"S is for Solving" -- October 4, 2024

[hoover]

Yeah no.

[LittleGood]

It took me a lot of brainpower to realize "PSL" = Pumpkin Spice Latte and not Premiere Soccer League.

On the bright side I now know that the crest of Sheffield United features two crossed swords.

[CV-at-Sea]

It’s actually kinda comforting to see the solution and realize that I was not remotely on the right track!

Far less discouraging than missing by a sliver… I think. Of course, I have not yet been within a sliver

[otlaolap]

Quibbles? I have two. "PSL" as a "Fall pick-me-up" is remote, even to Google -- a specific menu item at a specific chain of shops according to Google -- and it strains my tolerance. Not even near the top results; had to keep going until I found a PSL that was consumable. On the other hand its (to me, again, de gustibus etc.) arbitrariness was a strong signal that, as an possible element of a possible mechanism, that mechanism was likely to be the correct one. A construction containng "P" was likely required and therefore "P" was likely to be in the result.

The second quibble is the prompt. "I hope you experience an escapade" is, although parsable, gibberish to my mind. (OK, yes it's just me.) It seems a stretch of language beyond the brilliant puns we hope for in crossword clues and does not resonate at all. You can experience many things: tornadoes, emotions, even eventually mortality. So you can experience a noun. But "experience an escapade" feels incongruent to me. Why this is I am not able to identify. But it probably is in this direction: if I am an on an escapade, I am an actor doing something, creating something, not merely or passively experiencing it. When I experience something it is happening to me; when I am on an escapade then I am making something happen. (Yes, yes, it's just me -- not claiming the above is true or correct but explaining why I felt troubled by the prompt.) I suppose, though, you can "experience mortality" in both ways: if you are wasting away from disease you experience mortality; if you want to "experience mortality" you do yourself in. And maybe then you could "experience an escapade".

In any case the mechanism itself was nice, and the selection of the four double-word long answers very nice indeed. An enjoyable solve, requiring three or so separate sessions before I did the proper work to winkle out the letters, and a smile nonetheless.

[Yoda66]

No quibbles from me on escapade as it is synonymous of adventure (and each meta can be its own adventure). The 4 symmetrical 3-letter answers w/ the first 2 letters doubly reflecting the first 2 letters of the across answers jumped at me fairly quickly. But then I went into over-complication mode.

I looked for / wanted either the first letter (or even the 3rd) to be reflective of a statement (e.g. S is for South, for 20A, C is for Central for 22A, etc) tied to a clue: Nada. I then found 4 clues that had an embedded "as a": how coincidental, but besides Stubbed (which had ST, couldn't too much with it). Then I looked for some loose connections (add an N to ESP, and you get ESPN: wait, 41D mentions network, there you go): again nothing. Then I spent some time focusing on the verb in Matt's clue ('sums up'), and the 2 black boxes in the middle of the grid clearly show 2 plus signs: can it be any combinations of the letters around those 2 that matched with the 4 answers on step 1??): nyet, zilch.

I then figured out that it had to be much simpler than that, since the early solvers did it in 15 minutes. Sew is what gave it away, and the other 3 came very easily for Escapade. Overcomplication is a powerful wasteful use of brain matter!

[Ergcat]

The “inelegance” for me (though minor) is that SAT & SEW did not follow the pattern of the other six 3-letter answers in that SW ST were not TOGETHER in the grid answer.

[Don S.]

I also have never heard of pumpkin spice latte, and just assumed it must be Premier Soccer League. I guess NFL could be a fall pick-me-up for some, so why not soccer, I suppose...

On that note, what does CST stand for? I always thought it was Central Standard Time, but I figured not, since "time" was in the clue ("Tulsa time"). That would be like using the clue "Popular basketball association" for NBA; you're not supposed to use one of the words an acronym stands for as a clue to the acronym. Is it supposed to be "Central Standard Timezone"? I always see time zone written as two words.

BTW, my favorite version of "Tulsa Time" is Eric Clapton's live rendition on "Just One Night". Classic!

[Ben B]

I thought PSL was for paid sick leave which I gathered might help after a fall at work! Maybe I need a pumpkin spice latte to wake up my brain.

[mikeB]

The solve nominally was pretty straightforward. However, it was easy to get sidetracked by some catnip along the way. To start with, the Prompt’s somewhat forced wording gets our attention. The answer is not a word that “describes” the solving experience, but one that “sums up” the experience. Sums up? That’s not exactly catnip by itself, but the odd wording is reinforced by those prominent plus signs in the middle of the Grid. (Often, when two meta components work together, they’re trying to tell us something.) More catnip is Clue/Entry 1A, a familiar place to find nudges. The clue is pretty blunt, “First thing to try”, and the entry seems to implicate the letter A. This illusion is reinforced by another entry in a centrally key position (29D), noting that ESSAY phonetically is “S-A”. So we must be looking for way to use SA, perhaps in alternate entries. That goes nowhere, but not soon enough. It could be argued that this meta contains somewhat blunter than usual misdirection, but this is a feature, not a flaw. In keeping with the theme of the puzzle, as expressed in the answer, such traps can transform a straightforward solve into what can fairly be described as an escapade. Imagine that.

