"End of the Line"

A weekly meta crossword created by members of the forum. Difficulty levels will vary. Hints are usually available starting Wednesday, and solutions are posted on Sunday.
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Wendy Walker
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Location: Unionville, PA

#21

Post by Wendy Walker »

Confirmed! I needed Brian's first hint to get started.
Good luck, fellow Muggles!
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Al Sisti
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Location: Whitesboro NY

#22

Post by Al Sisti »

Off the couch...
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BrianMac
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#23

Post by BrianMac »

Leaderboard and nudges:

1. Chris Kochmanski
2. LesY
3. boharr
4. Joe Ross
5. MikeM000
6. Schmeel
7. Wendy Walker
8. Hector
9. Oldjudge
10. BirdLives
11. Richard B
12. Meg
13. KayW
14. LauraM
15. C=64
16. dencurrin
17. Abide
18. Cbarbee002
19. Michaelm
20. Al Sisti

"End of the Line" means the end of the theme answers.

"End of the Line" means the end of a Bob Dylan lyric.

Dylan was famously booed during his set on the second day of the 1965 Newport Folk Festival because, unlike me this week, he was not "unplugged." The meta answer is a lyric from a song in that set.
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RPardoe
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Location: Houston, TX

#24

Post by RPardoe »

As Brian noted originally: the meta is dependent upon familiarity with one piece of information.

Got the first step pretty quickly, then stuck. Suspected I was indeed missing that piece, and the nudges confirmed it.
Not going to be a solve for me this week.
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Hector
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#25

Post by Hector »

RPardoe, Dylan played 5 songs at that gig.
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RPardoe
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#26

Post by RPardoe »

Hector, thanks for offering to help.

I know what I need to do (that was obvious from the nudges).
But that doesn't mean I want to do so.
Dplass
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Joined: Sat Dec 28, 2019 10:09 am

#27

Post by Dplass »

Whoosh. < the sound of this meta going over my head
markhr
Posts: 343
Joined: Thu Apr 18, 2019 7:56 pm

#28

Post by markhr »

Wow, I was slow getting this one. I guess my familiarity with a certain piece of information was lacking.
After the nth nudge, things finally fell into place. It's actually a pretty clever meta.
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Jeremy Smith
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Location: Tampa Bay area

#29

Post by Jeremy Smith »

Off the couch (pending confirmation).
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TMart
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Location: Malvern, PA

#30

Post by TMart »

Off the couch, without looking at nudges. Great meta, Brian - this was right in my wheelhouse!
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FrankH
Posts: 242
Joined: Sat Apr 13, 2019 4:15 am

#31

Post by FrankH »

Confirmed OTC. I am right with RPardoe; didn't know that piece of information and needed the nudges. Then I am faced with whether I wanted to spend time and consult Mr. G; finally succumbed to it.
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bhamren
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Location: Urbana, Ohio

#32

Post by bhamren »

Confirmed off the couch (with spoiler use)
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Dannyvee
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Location: Jamaica Plain, MA

#33

Post by Dannyvee »

Off the couch! (Should have gotten it without the nudges)
I can be found in Sheridan, NY, veejaying. (8)
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DrTom
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Location: Jacksonville, FL

#34

Post by DrTom »

Dplass wrote: Wed Dec 30, 2020 7:00 pm Whoosh. < the sound of this meta going over my head
Huh, that fits perfectly with my awkward DrTom answer (which I promise to reveal later to what I am sure will be the amusement of all)
NUDGES!I am always willing to give nudges where needed; metas should be about fun, not frustration. Send me what you have done so far because often you are closer than you think!
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DrTom
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#35

Post by DrTom »

Well I am confident is saying that I was left completely out in the cold on this. Even after reading all of the nudges and Googling extensively I do not see it. Perhaps a little too much merriment last evening?
NUDGES!I am always willing to give nudges where needed; metas should be about fun, not frustration. Send me what you have done so far because often you are closer than you think!
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BrianMac
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Location: Connecticut

#36

Post by BrianMac »

Final update and solution:

21. BarbaraK
22. markhr
23. FrankH
24. Dow Jones
25. Jeremy Smith
26. TMart
27. dudeski
28. bhamren
29. lbray53
30. FKelly
31. Dannyvee
32. Naptown Kid

Solution:
Screen Shot 2021-01-03 at 12.02.46 PM.png
I knew this one would play a little tricky because it relied on familiarity with the lyrics of Bob Dylan's 1965 hit, "Like a Rolling Stone," but since that song has been consistently ranked Rolling Stone magazine's #1 rock & roll song of all time, I thought it was fair game. Sorry to those who struggled because without recognizing the key lyrics, the meta was probably a Googleslog (I'm trademarking that word).

