"A Sail of Two Cities" - June 18, 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.
Locked
kamashdas
Posts: 38
Joined: Mon Nov 16, 2020 12:30 am

#281

Post by kamashdas »

How many people spent time trying to coerce ROCKS from ROCLS, I wonder? Lost 36 hours down that rabbit hole before reevaluating. Excellent puzzle again!
User avatar
escapeartist
Posts: 419
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2020 12:24 am

#282

Post by escapeartist »

I need to listen to my wife more often! :lol:

She guessed "WATER" and I was like "How do you get that from these?"

I liked that each body of water was a different type: canal, sea, ocean, lake, river - I just couldn't pull it together
* 2022 WSJ Mug Winner - I bask in its Glory *
User avatar
mbryant
Posts: 156
Joined: Sat Oct 17, 2020 2:52 pm

#283

Post by mbryant »

The bodies of water connecting the cities in order are River, Ocean, Locks (canal), Lake, Sea. So I submitted ROLLS. A sailboat rolls, pitches, and yaws.
User avatar
sanmilton
Posts: 178
Joined: Fri Apr 24, 2020 11:44 pm
Location: New York, New York

#284

Post by sanmilton »

I liked Matt's ingenious additional pointers: NAUTICAL, for obvious reasons, and BASELINE, because four of the five three-letter entries that sandwich the answer (RWR, ETC, LEM, and MRS) abut the bottom edge, and even PAO is entered in the lower third of the grid. I usually miss something, but even so, this was another great contribution to the Gaffney collection!
higgysue
Posts: 334
Joined: Thu Dec 19, 2019 7:43 pm
Location: Duluth, MN

#285

Post by higgysue »

Crap. I didn’t get that last step but I wish I had. Brilliant puzzle. I enjoyed the first few steps.
Last edited by higgysue on Mon Jun 21, 2021 8:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
oldjudge
Posts: 1624
Joined: Fri Apr 19, 2019 4:16 am
Location: Pasadena, CA

#286

Post by oldjudge »

I got hung up for a while on the Mohawk River, which I believe also connects Rome and Utica.
steveb
Posts: 379
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 5:25 pm
Location: Silicon Valley, CA

#287

Post by steveb »

oldjudge wrote: Mon Jun 21, 2021 12:18 am I got hung up for a while on the Mohawk River, which I believe also connects Rome and Utica.
Me too. Fortunately, I crawled out of that rabbit hole on Saturday.
stmv
Posts: 296
Joined: Sun Apr 05, 2020 5:12 pm

#288

Post by stmv »

CPJohnson wrote: Sun Jun 20, 2021 2:58 pm I am now on shore, thanks to a nudge from Meta Daughter, and thanks to those who nudged HER. We were in the 90% group. I'm sure I've seen this mechanism before, but I can't remember when. If anyone else remembers, please tell me on Monday.
As Joe Ross posted:
Joe Ross wrote: Mon Jun 21, 2021 12:00 am
Identical final step as last week's MGWCC #680:
This was why I described the mechanism as "common" in an earlier post; I didn't want to say more than that in order to avoid spoilers.

I've also seen that mechanism in other recent-ish metas (though I don't want to do the research to find them), so it seems like this is a good one to keep in one's solving toolbox.
User avatar
LadyBird
Posts: 872
Joined: Fri Apr 17, 2020 4:20 pm
Location: Chicagoland

#289

Post by LadyBird »

oldjudge wrote: Mon Jun 21, 2021 12:18 am I got hung up for a while on the Mohawk River, which I believe also connects Rome and Utica.
I was in that same rabbit hole. But I had W A _ E R, figured that I needed a T, found ETC, and thought it must be the Erie Canal.

Since I was staying up late to check the answer, I heard the Tornado Warning alert go off. Hanging out in the basement until the sirens stop, just to be on the safe side.
User avatar
DaveKennison
Posts: 238
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 5:28 pm

#290

Post by DaveKennison »

Good! Got it right!

In other news, though, I managed to screw up my password here and emailed a plea for help to ... someone here ... which can now be ignored, since I managed to fix the problem myself (but I'm not sure to whom my message may have gotten). (And, yes, I'm embarrassed.)
User avatar
sharkicicles
Posts: 798
Joined: Fri May 10, 2019 12:03 pm
Location: Chicago

#291

Post by sharkicicles »

like a lot of you, I had the Mohawk River not the Erie Canal. I'm a Chicagoan, we don't know much about Eastern geography. In fact, if you ask a Chicagoan about eastern rivers, thy'll probably reply "You mean like the Yangtze?" But I digress. This was a great meta.

