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.
DBMiller wrote: ↑Mon Jul 26, 2021 2:20 pm
My first trip over the two for one was putting PLEA in where POPE should go. Made me go "Hmmm" when I figured out PLEA wasn't right, but ended up being the down in POPE. Forgot about it while I finished the grid and then didn't know where to go with the meta.
I returned to that "Hmmm" moment, and also associated CARD/CIRCUS with clown, BAND/WOMAN with Queen, and RED/DYE with Easter. I then went into a deep dive looking for more. CAR/GAS finally hit me, as did FORMAL/ORB, and that's finally when I noticed the e.g. connection in the clues.
Got PARAGON after that, but still hadn't made the connection with "SET A GOOD EXAMPLE".
Finally, it dawned on me - A paragon being a good (if not best) example of something, and the "e.g." connection to that answer as well. Dang, wish I had noticed that sooner!
Anyone remember the song, Things that make you go, Hmmmm?
pjc wrote: ↑Mon Jul 26, 2021 4:58 pm
I finally had the 'aha' about other answers in the grid pairing up with the example clues (and didn't get them all correct initially; there are at least FOUR 'mantle' answers in the grid).
My first find was "COATS" - slapped my forehead when I realized it should be "YANKEE"
And mine was TALLIS!
TALLIS was one of mine, too! In fact, YANKEE was the LAST one I found
hcbirker wrote: ↑Mon Jul 26, 2021 12:09 am
Was stuck for a few minutes until I saw the crossings. Then it was obvious.
My spouse had originally put 2-Down as GAS, then I realized later it was incorrect, and thought "Wow, sure is weird that 12-Across is GAS," and then it all just clicked.