"Sign Language" June 14, 2024

[Georgeall]

I have a somewhat different, yet obviously correct, answer. The theme "Sign Language" means that a language is important in the solution, and the central answer "AENEAS" clearly intends that Latin is the one. The 71-across clue "Gravity harnessing fun" means that the meta will be found in a downward direction. Looking at the marquee answers going down, we find "I CAME" in "PREDICAMENT," "I WIN" in "MIKE DEWINE," and (with a little mental gymnastics) "I SEE" in the combination "PRIM," "SILEX," and '"NESS." Putting these together yields "I came, I see, I win," which is reasonable close to julius Caesar's boast of "Veni, vidi, vici" (I came, I saw, I conquered). The fast food chain is LITTLE CAESAR'S.

As Caesar probably said, "Da mihi mug!"

[ship4u]

The word SIGN in the title clued me into looking for a sign that might be seen at a fast food establishment. SIGN LANGUAGE, clued to me that it was purely visual.

I did, however, spend time looking for DRIVE THRU......

[hoover]

It would be interesting to create a tool that did both frequency and spatial analysis...

You can do this with Mechapuzzle. On the Grid tab, click on the letters in the frequency chart to highlight occurrences of each letter.

[Zobo3737]

I submitted CHURCH’S CHICKEN because the word AMEN is in PREDICAMENT, and all I had was a prayer.

[ELSavage]

It would be interesting to create a tool that did both frequency and spatial analysis...

That second part is exactly how I came up with the solution.
I noticed the abundance of E's, many connected to each other, and thought maybe they would make a picture of some sort, so I used a spreadsheet to highlight just the E's.
I also noticed that the puzzle was a near pangram, with every letter but Q (creating a brief temptation to backsolve for Dairy Queen or Quiznos), so I wondered if any other letters made patterns, and although I started at the end of the alphabet (all those X's Y's and Z's in the mid-upper right), I eventually tried all of them, and noticed that O, A and T only existed in the middle of the puzzle (the C's escaped notice at first because there were only two of them and I didn't expect C to be as common). So then I was wondering what fast food chain specialized in oatmeal
When I highlighted all three at the same time, the bell shape appeared, except that there was one missing square with a C in it. That's when I noticed that the only 2 C's finished the picture, but by then the bell shape had already put the word TACO in my head, so the anagramming step must have been subconscious.

[KscX]

I thought it looked more like a Christmas tree than a bell. Solidly on the gangplank for me this week- not even a sighting of the bar I was so far from any ideas.

[ArthurD]

I still think it looks more like a Christmas tree. For a while I was wondering if maybe there was some regional chain of restaurants called Taco Tree.

[halseymac]

I spent the entire weekend with Issac. I see now why the grid was so contrived -if you can't use letters T-A-C-O anywhere else you have to reach for some really weird/hard/convoluted answers. Found the grid to be so hard as to not be enjoyable.

[damefox]

Trying to imagine what the fast-food chain Taco Christmas Tree might be like...

Also: https://pgwcc.net/2019/10/08/puzzle-30-solution/. (This puzzle is from Oct 2019, so I'm not sure it really needs a spoiler warning, but spoiler warning all the same.)

[LadyBird]

Sign Language uses ASL. At 69A, there is YSL. Find all the Y's and connect them and you have those Golden Arches, thus MCDONALDS.

I also noticed the names of 10 men in the grid. So they were really emphasizing that there are FIVE GUYS, FIVE GUYS here.

Oh well, on to next week!

[Mirage]

I spent the weekend trying to find a fast food chain using Roman numerals. I was certain that 65D was the hint for the “sign” language, I.e. Roman numerals as a sign or symbol for numbers. The four longest down answers, predicament, MikeDeWine, revengeful, and looneytunes contain Roman numerals DICM, IDI, VL, and L. The first set D+I+C+M = 1,601, translated to answers 16 and 1, giving me BU. Burger King for sure! Of course nothing after that spelled anything that made sense. But I couldn’t give it up and never got a glimpse of the shore. Kudos to those who solved.

[Joe Ross]

I noticed the abundance of E's, many connected to each other, and thought maybe they would make a picture of some sort, so I used a spreadsheet to highlight just the E's.

Sign Language Excel File
Save to your drive. Open & grant permissions.

[mattythewsjpuzzler]

Never got it. Certainly Meh due to lack of clues. I did the mechapuzzle letter frequency analysis and focused on the fact that there were so many E's not the fact that there weren't as many A's. And the location of them. Also my daughter said TACO looks like GOTATATTOO but couldn't bring it home.
Shame on me. Thought it had to do with ASL given the title and the lower left YSL. Congrats to those who solved!

