Section Eight (WSJ, 04/27/24)

[ChrisKochmanski]

Another Patrick Berry creation to savor. I found it challenging enough to be absorbing and fun, while not so challenging that I ever felt like giving up.

[Meg]

I was down to one entry that I couldn’t see. But there is a way to use deductive reasoning. Finally got it.
"What e is but i isn’t." What a great clue!!

[ChrisKochmanski]

I was down to one entry that I couldn’t see. But there is a way to use deductive reasoning. Finally got it.
"What e is but i isn’t." What a great clue!!

Agree! Though I had to ask my wife, a retired math teacher, to confirm the answer.

[Bird Lives]

I knew e vs i, but "Self-aggrandizing comment" was a puzzler, a variant which I had to look up on the Internet once I knew what the letters had to be. I'm still doubtful. And I still don't have the "Adhesive dispenser" even though I know what the letters have to include. Either that, or there's an iditarod vehicle I've never heard of.

[KayW]

@Bird Lives
glue gun

I had to backsolve "Spiky burs to avoid when walking barefoot on a lawn". I'd never heard of the answer but was able to google once I got most of the next ring.

[hoover]

@KayW Same here, except I just put the letters in the only arrangement that would make some semblance of words. My last one to fill in was the "No publicity" injunction, which I finally got after scribbling down possibilities. Fortunately I was able to work from the inside out as well as from the outside in.

[sharkicicles]

@Bird Lives
glue gun

I had to backsolve "Spiky burs to avoid when walking barefoot on a lawn". I'd never heard of the answer but was able to google once I got most of the next ring.

Same here, wonder if that’s a regional thing.

[Meg]

We have them in Florida. Super painful when you step on them with bare feet.