Anyway, the whole magic of this song (for me) is the way that each of the four verses ends with a line that leads into (and rhymes with) the first line of the chorus:

Verse 1: "scrounging your next meal...." [SCHLEMIEL]
Verse 2: "do you wanna make a deal..." [UTOPIAN IDEAL]
Verse 3: "everything he could steal..." [DETROIT STEEL]
Verse 4: "got no secrets to conceal..." [MACON SEAL - ugh]

All of course leading to the first line of the chorus..."HOW DOES IT FEEL?" So the end of the theme entries match up with the "end of the line" of the verses. "End of the Line" is also the title of a song by the Traveling Wilburys, a group of which Bob Dylan was a member. Dylan was famously booed when he debuted this song at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival because folk purists were upset that he was playing electric. Although not intentional, there was also a little hint to this when I said I would be "unplugged" for the week.

I think that's it. Thanks to everyone who solved. New MMM tomorrow from damefox is sure to be fun so tune in then!
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Bird Lives
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#37

Post by Bird Lives »

To complete my earlier post, which said:

Anyway, as Prof. Spooner, after he'd quit Oxford and become a horse thief, asked a potential customer, "Would you . . . .?"

. . .like a stolen roan?
Jay
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whimsy
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Location: Hopkinton MA

#38

Post by whimsy »

I settled for a close but no cigar this week, having been interrupted by computer access having gone a bit wonky.

I knew about the electric guitar thing and was pretty sure it would have to be the question posed in the song -- just didn't have a clicky enough route.
Also, I first saw and interpreted it as "four eels" and couldn't get that out of my head.
I kept looking for something about the incident where someone was quoted as saying: Is he for real? :D

Glad to see the very much more elegant solution than what I was trying for!
Thanks, Brian! (Arf, arf -- throw him a fish!)
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DrTom
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Location: Jacksonville, FL

#39

Post by DrTom »

Well wouldn’t you know I managed to find an entirely different path to the wrong answer.

OK, stick with me here….The end of the line of the 4 theme answers was EL AL EL AL. Of course this invoked the famous Israeli airline (17A Abide, I see your MESHUGGENEH and raise you one SCHLEMIEL). Wait a second, there was a TV show where the end of the line was them arriving at their “fantasy” destination in an airplane. Oh, my goodness look what I see in 20A Bit of body art TAT, like TATTOO!

So (1) reference to an airplane (2) end of the line when it arrives at Fantasy Island (3) Tattoo (4) Four Word Phrase- I’VE GOT IT:
DaPlane.jpg
Of course Brian's is a lot more elegant, but since I was not a fan of Bob Dylan I would never have gotten the connection. Heck even when I knew the connection I and to look hard to find the mechanism. For my it was a complete unknown and I was on my own.
NUDGES!I am always willing to give nudges where needed; metas should be about fun, not frustration. Send me what you have done so far because often you are closer than you think!
Dplass
Posts: 1739
Joined: Sat Dec 28, 2019 10:09 am

#40

Post by Dplass »

DrTom wrote: Mon Jan 04, 2021 1:36 am Well wouldn’t you know I managed to find an entirely different path to the wrong answer.

OK, stick with me here….The end of the line of the 4 theme answers was EL AL EL AL. Of course this invoked the famous Israeli airline (17A Abide, I see your MESHUGGENEH and raise you one SCHLEMIEL). Wait a second, there was a TV show where the end of the line was them arriving at their “fantasy” destination in an airplane. Oh, my goodness look what I see in 20A Bit of body art TAT, like TATTOO!

So (1) reference to an airplane (2) end of the line when it arrives at Fantasy Island (3) Tattoo (4) Four Word Phrase- I’VE GOT IT:
DaPlane.jpg

Of course Brian's is a lot more elegant, but since I was not a fan of Bob Dylan I would never have gotten the connection. Heck even when I knew the connection I and to look hard to find the mechanism. For my it was a complete unknown and I was on my own.
Um, except the prompt was a 4 word QUESTION...
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