"Power Play" August 5, 2022

[kawaja]

"Well, the power play has not gotten any easier. Even with nudges, we only have 53 on the shore and there is a crowd of 39 on the ship. Isaac has opened a second bar on the Lido deck. And has the waiters going into the bilges with water for those stuck there"

Much obliged, I will tip well for their extra effort.

[Lacern]

On the ship,
In a dip.
Tried a flip,
A slip,
And I need a tip.

[Magistra]

So far out to sea that I forgot to say that I am lost. Will work a bit more and probably send in a Hail Mary. Anything could happen in two hours, right?

[Kas]

To date--going in 4-5 years now?!

Kas, time flies! We’re coming up on the 7th anniversary! I have September 18, 2015 down as the date I first did a meta puzzle - the first WSJ meta!

Good grief—you’re right!!

[ky-mike]

Took the last lifeboat to shore. I won’t submit as I had to be hit over the head too many times to see the path that had been laying before me for quite a while.

[Darth]

On Naboo. Bumpy ride traveling through an asteroid shower, but finally made it across. Yesterday.

[TeaJenny]

I'm going to declare myself ashore, as I have taken a deep breath, jumped overboard, and submitted a Hail Mary at the 11th+ hour. Hopefully, it's the correct shore...

[Joe Ross]

[Joe Ross]

[TeaJenny]

Nope. Wrong shore. Swimming back to the ship for a consolatory drink.

[Inca]

Brilliant....all who got this one.
I think someone mentioned that this is a typical Mike Shenk meta. Although I think it is brilliant, I don't think I see it as quite so typical.

[meowmiao71]

Ooof, I never would have gotten that in a million years! Congratulations to those who did.

[escapeartist]

wow, that's one tough meta

congrats to those that managed to get this one

I was down so many rabbit holes it was a power of something...

[Joe Ross]

We had a 4 PM ET Zoom Group Solving Session, today, to explore using Zoom's newish whiteboard feature.

Of course, 5 minutes after 4, a squall passed through my neighborhood & I lost my internet connection. So, it did not run as smoothly as it could have. However, thanks to the patience of all & to @KayW for standing in my stead before I could restore my connection - "Unplug your connection box & wait 2 full minutes before plugging back in..." - we were able to see that the tool may have some features that may help, with larger crowds, particularly.

The idea being tested was whether having one set of notes, open to all & being developed in real-time, is beneficial to a group solving session.

The FIRST thing we learned: To use the whiteboard feature, connect via the Zoom app (versus in-browser) and be sure that the app is up-to-date.

I learned, just before losing internet the first time, that text can be typed onto the whiteboard. Discombobulated & trying to catch up, I did not use that feature but (too) quickly hand wrote everything with a stylus (with the too generous & overly kind Peter @Abide pointing out my incredibly neat & readable stylusmanship). Below is a screen capture of what we burned through, today. It ain't pretty, but it shows promise.

HUGE apologies to those wanting to be led to the answer gently using their own nudged thoughts. With my technical issues & frustrations, I flew through the steps without patience and without asking the unsolveds' help as much as possible .

Overall, I'd say this was a success.

[Miki]

And now that we have our answer, I'll give you my best rabbit hole:

Power play- hockey term
No great shakes/spare - hint to Shakespeare
A play within a play - suggests a Shakespeare's midsummer night's dream
Midsummer night's dream's imp and narrator is Puck.
Puck - hockey term
Answer had to be Puck

[C=64]

As I suspected, I was being too mathy with my approach and not crosswordy enough. (This from a person whose debit card PIN is a fourth power so it's easy for me to remember. Edit: Um, and my username is kind of on point as well.)

A Hail Mary! (144) MATH, says I! (441) So freaking obviously! (289) Grapes, sour! (64)

Anyway, congratulations to everyone on the shore!

[pipster]

I was left on the boat this week. After seeing the solution, I have no issue with the difficulty of the mechanism. But I do take issue with SOLAR being dead center in the grid, clued with “Energy choice,” given the puzzle’s title. I can’t remember a meta where this type of signpost was *not* part of the solution.

[benchen71]

I was left on the boat this week. After seeing the solution, I have no issue with the difficulty of the mechanism. But I do take issue with SOLAR being dead center in the grid, clued with “Energy choice,” given the puzzle’s title. I can’t remember a meta where this type of signpost was *not* part of the solution.

Agreed. That, and 62A META with a clue that references plays!

[DrTom]

Brilliant....all who got this one.
I think someone mentioned that this is a typical Mike Shenk meta. Although I think it is brilliant, I don't think I see it as quite so typical.

I think that someone was me...I said that because several in recent memory have used the number of letters in the theme answers to generate the answer. One that comes to mind is COUNTDOWN and I know there was another recently. The mechanisms are certainly not the same and this was a darn clever use of it, but I have to remember when switching between constructors that certain people like certain things.

We knew we needed a letter from each theme answer and knew the theme answers, but boy there were lots of "shiny objects" to lead us astray:
(1) Use of "power" and "play" in two consecutive clues (58 and 59A) makes you want to do something with them
(2) Play in 59A and in the title make you think of powerful plays or playwrights. NOGREATSHAKES has SPARE coming down from the S, and if one adds an E one gets SHAKESPEARE and that is one letter to add for one entry. I tried everything I knew to get playwright names out of the other themers.
(3) SOLAR....really SOLAR in DEAD CENTER, well that is just (what was that past meta's name) DIRTY POOL. Talk about your twenty dollar bill lying on the sidewalk....

Anyway, it was fun and we all have now seen yet another way to mess with our minds. Fun stuff Mr. Shenk!

[Schmeel]

Last week's MGWCC threw me off.
I saw that the grid is a pangram without a J. The entry in the SE corner is TEN. J is the tenth letter of the alphabet. I'm pretty sure there are only four J's in the clues. Looking for a four-letter word. It's gotta be it, right?
If not, those crossing TOOLs in the grid with 'power' in the title?
Or SOLAR in the center?
Too much noise for me to solve solo this week. A little nudge pushed me in the right direction.
Good puzzle, though!