[HunterX]

Here's another deeeeep rabbit hole for the @The XWord Rabbit. Until I was gently nudged away, I really thought this was going to be the actual answer. I just wish the letters spelled out in the grid gave me the message "WE HAVE THE MEATS"!

I submitted Arby's just for the pure fact that 68A was a company named after its founders initials. I never actually new Arby's was named after its founders. I always thought it was RB short for roast beef. Well, this week I learned something new about a sign, but not from MG, but from the other MG (Mr Google).

I fell down the same rabbit hole (and deeply suspected that the answer must be Arby's, but I couldn't piece it together).

The other rabbit hole I got sucked through was circling all the L's and S's (as hinted by 68A and the initials of the title) and trying to make sense of the shape. If only I tried other letters.

I saw the 3 sets of double B's and was frustrated that there was only one double R, as I kept trying to backslove for Arby's, having also learned that it was named after the Raffel Brothers, linking it to 68A.

I also saw the formation of a Texas longhorn in the symmetrical letters in the center, starting with the 2 O's on the 8th row, then going down to the AENEA of Aeneas, then down from the center to the E and A. And the LS of 68A could stand for Longhorn Steakhouse. But it seemed too weak a metanism. After being nudged that looking for a formation of letters, similar to my longhorns, was the way to go, I then realized why all the T's and O's were in the central area.

[krf]

I spent yesterday afternoon in the Roman numeral rabbit hole. Seeing that the last answer was in Roman numerals, I noticed that 18A was "key"
KIX equals K9 equals canine equals dog equals 8D, i.e. Benji. But that leads to too many 49's and 999's to be workable.

Also spent time trying to find a VGUYS sequence (Five Guys).

[woozy]

... I did the mechapuzzle letter frequency analysis and focused on the fact that there were so many E's not the fact that there weren't as many A's. ...

Am I the only one who looked at the mechapuzzle letter frequency and thought "Meh, nothing really noticeable here"? (I hadn't known that if you click on a letter that it would highlight the appearance of the letters.

[Yoda66]

I sank in the Mariana Trench on this one. As I was filling the grid 53A made me think of Popeye's fast food (although anchor tattoos vs butterflies. Spent some time on that one (e.g adding "I"'s, "Es' as anchors etc). Then Looney Tunes (26D) screamed at me (Popeye is not a LT character) and looked for Signs typically posted on LT cartoon shows. Wiley E raising the "Help" (1A) sign before falling into the abyss or showing his concocted "Plan" (34 A). 71A talking about gravity (ie. falling into the canyon) made me fell good about it. in addition to "B(l)EEP" (13a); 70A "END' appears often (although I would like to see more a "That's all folks" yada yada. Also, somehow the mechanism had to include an S (as part of 71A "Slide S". No, that can't be.

Next, let's look at the clues. There is a duck (Daffy), there is a cat (Sylvester), There is a bug (Bugs Bunny), there is a dog (Sam Sheepdog), there is a fury (Tasmanian Devil). Interesting. Could jam relate to Space Jam WB movie? No, but I am falling deeper into the abyss. Then under the same LT logic, I changed gear and looked for Looney Tunes character's initials. 69A (YSL = Yosemite Sam ==> use the L for the answer, 61A ELF = Elmer Fudd ==> use L, 7A EBB = Bugs Bunny, ==> E, 66A FLU = Fog Leghorn ==> U). Could this lead to Culver's?. No

[JPMalone]

I think this needed another small hint somewhere in the puzzle, nothing too obvious, but just something. I also think if it had a few more T's in the "image" instead of mostly all the other letters, that could have helped make it stand out and look a little neater. Or like TACO spelt out properly clockwise. Mega props to anyone who got it on their own though

[Ergcat]

I think this needed another small hint somewhere in the puzzle, nothing too obvious, but just something. I also think if it had a few more T's in the "image" instead of mostly all the other letters, that could have helped make it stand out and look a little neater. Or like TACO spelt out properly clockwise. Mega props to anyone who got it on their own though

Well said! I agree. I noticed the over-abundance of E and tried connecting them. But No hints to look at T, A, C, O! Someone nudged me to look at the 2 long across answers as hints SERIALIZED AND GOTATATOO. So I thought “string of letters”and then, divided the other as “Go tatattoo” like a hint/direction. So I followed the string of T A & O. And then needed the C to complete a shape. (like someone said in the zoom call “that looks like the poop emoji” )

[TMart]

I knew I saw this before somewhere.....

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