"Minority Report" November 1, 2024

[MatthewB]

I, too, was firmly ensconced at the bar...though this was doable. Congrats to minimuggle!

[MikeyG]

I won the mug! I am in shock

Now you'll definitely POSSESS PIZZAZZ!

[Wendy Walker]

I won the mug! I am in shock

Wonderful, wonderful news! I am so thrilled that such a loyal, long-time Muggle has won the Mug!

[The XWord Rabbit]

A dearth of stories this week in spite of a challenging enough puzzle from Mr. Gaffney.
Your Rabbit could loosen his standards, but he has a reputation to uphold. Sorry, Muggles.

Lest you think it’s easy being the Rabbit, this week he’s going to let you walk a mile on his little padded paws. The answer to this week’s “Minority Report” puzzle from Mr. Gaffney was SECTOR. Yes, SECTOR. How bad is a word like SECTOR for entertainment purposes? You be the judge.

A Google search yielded results that included “sector rotation” (an investment strategy), a video on “How to Use a Sector” (a lesson in woodworking) and finding the area of a circle’s sector by using the area of the circle and central angle.

Moving on to some of the words used in the anchor entries – we have MOMMY BOOBOO, an entry that leads to a countless number of Cocomelon Nursery Rhyme Songs and videos of Honey BooBoo (remember HER?)

There are reviews of the Presto “Pizzazz Plus” Rotating Pizza Oven and a couple of 1985 Taco Bell Pizzazz Pizza commercials.
And finally, we have the Atacama Desert, the driest nonpolar desert in the world. The fun never stops!

So, is it any surprise what your Rabbit chose to end with? Until next week, then.

[chart]

Has anyone explained how SECTOR fits in with the puzzle theme yet? I'm curious your thoughts.

[hcbirker]

Has anyone explained how SECTOR fits in with the puzzle theme yet? I'm curious your thoughts.

I’m thinking a sector or piece of the population. We only used a sector of the words.

[mikeB]

I half expected one or two experiencing the gravitational pull of Halloween, with the first entry (STOKER) being a reference to Dracula; its clue (the puzzle's first clue) beginning with "Spooky"; and with the prominent placement of a Double-BOO at the center of the grid. The puzzle was released on Oct 31, yet there were no takers. Maybe because the publication date was Nov 1. In any event, those eerie connections seemed a nice touch, even if accidental . . .

[femullen]

I've just this moment discovered that OWN is Oprah Winfrey's Network. Wouldn't have solved even knowing this bit of television arcana, but at least I can pretend it was on the critical path.

[Flamel616]

I would never in a million years have thought OY matched with "I'm sorry to hear that!" Is this a generational thing? It feels like a cry for attention, not a sympathetic sound. My initial thought would be "oof" (though I've never played Roblox), though "aw", "yikes", "ugh", "oh", and even, indeed, "egad" all feel more appropriate than OY. I also thoroughly agree that OY matches much better with "I need a hand here!"

That said, I never had a chance with this one. Few of the alternate answers looked like words to me, and even fewer would I have matched correctly. Sure, Poe is a name, but I've always thought of Poe as a poet, not an author (I'm aware he wrote many excellent short stories, but still). I don't know much about Hairspray, I've never heard of TCM, and I don't speak French. BB is where I'd have had the best chance of identifying the match, but it also isn't a word on its own. None of this to say the puzzle was unfair, except perhaps the OY part.

[scrabbler]

I would never in a million years have thought OY matched with "I'm sorry to hear that!" Is this a generational thing? It feels like a cry for attention, not a sympathetic sound. My initial thought would be "oof" (though I've never played Roblox), though "aw", "yikes", "ugh", "oh", and even, indeed, "egad" all feel more appropriate than OY. I also thoroughly agree that OY matches much better with "I need a hand here!"

That said, I never had a chance with this one. Few of the alternate answers looked like words to me, and even fewer would I have matched correctly. Sure, Poe is a name, but I've always thought of Poe as a poet, not an author (I'm aware he wrote many excellent short stories, but still). I don't know much about Hairspray, I've never heard of TCM, and I don't speak French. BB is where I'd have had the best chance of identifying the match, but it also isn't a word on its own. None of this to say the puzzle was unfair, except perhaps the OY part.

