"The Party Starts at 10" - December 31, 2020

[ChrisKochmanski]

I also initially saw BRING IN THE NEW. But then thought, "That can't be right. The phrase is RING IN THE NEW, correct?" Having the consistency of the three last letters of the four 10-letter down answers seemed to confirm it. And at first when reading the comments here about possible second answers, I figured it was just other people also seeing BRING IN THE NEW. But THEN ... I started to think, "Hey, maybe RING IN THE NEW is only the first step in, oh, I don't know, maybe a PAGEANT-like thing." OVER-thinking, obviously.

[Nlobb]

In the south, we like to "ring in the new" with ham, black-eyed peas and cabbage. The peas are for good luck! I did learn one interesting thing about using a fresh pineapple glaze on ham. DON'T DO IT! Fresh pineapple contains an enzyme which breaks down the ham, turning it into MUSH!! Not edible!
Luckily I cooked the ham on New years Eve, so it was just another case of getting 2020'd.
Hurray for 2021 and happy new year to all!

[Nlobb]

Also 39a has the word "toll" which sounds like a bell!

[beccacollins]

I was also unsure about bring. Then finally made the countdown connection. Before seeing that, I thought it was just a "maybe." Oh well, I will now go brag to my husband that I've matched every answer published this year!

[Gman]

I was unsure about whether it was RING or BRING until I re-examined the 3,2, ONE clue, and decided RING makes more sense. The puzzle masters tend to like symmetrical patterns, too, and since the G was paired with IN in the second 10 letter long down answer, that sealed it for me.

[NuYear68]

Well I certainly feel silly to not have solved this one. As my screenname suggests, I was the first baby born in NYC in 1968, at the stroke of midnight as everyone else was ringing in the new year.

All the best for 2021!

-Paul

[Abide]

OK, so now I am curious about this “other” possible answer. I submitted the right one, but spent all weekend trying to suss out what the alternate one is that so many said exists.

Please share, fellow Muggles.

As I posted in #175, I mistakenly submitted the phrase (RING IN THE NEW YEAR), based on getting those first four words. Short-term memory or a Mickey Finn from Isaac, not sure which.

I then confused more than a few by saying last year there could have been two answers-- I was thinking RING IN THE NEW DECADE. Sorry if your ox was gored.

[Franklin.Bluth]

I stared at RIN GIN THE NEW for a lot longer than I should have trying to figure out what gin had to do with the new year.

[whimsy]

Before I made it to shore, I was stymied by the party starting at 10 (Down) and tried to make something from all the awards and award winners mentioned in the grid.

And also a little tiny part of me really wanted to back solve so that the answer could turn out to be: "Granddaddy of them all!"
(Either that or "Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk, nyuk!" )

[EVJ]

I thought the two possible answers were:
BRING IN THE NEW
VS
RING IN THE NEW
The word BRING jumped out at me when I focused on the 10-letter words so I thought I’d discovered the meta as
BRING IN THE NEW. I did not submit immediately. I usually don’t, allowing the answer to rest in the back of my brain for a bit. And I’m glad I didn’t submit because while doing laundry or some other mundane task I suddenly realized that RING was imbedded in BRING and also made a valid answer. I had to think about this hard. Do we RING IN or BRING IN THE NEW? I had to google to be sure. In my googling I did not come upon Tennyson so I really appreciated that morsel being posted here. I always love Mike’s recap and look forward to seeing how many RING and how many BRING were submitted.

[mheberlingx100]

I thought the two possible answers were:
BRING IN THE NEW
VS
RING IN THE NEW
The word BRING jumped out at me when I focused on the 10-letter words so I thought I’d discovered the meta as
BRING IN THE NEW. I did not submit immediately. I usually don’t, allowing the answer to rest in the back of my brain for a bit. And I’m glad I didn’t submit because while doing laundry or some other mundane task I suddenly realized that RING was imbedded in BRING and also made a valid answer. I had to think about this hard. Do we RING IN or BRING IN THE NEW? I had to google to be sure. In my googling I did not come upon Tennyson so I really appreciated that morsel being posted here. I always love Mike’s recap and look forward to seeing how many RING and how many BRING were submitted.

For me, the 3-2-1 clue at the bottom made the solution clear.

[Tom Shea]

Apologies in advance for bad taste, but I couldn't help but think of Monty Python's "Bring out your dead" in solving this puzzle. Morbidly apropos for 2020.

Luckily, I submitted "Ring in the new"

[Meg]

Apologies in advance for bad taste, but I couldn't help but think of Monty Python's "Bring out your dead" in solving this puzzle. Morbidly apropos for 2020.

Luckily, I submitted "Ring in the new"

Such a great film!! I fart in your general direction!

[tim1217]

I stared at RIN GIN THE NEW for a lot longer than I should have trying to figure out what gin had to do with the new year.

Based on 2020, I'd say GIN had EVERYTHING to do with the new year!

[BeTheLight]

I got RING IN THE NEW using the clues (10 word answers and 3, 2, 1 countdown) but it didn't click because I have never heard anyone use that phrase without saying RING IN THE NEW YEAR. I didn't know about the poem until Googling it later, but I submitted the right answer knowing it was supposed to be a four word answer. But I certainly second guessed it a few times because it sounded incomplete.

[Jacksull]

Here is the full text of Tennyson’s poem “In Memoriam”. Some of the sentiments seem to apply to the present day.


Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
   The flying cloud, the frosty light:
   The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
   Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
   The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind
   For those that here we see no more;
   Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,
   And ancient forms of party strife;
   Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws
.
Ring out the want, the care, the sin,
   The faithless coldness of the times;
   Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes
But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,
   The civic slander and the spite;
   Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease;
   Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
   Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,
   The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
   Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.

[HunterX]

Apologies in advance for bad taste, but I couldn't help but think of Monty Python's "Bring out your dead" in solving this puzzle. Morbidly apropos for 2020.

Luckily, I submitted "Ring in the new"

Such a great film!! I fart in your general direction!

And the mug is our Holy Grail!

But I'm afraid, with all that's still going on, that 2020 is saying, "I'm not quite dead yet!"

[mheberlingx100]

Apologies in advance for bad taste, but I couldn't help but think of Monty Python's "Bring out your dead" in solving this puzzle. Morbidly apropos for 2020.

Luckily, I submitted "Ring in the new"

Such a great film!! I fart in your general direction!

And the mug is our Holy Grail!

But I'm afraid, with all that's still going on, that 2020 is saying, "I'm not quite dead yet!"

Your mother was a hamster, and your father smells of elderberries. .

[HunterX]

Such a great film!! I fart in your general direction!

And the mug is our Holy Grail!

But I'm afraid, with all that's still going on, that 2020 is saying, "I'm not quite dead yet!"

Your mother was a hamster, and your father smells of elderberries. .

Go away. Or I shall taunt you a second time!

[Meg]

And the mug is our Holy Grail!

But I'm afraid, with all that's still going on, that 2020 is saying, "I'm not quite dead yet!"

Your mother was a hamster, and your father smells of elderberries. .

Go away. Or I shall taunt you a second time!

It’s just a scratch!