately after drinking it.
It wasn't a 19 but rather a 2006, still I was taking all precautions.
Re: "What Not To Do" - March 27, 2020
Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2020 7:05 am
by KayW
Thank you BarbaraK for an understandable and thorough writeup.
I too got MONOTONOUS and once I sussed out the right mechanism I think it's a clever construction. I too spent a lot of time also trying to wedge in AD from mADebacon and many other things - including along the way excluding any square contiguous with any M or E in the grid.
From the beginning I really like and stuck stubbornly with mOUSe - according to litscape.com there are 300 10-letter words ending OUS. I also liked meMO and MO*OUS yielded 12 words including MONOTONOUS.
One more argument for mOUSe but not mADebacon is when you remove the interrupters from mouse you are left only with ME.
And BTW excellent write-up by DrTom for ADMONITION. I still think MONOTONOUS is better - probably because I found it
nor does it involve an anagram - but I think he makes a valid case. If I found that ADMONITION solution myself, I'd probably stop looking and submit.
Re: "What Not To Do" - March 27, 2020
Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2020 7:23 am
by lusophile
I had MONOTONOUS. It's a much more elegant than ADMONITION in that
1. It starts with ME, as directed, not mADe
2. It used only the extra MEs, none of the theme MEs, and uses them in the correct order.
3. If you turn down the corner of meMO you get MON to start, leading to a 3-2-2-3 symmetry
4. Admonition is what the theme entries are, but the title - always a major clue - is "What not to do"
Q.E.D.
Besides, it's my answer and I'm sticking with it!
Re: "What Not To Do" - March 27, 2020
Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2020 7:27 am
by DrTom
KayW wrote: ↑Mon Mar 30, 2020 7:05 am
Thank you BarbaraK for an understandable and thorough writeup.
I too got MONOTONOUS and once I sussed out the right mechanism I think it's a clever construction. I too spent a lot of time also trying to wedge in AD from mADebacon and many other things - including along the way excluding any square contiguous with any M or E in the grid.
From the beginning I really like and stuck stubbornly with mOUSe - according to litscape.com there are 300 10-letter words ending OUS. I also liked meMO and MO*OUS yielded 12 words including MONOTONOUS.
One more argument for mOUSe but not mADebacon is when you remove the interrupters from mouse you are left only with ME.
And BTW excellent write-up by DrTom for ADMONITION. I still think MONOTONOUS is better - probably because I found it
nor does it involve an anagram - but I think he makes a valid case. If I found that ADMONITION solution myself, I'd probably stop looking and submit.
Well poop - I had not considered that taking OUS from MOUSE left only ME, however by the same token if you take only the N from INME you don't end up with ME...so I'm ADMONISHING the judges to break the MONOTONY of single answers!!! I'm already drowning with the MGWCC so I'm hoping for one solve (even contested) this week.
Re: "What Not To Do" - March 27, 2020
Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2020 7:33 am
by DrTom
MajordomoTom wrote: ↑Mon Mar 30, 2020 12:10 am
I also wanted it to be TOUCH(something).
As in
START WITH TOUCH
STAND OR NEXT TO INTERRUPT
striking the DON'Ts and the MEs altogether.
TOUCHINESS was the only such ten letter word, but couldn't find anything for the INESS, so that wasn't one of our submissions.
The other was ADMONITION, which is the AD from MADEBACON, the MO from the first clue, the IN from INME fully backwards (NI), the ON from the stand clue, and no TI in sight.
MONOTONOUS doesn't also fit the puzzle title, ADMONITION does, so we submitted two different words.
Hmmmm - this ADMONITION seems to be a TOM thing.
Re: "What Not To Do" - March 27, 2020
Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2020 7:34 am
by MarkL
Like most, MONOTONOUS came by way of seeing mOUSe at the end of the grid which a) hinted at an adjective and b) interrupted ME. Found the most of the rest and went to shore with MO/***/ON/OUS. AHAed the NOT later in the weekend, confirming the correct beach. I, too, liked the vertical/standing ON, nice touch.
Have a safe and healthy week.
Cheers!
Re: "What Not To Do" - March 27, 2020
Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2020 7:35 am
by Stukmn
DrTom wrote: ↑Mon Mar 30, 2020 7:27 am
KayW wrote: ↑Mon Mar 30, 2020 7:05 am
Thank you BarbaraK for an understandable and thorough writeup.
I too got MONOTONOUS and once I sussed out the right mechanism I think it's a clever construction. I too spent a lot of time also trying to wedge in AD from mADebacon and many other things - including along the way excluding any square contiguous with any M or E in the grid.
From the beginning I really like and stuck stubbornly with mOUSe - according to litscape.com there are 300 10-letter words ending OUS. I also liked meMO and MO*OUS yielded 12 words including MONOTONOUS.
One more argument for mOUSe but not mADebacon is when you remove the interrupters from mouse you are left only with ME.
And BTW excellent write-up by DrTom for ADMONITION. I still think MONOTONOUS is better - probably because I found it
nor does it involve an anagram - but I think he makes a valid case. If I found that ADMONITION solution myself, I'd probably stop looking and submit.
Well poop - I had not considered that taking OUS from MOUSE left only ME, however by the same token if you take only the N from INME you don't end up with ME...so I'm ADMONISHING the judges to break the MONOTONY of single answers!!! I'm already drowning with the MGWCC so I'm hoping for one solve (even contested) this week.
The reason you only use the N from INME is because the directions tell you not to touch me. That is why you also use the OT from FOOT right above it as well. Those are the three letters that are actually touching ME in that case.
Re: "What Not To Do" - March 27, 2020
Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2020 7:38 am
by DennyB
Like others have mentioned, how does “monotonous” fit the description of puzzle? I came up with ‘ADVISORIES’ for the four DON’T entries. Complicated meta, made no sense to me, sorry.
