"Parting The Waters" - January 31, 2020

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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Nlobb
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#221

Post by Nlobb »

Oh my! I got hung up on the idea of Moses parting the Red Sea and finding lots of treasures on the sand like "beautiful shells." I guess a spring is technically a body of water... But a roll is definitely not seafood!! We had oysters Rockefeller while watching all the commercials I didn't understand...
MaineMarge
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#222

Post by MaineMarge »

The fact that spring + roll was not a water body + a seafood bothered me. I solved that by ordering mine up as a lobster spring roll. The title indicated we were just to part the waters. Apparently the seafood part of the themers was a big red herring.
I had not picked up on the 3 Sounds in the clues.
Great hint there Matt.
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Hector
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#223

Post by Hector »

On crosswordfiend I mused that SPRING CHICKEN might be better (you know, the feathery critter splashing about in its eponymous aquatic habitat). But, as Matt noted, that's too many letters.
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pookie
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#224

Post by pookie »

If only I'd known I was a contestant on "Concentration" with Alex Trebek.
SP+ (ringing bell image) + (dinner roll) + S
:x
MikeMillerwsj
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#225

Post by MikeMillerwsj »

Well, this was quite a tough one to reel in.
We had 551 entries, only about 56% correct. Lots of fishing expeditions in the world of seafood appetizers, including GULF SHRIMP (29, plus another 20 for SHRIMP COCKTAIL), CALAMARI (26), SUSHI (12), and CRAB CAKES (7). Plus some non-seafood ones including SALSA (13, counting different variants), WINGS (6, ditto), and BRUSCHETTA (6)

Congrats to this week's winner: Tim Murphy of Spring Valley, Ill.!
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Wendy Walker
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#226

Post by Wendy Walker »

MikeMillerwsj wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2020 1:54 pm Well, this was quite a tough one to reel in.
We had 551 entries, only about 56% correct. Lots of fishing expeditions in the world of seafood appetizers, including GULF SHRIMP (29, plus another 20 for SHRIMP COCKTAIL), CALAMARI (26), SUSHI (12), and CRAB CAKES (7). Plus some non-seafood ones including SALSA (13, counting different variants), WINGS (6, ditto), and BRUSCHETTA (6)

Congrats to this week's winner: Tim Murphy of Spring Valley, Ill.!
Congratulations, Tim! This is a truly a mug to be proud of!
Good luck, fellow Muggles!
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tim1217
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#227

Post by tim1217 »

MikeMillerwsj wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2020 1:54 pm Well, this was quite a tough one to reel in.
We had 551 entries, only about 56% correct. Lots of fishing expeditions in the world of seafood appetizers, including GULF SHRIMP (29, plus another 20 for SHRIMP COCKTAIL), CALAMARI (26), SUSHI (12), and CRAB CAKES (7). Plus some non-seafood ones including SALSA (13, counting different variants), WINGS (6, ditto), and BRUSCHETTA (6)

Congrats to this week's winner: Tim Murphy of Spring Valley, Ill.!
YES!!!

Chalk one up for the Muggles. This is especially sweet given I solved it so quickly (an unusual occurrence). I will cherish this award forever!
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#228

Post by steveb »

tim1217 wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2020 1:57 pm
MikeMillerwsj wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2020 1:54 pm Well, this was quite a tough one to reel in.
We had 551 entries, only about 56% correct. Lots of fishing expeditions in the world of seafood appetizers, including GULF SHRIMP (29, plus another 20 for SHRIMP COCKTAIL), CALAMARI (26), SUSHI (12), and CRAB CAKES (7). Plus some non-seafood ones including SALSA (13, counting different variants), WINGS (6, ditto), and BRUSCHETTA (6)

Congrats to this week's winner: Tim Murphy of Spring Valley, Ill.!
YES!!!

Chalk one up for the Muggles. This is especially sweet given I solved it so quickly (an unusual occurrence). I will cherish this award forever!
Spring Valley ... it had to be. Congratulations!
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Janet
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#229

Post by Janet »

Oh my, how perfect -- spring roll in Spring Valley.
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Bob cruise director
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#230

Post by Bob cruise director »

tim1217 wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2020 1:57 pm
MikeMillerwsj wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2020 1:54 pm Well, this was quite a tough one to reel in.
We had 551 entries, only about 56% correct. Lots of fishing expeditions in the world of seafood appetizers, including GULF SHRIMP (29, plus another 20 for SHRIMP COCKTAIL), CALAMARI (26), SUSHI (12), and CRAB CAKES (7). Plus some non-seafood ones including SALSA (13, counting different variants), WINGS (6, ditto), and BRUSCHETTA (6)

Congrats to this week's winner: Tim Murphy of Spring Valley, Ill.!
YES!!!

Chalk one up for the Muggles. This is especially sweet given I solved it so quickly (an unusual occurrence). I will cherish this award forever!
Congratulations tim1217

Well done
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KayW
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#231

Post by KayW »

tim1217 wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2020 1:57 pm
MikeMillerwsj wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2020 1:54 pm Well, this was quite a tough one to reel in.
We had 551 entries, only about 56% correct. Lots of fishing expeditions in the world of seafood appetizers, including GULF SHRIMP (29, plus another 20 for SHRIMP COCKTAIL), CALAMARI (26), SUSHI (12), and CRAB CAKES (7). Plus some non-seafood ones including SALSA (13, counting different variants), WINGS (6, ditto), and BRUSCHETTA (6)

Congrats to this week's winner: Tim Murphy of Spring Valley, Ill.!
YES!!!