[DBMiller]

I also did not see any inelegance to the puzzle. As we solve, we need to figure out the metanism. Whatever rule/guide/mechanism you come up with, may not be what the puzzle creator is using. Basically, there are no rules that can be applied to a puzzle before you begin to solve it. When the metanism you come up with doesn't seem to work, it's time to adjust your thinking.

Not all the answers are symmetrical? So what? How many three letter answers can you fit in the normal 15x15 puzzle? And we need eight of them for this puzzle? Odds are some of the symmetrical entries will be part of the metanism, but that doesn't mean they all will be. Your metanism doesn't fit what you are seeing? Change your metanism.

The letter pairs aren't always together? So what? There have been lots of puzzles where we obtain an additional letter by using all the letters from one answer (or alternative answer) and add another letter, not necessarily in order. When you're dealing with a 2-letter combination, two out of three places would keep the two letters in order, but the middle place doesn't. Your metanism doesn't fit? Change your metanism.

Your metanism works, but gives you the wrong answer? Well now you've got a story for @The XWord Rabbit.

[Streroto]

I'd like to point out (since I seem to have started it) that Matt is on such a high plane that everything he does is elegant. Thus, when there is something that is just *slightly* off, it raises the hairs on the back of my neck and makes me wonder if I'm on the right track. In this case, five of the three letter words had the pattern [ ] _ _ whereas three did not. I've been told by several Muggles in this forum who I very much trust that if something seems to be not quite right coming from Mr. Gaffney, it usually isn't. I didn't mean anything negative by it and certainly didn't mean to upset anyone.

Stay well all

[Penny_Keatley]

I struggled with the "PSL" clue as well. I had no idea that "pumpkin spice lattes" had risen to common acronym status (despite having three teenage daughters who have certainly had some PSLs in their days) and was clueless as to what it meant until, well, now. I temporarily tried alternative letters for the "P", for example "V" which would turn "LOPER" into "LOVER" (do lovers make great strides?). I then considered whether a LONER makes great strides, or perhaps a LOSER? I decided to leave the P in place for lack of a better alternative which fortunately was correct.

[MikeMillerwsj]

The contest answer is ESCAPADE. The theme answers are word pairs beginning with SW-, ST-, SL- and SP-. Find eight three-letter answers in the grid using these two letters in order; in top-to-bottom grid order they are : SEW, SSW, CST, SAT, PSL, SPA, DSL and ESP. The extra letters spell the contest answer.

This was a relatively tough one, with 833 entries, a bit lower than our average. On the other hand, the success rate among those who submitted was 85%, a little higher than the average rate (around 75%).

Incorrect answers included SUPERIOR (14), PLEASANT (9), THIRTEEN (9), ESCALADE (so close, 4), LOSSLESS (2) and several others.

Congrats to this week's winner: Dan Green of Knoxville, Tenn.!

[Dickie_Dunn]

Don't know about all y'all but all I could think about was the profound 1989 poet.

"...and you know it's Friday too. I hope you can find the time this weekend to relax and unwind. My mind's tired, I've worked so hard all week. Cashed my check, I'm ready to go. I promise you; I'll show you such a good time. Come on baby, let's get away. Let's save our troubles for another day. Come go with me, we've got it made. Let me take you on an ESCAPADE! LET'S GO!"

I certainly wasn't dancing around the basement with it on repeat. No, not me.

[Joe Ross]

Loving all of the discussion and points of view.

I'm stupid enough to have missed the subtleties, but the differing views of them aren't lost on me. FUN reading.

We're an odd bunch. Much respect for everyone.

[The XWord Rabbit]

Another week watching paint dry. Sigh.

Looking for sorry stories has become more a race for a tortoise than a hare since we started our 2025 season in early August. Ten puzzles so far and this is the sixth week with no nominees. Sigh.

Even more troublesome, the answer to Mr. Gaffney’s “S is for Solving” puzzle doesn’t give your Rabbit much to work with, but he’ll try.

ESCAPADE is a curious answer for a puzzle, wouldn't you say? Sounds more like a model of a car to the Rabbit. So, he looked it up.

And here it is, it’s a Nissan ESCAPADE! Not an easy car to find in the U.S. It seats 12 and was originally marketed as a “Nissan HOMY.” “ESCAPADE” is better, wouldn’t you say?

But don’t fret, Muggles. You may not be able to get an ESCAPADE, but Cadillac has come to the rescue. It’s a 2024 ESCALADE. Close enough, name-wise. With all the bells and whistles it retails for $150,000. Funny how one letter can mean so much in the auto business. Think about that, and see you next week.

[LadyBird]

With the title "S is for Solving", I thought it fitting that the answer was "ES"capade.