"Please Find Enclosed" - July 2, 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
User avatar
pookie
Posts: 137
Joined: Mon Aug 12, 2019 5:46 pm

#341

Post by pookie »

Inca wrote: Mon Jul 05, 2021 1:18 am So then I switched to foods that had those items enclosed: scotch egg, lobster roll (?), Almond Joy (as in the candy bar), pecan pie (now I was really stretching it)...and oysters, well no. And what was I going to do with that anyway? (Actually, I thought it would be a good idea to have those words (scotch, roll, joy) somewhere in the grid with an extra two letters "enclosed" so I could use the #s in the parenthesis.) But, I quickly ruled out those possibilities.)
I did something similar. I looked all over the filled in puzzle answers.
RED (52 A) LOBSTER
PECAN PIE (62 A, minus the "L")
OYSTER BAR (34 D, minus the extra "R") or isn't there a PEARL somewhere in there?
That went nowhere. Never saw "EGG" inside of NUTMEG GEEK.
I wanted to say that I looked up STU (43 A) UNGAR and it is a very sad story of his life, but waited until after the contest was over.
Turns out that the parentheses weren't the crux of the solve, just the order of the letters that spell out the answer. (sigh)
User avatar
HunterX
Posts: 1163
Joined: Fri Dec 04, 2020 9:17 pm
Location: Philadelphia, PA

#342

Post by HunterX »

SReh26 wrote: Mon Jul 05, 2021 2:00 pm
HunterX wrote: Mon Jul 05, 2021 1:53 pm Charleston Chew? That's a new one on me. Named after the dance, not the city, no less. Can't imagine why they combined a dance and a candy. Wonder if there's a Jitterbug Jawbreaker...
Twist Twizzler...
Moonwalk Milkdud...
Robot Rolo...
Squaredance Sourdrop...
Breakdance Bubblegum...
if not, there certainly should be!

Disco Dots
New Wave Nougat
Hip Hop Honeycomb
Zydeco.....?
Zydeco Zots, of course! I used to buy those at the train station on my way home from school as a kid. The hot powder inside had me dancing all the way along the ride.
User avatar
SReh26
Posts: 763
Joined: Thu Apr 01, 2021 10:48 pm

#343

Post by SReh26 »

HunterX wrote: Mon Jul 05, 2021 2:18 pm
SReh26 wrote: Mon Jul 05, 2021 2:00 pm
HunterX wrote: Mon Jul 05, 2021 1:53 pm Charleston Chew? That's a new one on me. Named after the dance, not the city, no less. Can't imagine why they combined a dance and a candy. Wonder if there's a Jitterbug Jawbreaker...
Twist Twizzler...
Moonwalk Milkdud...
Robot Rolo...
Squaredance Sourdrop...
Breakdance Bubblegum...
if not, there certainly should be!

Disco Dots
New Wave Nougat
Hip Hop Honeycomb
Zydeco.....?
Zydeco Zots, of course! I used to buy those at the train station on my way home from school as a kid. The hot powder inside had me dancing all the way along the ride.
God, I miss childhood! Can’t fault a man who has Connect Four in his profile pic! wasn’t the most fun part of that game at the end when all the pieces fell out? Other faves were Clue, Othello, Monopoly, backgammon, battleship, checkers....
User avatar
DannyWalter
Posts: 136
Joined: Fri Mar 12, 2021 1:14 pm

#344

Post by DannyWalter »

Fastest solve ever for me. I found the grid easy. Then I looked at the numbers, 1..10 - should be how to form the final answer. Found the hidden words straight away. Five clues, ten letters should mean 2 from each clue. Had NUT, but it didn't look right, all the rest were in the middle of the answer, so quickly found EGG. It seemed natural to try the letters before and after the hidden words. I was frankly shocked when it worked, my first try had NEVER worked before. Woot!

Might have even been a page 1 solve if I had started at 4pm. Up to now I had considered this aspiration hopeless.

On solving grids, practice does make perfect. Been doing the daily's for a few months now, and some that I know I would have found impossible in the past are now solveable.

Because I solved it so quickly, I figured it must have been the easiest puzzle ever and gave it a half star. But I see that difficulty is in the eye of the beholder, I have gnashed my teeth over a couple that many people were posting was the easiest ever.

