"Following Directions" - May 14, 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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Cindy
Posts: 1248
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 5:39 pm
Location: Matthews

#441

Post by Cindy »

MaineMarge wrote: Mon May 17, 2021 7:27 pm Ok people, now that we’ve had a chance to test our ability to follow directions, here are some much easier directions for you to follow to see this happen with garlic scapes in your own home.
230D7803-B8D8-4652-BFA7-D9F1553F9A53.jpeg
1. Buy any number of garlic scapes at the market. ( or cut your own✂️)
2. Recut the ends.
3. Place in a vase or container of water
4. For the next 3 weeks watch the intricate ballet as they slowly uncurl UDLR around each other as they lengthen and head skyward.
This is a yearly joy in our house. 👩🏻‍🌾
An August 8th photo.
We did this for the first time last year and did not realize just how long and heavy they could get. We succesfully broke a vase and spilled water everywhere while the garlic scapes were unattended. Now we know they have to be in a heavy container!
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DrTom
Posts: 3765
Joined: Sat Apr 20, 2019 6:46 pm
Location: Jacksonville, FL

#442

Post by DrTom »

MaineMarge wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 9:47 am
DrTom wrote: Mon May 17, 2021 10:50 pm
MaineMarge wrote: Mon May 17, 2021 7:27 pm Ok people, now that we’ve had a chance to test our ability to follow directions, here are some much easier directions for you to follow to see this happen with garlic scapes in your own home.
230D7803-B8D8-4652-BFA7-D9F1553F9A53.jpeg
1. Buy any number of garlic scapes at the market. ( or cut your own✂️)
2. Recut the ends.
3. Place in a vase or container of water
4. For the next 3 weeks watch the intricate ballet as they slowly uncurl UDLR around each other as they lengthen and head skyward.
This is a yearly joy in our house. 👩🏻‍🌾
An August 8th photo.
Do they produce useable garlic cloves ?
Dr. Tom, I’ve never tried to plant any of the seeds that will be spurted all over the floor as the seed heads mature to that eventually if I’m not tuned in. I just save some of each year’s cloves to plant in the fall.
Why don’t you go for it!!
I might just do that. I have not had very good luck with garlic here, I think it might get too hot? Perhaps I had better start in January or February. I planted one and it started nicely but then never really did anything else. I've watched some videos and it looks like it ought to be relatively easy but so far no joy.

T
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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BethA
Posts: 624
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 6:44 pm
Location: Beaver, PA

#443

Post by BethA »

My garlic scape comments @MaineMarge @DrTom @Cindy

I’m happy to say that garlic is something that grows quite well for me in western PA. My favorite variety is Musik, for the large cloves and nice flavor.

One of my first experiences with scapes was not so good. I read how great garlic scape pesto was, so tried making some. I didn’t realize I shouldn’t use the flower bud! It is very intense and led to gastrointestinal upset for us. The most successful use I think was in an Asian pasta primavera, cutting the scape stems in lengths of a couple inches, cooking til crisp-tender, kind of a substitute for asparagus which is normally in that recipe.

I’m still a little shy about using them, remembering that first experience. So I always save them in the fridge, but often end up throwing them away after awhile. I think I’ll look forward to trying the scape ballet with some this year!!
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BethA
Posts: 624
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 6:44 pm
Location: Beaver, PA

#444

Post by BethA »

Ps. Last year I left a few on the plants to let them bloom and produce seeds. I didn’t get them all cut off before they went to seed, so do have some tiny garlic plants coming up in the vicinity.

Garlic scape in bloom —
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C=64
Posts: 684
Joined: Mon Jun 08, 2020 8:29 pm
Location: PDX

#445

Post by C=64 »

I'm not great with these follow-a-path-around-the-grid puzzles, but I now realize something that seems obvious in retrospect: if there are 7 (i.e., n) starred clues but the meta answer has 8 (i.e., n+1) letters, the 7 clues are probably the paths/mechanisms connecting the 8 letters.
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