"Two For The Show" - April 2, 2021

[sanmilton]

Well, that was a long swim! I am humbled by this puzzle, and kicking myself for needing to spend so much time with it, but the 31A moment was worth it. I have to admit, however, that it came a few hours after I enjoyed my TGIF Manhattan! Thanks for a "fun" one, Mr. Shenk!

[Richard]

On the beach.

Helped with a nudge.

[hoover]

Finished the grid yesterday afternoon in 11:15 and have been scratching my head over the meta ever since. I've followed a few leads to nowhere. I think Isaac's getting tired of serving me NA beer, but I have no idea how long I'm gonna be on this boat and I haven't found the head yet.

31A! Finally made it to the beach.

Funny thing is, I was typing up the six wrong things I had tried when I found a seventh thing to type up that turned out to lead to something useful.

[seahawks_seashanty]

Would really appreciate a nudge! Feel like I'm staring and staring but I can't see the tea party for the trees.

[JeanneC]

Grid done but still looking for a way to get to shore. My mojo has definitely taken some time off.
Peace to all this Easter.

[EdStrong]

Ashore - good one!

[Janet]

Got it! Ashore.

[Fishoutowater]

Quick grid but stuck on the meta, even after coming back to it twice. Could use a nudge! Thanks

[Bob cruise director]

Quick grid but stuck on the meta, even after coming back to it twice. Could use a nudge! Thanks

Send one of us a PM of what you have done so far and we can give you a course correction.

[Bob cruise director]

Muggles especially newer ones

This group is one of the more willing groups that you will ever be in. We all want to help you learn and be successful. However the art of asking for nudges is more than just posting "help me" here. Over on the FAQ-Community/Solving Resources page there is a topic about asking for nudges. In essence a few guidelines

1) rather than have a broadcast message, send a PM to someone who is on shore. Tell them what paths you have followed because in most cases I have found that you may be very close.

2) When you put a general post, no one knows if you have gotten 10 nudges or none so direct your call to one or two muggles

3) Turn on the PM notification indicator and you will get an email that you have been sent a PM. Check Joe Ross's post in the topic above for detailed instructions.

4) For most of us, if you get a gentle nudge, submitting to the WSJ is OK. However if you get dragged to shore by the Coast Guard, most of us will claim to be on shore here but not submit to the WSJ

[Joe Ross]

Muggles especially newer ones: ...

Hey, Bob...

Great post, with one major complaint: Your avatar has made it beer-thirty 7 hours early. Thanks

[Bob cruise director]

Muggles especially newer ones: ...

Hey, Bob...

Great post, with one major complaint: Your avatar has made it beer-thirty 7 hours early. Thanks

My clock is off. It says 5:02 so I am OK

[ky-mike]

Bit of trivia - "Two For the Show" is also the title of an album by the band Kansas, recorded live during their 1977 and 1978 tours. I attended one of those shows in Kansas City in the summer of 1978 at a Summer Jam event held at Arrowhead Stadium. I forget who the headliner was, but the bands performing were -

Eddie Money
Kansas
Steve Miller Band
Van Halen

[minimuggle]

ON shore. When the "aha" hit I was so excited. Lots of fun rabbit holes. Very nice construction. can't wait to hear the discussion.

[Jeanrosz]

On shore with a tow!

[Bob cruise director]

Good Saturday morning muggles

An interesting challenge by Mr. Shenk. Once you find the right rabbit hole, it is a 100% solutions

First we have 22 on the ship and 106 on the shore

And we have six new muggles - Bonnibel, hoover, dap2180, rle97, mkmf, DBBilly. As an FYI, I count you as a muggle when you post here on the Friday WSJ part of the blog anytime between Thursday and Sunday pm when I go to bed. If you post on one of the other pages, like the other metas page or on Monday or Tuesday, I probably won't pick you up.


