"Chain Gang" - August 2, 2019

[Troysail]

Wow! I never thought I would win a mug! I have been doing these puzzles for about 18 months ever since my brother in law, Bill Healy, turned me on to meta puzzles. He has got to be the smartest man I have ever had the pleasure of knowing!

[Meg]

Congratulations!! I’m just a bit more hopeful when someone on this forum wins the mug.....even though it’s actually illogical.

[ImOnToo]

an interesting sojourn to Alice's Restaurant (thankfully it is not a chain so we don't have to worry about an inadvertent spoiler)

We have had a steady stream of traffic to the shore and now have 6 on the ship and 95 on the shore

New to the ship since yesterday are
Ed s
Jenekirstine
Gwyneth

and getting to the shore are
Jim and Anita
your humble Cruise Director
Cynthia J
Anita
HowardH
Beth C
Deb F
Susan G
Ann
LLinNC
Richart
ImOnToo
and Dennis

Good luck to everyone winning the mug

"the mug"? You mean to say that this bastion of capitalism is giving away *one* coffee mug as a reward? I would expect an iPad at least. You'd probably wind up with a better prize at church bingo. Just sayin

As a mug winner, I can tell you that when I received my “winner” email, I was as excited as if I had won cash money! I was looking through email before I got up for work. Read my notification email and sat bolt upright in bed, hit the mattress next to my sleeping husband and exclaimed, “I won the mug!”
I then texted my son and told EVERYONE at work!
At the weekly Friday meeting, I showed EVERYONE my name as the winner!
It’s the sense of pride and, yes, luck of the draw that makes winning so awesome!

[ImOnToo]

Wow! I never thought I would win a mug! I have been doing these puzzles for about 18 months ever since my brother in law, Bill Healy, turned me on to meta puzzles. He has got to be the smartest man I have ever had the pleasure of knowing!

Congratulations!

[CPJohnson]

Happy August to the large crowd that successfully completed this contest: 91% of 1,366 entries in total. As you might expect, incorrect submissions included lots of other big fast-food chains, led by Arby's (!7, any idea why that was so popular?) and Burger King (13, ditto?), along with Wendy's (4), McDonald's (3), Sonic (3), and many many others. Honorable mention to the four solvers who submitted "Chicken Guy," a restaurant I hadn't heard of (there seem to be just two outlets so calling it a "chain" might be a stretch).

And congrats to this week's winner: Troy Stephens of Pittsboro, N.C.

If I had not been able to solve, I was going to guess Arby’s or Sonic because they have 5 letters. Burger King has 10.

[Tony S]

As for Guy Pearce, I have rewatched "LA Confidential" several times just to see the face he makes when James Cromwell says the name "Rollo Temazzi"

Guy Pearce's performance in Memento is unforgettable.

[Tony S]

an interesting sojourn to Alice's Restaurant (thankfully it is not a chain so we don't have to worry about an inadvertent spoiler)

We have had a steady stream of traffic to the shore and now have 6 on the ship and 95 on the shore

New to the ship since yesterday are
Ed s
Jenekirstine
Gwyneth

and getting to the shore are
Jim and Anita
your humble Cruise Director
Cynthia J
Anita
HowardH
Beth C
Deb F
Susan G
Ann
LLinNC
Richart
ImOnToo
and Dennis

Good luck to everyone winning the mug

"the mug"? You mean to say that this bastion of capitalism is giving away *one* coffee mug as a reward? I would expect an iPad at least. You'd probably wind up with a better prize at church bingo. Just sayin

As a mug winner, I can tell you that when I received my “winner” email, I was as excited as if I had won cash money! I was looking through email before I got up for work. Read my notification email and sat bolt upright in bed, hit the mattress next to my sleeping husband and exclaimed, “I won the mug!”
I then texted my son and told EVERYONE at work!
At the weekly Friday meeting, I showed EVERYONE my name as the winner!
It’s the sense of pride and, yes, luck of the draw that makes winning so awesome!

Despite numerous submissions I have never won the WSJ contest. However, I was a winner in the Financial Times Saturday Cryptic contest this past May the 1st time I entered. I was overjoyed. There is hope.

[FrankieHeck]

Happy August to the large crowd that successfully completed this contest: 91% of 1,366 entries in total. As you might expect, incorrect submissions included lots of other big fast-food chains, led by Arby's (!7, any idea why that was so popular?) and Burger King (13, ditto?), along with Wendy's (4), McDonald's (3), Sonic (3), and many many others. Honorable mention to the four solvers who submitted "Chicken Guy," a restaurant I hadn't heard of (there seem to be just two outlets so calling it a "chain" might be a stretch).

