"We're In This Together" - August 28, 2020

[FrancesY]

In addition to Elsa/Anna, my other wrong answer was Ike/Tina. Took forever to understand 72A, but a very satisfying solve. Loved this puzzle.

[FrankH]

Once I found the partners and put the first letters of the last names together, all I got was gibberish. So I was looking around and wonder what I could do. Eventually I looked at the beginning of 20A and 25A forming SAC with CO occurring later in 25A; that formed one of the names, but it doesn't look like I could do anything with that. Then I noticed SACCO is contained within 25A, and now I am off to the races to find the other ones.

I see the published answer has parentheses around COCO; that also happens to be how I sent in my answer. Now I hope Mike Miller will strictly follow that published answer and only accept that as being correct, then perhaps my chances of getting the mug will increase by a minuscule amount.

[sharkicicles]

Got the co-workers right away, because I actually dated the great granddaughter of ENGELS 20 years ago, but couldn’t get step 2. It’s like when the answer was APP DEVELOPER a while back, and, uh, that’s my job...

[Joepickett]

1) Happy to solve this one. Once I saw ENGELS was a pretty good match for ANGELES, it clicked for me.
2) Happy to get the "gibberish" train rolling this week in the comments.

[Bird Lives]

I got stuck in the same plastic egg that Joe Ross (#350) explained. The EGGSL running down the co-operators of the across entries and the LEGGS at 65A couldn't just be coinincidence could it? I knew that Hanes couldn't be the right answer since the key letters started at the bottom (KIRBY/LEE) and then jumped to the top (MARX/ENGELS).

Unfortunately, I never moved on to the solution. Those LEGGS hugged me, held me, and never let me go.

[Colin]

I’m not worthy!
Here’s my submission:
Clue 72A points to six clues whose first words are accomplishments: AUTHOR, FOUNDER, HOST, CREATOR, PILOT and BAKER. These, together with the theme title: “WE’RE IN THIS TOGETHER” (song and slogan of Stewart) point to business magnate MARTHA STEWART.
...
There is a world of difference in the level of magnate-ism between Chanel and Stewart, and between levels of meta complexity; but I think it is a reasonable alternative answer?
PS - PILOT refers to Stewart’s brand of sandals. Don’t think she has a license to fly!

[lbray53]

1st incorrect answer: John Wesley Hanes


WSJCC WitT bad solution JPR.gif

I was on this trail for a long time. My constant second guessing saved me for once!

[TPS]

I see the published answer has parentheses around COCO; that also happens to be how I sent in my answer. Now I hope Mike Miller will strictly follow that published answer and only accept that as being correct, then perhaps my chances of getting the mug will increase by a minuscule amount.

Ok - I’ll bite. Is there any reason why you submitted it with parentheses around it? Like am I missing something?

And I often wonder if they only look at the subject of the email or the body because for this one I put CHANEL in the subject but COCO CHANEL in the text and there have been other answers where I put something in the subject but then more in the body like a comment or joke.

[RichA2]

In addition to the aforementioned link between AND CO and COCO, there were at least two Chanel products in the grid: ALLURE and EROS.

After the solve, I looked back at the puzzle to see if Matt had done something clever with clue No. 5 to reference the only Chanel fragrance whose name I know. He hadn’t. But clue 28D, Fashion, is an obvious tie to the meta solution.

[MikeM000]

In addition to the aforementioned link between AND CO and COCO, there were at least two Chanel products in the grid: ALLURE and EROS.

And.... what could be more "together" than an iconic corporate logo of 2 Cs interlocked?

[BarbaraK]

I hate to complain about an otherwise nice puzzle, but 7D really stuck out as not being like the others. Gates and Allen are both co-founders, Marx and Engles are both co-hosts, etc. But Eckhart and Hanks did not both play co-pilots!!! English is a funny language. An airliner does have two pilots, but co-pilot is used only for the second-in-command. No one would ever call the captain a co-pilot.

I saw some other comments here about inelegance in the puzzle and initially assumed that's what everyone was complaining about. But then I wondered if people outside the aviation community even know that. So I was pleased to see Laura mention it in the Fiend review.

I also wondered if there was a way to spin the answer - something like the person in the grid is a co-whatever and you need to find their colleague (who in 5 of 6 cases just happens to also be a co-whatever).

