"Table For Two" by Peter Gordon - November 28, 2024

[escapeartist]

@escapeartist

Two peninsulas or two mottos?

2 peninsulas - the Lower Peninsula is shaped like a mitten and the Upper Peninsula is where da Yoopers live

[escapeartist]

Escanaba in Da Moonlight took place in the Upper Peninsula

[Birdbrain]

I managed to solve on Sunday with the help of my husband. I said, "each word has AU" out loud and he immediately chimed in with "gold". It was downhill from there. .

[kurtalert]

Oh lord. LMAO. I got so hung up on finding ALL of the elements in the themers, that I completely missed the fact that both silver & gold were in every themer. Also got hung up trying to make sense of the state abbreviations in the words. It did kinda give me an idea for another metanism that I haven't seen yet, though...

[regfish7]

Ashore! “Table for Two” is actually the name of my local breastfeeding group so I was initially thrown off by what the theme of the puzzle would be quick solve for me once I finished the grid though. Happy Thanksgiving all!

Do you have twins?

No, just one cutie pie! In this case the “two” means mother and baby are both attending the lunch.

[regfish7]

Well, I've gotten the grid in fairly short order, and am struggling with the meta - haven't seen it yet. I just wondered if anyone else was bothered by the clue for 44A - it doesn't seem correct and I can't rationalize it...
Steve

Probably have the wrong answer for 37D

YOU'RE RIGHT!! - What a difference 1 letter makes! Thankfully it didn't affect my solution

I was thrown off by that one since UCLA didn’t join the big ten until this year!

[The XWord Rabbit]

Five anchor entries in Mr. Gordon’s “Table for Two” puzzle and each of those contains the chemical symbols AU and AG, in order. So, we’re talking about the periodic table. Gold and silver in English, but ORO Y PLATA in Spanish, the state motto of Montana.

Some serious concern about whether the English translation would be agreeable to the WSJ's powers that be, but we’ll soon find out. No real rabbit holes to speak of this week – so what shall we talk about? This - and their 11-1 record?

Uh, no … Your Rabbit imagines you’re pretty tired of hearing about this. And he doesn’t intend to bring up the Hallmark Christmas movie last night either.

So, while your Rabbit regrets he couldn’t find anything amusing with both gold and silver he is especially fond of a SNL parody ad that features only silver – Amazon Echo Silver, that is. And it’s particularly applicable around the holiday season. Enjoy, and see you next week.

[FKelly]

Annie from Cincinnati
Probably a bazillion correct entries for this one. => Little to no chance of winning a Mug.
However, I did win a Mug once when there were 2800 correct entries.

[avian]

So no one else got stuck in the “short o’s” rabbit hole? That clue felt so forced and awkward that it HAD to be the key! Oh well. Congrats to all who didn’t take that bait.

I fooled with the "short o's" for a bit but since that went nowhere I gave up on that. Tried a few other things, too, because I was overthinking this.
When I finally saw the repetitions of "Au" and "Ag" the answer came quickly and I realized that table = Periodic table.

I submitted "Gold and silver" so will be curious to find out if that answer was acceptable.

[SeanS]

Made it to shore on Saturday, after a 3.5 year hiatus from attempting the puzzles (March 2021 was my last post!). Work and life got crazy there for a bit! Looking forward to rejoining the cruise each week.

[MikeMillerwsj]

The contest answer is ORO Y PLATA. Each of the five theme answers contains AU and AG, the chemical symbols for gold and silver. The state motto of Montana, the Spanish for “gold and silver,” is the contest answer.

Nice to see our friend Peter Gordon with a very clever and popular contest this week. We had 1,604 entries, with 76% correct, right at our normal level. Plus another 180 with GOLD and SILVER which I think we would have accepted (our randomly selected winner used the Spanish). Other entries included EUREKA (65), MONTANA (41), AGRICULTURE AND COMMERCE (7), EXCELSIOR (6), FRIENDSHIP (5), and DIRIGO (4). Bonus points if you can name any of those states without googling.

Congrats to this week's winner: Warren Bohn!

