"Under the Table" - July 9, 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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SewYoung
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#81

Post by SewYoung »

hoover wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 8:00 pm I'm sitting here with @DrTom, @SusieG , and @Eric Porter wondering where the drinks are.
Me too. Not really seeing anything.
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SReh26
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#82

Post by SReh26 »

hoover wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 10:09 pm
Laura M wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 10:07 pm
SReh26 wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 8:22 pm

ugh! what was that like?? Scary?
Oh, it was fine! I mean it was annoying because it was a meeting, and I had to wear outside-the-house clothes
And shoes!
What are those? Ive been living in ohso comfy plush slippers now for six months. Minnetonka brand on amazon.
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mikeB
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Joined: Mon Mar 22, 2021 1:50 pm

#83

Post by mikeB »

Happy to be on the beach. I am finding that so many of these solution paths have to do with "noticing something". Addled initially upon completing the grid, I set it aside, came back later . . . and noticed something. It's not a completely systematic process (yet), sometimes seeming to be luck. I suppose the more times you do this, the luckier you get . . .
b4alltime
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Location: Benicia, CA

#84

Post by b4alltime »

Solved after a little thought. Hard enough to be fun from my point of view.
Jim
JRS51
Posts: 323
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Location: Phoenix, AZ

#85

Post by JRS51 »

SewYoung wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 10:35 pm
hoover wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 8:00 pm I'm sitting here with @DrTom, @SusieG , and @Eric Porter wondering where the drinks are.
Me too. Not really seeing anything.
I’m pulling up a chair and joining you all at the bar. Not seeing it yet.
JRS51
Posts: 323
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Location: Phoenix, AZ

#86

Post by JRS51 »

HunterX wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 8:45 pm
ChrisKochmanski wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 5:37 pm Ashore!

Literally. On Sleeping Bear Bay, in northern Michigan.
I assume that's wear the Sleeping Bear Dunes are? When my son was at U Mich we spent a weekend up there. He fooled me into going ALL THE WAY to the bottom of the dunes at the overlook. (The really, really steep one with the warning sign, below.) So I showed him by challenging him to race all the way back up. I won. Easily. In my mid 50's. Against a 21 year old.


Dune Sign.jpg


Took me about 20 minutes but I must have lost about 5 pounds of water weight. And that was after he took me to the main dunes where you hike for a couple of miles (?) to the lake. He kept saying, "It's just over that hill..." For each and every hill.... :evil:
I’m a U of M grad myself, and had several excellent and memorable trips to the dunes!
It’s very beautiful there!
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DannyWalter
Posts: 136
Joined: Fri Mar 12, 2021 1:14 pm

#87

Post by DannyWalter »

Boy, what an easy puzzle! I have no idea how to solve it though.
Schmeel
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Joined: Sun Mar 29, 2020 2:38 pm

#88

Post by Schmeel »

Ashore!
Inevitably, I didn't see it until I did.
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mntlblok
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Location: The Villages, FL
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#89

Post by mntlblok »

Embracing my ignorance. Testing the "four pages" approach. Some day they probably won't be as much fun because I'll have seen all the mechanisms. Enough marks on my grid that I could construct any shape I wanted should I start "connecting" them. *And*, it's become clear that one gets to drink regardless of journey progress - or location. :-) *And*, "lateral thinking" would seem to conflict with the title's preposition. :-) Have zero expectations of solving prior to the reveal. The little wifey seems to be in the same "boat".
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Joepickett
Posts: 401
Joined: Sat May 09, 2020 5:38 pm
Location: Virginia

#90

Post by Joepickett »

Joepickett wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 9:10 pm Nope. No idea on this one. I've had brain fog all week so I've got that going for me
Ashore! That was too much work for me.
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Miki
Posts: 223
Joined: Fri Sep 13, 2019 8:32 am

#91

Post by Miki »

Al Sisti wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 4:08 pm Safely ashore. Guinness me please!
Impressive 8 minute solve!
It takes me 8 minutes to find a pencil...
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Miki
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#92

Post by Miki »

ashore!
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Commodore
Posts: 362
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 7:12 pm

#93

Post by Commodore »

Miki wrote: Fri Jul 09, 2021 6:43 am
Al Sisti wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 4:08 pm Safely ashore. Guinness me please!
Impressive 8 minute solve!
It takes me 8 minutes to find a pencil...
Surely a record?
And the Beth Syndicate. Posts #13 and #14.
Hmmmm. Quite a week. Conspiracy theorists out there? Listen to me, Isaac.
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Zagman49
Posts: 91
Joined: Fri May 14, 2021 3:51 pm
Location: Burlington, VT