It seems to me that the one of the key abilities in solving metas is agility, the ability to get outside of the boxes we put ourselves into by discovering interesting patterns that lead to blind alleys that are not cul-de-sacs.

Very enjoyable pastime. So glad that I found this hobby and this group.
User avatar
SReh26
Posts: 763
Joined: Thu Apr 01, 2021 10:48 pm

#345

Post by SReh26 »

DannyWalter wrote: Mon Jul 05, 2021 3:03 pm Fastest solve ever for me. I found the grid easy. Then I looked at the numbers, 1..10 - should be how to form the final answer. Found the hidden words straight away. Five clues, ten letters should mean 2 from each clue. Had NUT, but it didn't look right, all the rest were in the middle of the answer, so quickly found EGG. It seemed natural to try the letters before and after the hidden words. I was frankly shocked when it worked, my first try had NEVER worked before. Woot!

Might have even been a page 1 solve if I had started at 4pm. Up to now I had considered this aspiration hopeless.

On solving grids, practice does make perfect. Been doing the daily's for a few months now, and some that I know I would have found impossible in the past are now solveable.

Because I solved it so quickly, I figured it must have been the easiest puzzle ever and gave it a half star. But I see that difficulty is in the eye of the beholder, I have gnashed my teeth over a couple that many people were posting was the easiest ever.

It seems to me that the one of the key abilities in solving metas is agility, the ability to get outside of the boxes we put ourselves into by discovering interesting patterns that lead to blind alleys that are not cul-de-sacs.

Very enjoyable pastime. So glad that I found this hobby and this group.
CULS! 😅😅😅
User avatar
HunterX
Posts: 1163
Joined: Fri Dec 04, 2020 9:17 pm
Location: Philadelphia, PA

#346

Post by HunterX »

SReh26 wrote: Mon Jul 05, 2021 2:27 pm God, I miss childhood! Can’t fault a man who has Connect Four in his profile pic! wasn’t the most fun part of that game at the end when all the pieces fell out? Other faves were Clue, Othello, Monopoly, backgammon, battleship, checkers....
I selected the James Bond Villain Connect Four avatar when I posted here in the "Connect Four" meta-puzzle forum last December. It felt very appropriate at the time.

My older sisters and I (little brother was too young) played games with my mom all the time. Loved when I could beat them. Favorites we played included Clue, Life, Probe (like Hangman), and Careers. My dad was big on backgammon and cribbage, both of which I still play today. Both parents were great at Bridge, which I didn't pick up back then. (My mom and her mother were in a contract Bridge club that would play matches weekly.)

Hey, you can still play games! My two 20-something kids are big into games (and, yes, "gaming"). Games have definitely evolved. Daughter is HUGE into Dominion, a deck building game, which seems to be a world all it's own with many expansion sets. Son just bought them Scythe for their birthday, which I only played once when they visited. It's fantastic, though complex. And they are both now better than I am at chess, given it's resurgent popularity during the pandemic.

Edit: And given today's technology, you can play games like Dominion over the internet. My daughter is in an on-line Dominion league.
User avatar
SReh26
Posts: 763
Joined: Thu Apr 01, 2021 10:48 pm

#347

Post by SReh26 »

HunterX wrote: Mon Jul 05, 2021 3:33 pm
SReh26 wrote: Mon Jul 05, 2021 2:27 pm God, I miss childhood! Can’t fault a man who has Connect Four in his profile pic! wasn’t the most fun part of that game at the end when all the pieces fell out? Other faves were Clue, Othello, Monopoly, backgammon, battleship, checkers....
I selected the James Bond Villain Connect Four avatar when I posted here in the "Connect Four" meta-puzzle forum last December. It felt very appropriate at the time.

My older sisters and I (little brother was too young) played games with my mom all the time. Loved when I could beat them. Favorites we played included Clue, Life, Probe (like Hangman), and Careers. My dad was big on backgammon and cribbage, both of which I still play today. Both parents were great at Bridge, which I didn't pick up back then. (My mom and her mother were in a contract Bridge club that would play matches weekly.)

