"This, That, and The Other Thing" - April 23, 2021

A place to discuss the weekly Wall Street Journal Crossword Puzzle Contest, starting every Thursday around 4:00 p.m. Eastern time. Please do not post any answers or hints before the contest deadline which is midnight Sunday Eastern time.
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wisconsin jim
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#421

Post by wisconsin jim »

This that and the other. THREE things. Peter Paul and Mary. THREE people, etc. so THREE recurring in six different places. Same as the X, Y and Z pattern. So the “correct” tennis answer is hanging on the lobber. Seems thin. And if we’re excluding “obscure” references, I’d like to go back to “ANZAC parade”. Finally, this is the closest I’ve seen to two correct answers.
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ReB
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#422

Post by ReB »

I had various potential entries in mind, but with little evident further guidance from the grid, I decided that the structure of the answer had to be "[BLANK], [BLANK] and MATCH" in order to MATCH the structure of the title and of the five theme phrases.

GAME, SET AND MATCH then looked to be the most likely answer. Regarding confirmation...

In addition to the tennis references (especially 8A LOBBER) that others have described above, I found two ANALOGUES in the grid for GAME and SET:

71A EUDORA is the title of a GAME (via google)

76A plus 15A yields SEIS-ONE (6-1) which is a possible score for a tennis SET

Quite remarkable to fit all these approximately twenty answers and clue words into the grid.
Last edited by ReB on Mon Apr 26, 2021 9:06 am, edited 1 time in total.
MatthewL
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#423

Post by MatthewL »

I submitted Game, Set and Match. While I've heard the phrase Three on a Match, that one never occurred to me at the time. In addition to the Lobber clue to the tennis thing, I also thought 15A (One) and 76A (Seis or "Six") was additional confirmation (One "Game", Six Games in a "Set"), especially with 76A being the last clue in the grid. But I still wasn't 100% confident when submitting.
Matthew
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TeamDoubleTow
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#424

Post by TeamDoubleTow »

We fortunately were ignorant of the phrase "three on a match" so we're able to submit the only thing we thought of, which happened to be the right answer. I do like learning the new phrase after the fact... even if it is a bit macabre.
Team DoubleTow=Ali who posts here, Alex & Maya the hound(with occasional assistance from son)
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SReh26
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#425

Post by SReh26 »

:o :( :oops:
WSJosh
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Location: Nashville, TN

#426

Post by WSJosh »

Thanks to the Forrest Gump soundtrack, the only other version of “Blowin’ in the Wind” that I was familiar with was Joan Baez’ (which was my initial instinct to fill in the grid for that clue). After that, I didn’t even try to find alternate answers that fit the theme (thinking only of those two versions of the song) and instead went chasing rabbits from all the names in the puzzle. Next time.
Last edited by WSJosh on Mon Apr 26, 2021 8:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
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ImOnToo
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#427

Post by ImOnToo »

Three On A Match seemed so obvious to me.

Part of the superstition of 3 GIs lighting cigarettes on one match was that the third one would be shot. In each of the themed answers, the third member of the trio was missing. I think "Three on A Match" fits better than having to randomly manufacture 3 words to come up with "Game, Set and Match".

Additionally, I believe that I've always heard, "Game, Set, Match" at tournaments. (No "and")
Konnie
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ImOnToo
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#428

Post by ImOnToo »

ChrisKochmanski wrote: Mon Apr 26, 2021 2:01 am I submitted THREE ON A MATCH, but when presented with GAME, SET, AND MATCH soon after, I thought, "That must be it. I'm wrong. 'Three on a Match' is an ancient phrase -- would Matt G. even know of it? -- and 'Game, Set, and Match' fits the format of the puzzle's title. Oh, well."

Funny, though, that when I related this to my wife (she's not a puzzler, but she'll occasionally entertain my puzzle ramblings), she said, "Yes, but isn't the phrase GAME, SET, MATCH? No 'and'. That's three words, not four." So I'd have felt some uncertainty even if I had entered correctly.
EXACTLY!! It's "Game, Set, Match"
Konnie
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Gman
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#429

Post by Gman »

IMHO, if one submitted an answer with the word MATCH, you got it right. I think Gaffney should have either put GAME and SET in the grid, or the answer should have been a five letter word.
wb93
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#430

Post by wb93 »

I went with “three of a kind” 😳

My logic being that the mechanism was based on finding an alternative answer to the * clues. So “three of a kind” is an alternative to “match”. It also describes the 5 alternative answers and the puzzle title. Each of which is 3 of a kind.

In doing so, I neglected to fully appreciate the tennis theme in the puzzle. I saw it. The Graf answer in particular stuck out to me as an odd clue, and I should have given it more prominence in my sleuthing.

One other interesting way to get to Game, set, and match that I now see. To “win” the match, one has to string together a number of “sets”

Til Friday

-wb93
MaineMarge
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#431

Post by MaineMarge »

I’ve never heard the phrases 3 on a match or game, set, and match so I didn’t have either in my bag of possibilities. ( The only things I know about tennis I’ve learned from crosswording...)
We were given A and B in the grid, and had to come up with C. So I figured we had to find A and B in the grid, since we had “ come up with” C. I chose That is AAAA...match! I had marked both of those as unusual entries, so figured that was why they were there, even though that didn’t fit the pattern.
My solving partner enlightened me on the GSandM phrase, and I could see it must be the right one.
This was a waaaay tricky meta for me.
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KscX
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#432

Post by KscX »

I went with my new #1 rule: If it can’t be explained in a small paragraph, you aren’t on the right road. The Game Set and Match seemed the only feasible explanation.

