"Listen To Your Customers" November 15, 2024

[hcbirker]

[hcbirker]

[benchen71]

Just in case anyone was wondering, the beach on another continent that I found completely deserted was COLES, one of Australia's largest supermarket chains.

[GTIJohnny]

I became tangled in a classic MG misdirect and settled on WHEELS as an answer to CAR for PORTIA. This led to CWALS, which sounded like SEA WALLS. So the chain has a marine related name? Hmmmm. Hours later, I saw the better clue that resulted in OPEL and the correct answer KOHLS.

[eagle1279]

My rabbit hole was ARROWS to EROS to ????? Finally got BOWS to BOSE to SONOS. I submitted KOHLS without the apostrophe, that's my excuse if I don't win the mug.

[steph]

I became tangled in a classic MG misdirect and settled on WHEELS as an answer to CAR for PORTIA. This led to CWALS, which sounded like SEA WALLS. So the chain has a marine related name? Hmmmm. Hours later, I saw the better clue that resulted in OPEL and the correct answer KOHLS.

I followed this path myself for a bit!

[ship4u]

As a sports car enthusiast and previous owner, I knew how to pronounce the name properly.

She's beautiful isn't she? Cynthia, that is.....

[OliviaL]

I had COAS on Friday. I found the L last night, just in time. It would’ve helped if I noticed the theme answers were numbered, which I didn’t see until checking the answer this morning Whoops!

[LadyBird]

Can't remember which meta had this for the answer, but this made me laugh.

[Deb F]

After 40 years in the retail industry, it would have been mortifying not to have gotten this one.

Have a great week, Muggles.

[ship4u]

Hey all youzguys

I thought that "water" was pronounced "wata" just as in Havard Yahd or pahk your cah.

Wata? Heck no. In Baltimore, it's wuder, said very quickly. And, when it's on the cement, it's on the sea'-ment.

[mikeB]

This meta offers nudges from all four components of the puzzle – Title, Prompt, Clues and Grid entries – which work in harmony to guide us from the start. The Title is more generous than most. As a whole, it doesn’t offer a coherent nudge, which compels us to focus on two key words (“Listen” and “Customers”) individually. “Listen” has a special connotation in meta-land, suggesting phonetics may be key to the mechanism – that we might be looking for homophones in the Grid. Meanwhile, “Customers” suggests retail may be a relevant theme – something to do with products, services or stores. For this, we get reinforcement via the semantic link between the Title and the Prompt (referring to chain stores), since customers and chain stores go hand-in-hand. Thus, the Title might be telling us to “look for homophones related to retail”. That would be a pretty solid nudge if it holds – and it does hold. Meanwhile, we are always drawn to parenthetical numbers in the Clues. When present, such add-ons invariably identify which entries are key to the mechanism (a.k.a. theme entries). Without them, because of OLÉ’s level of camouflage compared to the other four theme entries, some solvers might be stuck here, trying to make do with a four-letter combination that doesn’t quite cut the mustard. Alas, the Prompt didn’t deign to tell us how many letters are in the answer, which would have helped in this regard. The parentheticals, however, save the day, serving up Olay which serves up LOREAL. We end up with COALS, the homophone for KOHL’S, and we’re done. This meta highlights the thinking that constructors put into incorporating helpers into the puzzle, aiming for a desired level of challenge. This meta achieves a very nice result in that regard.

[Tom Shea]

Just in case anyone was wondering, the beach on another continent that I found completely deserted was COLES, one of Australia's largest supermarket chains.

Seems a little unfair for you. At least you didn't guess Woolie's.

[escapeartist]

ELO is also a cosmetics brand

[Aragorn]

Dang. I had the right metanism and got 3 of the 5 homonyms, but Bows and Ole stumped me.

[Brian K]

The record shows that I claimed to be ashore at 4:39pm Thursday. I had my answer, and in record time. But there was a missing link in my logic. "I'll iron out that wrinkle later," I thought.

I had cleverly listed all double letters in each of the 5 themed entries (OLE ELO yielded three letters) and got WOOLWORTHS. Wow!, right? There were a few leftover letters, URARE, but not to worry, because I'm clever, remember? So I posted my success and went on shore to mingle.

Then, an evil omen emerged: URARE is a synonym for curare. In action movies, curare is the arrow-tip poison of choice, often aimed at an intruder fleeing for his life on a beach where he does not belong. This was a little too on-the-nose and made me nervous. Also not reassuring is that the entry at 42a is BOWS AND ARROWS!

I soon determined that my solution could not be correct, and I regretted my exuberant premature posting. I truly felt like a fraud!

Self-conscious and racked with guilt, I tried to blend in with the other Muggles on the beach. But I found myself avoiding eye contact, my laughter felt forced, and I was tipping way too much. I avoided anyone who looked official, who might be shore patrol and throw my fraudulent self back in the sea because I didn't know the correct answer. What to do?

Best to get the correct answer. Several rabbit holes later, I found success. Let the record show that I earned legitimate sand at 9:30pm Sunday.

Thank you, Mr. Gaffney, for a fun ride.

Thank you, Muggles, for being the community that you are.

[lorinkir]

Came ashore with 3 minutes to spare, thank goodness I had a hard time getting to bed early!

[sharkicicles]

ELO is also a cosmetics brand

Is it mainly for Evil Women? Or maybe it's more for the Sweet Talkin' Woman.

(Sorry, just saw them recently...)

[michaelm]

ELO is also a cosmetics brand

Suitable for when you want to Face the Music

[The XWord Rabbit]

Not your Rabbit’s best week. The first loss of the season for … you-know-who and equally disappointing results from adrift Muggles regarding Mr. Gaffney’s “Listen to Your Customers” puzzle.

Five anchor entries contained homonyms of businesses that could serve as a second answer to five clues. The first letter of the grid entries to those clues (in the order indicated by numbers in parentheses) spelled “COALS, a homophone itself of the final answer: KOHLS.

Fortunately, this tribute to American consumerism gave the Rabbit an easy exit: A parody of Black Friday TV ads from a 2010 episode of SNL. Yes, it’s a bit outdated (Kirk Douglas passed away in 2020), but it’s still funny, and funny is always good enough for your Rabbit. Until next week, then.