"AP English" - January 8, 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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John77
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#421

Post by John77 »

Bob cruise director wrote: Mon Jan 11, 2021 9:55 am
DBMiller wrote: Mon Jan 11, 2021 9:29 am My only hiccup (That caused a minor delay), was that APexes could be TOPS and APproves could be STETS.

Took a moment to realize that the clues for both didn't match, and therefore MAXES and YESES should be used.
One of the newbie muggles that asked me for a nudge got stuck on that also so a minor course correction put him over the goal line.
I noticed those too, as well as taking far too long to associate "yen" with appetite, after being initially distracted by "starve" and "ate a lot." Having enough of the other letters to expect SYNONYMS to be the answer made it compulsory to ignore those two and keep looking.
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RichA2
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#422

Post by RichA2 »

DBMiller wrote: Mon Jan 11, 2021 9:29 am My only hiccup (That caused a minor delay), was that APexes could be TOPS and APproves could be STETS.

Took a moment to realize that the clues for both didn't match, and therefore MAXES and YESES should be used.
I had exactly the same problem, using TOPS rather than MAXES, but it took me more than a moment to realize it was fitting within the clues that mattered. Got there eventually.
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Wendy Walker
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#423

Post by Wendy Walker »

I was really hoping the answer would be METAPHOR.
Good luck, fellow Muggles!
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Cosmo
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#424

Post by Cosmo »

Wendy Walker wrote: Mon Jan 11, 2021 10:51 am I was really hoping the answer would be METAPHOR.
Me too, Wendy! My biggest rabbit hole was trying to reverse engineer METAPHOR ... META with AP in the middle was just too perfect!
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EVJ
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#425

Post by EVJ »

Favorite GL:

Group of men and one woman on horseback getting ready to hang a criminal.
Sheriff: “Who brought the rope?”
Blank stares all around.
Woman, digging through her purse: “Just a minute!
I know I’ve got one in here somewhere.”
minimuggle
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#426

Post by minimuggle »

Thank you for that ..... I had Okays and Tops and they seemed perfect so I didn't doubt them. Really threw me off. Very creative puzzle. Congrats to all who sailed ashore so quickly.
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Bird Lives
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#427

Post by Bird Lives »

Wendy Walker was hoping for METAPHOR. Me, when I saw the title AP English, I was hoping the answer would be my favorite rhetorical device: APOPHASIS, which begins with AP. It means saying something while at the same time saying that you're not saying it. For example, a politician saying, "I'm not even going to mention my opponent's connections to the Gambino crime family or the stash of kiddie porn rumored to be on his computer." Or maybe that's PARALIPSIS, which begins with PA.
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Wendy Walker
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#428

Post by Wendy Walker »

EVJ wrote: Mon Jan 11, 2021 11:29 am Favorite GL:

Group of men and one woman on horseback getting ready to hang a criminal.
Sheriff: “Who brought the rope?”
Blank stares all around.
Woman, digging through her purse: “Just a minute!
I know I’ve got one in here somewhere.”
Yeah, that would be me. I found this odd collection in my bathrobe pocket the other day:
Attachments
bathrobe.jpg
Good luck, fellow Muggles!
MikeMillerwsj
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#429

Post by MikeMillerwsj »

An ingenious contest from two visitors to our usual rotation--thank you Pete and Michael! We had a big and successful turnout: 1767 entries, about 80% correct (higher than our typical 75%).

Incorrect guesses included PREFIX (58, partial credit), PAPER (27), ALLITERATION (23), PARTICIPLE (18) and APPEND (14, counting all forms of that word).

Congrats to this week's winner, Tyler DeFroscia of Bangor, Maine!
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HeadinHome
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#430

Post by HeadinHome »

I forgot to post here on Saturday after I got the answer. I thought it was a “just right” level of difficulty (several rewarding steps, kept me moving forward and thinking). Definitely needed the asterisks!
I suspected the word SYNONYM after about step 2, but couldn’t figure out how to make it work with the two T’s I had in the mix — TOPS (for apexes) and TWIN JET (for Apache). Finally switched to MAXES, which got me close enough to suspect that TWIN JET was wrong. I had seen NAVAJO, but hadn’t thought of that as a synonym .. thinking surely that would be objectionable to some in those tribes? So I looked up their relation to each other and learned how closely related they are. Interesting!
The other Wendy. :roll:
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Wendy Walker
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#431

Post by Wendy Walker »

I just want to give this newbie Muggle a hug. He or she just wrote to me: "And this is what is confusing to me about solving these metas. Sometimes we are supposed to look at the first letter and at other times, we are supposed to take the last 3(?) letters. Nowhere in the puzzle are we clued about which path to take. Same applies for intermediate steps; in this case, we were supposed to somehow know to look for synonyms of starred answers. It could have been antonyms as well or anything else for that matter."
Good luck, fellow Muggles!
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Tom Shea
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#432

Post by Tom Shea »

Wendy Walker wrote: Mon Jan 11, 2021 12:14 pm
EVJ wrote: Mon Jan 11, 2021 11:29 am Favorite GL:

Group of men and one woman on horseback getting ready to hang a criminal.
Sheriff: “Who brought the rope?”
Blank stares all around.
Woman, digging through her purse: “Just a minute!
I know I’ve got one in here somewhere.”
Yeah, that would be me. I found this odd collection in my bathrobe pocket the other day:
That copper looks suspicious. Hope the other part is in a safe place...
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Joe Ross
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#433

Post by Joe Ross »

Wendy Walker wrote: Mon Jan 11, 2021 12:14 pm
EVJ wrote: Mon Jan 11, 2021 11:29 am Favorite GL:

