"Pardon My English" - June 4, 2021

A place to discuss the weekly Wall Street Journal Crossword Puzzle Contest, starting every Thursday around 4:00 p.m. Eastern time. Please do not post any answers or hints before the contest deadline which is midnight Sunday Eastern time.
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Colin
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#301

Post by Colin »

Ashore at 11:59…. Nice one Matt!!
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otlaolap
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#302

Post by otlaolap »

Regardless of which quantum state the answer is deemed to be in when it is finally observed, I remain inordinately pleased in that I solved this puzzle enough to reach even one of them -- my best ever result in decoding a difficult puzzle.
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Joe Ross
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#303

Post by Joe Ross »

20210604 WSJCC Pardon My English.png
JeanneC
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#304

Post by JeanneC »

Wasn’t happening for me this week despite reviewing the various comments/articles on numbers and parentheses. So it was a Hail Mary and we’ll see the real answer soon.

I am hoping we have a Monday weekly muggle puzzle tomorrow. I use it as my pick me up when I don’t get the WSJ’s weekend meta. It is great meta practice for us newer players. Look for it under in the Board Index of other meta puzzles and then click on the Muggles Monday meta.

As my mother told my brother and myself many moons ago when piano lessons were absolutely required in working class families: practice, practice, practice.
“I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year’s fashions”. Lillian Hellman
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Joe Ross
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#305

Post by Joe Ross »

Not easy, but excellent!

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sanmilton
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#306

Post by sanmilton »

femullen wrote: Sun Jun 06, 2021 9:40 pm
sanmilton wrote: Sun Jun 06, 2021 5:00 pm
femullen wrote: Sat Jun 05, 2021 8:51 am (2,1)(4,8)(2,5)(6,7)(5,3)(8,2)(1,8)
I think you mean (6,8)(1,3)(2,8)(1,7)(4,1)(4,5)(7,4)(1,3)(8,1)(2,6)(3,4), but I'm not sure! :P
You could well be right, but I won't know till Monday morning when the mystery of the parens is revealed. This weekend I have occupied my customary stool with Isaac. I've absolutely no idea what to make of the meta.

My own parenthetical two-word phrase here is a Cartesian puzzle of ambiguous origin. Some people here could surely crack it in a minute or two.
If 1234 5678 is TRÈS BIEN, then I assume INTERN TESTS BEST ENTRIES.
Last edited by sanmilton on Mon Jun 07, 2021 12:18 am, edited 1 time in total.
otlaolap
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#307

Post by otlaolap »

And that the quantum state was the one I picked is icing on that cake!
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MajordomoTom
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#308

Post by MajordomoTom »

I saw/thought about coup de grace and nom de plume but didn't go down that route.

Face Palm.

Nice one Matt.
"Lots of planets have a North", the Ninth Doctor.
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sanmilton
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#309

Post by sanmilton »

My 25% problem to begin with was that chef-d'œuvre is a better French rendering of MASTERWORK, IMHO, than tour de force. A late, great friend of mine liked to say that a tour de force was not necessarily a pièce de résistance. How right he was! Words to live by! But this puzzle was one of my favorites, and a six-star for brilliance of conception and construction. Oo-la-la-la, c'est magnifique, M. Matt!
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escapeartist
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#310

Post by escapeartist »

Wow - I am stunned that the "final solution" wasn't the English version of that phrase: "VERY GOOD" - considering the title of the puzzle was "Pardon My English"

IMHO very un-Gaffney-like without the twist at the end...

I hope both solutions are considered correct

GIMMIE THAT MUG!!
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escapeartist
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#311

Post by escapeartist »

sanmilton wrote: Mon Jun 07, 2021 12:10 am My 25% problem to begin with was that chef-d'œuvre is a better French rendering of MASTERWORK, IMHO, than tour de force. A late, great friend of mine liked to say that a tour de force was not necessarily a pièce de résistance. How right he was! Words to live by! But this puzzle was one of my favorites, and a six-star for brilliance of conception and construction. Oo-la-la-la, c'est magnifique, M. Matt!
I had 2 or 3 choices for each of the entries and a matrix that finally determined which was correct - really one of the hardest META's that I thought I solved... 8-)
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Limerick Savant
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#312

Post by Limerick Savant »

escapeartist wrote: Mon Jun 07, 2021 12:24 am Wow - I am stunned that the "final solution" wasn't the English version of that phrase: "VERY GOOD" - considering the title of the puzzle was "Pardon My English"

IMHO very un-Gaffney-like without the twist at the end...