And congrats to this week's winner: Troy Stephens of Pittsboro, N.C.

I initially was expecting it to be Arby's just because it's five letters long, and there were five theme answers.

[Bob cruise director]

Happy August to the large crowd that successfully completed this contest: 91% of 1,366 entries in total. As you might expect, incorrect submissions included lots of other big fast-food chains, led by Arby's (!7, any idea why that was so popular?) and Burger King (13, ditto?), along with Wendy's (4), McDonald's (3), Sonic (3), and many many others. Honorable mention to the four solvers who submitted "Chicken Guy," a restaurant I hadn't heard of (there seem to be just two outlets so calling it a "chain" might be a stretch).

And congrats to this week's winner: Troy Stephens of Pittsboro, N.C.

As one who submitted Arby's, I first concluded that there were only three five letter fast food chains: A and W, Arby's and Jacks. When I looked at 53 across, I substituted Y for F to get Guy Fawkes which pointed me in the direction of Arby's. So I was looking for fictional criminals (the chain gang). I then got Itachi by adding an A between Spirit and Chief and substituted R for the first I to get Frerin. At that point I ran out of time and interest since it took a lot of googling to get Itachi and Frerin.

I would have died of old age before I got the Guy's since I never heard of most of them.

[BarbaraK]

Wow! I never thought I would win a mug! I have been doing these puzzles for about 18 months ever since my brother in law, Bill Healy, turned me on to meta puzzles. He has got to be the smartest man I have ever had the pleasure of knowing!

Woo hoo! Another muggle with a mug! Congratulations!

[juliet]

Wow! I never thought I would win a mug! I have been doing these puzzles for about 18 months ever since my brother in law, Bill Healy, turned me on to meta puzzles. He has got to be the smartest man I have ever had the pleasure of knowing!

Many congratulations! and thanks for acknowledging the person who invited you to the cruise!

[Bird Lives]

Disappointed that Mike MIller didn't mention my wrong entry: Lucas Carton.

[KayW]

Disappointed that Mike MIller didn't mention my wrong entry: Lucas Carton.

I admit I had to google Lucas Carton -- can you elaborate on this?

[Commodore]

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while.

Had to look up a list of popular chain restaurants.
When I saw Five Guys, I did a double-take. Guy Fawkes had jumped out in doing the grid.
I could not summon how the other 4 long puzzle answers played a part, knowing not of these other Guys.
I did see "Ritchie, Bob, James, Ian, Robert" That was close enough for me. Submitted.

Or, sometimes the Nut finds a blind squirrel?

[Inca]

Happy August to the large crowd that successfully completed this contest: 91% of 1,366 entries in total. As you might expect, incorrect submissions included lots of other big fast-food chains, led by Arby's (!7, any idea why that was so popular?) and Burger King (13, ditto?), along with Wendy's (4), McDonald's (3), Sonic (3), and many many others. Honorable mention to the four solvers who submitted "Chicken Guy," a restaurant I hadn't heard of (there seem to be just two outlets so calling it a "chain" might be a stretch).

And congrats to this week's winner: Troy Stephens of Pittsboro, N.C.

I didn't submit a guess at all, but it *does* have 5 letters and since the pretty obvious clues numbered 5, I guess that was the reasoning of some desperate souls out in meta-land.

[Joe Ross]

Disappointed that Mike MIller didn't mention my wrong entry: Lucas Carton.

I admit I had to google Lucas Carton -- can you elaborate on this?

The hunt was for "fast food", not "junk food".

[Joe Ross]

Disappointed that Mike MIller didn't mention my wrong entry: Lucas Carton.

I admit I had to google Lucas Carton -- can you elaborate on this?

The hunt was for "fast food", not "junk food".

[Bird Lives]

Disappointed that Mike MIller didn't mention my wrong entry: Lucas Carton.

I admit I had to google Lucas Carton -- can you elaborate on this?

Lucas Carton is about as far from a chain fast-food joint as you can get. In the late 20th century and a few years thereafter it was the Paris resto. It now has one star, and the menu is cheaper. You can still get a meal for €100-200. Add another €100 for a decent red. They might have five chefs but probably not named Guy.

[Joe Ross]

[SewYoung]

Disappointed that Mike MIller didn't mention my wrong entry: Lucas Carton.

I admit I had to google Lucas Carton -- can you elaborate on this?

Lucas Carton is about as far from a chain fast-food joint as you can get. In the late 20th century and a few years thereafter it was the Paris resto. It now has one star, and the menu is cheaper. You can still get a meal for €100-200. Add another €100 for a decent red. They might have five chefs but probably not named Guy.

...and if they did have one with that name, he would pronounce it differently.