Group of men and one woman on horseback getting ready to hang a criminal.
Sheriff: “Who brought the rope?”
Blank stares all around.
Woman, digging through her purse: “Just a minute!
I know I’ve got one in here somewhere.”
Yeah, that would be me. I found this odd collection in my bathrobe pocket the other day:

Image
We all want to see you wearing the robe and cat-eyes glasses on Zoom, tomorrow night, plus the heater to which that brass belongs hanging out of a pocket.
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DrTom
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#434

Post by DrTom »

Bird Lives wrote: Mon Jan 11, 2021 11:37 am Wendy Walker was hoping for METAPHOR. Me, when I saw the title AP English, I was hoping the answer would be my favorite rhetorical device: APOPHASIS, which begins with AP. It means saying something while at the same time saying that you're not saying it. For example, a politician saying, "I'm not even going to mention my opponent's connections to the Gambino crime family or the stash of kiddie porn rumored to be on his computer." Or maybe that's PARALIPSIS, which begins with PA.
That is quite possible, I am originally from NE Pennsylvania (remember my miner tale) and I think I went to school with Berdoulie Paralipsis, another Lithuanian like me. :D
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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Bob cruise director
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#435

Post by Bob cruise director »

Wendy Walker wrote: Mon Jan 11, 2021 2:23 pm I just want to give this newbie Muggle a hug. He or she just wrote to me: "And this is what is confusing to me about solving these metas. Sometimes we are supposed to look at the first letter and at other times, we are supposed to take the last 3(?) letters. Nowhere in the puzzle are we clued about which path to take. Same applies for intermediate steps; in this case, we were supposed to somehow know to look for synonyms of starred answers. It could have been antonyms as well or anything else for that matter."
How did you respond?
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Bob cruise director
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#436

Post by Bob cruise director »

Wendy Walker wrote: Mon Jan 11, 2021 10:51 am I was really hoping the answer would be METAPHOR.
I wanted onomtopoeia - I used that in English class all the time - LOL
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Bob cruise director
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#437

Post by Bob cruise director »

Joe Ross wrote: Mon Jan 11, 2021 2:39 pm
Wendy Walker wrote: Mon Jan 11, 2021 12:14 pm
EVJ wrote: Mon Jan 11, 2021 11:29 am Favorite GL:

Group of men and one woman on horseback getting ready to hang a criminal.
Sheriff: “Who brought the rope?”
Blank stares all around.
Woman, digging through her purse: “Just a minute!
I know I’ve got one in here somewhere.”
Yeah, that would be me. I found this odd collection in my bathrobe pocket the other day:

Image
We all want to see you wearing the robe and cat-eyes glasses on Zoom, tomorrow night, plus the heater to which that brass belongs hanging out of a pocket.
And the backstory of why Wendy has a shell casing (looks like a .22) in your bathrobe pocket
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Wendy Walker
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#438

Post by Wendy Walker »

Bob cruise director wrote: Mon Jan 11, 2021 4:35 pm
Wendy Walker wrote: Mon Jan 11, 2021 2:23 pm I just want to give this newbie Muggle a hug. He or she just wrote to me: "And this is what is confusing to me about solving these metas. Sometimes we are supposed to look at the first letter and at other times, we are supposed to take the last 3(?) letters. Nowhere in the puzzle are we clued about which path to take. Same applies for intermediate steps; in this case, we were supposed to somehow know to look for synonyms of starred answers. It could have been antonyms as well or anything else for that matter."
How did you respond?
You've heard my spiel before, Bob (and by the way you have a good eye; the shell casing was a .22LR).
My response was this:
You have hit upon exactly what keeps us coming back: You never know which way the puzzle is going to go. In fact, antonyms would have been a really fun gimmick!
But what you are doing is the only way to get better at these -- look at the answer on Monday and see how it was done.
When I started doing these puzzles a few years back I thought, "There's no way anyone could get these; there's just not enough information provided!" I gave up after a few weeks. Then I noticed that I was repeatedly telling my nephew NOT to give up while running his tough cross-country races -- and I thought I'd better be consistent and follow my own advice. (BTW he ended up getting a track scholarship to Villanova!!!)
So keep plugging away! And never hesitate to ask for help! I have some "nudgees" who needed a helping hand for many weeks but are now getting the meta most weeks on their own."
Good luck, fellow Muggles!
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#439

Post by Scraps »

Bob cruise director wrote: Mon Jan 11, 2021 4:44 pm
Joe Ross wrote: Mon Jan 11, 2021 2:39 pm
Wendy Walker wrote: Mon Jan 11, 2021 12:14 pm

Yeah, that would be me. I found this odd collection in my bathrobe pocket the other day:

Image
We all want to see you wearing the robe and cat-eyes glasses on Zoom, tomorrow night, plus the heater to which that brass belongs hanging out of a pocket.
And the backstory of why Wendy has a shell casing (looks like a .22) in your bathrobe pocket
Because Wendy always leaves behind a clean crime scene?
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Meg
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#440

Post by Meg »

Wendy Walker wrote: Mon Jan 11, 2021 12:14 pm
EVJ wrote: Mon Jan 11, 2021 11:29 am Favorite GL:

Group of men and one woman on horseback getting ready to hang a criminal.
Sheriff: “Who brought the rope?”
Blank stares all around.
Woman, digging through her purse: “Just a minute!
I know I’ve got one in here somewhere.”
Yeah, that would be me. I found this odd collection in my bathrobe pocket the other day:
An Allen wrench in your bathrobe pocket? That is absolutely marvelous!
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