I hope both solutions are considered correct

GIMMIE THAT MUG!!
I had a similar reaction and waffled between the two for some time but ultimately decided to submit the French version based on three things:
1. The play on the common phrase in the title, indicating French
2. Trés Bien is a more flexible phrase
3. It was D-Day 😉

This week’s meta as I understood
Could arrive in a French neighborhood
Or you translate once more
And return to this shore
My decision was not very good
Last edited by Limerick Savant on Mon Jun 07, 2021 1:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Joe Ross
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#313

Post by Joe Ross »

Limerick Savant wrote: Mon Jun 07, 2021 12:57 am I had a similar reaction and waffled between the two for some time but ultimately decided to submit the French version based on three things:
1. The play on the common phrase in the title, indicating French
2. Trés Bien is a more flexible phrase
3. It was D-Day 😉
1. The numbers speeled out TRÈS BIEN.
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Limerick Savant
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#314

Post by Limerick Savant »

Joe Ross wrote: Mon Jun 07, 2021 1:19 am
Limerick Savant wrote: Mon Jun 07, 2021 12:57 am I had a similar reaction and waffled between the two for some time but ultimately decided to submit the French version based on three things:
1. The play on the common phrase in the title, indicating French
2. Trés Bien is a more flexible phrase
3. It was D-Day 😉
1. The numbers speeled out TRÈS BIEN.
Very well, your acute sense has caught me in a grave mistake!
Last edited by Limerick Savant on Mon Jun 07, 2021 1:39 am, edited 1 time in total.
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DaveKennison
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#315

Post by DaveKennison »

I got hung up for a bit on “piece de resistance”, but switched to “tour de force” pretty quickly when it became clear that no slight alteration of “resistance” was in evidence anywhere in the grid. Then, at the end, I considered using either “VERY GOOD” or “VERY WELL” as my answer, but decided to go with the French. One final worry: I omitted the accent mark from “TRES BIEN” in my submission (but surely that is in keeping with the conventions of crossword puzzle fill, is it not? ... 😜).

Okay, so it’s Wednesday, and I finally understand why I’m lucky never to have studied French and therefore never to have heard the French phrase “chef-d'oeuvre”. Thankfully, the French phrases I needed came out of my own (half-Norwegian, half polyglot) head. (Of course, now that I know the phrase, I shall certainly not refrain from dropping it in casual conversation, as if I had learned it in the cradle … 😜.)
Last edited by DaveKennison on Wed Jun 09, 2021 7:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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DrTom
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#316

Post by DrTom »

Well I have to agree that not all of the phrases were the best version of the theme answer, but they were all A version of the theme answer.

My French connection was pretty much my downfall until I had someone yell 'Mon Dieu!" at my stupidity. Unfortunately the word for BLIND ALLEY/DEAD END has been 'stolen; from the French and they tend to use IMPASSE to indicate that particular type of street - or at least the ones I know did. In truth Cul-de-Sac really started life as an anatomical, not an infrastructure term. Why does any of this matter you ask, well I felt that Byzantine and British for two abbr (EMPS) was kind of forced, and sure enough there was ACES in another place : EMPSACES and BOY that sounds a lot like IMPASSE when said aloud.

So I was spending so much time trying to shoe horn it in that I did not notice the elegance of the other three and that they were only 1 letter off from the word they were meant to be. Had I had the inherent smarts to see that I could have saved a lot of time and a figurative ear boxing!

Still in the end I got to shore with help.
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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#317

Post by DrTom »

Limerick Savant wrote: Mon Jun 07, 2021 1:27 am
Joe Ross wrote: Mon Jun 07, 2021 1:19 am
Limerick Savant wrote: Mon Jun 07, 2021 12:57 am I had a similar reaction and waffled between the two for some time but ultimately decided to submit the French version based on three things:
1. The play on the common phrase in the title, indicating French
2. Trés Bien is a more flexible phrase
3. It was D-Day 😉
1. The numbers speeled out TRÈS BIEN.
You have caught me in a grave mistake!
Non c'est n'a pas grave seulement si tu es dans la tombe!
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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Limerick Savant
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#318

Post by Limerick Savant »

DrTom wrote: Mon Jun 07, 2021 1:37 am
Limerick Savant wrote: Mon Jun 07, 2021 1:27 am
Joe Ross wrote: Mon Jun 07, 2021 1:19 am

1. The numbers speeled out TRÈS BIEN.
You have caught me in a grave mistake!
Non c'est n'a pas grave seulement si tu es dans la tombe!
No but I did have an acute attack of the aigu 😉
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sharkicicles
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#319

Post by sharkicicles »

I'll repost here what I said on Crossword Fiend, this is one of the few Gaffneys I didn't enjoy, solving them or not.

"One of the few times I will actually criticize the Gaff, by the way; I was split between CHEF D’ OEUVRE (and it’s clued as 4,1 which sidesteps the D’ versus De problem) and PIECE DE RESISTANCE. But if you google “masterwork french” you get both of those but not TOUR DE FORCE. Eh, it’s a f***in’ crossword puzzle. And Matt has given me a lot of fun puzzles over the years, so don’t get me wrong. But I’m a little pissed over this one. (I’ll get over it and gladly solve his puzzle next week.)"
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DrTom
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#320

Post by DrTom »

Limerick Savant wrote: Mon Jun 07, 2021 1:57 am
DrTom wrote: Mon Jun 07, 2021 1:37 am
Limerick Savant wrote: Mon Jun 07, 2021 1:27 am

You have caught me in a grave mistake!
Non c'est n'a pas grave seulement si tu es dans la tombe!
No but I did have an acute attack of the aigu 😉
Thank goodness you did not end up Aigues Morte!
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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