On the ship keeping Isaac busy are
Joepickett
Jennifer
TPS
samandcam
Billy M
EVJ
CPJohnson
Ergcat
agatha
Anita
802puzzler
auee89
femullen
ChrisWill
Brian M
JeanneC
DannyWalter
seahawks seashanty
TheCatt
Tom S
Fishoutowater
MamaE


While on the shore basking in the warm sun are

Kay
Mike H
Al
Beth A
David K
oldjudge
Meg
C=64
Cap'n Rick
edot
Heidi
Peter
Laura
Andrew B
Miki
eric h
Schmeel
Jace54
RobM
boharr
Tina
JimJim
Wendy
MatthewL
Dannyvee
stmv
ky-mike
Les
joequavis
higgysue
AnswerPfinder (Will)
jrdad
LittleGood
SusieG
whimsy
Georgeall
Omnibus
Barbara K
streroto
Plymouth Rock
dk letter
Tom Mueller
Lacangah
MajorDomoTom
Toby
mkmf
DCBilly
Scott M
ajk
Chris
Cindy
HeadinHome
M and M
sharkicicles
Bill
Beth T
Jordanian
Beth C
Moi
TeaJenny
MaineMarge
Trey and Marion
mbryant
joe
dudeski
markhr
ladybird
Daniel G
John B
TeamDoubleTow
Guy L
Thurman8er
Kris Zacharias
dplass
Homer
sf592000
Dave C
meowmiao71
JaneGummy
michaelm
periperi
wb93
KscX
copperriver
Mister Squawk
Gman
Jeremy
Tony S
Olaf
Carter
sanmilton
Pembroke
Cosmo
Jarrod
HunterX
Bonnibel
bread-girl
Ed S
hoover
dap2180
Richard
Janet
rle97
Joseph McGrath
minimuggle
Jean


Good luck to all getting to shore and winning the elusive mug.

[Commodore]

OK Commodore Farragut. Where were you when you said that?

High in the riggin' o' the Hartford, down in Mobile Bay. And the title was Rear Admiral.
But promoted to Admiral after winnin' that one. You've seen the statue in South Boston?

Speaking of winners:

Muggles, we're into the green! Take care of our site for 2 years...$15? No-brainer.

Oh, and please add the Commodore to this week's Shore Party.

[CPJohnson]

I am ashore, finally, thanks to boharr and his masterful nudges.....yes, it took more than one. I feel especially dense today.

[stmv]

Haha! Very nice, Mike. I was afraid for an hour or so that my brain was too scrambled from doing the first three (out of nine, 7A!) variety puzzles in the amazing Patrick Berry suite.

I'd like to put in another plug for Patrick Berry's suite of puzzles "Containment Policy" https://aframegames.com/store/?download ... ent-policy. I have spent way too much time (and had way too much fun) doing the first 8 of these variety puzzles. The modest description on the website doesn't do the puzzles justice - they gave my brain a real workout to solve. Each puzzle is crossword-adjacent, but with a twist, and then every time with some additional tricky element (think rebus-like), and *then* also with a sort of meta element where you have to develop one key word from every one of the 8 initial puzzles to solve the meta-meta 9th. I think that the meta aspect would tickle the fancy of many people here, though my experience was the reverse of my WSJCC experiences: Solving the "grids" is quite hard, then getting the meta word at the end is (usually) quite easy. The other amazing part is how technically impressive these constructions are. After doing one of these puzzles, just try to imagine how Patrick could possibly have constructed it, especially in a way that "forced" the meta word. This suite is a real tour de force, I highly recommend it (if you have the time to spare).

[Edited to add: now I've done the whole thing, and the meta-meta windup puzzle has to be seen to be believed. It is astounding that Patrick was able to construct something like this. PM me if you're having trouble with anything (there was one meta that I was stuck on for a while).]

[Cindy N]

Add me to the shore list. In completing the grid, I noticed something and thought "huh, interesting". And promptly set it aside. Then of course I went down the wrong rabbit hole. But, sitting here this morning realized there was more than just that one thing and done. There was one bit of inelegance in the grid construction, but otherwise spot on.



If only it were this easy, right?