"Cooking By The Numbers" - May 28, 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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Magistra
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#321

Post by Magistra »

A very satisfying solve for this Latin teacher! I didn't notice that all the clues began with Roman numerals; the word Roman pointed me in the right direction.

I've been waiting to share a bit of trivia. There exists one number that when written in correctly in Roman numerals also spells an English word. Coincidentally, that word fits with the cooking theme: MIX.
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Cap'n Rick
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#322

Post by Cap'n Rick »

JaneGummy wrote: Mon May 31, 2021 7:42 am I found the correct answer via a different route, not as clean but I made it work. By the numbers made me see the words twenty and one in the grid. Twenty one in Roman numerals is XXI. checked the clues, there was one clue that started with a single I, 57 A gave me OR. Three clues started with X, 37 down gave me EG, and I found ANO by the TWENTY. I doubt it was intentional to have an alternate solve path, but it got me home.

The core t mechanism was obviously much more elegant.
I had a similar solving experience with ONE and TWENTY, and I briefly considered a rebus-type solution OAR-EGG-ANO.
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Joe Ross
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#323

Post by Joe Ross »

Magistra wrote: Mon May 31, 2021 8:18 am A very satisfying solve for this Latin teacher! I didn't notice that all the clues began with Roman numerals; the word Roman pointed me in the right direction.

I've been waiting to share a bit of trivia. There exists one number that when written in correctly in Roman numerals also spells an English word. Coincidentally, that word fits with the cooking theme: MIX.
I've a sister who recently became a grandmother & whose beautiful grandson is named for his father and grandfather with the initials MCM, III. When I informed a super-solving muggle of this, she asked me to pass along her congratulations on the birth of 1903. I did and - fortunately - "1903" hasn't stuck, which usually does happen in my family.

Cap'n Rick wrote: Mon May 31, 2021 8:20 am
JaneGummy wrote: Mon May 31, 2021 7:42 am I found the correct answer via a different route, not as clean but I made it work. By the numbers made me see the words twenty and one in the grid. Twenty one in Roman numerals is XXI. checked the clues, there was one clue that started with a single I, 57 A gave me OR. Three clues started with X, 37 down gave me EG, and I found ANO by the TWENTY. I doubt it was intentional to have an alternate solve path, but it got me home.

The core t mechanism was obviously much more elegant.
I had a similar solving experience with ONE and TWENTY, and I briefly considered a rebus-type solution OAR-EGG-ANO.
Wow! Extra-credit to you both!
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Hidden in 3D
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Joined: Sun Nov 17, 2019 11:42 pm

#324

Post by Hidden in 3D »

When I was filling out the grid and completed SARACENS, I thought, Oh, look, I'm Hidden in 44A this week! I thought I might be able to use that in a post, but decided to wait and be sure it wasn't a spoiler. That was probably the last intelligent insight I had before getting stuck in major rabbit holes. I recognized Mike's signature clue spot in the SE corner and immediately saw the single Roman numerals in the grid. But I really wanted to use the letters that were BY those numerals on both sides, which resulted in gibberish. The fact that OREGANO didn't jump out at me this weekend is almost comical because of the number of times I looked at my herb garden out my sunroom windows. Currently my oregano is out of control and one of my weekend chores was to prune it back drastically and dry some for future use. Well, that plan went by the wayside when I sprained my ankle severely while walking our dog on Thursday afternoon. Hobbling out to tend to the OREGANO quickly went to the bottom of my to-do list, but one would have thought it might have at least sent a signal to the meta-solving portion of my brain...
Sara
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DrTom
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#325

Post by DrTom »

Cap'n Rick wrote: Mon May 31, 2021 8:20 am
JaneGummy wrote: Mon May 31, 2021 7:42 am I found the correct answer via a different route, not as clean but I made it work. By the numbers made me see the words twenty and one in the grid. Twenty one in Roman numerals is XXI. checked the clues, there was one clue that started with a single I, 57 A gave me OR. Three clues started with X, 37 down gave me EG, and I found ANO by the TWENTY. I doubt it was intentional to have an alternate solve path, but it got me home.