P.S. getting the erie canal instead of the mohawk was the backsolving I talked about.
User avatar
Thurman8er
Posts: 393
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 3:05 pm
Location: Fresno, CA

#292

Post by Thurman8er »

I had the Mohawk River also.

I almost threw a Hail Mary with ROILS or ROLLS, given that I saw a River, an Ocean, a Lake, and a Sea...and must have been wrong about the middle.

Anyway...standard rant about how much I hate geography metas.
User avatar
jimmyd
Posts: 80
Joined: Tue Feb 02, 2021 9:27 am
Location: Yonkers, NY
Contact:

#293

Post by jimmyd »

I had Mohawk River too but then realized Matt’s puzzles are too elegant to repeat a body of water like that… a google maps flyover of Rome gave me a satisfying canal click.

And I was in fifth grade when Reagan was elected, but I can’t ever recall seeing his initials in a puzzle like that… pondering that got me to the Rhine. Great puzzle!
User avatar
Colin
Posts: 546
Joined: Sat Apr 13, 2019 11:57 pm

#294

Post by Colin »

Like a freight train light in a tunnel, I didn’t see that one coming! Got some of the two cities but couldn't figure the sail / body of water connection. Very clever and congrats to those who figured it out.
One world. One planet. One future.
User avatar
John77
Posts: 156
Joined: Fri Jun 19, 2020 12:09 pm
Location: New Jersey

#295

Post by John77 »

The final step never did click, so I did not submit my guess. Which turned out to be correct anyway.

(Insert head slap here)
Wir sind zu früh alt und zu spät schlau.
Scraps
Posts: 96
Joined: Thu Apr 30, 2020 9:15 pm
Location: Gulf Coast of Florida

#296

Post by Scraps »

I am fortunate that I was too busy teaching scuba classes this weekend to spend hours not solving the meta. On Thursday evening, I found the five city pairs and identified the bodies of water connecting them, except for being in the Mohawk River rabbit hole.

I did not get a chance to return to the puzzle before pumpkin time. And it is just as well. I could have spent all weekend on it without drawing any nearer to the answer.

To all who solved it: you have my admiration.
User avatar
femullen
Posts: 448
Joined: Fri Feb 28, 2020 1:02 pm
Location: Shenandoah Valley, Virginia

#297

Post by femullen »

Threw in the towel and threw a Hail Mary last night. Figured out on Friday that the numbers were distances by water in statute miles between ports, and the bodies were the Rhine, Pacific, Erie Canal, Lake Michigan, and the Med. Spent the rest of the weekend looking for a mechanism to extract a letter per theme answer. Gave up last night about 10.50 pm and passed WATER. Never saw the actual confirming mechanism. But hey, we'll take the accidental win and call it a learning experience.
Last edited by femullen on Mon Jun 21, 2021 7:23 am, edited 1 time in total.
For nudges, feel free to PM me. I won't have a clue how to help you, but you might shove me ashore.
FuminCuban
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Jun 21, 2021 7:16 am

#298

Post by FuminCuban »

I said FJORD to complete the sequence of waterways. I like my answer better, but grant that I'm a sore loser.

There's always next week!
LesY
Posts: 678
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 4:21 pm

#299

Post by LesY »

Agree with many of the comments above. My reaction was “cheeky Matt” for two reasons:

- Erie Canal v. Mohawk River (I also resolved it with a Google Maps flyover — “hey I can’t even see Mohawk but what’s that really straight one?” Ha ha); and
- As noted, he used the same mechanism for the final step just last week!

All is fair in love and metas.
MaineMarge
Posts: 1597
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 9:57 pm

#300

Post by MaineMarge »

Franklin.Bluth wrote: Sun Jun 20, 2021 7:55 pm
MaineMarge wrote: Sun Jun 20, 2021 7:36 pm Beached here on the sandbar, per the new Muggle nudgie rules.
What are the new nudge rules?
There are no new nudge rules. Sorry, bad choice of words on my part. I have edited my post #261 to clear that up. But I do think it was a good suggestion to report yourself ashore at the Sand Bar rather than the Tiki Bar if you got a nudge. Only difference is no Cabana Boy- DIY all the way.
Locked