#94

Post by Zagman49 »

Dragged a comb across my head...VOILA!
On Shore.
Just found my way downstairs and drank a cup.
Dplass
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Joined: Sat Dec 28, 2019 10:09 am

#95

Post by Dplass »

Stage 1: denial. This isn't a meta.
Dplass
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#96

Post by Dplass »

Bird Lives wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 8:03 pm
Wendy Walker wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 7:35 pm Any critical thinking skills that I might occasionally possess are being drowned out by a song I sang in a high school musical (title: 'Cos I'm a [64A] Nana).
Generational differences. The song I thought of was the one that goes, "If you wanna be a top banana. . . ." (People often said that my father looked like Phil Silvers.)
What song is that? Who is Phil Silvers? Boy am I lost at sea today.
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HunterX
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#97

Post by HunterX »

Zagman49 wrote: Fri Jul 09, 2021 7:32 am Dragged a comb across my head...VOILA!
On Shore.
Just found my way downstairs and drank a cup.
And looking up, did you notice you were late?
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Zagman49
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Joined: Fri May 14, 2021 3:51 pm
Location: Burlington, VT

#98

Post by Zagman49 »

Indeed. My excuse...the holes were rather small.
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Cindy
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#99

Post by Cindy »

Laura M wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 10:07 pm
SReh26 wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 8:22 pm
Laura M wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 8:11 pm On shore! Late because I went into my actual workplace for a meeting.
ugh! what was that like?? Scary?
Oh, it was fine! I mean it was annoying because it was a meeting, and I had to wear outside-the-house clothes and drive to get there, both things that I've rarely done for 16 months. And I couldn't work on the crossword during the meeting :-) It does feel weird to be around people, but I'm willing to work on that.

I have no doubt that Covid-19 and its variants will continue to be a (hopefully minor) threat for years, maybe forever, but we're in a much better place than we were a year ago. We have vaccines! And the processes are in place so that vaccine development/testing/manufacturing/distribution might not be so huge a task when we need more. Vaccines aren't perfect, and there are variants, but breakthrough cases are likely to be less serious. If you do get sick, a lot more is known now about how to treat this virus. We have more PPE now for health workers, and even enough medical-grade masks for regular people to keep a stash. (I'm not a prepper but yeah, I have a couple dozen KN95s.) I'm very ready to stop treating it like the bubonic plague and start treating it more like the flu.

(Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor or a microbiologist or an infectious diseases scientist, so I have no idea what I'm talking about. Also, since children younger than 12 can't be vaccinated yet, I admit that my logic is flawed there. I'm hoping that this will change soon. Basically I'm looking for reasons to have hope!)

I think that there are a lot of good things that came out of this past year that I hope stick around:
  • Improved technology for working from home, where possible, and we've been forced to get used to it. I mostly hated it at the start, but now I'm hoping to keep working from home three days a week.
  • Improved technology for, and availability of remote events. I love being able to meet up with far-flung family on a regular basis, attend an east-coast friend's kid's piano recital, participate in a crossword tournament, all from my chair in the living room.
  • More common and efficient pickup/delivery services. Sometimes it's nice to get a nice restaurant meal without having to get dressed up and go to a restaurant! And I may never do my weekly shopping in person at the grocery store again.
  • Normalized mask wearing. I'm still going to wear a mask (probably two) on planes, or anywhere if I have any illness or am worried about getting one. We all had to wear our T-shirt masks in order for them to be effective, but with high-quality masks people can choose their own level of safety.
  • This place! And other online groups that give the feeling of a gathering of friends.
(There are also a lot of not-good things that came out of the past year, but I'd prefer not to dwell on those.)

Anyway, here's hoping for more normal things, even (ugh) in-person meetings!
No idea why, but I had a funny thought just the other day. While many industries will benefit in some way from COVID, I doubt bra manufacturers will be one of them. LOL!
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Cindy
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Location: Matthews

#100

Post by Cindy »

SReh26 wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 11:01 pm
hoover wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 10:09 pm
Laura M wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 10:07 pm
Oh, it was fine! I mean it was annoying because it was a meeting, and I had to wear outside-the-house clothes
And shoes!
What are those? Ive been living in ohso comfy plush slippers now for six months. Minnetonka brand on amazon.
No shoes for me. Broke my little toe yesterday by running into the base of the exercise bike while barefoot. Not that big of a deal, just tape it to the next one like the doctor did when I broke it years ago. You can still ride the bike.
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