"Eton Must Change" January 10, 2025

[Joe Ross]

@FlurinaX

On shore, I think.
PAGEANT also comes to mind.

I keep seeing references to a pageant response. Would someone please point me to the puzzle or Muggle discussion that generated this mythical Sword of Damacles? Thanks.

Oh, Puzzle Buddy Jane and I are ashore. I'd like a Racer 5 IPA, s'il vous plait.

BEING PAGEANTED

[MikeyG]

I pulled up the puzzle, looked at the title and thought ELON MUSK CHARGE - hum the answer will be TESLA, SPACEX or DOGE - then I hit print, pulled out my pencil, big pink eraser and struggled with the grid. Hum, 6 themed clues - that knocks out TESLA and DOGE.

When I saw the 3 letter connection and it spelled out SPACEX - I thought - that is so clever Mr. Gaffney - "a famous name" - not necessarily a person. Guess the yolks on me.Screenshot 2025-01-13 124259.png

The old Wheel of Fortune line “person does not always mean proper name.”

Yep! Now thinking about how many categories have been shifted over the years as a result:

PERSON split into PERSON/PROPER NAME
PLACE split into PLACE/ON THE MAP
EVENT split into EVENT/WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

I'm not even sure if TITLE is used too much anymore, unless specified by BOOK or MOVIE, though I could be wrong on that. Catch Jeopardy! all the time but my Wheel-watching is only sporadic. Favorite part is the bonus round, since those are a bit more of a challenge!

[avian]

Eton Must to Elon Musk was fairly obvious. I figured out all of the celebrity names in the theme answers quickly but then got stuck. With help of the zoom group I had Part 2 to the "solution" and came up with SpaceX and Elon Musk in the title confirmed that answer for me. Agree with BarbaraK's post.

[The XWord Rabbit]

In what will likely go down in Muggle history as the Great Elon Musk/SpaceX debate of 2025
Your Rabbit’s concerns are elsewhere, looking for juicy tales of those truly lost in the fray.

And there was, indeed, a dandy one buried amidst the fracas:

Many thanks to Yoda66 who took a path through Mel Brooks movies, the letter X and the number 10, eventually arriving at the word TARTY. Mae West? Marty Feldman? Does it really matter? Getting there is all the fun. Post #353.

Your Rabbit suggests everyone calm down and have a beer while watching LEON REDBONE -- and yes, there is a connection – LEON is an anagram of ELON – and here’s a marvelous 1984 Budweiser commercial that ends with him in OUTERSPACE! (Sometimes your Rabbit even amazes himself!) Until next week, then.

[LadyBird]

If we really want to revisit controversy.....black & blue or gold & white?

[ajk]

If we really want to revisit controversy.....black & blue or gold & white?

Screenshot_20250113_155532_Google.jpg

Can't believe it took this long for that one...

[Bird Lives]

I'm surprised that the constructor (Matt) and the editor (Mike) did not realize the ambiguity. If they had, all this could have been avoided by a simple change in the prompt:
The answer is a famous person.
or
The answer is a famous company.

(I am assuming that they were not aware of the person/company problem. If they had been aware of it, then the ambiguity that misled so many Space Xers would have been deliberate, and Matt has said that he does not put red herrings in his puzzles. At least not deliberately.)

[BarbaraK]

In the comments on the WSJ site this weekend, people actually posted Elon Musk and the theme entry names. I didn’t see it until today. Did anyone notice before the deadline? Report the spoilers? Get any reply from WSJ?

[BethA]

In the comments on the WSJ site this weekend, people actually posted Elon Musk and the theme entry names. I didn’t see it until today. Did anyone notice before the deadline? Report the spoilers? Get any reply from WSJ?

Definitely noticed, but not able to report. Wondered why when I’m stymied things like that don’t show up??

[MikeMillerwsj]

The contest answer is ELON MUSK. Change one letter in each theme answer’s words to get a famous (4,4) person: BEAD PITA/BRAD PITT; ALAS ALDI/ALAN ALDA; ANTE RICH/ ANNE RICE; SCAN PEON/SEAN PENN; VERB WAND/VERA WANG; JETE RISE/PETE ROSE. Then find three-letter answers beginning with the two changed letters: RTS, NAP, NEA, ENC, AGE, POX. The extra letters spell SPACEX, suggesting the contest answer, which is confirmed by changing letters in the first two words of the title (ETON MUST).