But no, the official answer says, "ECKHART’s co-pilot was HANKS," and this is WRONG.

[TPS]

But no, the official answer says, "ECKHART’s co-pilot was HANKS," and this is WRONG.

Agree completely - and I mentioned it in my write up - using CO-STAR was an easy fix - Surprise Matt missed that.

[Steve1963]

Finally broke my slump with this one. I had to assume a "E" because I couldn't stop thinking Martini&Rossi. SHows where my head was this weekend. I did learn quite about CoCo and I think Matt put a German crumb or two in as a hint.

[eagle1279]

So glad that we had 72A as a starter! I could see where we could have been left on our own to find "Co-___" in the grid. That would have made it impossible for me, as I had to stretch (Google) to find the Co-___s even after knowing the six that I was looking for, and even then was very confused by the LEE/GIFFORD/RIPA quandary. But with 72A and having first entered GATES as the founder of Microsoft, I felt like I had a head start.

It's always interesting to read about rabbit holes and coincidences and inelegances (?) when I solved, less so on the many occasions when I didn't solve.

[JoeS]

I really liked this idea of the CO answers, and how they are part of the mechanism to solve the puzzle. However, they led me to an alternate answer. Keying off the title clue "We are all in this together", I took the first letter of all 12 last names to find an answer in the anagram of (GRESLHPMVKE). Within these 12 letterd is the name KRESGE. Bothersome perhaps that only half of the letters are used, but, IMHO, no more bothersome than choosing six semi-random grid entries which are anagrams + 1 of the CO names. I submitted this answer, and in response to my perception of a little messiness, got a nudge that I wasn't there yet. Continuing to work, I did discover the answer CHANEL, perhaps more appropriate given the other influences, but nevertheless, KRESGE is an answer that is valid, and conforms to a reasonable construct. I get it that I won't be winning any mug. And I do really appreciate Mike's cleverness.

[KscX]

I made several mistakes along the way, one being I kept writing Sully and Skiles in my list instead of Ekhart and Hanks. Then with all the first names written out, I somehow could see the business magnate ... Tony Stark! Created by Kirby and Lee. I only spent about 15 minutes trying to reverse engineer that one then moved on to the grid, thank goodness. My final mistake was identifying the wrong extra letter in ELLE, then scratched my head while trying to unscramble ANCHEE. The accountant in me went back to review my work and found the L, providing an immediate, 98% certain, and relatively early-in-the-weekend, solve.

I never caught the Co- reference as a prefix; without the heavily hinted title I wouldn’t have made it. Instead I tried to identify “company” words: founder, author, creator, pilot, host - they all seem like words that could describe a magnate. The Defendant took me awhile to add in but mainly because I needed it for another last name (at first my sixth was SARA- tried to turn it into the Maverick- magnate quality- team of Palin & McCain but knew that had too many problems right off the bat). Defendant as a magnate quality? I guess it happens... So I lucked into the first part with incorrect meaning, having my “oh I get it” when reading the solution during the nightly thunderstorm that woke me up this morning at 3:45.

Part of this mechanism is very similar to The final step in last week’s puzzle, except with anagram. Did that bother anyone?

[Jeanrosz]

I got the answer but was wondering how the long answer Oklahoman fit in...any clue?

[Jeanrosz]

I got the answer but was wondering how the long answer Oklahoman fit in...any clue?

. Red herring?

[norrin2]

I didn’t love the Eckhart clue because all of the other theme answers were co-hosts or co-creators or co- defendants but Sully, the character portrayed by Tom HANKS was a pilot not a co-pilot. Nit picky maybe but it slowed my solving down.

[Tony S]

So glad that we had 72A as a starter! I could see where we could have been left on our own to find "Co-___" in the grid. That would have made it impossible for me, as I had to stretch (Google) to find the Co-___s even after knowing the six that I was looking for, and even then was very confused by the LEE/GIFFORD/RIPA quandary. But with 72A and having first entered GATES as the founder of Microsoft, I felt like I had a head start.

It's always interesting to read about rabbit holes and coincidences and inelegances (?) when I solved, less so on the many occasions when I didn't solve.

I thought 72a was a real gift. I'd like to think I would have solved it anyway --- when Allen was the answer and not Gates I felt something was afoot --- combine that with the puzzle's title and it's plausible that the meta could be cracked but I think it might have taken much longer.