Re: "What Not To Do" - March 27, 2020
Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2020 7:43 am
by Stukmn
Just throwing this out there, the song “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” is very MONOTONOUS.
Re: "What Not To Do" - March 27, 2020
Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2020 7:53 am
by FrankieHeck
ADMONITION is the answer I really wanted to get, and I came close, but didn't feel like I could get there in any clean way. When I worked with another solver, we found the pieces to MONOTONOUS seemed to apply the rules in a pretty clean way, though it still niggled a little. I think"monotonous" is a fair way to describe the themers ..they all have the same tone and repeat the beginning. Seems like whenever there's an answer that I'm determined to get, it's usually the wrong one.
Re: "What Not To Do" - March 27, 2020
Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2020 7:59 am
by DrTom
Stukmn wrote: ↑Mon Mar 30, 2020 7:35 am
DrTom wrote: ↑Mon Mar 30, 2020 7:27 am
KayW wrote: ↑Mon Mar 30, 2020 7:05 am
Thank you BarbaraK for an understandable and thorough writeup.
I too got MONOTONOUS and once I sussed out the right mechanism I think it's a clever construction. I too spent a lot of time also trying to wedge in AD from mADebacon and many other things - including along the way excluding any square contiguous with any M or E in the grid.
From the beginning I really like and stuck stubbornly with mOUSe - according to litscape.com there are 300 10-letter words ending OUS. I also liked meMO and MO*OUS yielded 12 words including MONOTONOUS.
One more argument for mOUSe but not mADebacon is when you remove the interrupters from mouse you are left only with ME.
And BTW excellent write-up by DrTom for ADMONITION. I still think MONOTONOUS is better - probably because I found it
nor does it involve an anagram - but I think he makes a valid case. If I found that ADMONITION solution myself, I'd probably stop looking and submit.
Well poop - I had not considered that taking OUS from MOUSE left only ME, however by the same token if you take only the N from INME you don't end up with ME...so I'm ADMONISHING the judges to break the MONOTONY of single answers!!! I'm already drowning with the MGWCC so I'm hoping for one solve (even contested) this week.
The reason you only use the N from INME is because the directions tell you not to touch me. That is why you also use the OT from FOOT right above it as well. Those are the three letters that are actually touching ME in that case.
Oh, I'm not disagreeing with MONOTONOUS, it does follow the rules and does flow in letter order. However, ADMONITION is as strong an answer because it follows the same general rules and is a better description of the Theme. The argument for the letters following in order would be compelling were it not for the fact that Matt Gaffney frequently uses anagrams. Witness his March 6th ADD TO THE MIX where it was anagram on anagram on anagram (and I missed the last anagram to get the wrong answer). It is my educated (and self-serving) opinion that there should be two declared answers!
Re: "What Not To Do" - March 27, 2020
Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2020 8:01 am
by LittleGood
I had the MO and the OUS but not the NOT and ON (had some other stuff instead, and therefore only gibberish).
Re: "What Not To Do" - March 27, 2020
Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2020 8:18 am
by Toby
I suppose the themes are monotonous because they are all say some version of stay away from me. But I have to say that this is one puzzle I didn't think was worth the time I spent on it. Oh well...they can't ALL be great.
Re: "What Not To Do" - March 27, 2020
Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2020 8:30 am
by Geezer Weezer
"The answer...is a ten-letter word describing the theme entries." Therefore the answer must be an adjective (rim shot...MONOTONOUS). If the answer required were "a category into which theme entries fit" then the noun, ADMONITION, would have some defense.
Re: "What Not To Do" - March 27, 2020
Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2020 8:33 am
by Bird Lives
"How does MONOTONOUS describe the theme entries?"
I think that many children found their parents' continuous admonitions to be monotonous. Not my parents of course. What they repeated was the playing of the LP of "New Faces of 1952," which included this song by Eartha Kitt.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXMwK18JQZs
She found other things monotonous.
Has anyone else around here even heard of this song?
Re: "What Not To Do" - March 27, 2020
Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2020 8:44 am
by TPS
Without a hard shove I would have ended on admonition. The fourth clue really threw me but also I never would have correctly gotten the 2nd clue. I basically figure out the word with the 1st, 3rd, and 4th clues and being told that you didn't need to anagram this one.
Re: "What Not To Do" - March 27, 2020
Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2020 8:54 am
by CPJohnson
I submitted monotonous, but it was a guess based on the MO and the OUS.
Re: "What Not To Do" - March 27, 2020
Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2020 9:00 am
by boharr
DrTom wrote: ↑Mon Mar 30, 2020 6:27 am
Well I'm going to argue that ADMONITION is perfectly acceptable and fits the criteria as well or better than MONOTONOUS:
My Grid S.jpg
At first I had ADMONITION too, but alas it is incorrect.
Re: "What Not To Do" - March 27, 2020
Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2020 9:06 am
by boharr
DennyB wrote: ↑Mon Mar 30, 2020 7:38 am
Like others have mentioned, how does “monotonous” fit the description of puzzle? I came up with ‘ADVISORIES’ for the four DON’T entries. Complicated meta, made no sense to me, sorry.
I think the puzzle title is not so much descriptive as it is prescriptive.
Re: "What Not To Do" - March 27, 2020
Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2020 9:09 am
by Wendy Walker
Like so many others, I really tried to make ADMONITION work but (a) getting the letters was a real stretch and thus most un-Gaffney-like and (b) as Bulls* points out above, an adjective was required by the instructions. In contrast, MONOTONOUS involved an elegant strategy ("Stand so close to me," brilliant clue!), all the letters were in order, and it certainly describes the "tone" of the theme entries. In my mind there's no question that it is the only correct answer.
