"Hotlinks" - June 25, 2021

[BethA]

…and now I have a backlog of 12 puzzles that I didn’t do because I was concentrating on this one! May take a bit to catch up. Still worth it!

[SingleMalt]

Ack! I was so close on Friday and then backed off the path and totally overcomplicated things. After some zen time behind the lawnmower this afternoon it all clicked. On Shore - permitted myself a nip of the Johnny Walker Blue.

Have a great week everyone!

[Thurman8er]

I thought it was tough, but fun. And I got it in one sitting, which is nice.

[mikeB]

Finally on the beach. First time with this kind of mechanism, so it really hit me in the face. For me it was very hard to reach, but worth sticking with it. All rabbit holes all the time, but here we are.

[rexthree]

back to WSJ puzzle after several busy weeks.
got grid finished yesterday. got the meta this afternoon.

on shore.

[Richard]

Got a nudge. Think I am on the beach.

Had minor surgery on Thursday so a late start.

[CPJohnson]

Finally on the beach. First time with this kind of mechanism, so it really hit me in the face. For me it was very hard to reach, but worth sticking with it. All rabbit holes all the time, but here we are.

I've been doing the WSJ metas since their inception, and I've never seen this mechanism before.

[Susan Goldberg]

OMG. Finally. This consumed my entire weekend. Well, this and building a piece of outdoor furniture. I had the idea all along but could not figure out what to do with it. Knowing many of you had similar frustrations really helped me persevere, so thank you! Looking forward to Tuesday with Matt!

[Inca]

Really frustrating but it's just not coming together for me. I can think of answers that would fit right in but have no justification for them other than fitting in with the theme

[Plymouthrock]

Eureka. Cool. A Hazy Little Thing after teeing it up
All day on hot links course. Wish I knew how to download spectacular photo of infinity edge pool looking out on the 18th hole. Maybe one day….

[FKelly]

On shore!
Got it on Thursday, but delayed submitting because I thought there may possible "pageant".
However, the "pageant" appears to be only possible if you abuse the mechanism.
I'm sticking with my original answer. It is very accurately described by the title.

[Bob cruise director]

Good evening
Our final count is 17 on the ship and 164 on the shore.

Emerging to the ship's bar since lunch are

JeanneC
MatthewL
Inca
DannyWalter
Tripod

And making their way to the shore (some of who had been there all along) are

Joe R
dudeski
Richard
hunkra
regfish
MaineMarge
YoungestCopperRiver
mikeB
horsesense
rtwitchell
tonyrobots
Thurman8er
David Wi
ricky
rexthree
LaurenB
Tmart
Gman
minimuggle
Beth A
Ben B and son
Plymouth Rock
Susan G


Good Luck to all winning the mug

And Matt Gaffney is looking forward to the Zoom call on Tuesday

[WSJosh]

Still at sea, after looking and looking at this one all weekend…

[TheCatt]

No inspiration yesterday, but today looked at it, and it came to me within about 1 minute. Amazing how that works.

We are on shore! Although, we had to leave the real beach today, so back home.

[EmilyW]

Still on the boat. At least there's good beer here. I found a couple Seinfeld themed beers today. I'm currently drinking a "Hello, Newman" which is a muffin top inspired blueberry porter. I'll probably take one last look before deadline but don't think it's coming to me this week.

[Joe]

Still on the boat as well. I've submitted something because why not. Looking forward to seeing the elegant solution when I wake up tomorrow.

[auee89]

On the boat. Looking forward to Tuesday!

[JetStream]

Lost at sea.....I have no trouble with the grids but lose patience with the meta's. Looking forward to seeing what I missed.

[LadyBird]

These are just a few of the bunnies I've been chasing (actually, I released them into the wild a few weeks ago).

[DrTom]

Well then 11:53 Sunday evening - just under the wire. I actually had the answer much earlier but thought how I arrived at it was kind of clunky. I had thought I knew the mechanism but asked a friendly solver to verify (thanks Chris!) and I was correct, I just hadn't stayed with it long enough. However, even when I had it I thought it was "clunky" because I ended up with three parts, it wasn't until about halfway through an episode of "Friends" that I thought, "Hey wait a minute, what if the one part I cannot fit is in the wrong place?" It was and when I put it where it should be then the solve was smoother and the answer that I thought "Odd but certainly applicable" was correct. Oh. and yes now I have the worm too........and it ain't wormwood and if I had to vote that would be my absinthé ballot!

ASHORE!