Hey, you can still play games! My two 20-something kids are big into games (and, yes, "gaming"). Games have definitely evolved. Daughter is HUGE into Dominion, a deck building game, which seems to be a world all it's own with many expansion sets. Son just bought them Scythe for their birthday, which I only played once when they visited. It's fantastic, though complex. And they are both now better than I am at chess, given it's resurgent popularity during the pandemic.

Edit: And given today's technology, you can play games like Dominion over the internet. My daughter is in an on-line Dominion league.
Thanks for the game recommendations.

I loved hangman. My brother and I played it all the time. Go Fish was also big, briefly. My mom‘s a big scrabble player. My dad used to cheat in backgammon games with me, telling me it was my role as a player to catch it (I did, but was indignant). Then I read in Ron Chernow‘s book Titan that Rockefeller‘s dad used to do the same with him.
Last edited by SReh26 on Mon Jul 05, 2021 5:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
HunterX
Posts: 1163
Joined: Fri Dec 04, 2020 9:17 pm
Location: Philadelphia, PA

#348

Post by HunterX »

HunterX wrote: Sun Jul 04, 2021 4:12 pm I must be in the minority in that I don't mind the numbers. Or, rather, I mildly dislike them for a different reason than most people. (Which I can discuss tomorrow, as this meta is an example of the reason.) The Hints for Solving Meta Contests gives plenty of ideas on how they can be used. Though I always just ignore them until I've figured out the mechanism, or at least step 1 of the mechanism.
As for the dreaded numbers in parentheses, my aforementioned niggle with them is this: It just means that they need to give you a little direction, as the construction doesn't offer up the order of the letters (or the like) on its own. It's a smidgen of inelegance, though, frankly, quite excusable given how hard it must be to construct these.

If this puzzle had all the letters of SHELL GAMES in perfect order left-to-right, top-to-bottom, I would have been utterly astounded. So the extra hint was necessary to a certain extent.
User avatar
HunterX
Posts: 1163
Joined: Fri Dec 04, 2020 9:17 pm
Location: Philadelphia, PA

#349

Post by HunterX »

SReh26 wrote: Mon Jul 05, 2021 4:04 pm Thanks for the game recommendations.

I loved hangman. My brother and I played it all the time. Go Fish was also big, briefly. My mom‘s a big scrabble player. My dad used to cheat in backgammon games with me telling me it was my role to catch it. Then I read in Ron Chernow‘s book Titan that Rockefeller‘s dad used to do the same with him.
Scrabble: My grandmother (the aforementioned bridge player) and her sister used to play a continuous game of Scrabble over the summer when they vacationed together in Maine. They got so cut-throat at it that they had a laminated placard of all the "acceptable" two and three letter words that you might have to look up to confirm.

Backgammon: My dad never cheated, and would often give me a chance to take back my move with a, "You sure you want to do that...?" And he waited until I was old enough to start using the doubling cube, when he did have us use the Murphy rule of automatic doubling when starting with a pair. But he never hesitated to play the "backgame." He taught me a couple of cute names for things too, though the only one I remember right now (besides the standard terms) is "lovers leap," which is an early 6-5 that can be used to move a checker from the 24 point to the safety of the 13 point.
minimuggle
Posts: 553
Joined: Wed Nov 04, 2020 7:33 am

#350

Post by minimuggle »

HunterX wrote: Mon Jul 05, 2021 4:26 pm
SReh26 wrote: Mon Jul 05, 2021 4:04 pm Thanks for the game recommendations.

I loved hangman. My brother and I played it all the time. Go Fish was also big, briefly. My mom‘s a big scrabble player. My dad used to cheat in backgammon games with me telling me it was my role to catch it. Then I read in Ron Chernow‘s book Titan that Rockefeller‘s dad used to do the same with him.
Scrabble: My grandmother (the aforementioned bridge player) and her sister used to play a continuous game of Scrabble over the summer when they vacationed together in Maine. They got so cut-throat at it that they had a laminated placard of all the "acceptable" two and three letter words that you might have to look up to confirm.