[ZooAnimalsOnWheels]

I almost went down the Eureka path. I saw AU first and thought gold -> The Golden State -> Eureka, but that wasn't a strong enough click, so I took a closer look and saw the AG.

I did have to use Google to figure out the correct state from gold and silver. I prefer New Mexico and "red or green?"

[Nlobb]

Congratulations to the winner!
Although I do think that all Montana natives (such as me) could be eligible for a bonus mug!! Ha!
Fun puzzle and thanks to my 7th grade Montana history teacher it was easier than most!!

[MatthewL]

I almost went down the Eureka path. I saw AU first and thought gold -> The Golden State -> Eureka, but that wasn't a strong enough click, so I took a closer look and saw the AG.

I did have to use Google to figure out the correct state from gold and silver. I prefer New Mexico and "red or green?"

As a New Mexico native (but alas, no longer a resident), I have to chime in here -- technically "Red or Green?" is New Mexico's official state question, not its state motto (which is Crescit Eundo). That having been said, we do love our chile.

[Bob cruise director]

The contest answer is ORO Y PLATA. Each of the five theme answers contains AU and AG, the chemical symbols for gold and silver. The state motto of Montana, the Spanish for “gold and silver,” is the contest answer.

Nice to see our friend Peter Gordon with a very clever and popular contest this week. We had 1,604 entries, with 76% correct, right at our normal level. Plus another 180 with GOLD and SILVER which I think we would have accepted (our randomly selected winner used the Spanish). Other entries included EUREKA (65), MONTANA (41), AGRICULTURE AND COMMERCE (7), EXCELSIOR (6), FRIENDSHIP (5), and DIRIGO (4). Bonus points if you can name any of those states without googling.

Congrats to this week's winner: Warren Bohn!

Excelsior is New York - having grown up there. Eureka is California

[michaelm]

The contest answer is ORO Y PLATA. Each of the five theme answers contains AU and AG, the chemical symbols for gold and silver. The state motto of Montana, the Spanish for “gold and silver,” is the contest answer.

Nice to see our friend Peter Gordon with a very clever and popular contest this week. We had 1,604 entries, with 76% correct, right at our normal level. Plus another 180 with GOLD and SILVER which I think we would have accepted (our randomly selected winner used the Spanish). Other entries included EUREKA (65), MONTANA (41), AGRICULTURE AND COMMERCE (7), EXCELSIOR (6), FRIENDSHIP (5), and DIRIGO (4). Bonus points if you can name any of those states without googling.

Congrats to this week's winner: Warren Bohn!

A mug for the rest of us:
https://store.cherricopottery.com/one-m ... re-silver/

[Merry Potter]

For the rest of us:
https://store.cherricopottery.com/one-m ... re-silver/

Wow! I need start selling my wares! not sure I understand the 99.99% pure silver portion but I'm willing to learn!

[Kas]

The contest answer is ORO Y PLATA. Each of the five theme answers contains AU and AG, the chemical symbols for gold and silver. The state motto of Montana, the Spanish for “gold and silver,” is the contest answer.

Nice to see our friend Peter Gordon with a very clever and popular contest this week. We had 1,604 entries, with 76% correct, right at our normal level. Plus another 180 with GOLD and SILVER which I think we would have accepted (our randomly selected winner used the Spanish). Other entries included EUREKA (65), MONTANA (41), AGRICULTURE AND COMMERCE (7), EXCELSIOR (6), FRIENDSHIP (5), and DIRIGO (4). Bonus points if you can name any of those states without googling.

Congrats to this week's winner: Warren Bohn!

A mug for the rest of us:
https://store.cherricopottery.com/one-m ... re-silver/

Thank you so much for the link that Mug Site! I'll take four...and if you have a banana and some duct tape, I'll add a million-dollar gratuity! (And yes, "...the check is in the mail...")

[aaugusti]

Ashore! “Table for Two” is actually the name of my local breastfeeding group so I was initially thrown off by what the theme of the puzzle would be quick solve for me once I finished the grid though. Happy Thanksgiving all!

Do you have twins?

No, just one cutie pie! In this case the “two” means mother and baby are both attending the lunch.

Gotcha. We have twins and Kasia became a pro at the double feeding method.