The core t mechanism was obviously much more elegant.
I had a similar solving experience with ONE and TWENTY, and I briefly considered a rebus-type solution OAR-EGG-ANO.
I agree with Joe Ross - congratulations for finding the Appian way home.
NUDGES!I am always willing to give nudges where needed; metas should be about fun, not frustration. Send me what you have done so far because often you are closer than you think!
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DrTom
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#326

Post by DrTom »

SReh26 wrote: Mon May 31, 2021 8:17 am For A-1, originally I had COILS instead of JOINS, so that threw off the order of roman numerals, and sent me down a rabbit hole of oils, eggs, yeas, tea, tan and agent. Twenty was another rabbit hole... I converted it to XX, which hinted at gold medal flour. AONE made me consider that ATEAN (in ateandran) could signify 18, or XVIII. That led nowhere. Someone told me ROMAN was significant, but I just doubled back to TAN, YEAS, XX, links together, and cooking and considered durum semolina, or just DURUM, could be the answer, but ALAS, no.

My only correct move was asking for more than a few more nudges. Then I finally saw it. By that point I couldn’t even enjoy or take true ownership for solving it. The fact that every clue is a roman numeral is a thing of great beauty and finally gave me that smile and glow for which I come here.
Lucky me, I never even noticed the fact that they started with Roman Numerals until after I had solved. Had I seen that I probably would have gone on a wild rabbit chase.
NUDGES!I am always willing to give nudges where needed; metas should be about fun, not frustration. Send me what you have done so far because often you are closer than you think!
hashbrownoholic
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Joined: Fri May 14, 2021 2:15 pm

#327

Post by hashbrownoholic »

I didn’t notice that each of the clues started with a Roman numeral...nor did I notice the singular existence of each within the grid. I’m chalking it up to distraction by my new sailboat. :D

I did however notice the Roman numeral hint right away and spotted V,X,L, C and D. I immediately started looking at letters beside them as the title suggested, but obviously to no avail. I continued down many deep rabbit holes (including one using the clue AONE) until I fiiiiiinally pulled my head out long enough to notice the I and the M. Not more than a minute later I had the answer. Was kicking myself that I was on the right track right away but hadn’t located all of the numerals to solve it.

3rd puzzle in though and I am loving it and starting to catch on faster :) very enjoyable solve
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DrTom
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#328

Post by DrTom »

Limerick Savant wrote: Mon May 31, 2021 1:14 am Lest this puzzle prolong my perturb
It was ‘bout to be kicked to the curb
Then It served the reveal
Like a fabulous meal
With a taste that was simply soup herb

Initially I found myself cooking up a rabbit stew with all the ones I chased around the grid. Then I caught the significance of the final clue and spied the sequence of V through D in the longest across answers but still couldn’t make that work either and began to overthink the “by the numbers” hint in the title and still was stymied. As my busy weekend wore on I figured it was going to be another one crying in a Guinness served up by Isaac. At about 20 minutes before deadline I picked up the paper one last time an it hit me that I was missing 2 numerals in the sequence: I and M. Once I saw them there in the first and last answers the rest was easy. Strangely enough 29D had me searching a rabbit hole for a way to make “oregano” work much earlier in my process. Only after finding the full sequence of Roman numerals did I realize that those were the only instances in which they appeared! Kudos to Mike Shenk.
I yield all rhymes to Mobile
And all would agree I sure feel
I’m here to observe
That the use of “soup herb”
Makes his vehicle too hard to steal


T
NUDGES!I am always willing to give nudges where needed; metas should be about fun, not frustration. Send me what you have done so far because often you are closer than you think!
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DrTom
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#329

Post by DrTom »

Dplass wrote: Sun May 30, 2021 10:20 pm
femullen wrote: Sun May 30, 2021 7:32 am When I read that Dplass was giving up, I thought I might as well give up too, because he solves these things way more often than I do. Two and a half days of stupidly staring was just keeping me from more productive ways to waste time. Out of complete and utter desperation, I tried one more attack, and i am...

ASHORE.

This is one of those puzzles of which I'd ordinarily say on Monday morning, "I'd have never thought of that." I am still in awe of you who solve this stuff in literally five minutes.
Glad that you got it.

But don't let that Dplass guy inspire you to give up. He's just a grumpy old man who can't accept the fact that others can "do things" better or before him and puts an inordinate portion of self-worth on his ability to "do things".