This was certainly a tricky one. We heard from lots of solvers who thought SPACEX was a legitimate answer too (since the contest asked for a "famous name" and SPACEX is a famous company name. We agree and officially consider that an acceptable answer. (As it happened, the randomly selected winner guessed MUSK).

We had a robust turnout of 1348, with 64% guessing MUSK and another 30% guessing SPACEX -- so all in all a very strong percentage of correct answers. REAGAN got 3 votes, CHURCHILL and CAMERON each got one (why the British prime ministers?), plus a scattering of others.

Still waiting to confirm this week's winner, so stay tuned for that.

[whimsy]

In the comments on the WSJ site this weekend, people actually posted Elon Musk and the theme entry names. I didn’t see it until today. Did anyone notice before the deadline? Report the spoilers? Get any reply from WSJ?

I do look at those comments sometimes when I think of it.
They did seem to at least self-reprimand at one point. Nothing was removed though. (I can only read and not post, I assume, since I don't have a subscription. Not interested in participating there anyway since I have you guys here who are way cooler! )
And when I looked at it, it didn't tell me anything I didn't know anyway.

[Belle]

Had almost as much fun reading these comments as I did with the puzzle. I would have submitted Elon Musk, but didn’t submit because I have already been a winner. I suspected that the answer might be Elon Musk early in the process but had to work to justify this answer. Got all the name changes and finally realized their relationship to the appropriate grid entries. Wonderful aha to find Spacex and justification for Elon Musk as the answer. I am a former AP Calculus teacher, and much of the AP Calculus exam involved a question followed by Justify Your Answer. No credit for an unsubstantiated guess. Must prove your answer.

[Bob cruise director]

The contest answer is ELON MUSK. Change one letter in each theme answer’s words to get a famous (4,4) person: BEAD PITA/BRAD PITT; ALAS ALDI/ALAN ALDA; ANTE RICH/ ANNE RICE; SCAN PEON/SEAN PENN; VERB WAND/VERA WANG; JETE RISE/PETE ROSE. Then find three-letter answers beginning with the two changed letters: RTS, NAP, NEA, ENC, AGE, POX. The extra letters spell SPACEX, suggesting the contest answer, which is confirmed by changing letters in the first two words of the title (ETON MUST).

This was certainly a tricky one. We heard from lots of solvers who thought SPACEX was a legitimate answer too (since the contest asked for a "famous name" and SPACEX is a famous company name. We agree and officially consider that an acceptable answer. (As it happened, the randomly selected winner guessed MUSK).

We had a robust turnout of 1348, with 64% guessing MUSK and another 30% guessing SPACEX -- so all in all a very strong percentage of correct answers. REAGAN got 3 votes, CHURCHILL and CAMERON each got one (why the British prime ministers?), plus a scattering of others.

Still waiting to confirm this week's winner, so stay tuned for that.

I am waiting for the contest where there are multiple acceptable answers, like this one, where the WSJ pulls out the secondary one. As far as I can recall they have not had to make the real time decision.

[Abide]

Mike Miller said:
We agree and officially consider [SPACEX] an acceptable answer.

Smart, very smart.

[CPJohnson]

(I say this without reading all the other explanations of others yet, so if repeated, my apologies.)

...

Although I am now just remembering a similar puzzle where the answer was Rolls Royce. Probably some subtle differences, that I can’t recall without looking. Here I was laughing to myself about the possibility of another answer. Oh well, I’ll be okay. Still fun!

...

I’ve convinced myself I was wrong in one post.

You have a good memory! It was the 3-8-24 puzzle.

[MikeMillerwsj]

And now -- congrats to this week's winner: Pat Meehan of Lafayette, Calif.!

[KscX]

I’m in the Sissy Spacek camp and sticking to it.

[ZooAnimalsOnWheels]

Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue...

I've been busy with the holidays and then recovering from the holidays, so I didn't have a lot of time for the puzzle. I didn't notice the ETON MUST = ELON MUSK until after finding the other famous changed names in the grid, and so then assumed it was the intended answer. I never saw the SPACEX angle and was just happy for the quick solve.

[michaelm]

I’m in the Sissy Spacek camp and sticking to it.

Carrie on then...

[Bob cruise director]

Other WSJ metas where they accepted alternate answers have been

Border Crossings June 8, 2018 where they accepted Maine or New Mexico
Continuing Education February 7, 2020 where they accepted Mellon or Carnegie
Make A Run for It November 18, 2022 where they accepted 5K or 20K or Half Marathon
Go West July 14, 2023 where they accepted Chatup or Utah