For the naysayers- I get it. WHAT IF there had been another clue, not asterisked, that somehow subtly landed at a synonym in the grid for a synonym of game, set match? Say ... inning? I know it’s asking a lot for MG to fit one more pertinent word in there...
ChrisWill
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Joined: Fri Mar 12, 2021 8:53 am

#433

Post by ChrisWill »

We went with Game, Set, and Match, figuring that followed the guidance of the title. Similar to others we googled "phrases with the word match", but never got 3 on a match - the only other one that came up that we thought could be a possibility was Match made in Heaven (others mentioned the Pearly Gates clue, which occurred to us as well), but the most straightforward answer seemed to us to be an idiom with the word match that followed the pattern, so that's what we went with. Apparently that's what Matt intended, but I can certainly see where the confusion came from.

Worth noting, our biggest rabbit hole was trying to figure out why there were so many first names in the puzzle (even seeing them in the starred clues and answers, like Stan and Art), but it was when my wife said that Tom, Dick, and Harry is another answer for "average guy" that it clicked and we got on the path to find the clue answers that fit the title framework and could substitute in for the starred answers.

Finally, new things I learned from this crossword puzzle:
"Three on a match" - thanks to you all!
Neap - a type of tide that has the least difference in water between high and low tide
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femullen
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#434

Post by femullen »

CRASH, BURN, and die.

Never even close. The only thought bubble that was anywhere near the solution was 17A. "Bob Dylan?" I wondered. "I thought that was Peter, Paul, and Mary. Well, shows again that I have no ear for pop music."
For nudges, feel free to PM me. I won't have a clue how to help you, but you might shove me ashore.
periperi
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#435

Post by periperi »

Like most, I found MATCH quickly. Then I was thinking about this for WAYYY too long:
Bob Dylan wrote ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER -- which was :
most notably performed by Jimi Hendrix, who also is known for Hey JOE[schmoe]
covered by U2 on the [un]RATTLE[d] and hum album.

If I had found a good link for HEART (which seemed possible given that it's a band) and ONSTANDBY, I would have been convinced. But eventually I was able to abandon this line of thinking...but SINGSON was also a strong nudge to keep drilling...
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Gman
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#436

Post by Gman »

KscX wrote: Mon Apr 26, 2021 9:01 am I went with my new #1 rule: If it can’t be explained in a small paragraph, you aren’t on the right road. The Game Set and Match seemed the only feasible explanation.

For the naysayers- I get it. WHAT IF there had been another clue, not asterisked, that somehow subtly landed at a synonym in the grid for a synonym of game, set match? Say ... inning? I know it’s asking a lot for MG to fit one more pertinent word in there...
But THAT IS was in the grid. And I have heard many announcers say THAT IS MATCH POINT just as often as GAME, SET AND MATCH.
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mheberlingx100
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#437

Post by mheberlingx100 »

I’ve often heard “Game, Set and Match” in use outside of a tennis context so that was my first thought. Google search helped firm that up, and Lobber answer added to that. And finally, it fit in general structure of title and all theme clues.

I have heard of “Three on a Match” but didn’t think of it. But when it was mentioned in this forum, it reminded me of a Jerry Lewis movie, “Three on a Couch”. A really, really dreadful movie. Only the most hard-core of Jerry Lewis fans would enjoy it.
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TPS
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#438

Post by TPS »

Gman wrote: Mon Apr 26, 2021 8:43 am IMHO, if one submitted an answer with the word MATCH, you got it right. I think Gaffney should have either put GAME and SET in the grid, or the answer should have been a five letter word.
I wasn’t anywhere close to the solution - so I have no real dog in this fight - and I completely agree, if you got to MATCH that should be close enough.
Susan Goldberg
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#439

Post by Susan Goldberg »

Bob cruise director wrote: Mon Apr 26, 2021 12:26 am The problem I had with Game, Set and Match was that while it fit the A, B and (implied)C, there was no way to link Game and Set into the grid. So you are left to grab at straws and know the term Game, Set and Match. I thought that the linkage to Lobber was weak at best. Forcing the fit could be construed as linking to the answer to 20A "willing" for Game and for Set you could force 33A as Style fancily but again that is weak at best.

One other option was Three on a Match as noted. But you could not link that back to the grid or clues any better. (the term comes from WWI where three soldiers lighting cigarettes' from the same match gave a sniper time to aim at the light).

A third option was That Is A Match which links to the grid better since "That Is" is the answer to 64A. And we have 15A as Quarter of Four with the answer "one" and you apply that to 39D which is "AAAA" (an unheard of size for a battery especially in crossworddom) so 1/4 of AAAA is A for the completion of That Is A Match. The only problem with this answer is it does not fit the format.
I had the same problem Bob. I kept wanting to find “game” and “set” in the grid or somewhere. But I gave up and went with it anyway! Can’t believe I ended up on shore.
EmilyW
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#440

Post by EmilyW »

I came up with Game Set and Match but I wanted to confirm with google because I wasn't sure if AND was included in that phrase. I saw this on a very reliable source, Urban Dictionary: Used to indicate that a person has definitively beaten the opposition in a given situation. Derived from the game of tennis in which the winner of a match is the player who wins two out of three (for women) or three out of five (for men) sets; each set is made up of a number of games. Thus, the final winning shot is the one that wins the player the point that wins the game that wins the set that wins the match. The winning two out of three sealed the deal for me since we had two out of three components on each themer.

Also, glad I'm not the only one that thought about Seinfeld for both the title and the answer.
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