Chalk one up for the Muggles. This is especially sweet given I solved it so quickly (an unusual occurrence). I will cherish this award forever!
Congratulations, Tim!! Hooray for a muggle win, and an Illinoisan to boot! Have a spring roll to celebrate.
Contest Crosswords Combating Cancer (CCCC) is a bundle of 16 metapuzzles created to help raise money for cancer-related charities. It is available at CrosswordsForCancer.com.
Alan H
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#232

Post by Alan H »

Like others, “apeak” was my door to the solution. Even when I had Chesapeake and Artic, it still took me a while to figure out the other three, even though I knew Spring Roll and letter order etc. That is the sign of a good meta.
Nlobb
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#233

Post by Nlobb »

Nonetheless, it was pretty overwhelming for someone new to meta solving... I am wondering if there is a pattern to the difficulty level from week to week ?? Well I, I enjoyed thinking about it, but I didn't get too far. Enjoyed my gulf coast oysters though.
Ksoav
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#234

Post by Ksoav »

I really overcomplicated this one and it got me nowhere! I did learn there is an Ushki Bay (Pushkin), River Onda (Monday), and I already knew about Lake Erie (Eerier). I kept telling myself there was no way this could be coincidence on Gaffney meta, and no reference is too obscure for him! Alas, it appears it was just a coincidence.

Nifty solve, congrats to all that made it to shore!
Memay131
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#235

Post by Memay131 »

Some of you were on the ship with Isaac, but I also found myself on Ushki Bay with ksoav!
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MajordomoTom
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#236

Post by MajordomoTom »

Tim - congrats, well deserved, this one was very difficult.

Did anyone do research on various "SEAS" and find that there's a swimsuit brand called SEA REINAS? Seriously, there is.

This one had SOOO much misdirection, almost criminal. That makes it particularly crunchy when you get the AHA moment.
"Lots of planets have a North", the Ninth Doctor.
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sharkicicles
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#237

Post by sharkicicles »

Abide wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2020 9:23 am #156Post by BrianMac » Sun Feb 02, 2020 1:19 pm

Abide wrote: ↑Sun Feb 02, 2020 1:02 pm

Started this morning; after 30 minutes had a reasonable backsolve answer. Reading comments confirmed backsolve answer was right. Then spent two hours figuring out how to make it work!

Trying to wrap my head around this. I would love to hear a more detailed explanation after the deadline.

***
First assumption: the appetizer will have a body of water at the start. Wiki: Body of Water---Bayou, cove, channel, gulf, pond, stream, SPRING. SPRING ROLLS seemed right, but there are 10 numbers in parens. Singular SPRINGROLL sounds better than GULFOYSTER or GULFSHRIMP. Wendy's comment that it was on her menu confirmed SPRINGROLL for me. But how to make it fit? Eventually I made a hangman style grid next to the theme entries, inserting my proposed answer. So next to OCEANPERCH (2,5) I had _ R _ _ I _ ---. That seemed to fit ARCTIC. Ten minutes later I plugged in Chesapeake. Only 20 minutes later did I see CHESS and APEAK. It still took another 30 minutes to find the other three in the grid.
Impressive. The dude does abide.
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CPJohnson
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#238

Post by CPJohnson »

Nlobb wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2020 6:21 pm Nonetheless, it was pretty overwhelming for someone new to meta solving... I am wondering if there is a pattern to the difficulty level from week to week ?? Well I, I enjoyed thinking about it, but I didn't get too far. Enjoyed my gulf coast oysters though.
I put this puzzle in the "sounds like" group, and I don't think I have ever solved one. 7-22-16 - animal sounds, 7-29-16 - r-e-s-p-e-c-t, 7-28-17 - musical note homophones, 6-21-19 - (no short descriptor, see Joe Ross's list). (sigh)
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Joe Ross
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#239

Post by Joe Ross »

steveb wrote: Sun Feb 02, 2020 6:08 pm
Joe Ross wrote: Sun Feb 02, 2020 4:40 pm Muggles who have saved paper copies of past puzzles from 2016, please do not get rid of them, yet. steveb has generously provided nearly all PDFs of puzzles & solutions not in WSJ archives, but there may be a missing puzzle, or two.

In the next week, or so, the remaining puzzles and solutions from January & February 2017 and all of 2016 will be posted. I will post if certain puzzles are still needed.

Thank you, Steve, and thanks to all who may be able to help.
Let me know if you're still missing any, because I have downloaded and saved the PDFs for *all* of them!
Steve had sent all of the remaining copies not available on WSJ's website. Quite a few did not save when downloaded en masse due to a character in their names. All have been downloaded, now. August 2016 through December 2016 remain to be created & posted. These will be available by this Thursday's posting of the new Crossword Contest.

Thank you, again, Steve!
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KarenO
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#240

Post by KarenO »

If I live to be 110 I could never have gotten this ever.
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