And I should know, because he is me.
Dplass - you are a member of a VERY large club. We have all shared your frustration and, I would posit, all feel our personal worth is increased when we are able to solve. If I ever make it into the top 10 I am likely to have to have the smile eventually surgically removed!
NUDGES!I am always willing to give nudges where needed; metas should be about fun, not frustration. Send me what you have done so far because often you are closer than you think!
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DrTom
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#330

Post by DrTom »

otlaolap wrote: Mon May 31, 2021 12:27 am Was lucky on this one. After mulling all the food words in the grid for a while, and getting no farther along than getting hungry, I considered the title word "Numbers" and the significantly located grid answer "Roman" for a bit. Then it leapt off the page at me: all the clues began with a Roman number letter! After a small side trip to badger my wife with this marvelous discovery, I wondered if a similar mechanism might appear in the grid. Got out the highlighter, and found that, no, it doesn't. But wait -- each letter appeared only once! What do the next letters spell? NETTERA. Oh drat. But I am getting better at this, because it didn't take too long for me to wonder what the preceding letters spelled. OREGANO. Another trip to bother my wife. Then, finally, I noticed that the Roman letters in the grid ascended in strict sequence by their position in the grid. One more trip to show this marvel to the poor woman, who was trying to do some work, and off the email went. Kudos to the constructor.

[edit - fixed typo]
Hmmm - feel your pain. "Oh look honey it's OREGANO and you get it because there are Roman Numerals in each long answer and they are by"...EYE ROLL, SIGH - "Great, hey you know what I want pasta for dinner."
NUDGES!I am always willing to give nudges where needed; metas should be about fun, not frustration. Send me what you have done so far because often you are closer than you think!
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DrTom
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#331

Post by DrTom »

Diana wrote: Sun May 30, 2021 2:55 pm Hey guys. Some of you will remember me. I'm from back in the Sally days. I don't do the board anymore, but I thought of you all when I read Gavin MacLeod died. I just wanted to say hi. I am on shore this week, BTW.
Well come on back then! I'm a newer member but I'd love input of the charter crew! Besides, I want to hear your verse! I mean I am sure it is better than mine, though people say I get verse and verse.....
NUDGES!I am always willing to give nudges where needed; metas should be about fun, not frustration. Send me what you have done so far because often you are closer than you think!
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SReh26
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#332

Post by SReh26 »

Like perhaps many of you, my relatives returned home after the wars. Today I’m honoring the fallen who made that possible. 🇺🇸
JeanneC
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#333

Post by JeanneC »

Jeremy Smith wrote: Mon May 31, 2021 12:11 am I failed to solve this, and the biggest reason is the extremely large red herring of using only the 7 Roman numerals to begin each and every clue.
Whoaaaaaaaaa!! Never even saw that although I did solve. Think I’ll go off into a corner and mumble to myself for awhile. That’s not just elegance, that’s artistry.
“I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year’s fashions”. Lillian Hellman
zacmoretz
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#334

Post by zacmoretz »

Limerick Savant wrote: Mon May 31, 2021 1:14 am Lest this puzzle prolong my perturb
It was ‘bout to be kicked to the curb
Then It served the reveal
Like a fabulous meal
With a taste that was simply soup herb
Great limerick! 💪🐐
zacmoretz
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Joined: Sun Mar 22, 2020 6:50 pm

#335

Post by zacmoretz »

The more I reflect on this one the more amazing it is. Not only the fact that he used only the Roman numerals to start the clues, but also the fact that he only used them once each in the grid, and then in numerical order. Using, for example, M and I, only once each. Mind blowing.Truly a thing of beauty. Maybe we need a scale to judge the artistry and inventiveness of a puzzle, because this one is off the charts.
MatthewL
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#336

Post by MatthewL »

Like many others, I did not notice that every clue started with a Roman numeral. I was already hugely impressed that Mike somehow managed to use each numeral only once and in numeric order (which I did finally see after poking my head into a few fruitless bunny holes). But every clue? Wowza. That's some next-level construction.
Matthew
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Cindy N
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#337

Post by Cindy N »

Add me to the "missed the start of the clue" group. I questioned if there was more than OREGANO because it said "by the numbers" but didn't specify that it was one side only. I'm firmly in the camp that half solves and has to go back to lather, rinse, repeat.
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DrTom
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#338

Post by DrTom »

For all of those men and boys lying at rest in foreign soil so that we may rest comfortably on this soil - I salute you. To face peril and an enemy, whether foreign or domestic, so that your fellow men may live safely is a truly great sacrifice. But I want to extend that remembrance to more of our heroes who put themselves in harm's way for us; I want to add a warm thank you to the Police and Firefighters who serve in a different, but equally important uniform!
NUDGES!I am always willing to give nudges where needed; metas should be about fun, not frustration. Send me what you have done so far because often you are closer than you think!
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Kas
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#339

Post by Kas »

Another week on the boat. Going to have to look into a frequent sailor discount, at this rate...
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MikeM000
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#340

Post by MikeM000 »

Thanks for the nudges and offers last night to all who replied... this one I just tried too hard to make it difficult and couldn't complete it. Oh well....
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