"Executive Search" - June 5, 2020

[Djquimby]

Onshore

[ArnoldMBrockman]

On The Beach. There Are Thunderstorms On The Beach But I Am In A Safe Haven Called A Bar And Enjoying My Vodka Martini

[cbarbee002]

Well, had hoped to be onshore and drinking socially-distanced from others in the sand, but alas, still feeling a bit woozy from the waves. Hoping a double pour from Isaac will do the trick.

[juliet]

Since I am going no where on the meta and to add to the discussion on made up words, almost 50 years ago, my wife and I were playing Scrabble. We did not have a scrabble dictionary and I am not even sure we had a dictionary. I put down the word EGGMAN. I argued that we had a milkman who delivered milk and a breadman who delivered bread, so what did you call the guy who delivered eggs. To this day, my wife refuses to acknowledge the word.

What sayeth our sage panel? thumbs up or down?

Thumbs up! My husband still doesn't forgive me for "cakey".

Eggman is good. But you got away with cakey?

https://www.marthastewart.com/354939/ca ... ip-cookies

[Al Sisti]

Okay, I sent in an answer. Defensible, but not one of those monstrous clicks I prefer.

[oldjudge]

From my relatively short time doing these, “defensible” is a four letter word.

[Natalie]

Thumbs up! My husband still doesn't forgive me for "cakey".

Eggman is good. But you got away with cakey?

https://www.marthastewart.com/354939/ca ... ip-cookies

Didn't the Beatles answer this: everybody sing along ---

"I am the eggman / they are the eggmen / I am the walrus / goo goo g'joob"

Although perhaps the British write it as two words ...

[TPS]

Uh oh, now that makes ME worry!

There is an answer that people who do these things all the time will say is the answer and too people who do metas and have a history - that will be the answer and that is probably what Matt is looking for. That said, I suck at these but using the hints and clues I found another answer that is actually in some ways as good of an answer - maybe even better - (I only say that based on feedback - I’d never say it based on 1-2 people + me). That said I’ve been convinced I am wrong. It’s not Monotonous.

I super appreciate the help I got because NEVER (and the Rock means never https://youtu.be/9F2iVzVGm1w )would have gotten this myself.

[LadyBird]

Well, I said I was a two-space kind of gal. But I have to confess that I am also two-faced. I was doing a final edit on some captions (for bird pictures!). There is not much room to cram in a description. Which means that every space counts. So I was definitely going with one-space after the period. I didn't need the Oxford comma because I wasn't going to waste space on the word "and" either.

[ChrisKochmanski]

Obviously Paul—see Glass Onion

Well, for a short while it was Paul. Apparently while Paul held the group together after Brian Epstein's death. This, I learned, is the Walrus referred to in Glass Onion. At other times the Walrus was John. John comes back to it in Come Together ("He got Walrus gumboot, he got Ono sideboard") -- and also, I believe, in a solo song from some time around there. Meaning that John was USUALLY the Walrus, but that the honor could pass to others when needed and deserved.

I'm no authority on this; it's something I read in a Beatles book or essay a few months ago. I remember that the writer wrote with ABSOLUTE CONVICTION about it, so in a time when so little else seems clear, I'm choosing to accept this explanation completely!

[sanmilton]

Liberty, biberty,
Fresh off the boat and with
Bona fide confidence,
Now I can drink!

Turns out, a good dose of
Dubitability
Can come in handy and—
Sure!—makes you think.

[sanmilton]

This meta is elegant beyond contestation.

I can now happily agree with you, Joe! (May I call you "Joe"?)

The tentative solution I reached last evening certainly did not seem as elegant as a result of one of Master Gaffney's usual filigreed confections. Yet once the truly worthy contender revealed himself, I found him, and the meta (shall we say?), unimpeachable.

[DrTom]

NO Oxford comma. Most of the time it is unnecessary and does nothing to clarify a sentence. For example, if you write "I bought eggs and milk," you don't need a comma. It's perfectly understandable. But then you're going to tell me if you add a third item, all of a sudden the sentence is unclear? "I bought cereal, eggs and milk." Oh wait, it's perfectly fine without the superfluous comma.

Oh, SURE, but tell that to the little cereals that will hatch from those eggs, they won't think it is perfectly fine. It's bad enough having a name like Snap, Crackle, Pop (well Pop isn't so bad) or Count Chocula without someone disregarding your emergence into the world.

CEREAL EGGS OF THE WORLD UNITE, YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE BUT YOUR SHELLS!

[ChrisKochmanski]

Up way too late to be thinking about this clearly, but then again, it's IMPORTANT -- so here goes ...

Here are the closing lyrics from "God", on the John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band album:

The dream is over
What can I say?
The dream is over
Yesterday
I was the dream weaver
But now I'm reborn
I was the Walrus
But now I'm John
And so dear friends
You just have to carry on
The dream is over

Does this settle it? The Walrus, it would seem, and sometimes despite appearances, was John.

[sanmilton]

Thumbs up! My husband still doesn't forgive me for "cakey".

Eggman is good. But you got away with cakey?

https://www.marthastewart.com/354939/ca ... ip-cookies

FWIW, George Kaufman's only solo outing as a playwright was "The Butter and Egg Man" (two words), and his central character had 15 minutes in the national vernacular, earning a spot in Merriam-Webster as "butter-and-egg man" (sic). However, CAKEY is an acceptable Scrabble word, as is CAKY, and you may need the E later for a Bingo.

[DrTom]

Another one for Dr. Tom. Two ants talking: why don’t we get the Coronavirus? Answer: because we have anty bodies.

I love a good pun, but I love a bad one even more!!!

But, how did we move from the Beatles to ants? Probably flowed down along one of those rivers of space. Rivers of space, I thought that was the Milky Way, but then candy attracts ants - Oh, OK now I see how that progressed.

I do know why everyone at the Bug Fraternity (I GOTTA FLY) party had the munchies...too many roaches (or so I was told by a date stone beetle)

[DrTom]

"I bought cereal, eggs and milk."

Why would eggs and milk care that you bought cereal? They are inanimate. Further, why would anyone speak to them?

Literally laughing out loud!

[DrTom]

As we digress (and since I'm still with Isaac), here's another bit of journalism legend.

When I first went to work for a newspaper (only in print back then), I was told that the elimination of the Oxford comma as a policy was put in place because of the ink that would be saved over the course of a year by having so many fewer commas.

Apocryphal? Maybe. But fun.

I feel that way now given the cost of those cartridges for my ink-jet printer. Before I print the pdf of the WSJ puzzle, I delete the previous day's solution and the "E-mail your answer" block below the clues. (OK, not really to save ink but to have space to make notes in. But still . . .)

I have found that second source cartridges from Amazon work perfectly well. I get a box of GPC Image cartridges for my Canon MG6820 for $12 and they work perfectly. I use Epson for my 3880 for photography.

Must depend on the printer. I have an older HP and if I put anything but HP cartridges in it it kind of stares at me and gives me a HAL moment "Tom, what are you doing> I wouldn't do that if I were you,,,"

[UTHfan]

This meta is elegant beyond contestation.

I can now happily agree with you, Joe! (May I call you "Joe"?)

The tentative solution I reached last evening certainly did not seem as elegant as a result of one of Master Gaffney's usual filigreed confections. Yet once the truly worthy contender revealed himself, I found him, and the meta (shall we say?), unimpeachable.

These comments are kinda freaky, I'd say One False Note or King Me were elegant. Still on the boat, looking at Gaffney's latest...which maybe I'll go ahh soon enough to and think of as elegant but ...

[tigerfly222]

Reporting in, on the ship.