"Letter Openers" May 17, 2024

[Trey]

Marion and I are on the shore............still dragging Jill and Mitch! Good luck to all!

[femullen]

Ahoy the Muggles! Don't care this week if I solve or not. Spending the weekend with The Smarter Half in Montréal. She has just finished the grid, and I have just finished an IPA.

[mikeB]

Ashore, and what a challengingly twisty quest. I used to think the best Aha! moments were the thunderous crashes. In my case at least, this one came in bite-sized pieces -- little nibbles that made me think "This is it!", but it wasn't. Until it was. And then the crash. Like the old Hanes commercial, you don't say Aha! until we say you say Aha! Loved this one.

[FKelly]

Oh, what a clever one!
On shore after being rescued by the Zoom Room crew. Ahoy mates!
Completely missed the prerequisite step, but a nice change from the past few Metas.
Saw the MIT bunny. Would anyone like a Gecko LETTER OPENER?
Unfortunately, it doesn't climb around on the ceiling. That would be too cool.

[Ergcat]

🏝on shore🏝
Needed a little nudge from @ship4u to keep me going in the right direction! for me. In Kalamazoo visiting my youngest… there are so many breweries to check out here!

[Trish]

Whew! Finally on shore. Thought it was something similar but couldn’t make that one work. Finally got to the right one!!

[Harbo]

Took the scenic route but … beer me!

[Franky_T]

Ashore. Great Zoom call.

[Eric Porter]

So... I thought there'd be a nice bridge from the ship to the shore.

But it only had one plank.

splash... lost at sea

Before the Zoom call, I could see the bridge to shore, but a few planks were missing. I was so close, yet so far that I couldn't make the jump.

[HunterX]

Ashore.

Prepping for trip to Japan. (Including trying to learn some Japanese.) Does that mean I have to switch from meta puzzles to Sudoku?

O sake o kudasai.

[Grover]

Ashore! A bit tricky, but doable.

[BigPear]

I am on a sand bar. Hoping tomorrow I can dog paddle it in.

[Bird Lives]

Ashore, but I had to be towed out of a deep rabbit hole to get there.

[Libbypibby]

Ashore!!! Great puzzle

[meowmiao71]

On shore thanks as usual to my partner. (I'm the grid getter; he more often than not figures out the meta). Toughie!

[Beth Tyrpin]

I did it! 🏝

[mkmf]

Didn't start the puzzle until Friday night and made it to shore in one sitting. It's been a long time since that's happened for the WSJ lately. It was really fun!

[jimbo1]

Late night success, well at least with the Meta.
I’ll have a stinger.

[seahawks_seashanty]

Currently stranded in the endless blue. I think I have the first step but don't know where to go from there. Would anyone be able to give me a gentle nudge towards shore?

After a much-appreciated nudge from @DaveG, I was able to paddle ashore with enough time to get a drink. This was a tough one for me, I definitely fell down several rabbit holes before getting to the right answer. Good luck to all those still trying to find their way this weekend!

[DrTom]

Yep I was right, that was the answer, but getting there, WHEW! Something kept saying "Hey Tom, look over here!!!" and finally I listened.

Time for one of my favorites, a Cacciavite. Never heard of it? Not surprised, it is, like many thing I come up with, an odd variation on a classic. Essentially a screwdriver with a twist (pun obviously intended):

When was a pun NOT intended?

Well I certainly would not want to ROB you of my bad INtentions, besides if I said I did not intend that it would be hard to SWALLOW.

T