Oh, that's interesting. OY was the second one I got (after POE), and to me it seemed obvious. When I say "OY" (which is a non-trivial amount) that is exactly what I mean. And EGAD was bugging the heck out of me. Who says that, in this century? haha. I think that the British "OI" does have more of your meaning, though.

I got TCM matched without trouble, but I had to google to confirm my guesses on the other three, including zooming into a Hairspray poster on Google images to see if I could find PIA, and zooming into a French map of Paris (also courtesy of Google) to make sure that thing in the middle of the river is indeed called an "ILE." I am sure some people just know these things, but I am not one of them...

[hcbirker]

I would never in a million years have thought OY matched with "I'm sorry to hear that!" Is this a generational thing? It feels like a cry for attention, not a sympathetic sound. My initial thought would be "oof" (though I've never played Roblox), though "aw", "yikes", "ugh", "oh", and even, indeed, "egad" all feel more appropriate than OY. I also thoroughly agree that OY matches much better with "I need a hand here!"

That said, I never had a chance with this one. Few of the alternate answers looked like words to me, and even fewer would I have matched correctly. Sure, Poe is a name, but I've always thought of Poe as a poet, not an author (I'm aware he wrote many excellent short stories, but still). I don't know much about Hairspray, I've never heard of TCM, and I don't speak French. BB is where I'd have had the best chance of identifying the match, but it also isn't a word on its own. None of this to say the puzzle was unfair, except perhaps the OY part.

“Oy” as in “Oy vey”. Yiddish or Jewish for “oh no!”

[The XWord Rabbit]

And your Rabbit hastens to add... 8 - 0, folks.

[ajk]

Took a bit more work than expected tho

[ELSavage]

Moving on to some of the words used in the anchor entries – we have MOMMY BOOBOO, an entry that leads to a countless number of Cocomelon Nursery Rhyme Songs and videos of Honey BooBoo (remember HER?)

Not only did I remember her, I was very briefly tempted to wonder if replacing Mommy with Honey (e.g. replacing some M's with H, N, E) might be a thing...

[The XWord Rabbit]

FYI, Muggles:
Here's a photo of the Rabbit's daughter in her Halloween costume circa 1990.
Mrs. Rabbit made the outfit from scratch.
Carmen Miranda has always played a big part in our lives.

[MikeMillerwsj]

The contest answer is SECTOR. Each theme answer word contains a majority of one letter: POSSESS, PIZZAZZ, MOMMY, BOO-BOO, ATACAMA and DIDDLED. Take the minority letters in each word to satisfy another clue (e.g., POE from POssEss answers 1-Across’s clue of “Spooky author,” STOKER). The others are EGAD for OY, CAROLE for B.B., TOUR for ILE, OWN for TCM and RICKI for PIA. In grid order, the first letters of those answers spell the contest answer.

This was a complicated one! Our turnout was lower than usual -- 720 entries -- but solvers who were submitted were unusually accurate: 90% correct (above our usual rate around 75%). Incorrect answers included ESCORT (8, got all the right letters), SCOTCH (5), CRUISE (3), and several one-offs including STRIFE, DENIED< REMARK, OPPOSE, FAULTY and ACTION.

Congrats to this week's winner: Marie Wickham of New York, NY!

[tommy]

In one of my rabbit holes, I correctly figured out that “minority” meant the least or minority of letters used but I mistakenly applied it to the row and not each meta word. This gave me OEIA in pOssEsspIzzAzz, Y in mommYbooboo, and TCMILE in aTaCaMadIddLEd. I even eliminated those letters which were duplicated in other rows which left me with YTCL but I never thought to apply that method for each word. Head slap to the forehead this morning! So close yet, as Carole King lamented in song, “so far away.”

Got stuck in exactly the same place. Great insight from @mikeB that 6-letter answer & 3 themers => 2 letters from each themer. Definitely something I should pay attention to in the future.

In the past, I've enjoyed a puzzle even when I didn't get the meta answer. I have to say, though, for this one, the solve was not as enjoyable. The theme answers in particular didn't really give me any catharsis when I figured them out-- I was left saying to myself, Really?

After seeing the answer, I'm obliged to cut Mr. Gaffney some slack, as it was a clever and classic metanism, and it's no small feat to cram all that information into the crossword grid.

Congratulations to @minimuggle for winning the mug! Well deserved, indeed!

[DrTom]

I won the mug! I am in shock

Delighted for you!

[Joe Ross]

I won the mug! I am in shock