Backgammon: My dad never cheated, and would often give me a chance to take back my move with a, "You sure you want to do that...?" And he waited until I was old enough to start using the doubling cube, when he did have us use the Murphy rule of automatic doubling when starting with a pair. But he never hesitated to play the "backgame." He taught me a couple of cute names for things too, though the only one I remember right now (besides the standard terms) is "lovers leap," which is an early 6-5 that can be used to move a checker from the 24 point to the safety of the 13 point.
You guys are bringing back fond memories of playing backgammon with my dad. He never let my brother or me win, despite my mother's pleas. He would, however let us know our mistakes after we made them. His goal was to teach us enough so that we could give him a good game. Not sure that ever worked. He was just too good. I do remember "lover's leap". He was also the one who instilled in me the love of crosswords. He would have loved these metas.
ericharrison1969
Posts: 27
Joined: Sat Apr 13, 2019 9:02 am

#351

Post by ericharrison1969 »

Ok, after scrolling thru the latter posts (admittedly rather quickly), am I the 1st to say, hey, the clue was what’s involved in solving “this crossword.” But, and it’s a big but … shell games were what were involved in solving the meta puzzle. They are 2 distinct and very different things!
User avatar
SReh26
Posts: 763
Joined: Thu Apr 01, 2021 10:48 pm

#352

Post by SReh26 »

ericharrison1969 wrote: Mon Jul 05, 2021 5:37 pm Ok, after scrolling thru the latter posts (admittedly rather quickly), am I the 1st to say, hey, the clue was what’s involved in solving “this crossword.” But, and it’s a big but … shell games were what were involved in solving the meta puzzle. They are 2 distinct and very different things!
You’re right - and you’re the first to notice, I believe.

Hear that, Matt? The jig is up!

New contender on the block!!!! 👍🏻
User avatar
HunterX
Posts: 1163
Joined: Fri Dec 04, 2020 9:17 pm
Location: Philadelphia, PA

#353

Post by HunterX »

ericharrison1969 wrote: Mon Jul 05, 2021 5:37 pm Ok, after scrolling thru the latter posts (admittedly rather quickly), am I the 1st to say, hey, the clue was what’s involved in solving...
Did you say we're playing Clue and solving? Oh, oh... I suspect the 29A with a 23D under the 24D in the Hallway! (Where I also see a 33A.)

Sorry. Too many posts about games played as a kid. Just ignore the 10D outline on the floor...
ericharrison1969
Posts: 27
Joined: Sat Apr 13, 2019 9:02 am

#354

Post by ericharrison1969 »

SReh26 wrote: Mon Jul 05, 2021 5:46 pm
ericharrison1969 wrote: Mon Jul 05, 2021 5:37 pm Ok, after scrolling thru the latter posts (admittedly rather quickly), am I the 1st to say, hey, the clue was what’s involved in solving “this crossword.” But, and it’s a big but … shell games were what were involved in solving the meta puzzle. They are 2 distinct and very different things!
You’re right - and you’re the first to notice, I believe.

Hear that, Matt? The jig is up!

New contender on the block!!!! 👍🏻
Full disclosure … I sought and received a nudge from the esteemed SReh26 (thank you!). After discarding it as hopelessly vague, I spent an hour (ha, I’m sure 2-3) of pure scut work (good crosswordese there) and arrived at an (the) answer , but it was one I didn’t expect … because … I think, it was a little too obvious, as others have commented. Then I agonized (however briefly) over whether to submit. Ultimately, I did, despite a wee bit of moral ambiguity.
User avatar
SReh26
Posts: 763
Joined: Thu Apr 01, 2021 10:48 pm

#355

Post by SReh26 »

ericharrison1969 wrote: Mon Jul 05, 2021 6:08 pm
SReh26 wrote: Mon Jul 05, 2021 5:46 pm
ericharrison1969 wrote: Mon Jul 05, 2021 5:37 pm Ok, after scrolling thru the latter posts (admittedly rather quickly), am I the 1st to say, hey, the clue was what’s involved in solving “this crossword.” But, and it’s a big but … shell games were what were involved in solving the meta puzzle. They are 2 distinct and very different things!
You’re right - and you’re the first to notice, I believe.

Hear that, Matt? The jig is up!

New contender on the block!!!! 👍🏻
Full disclosure … I sought and received a nudge from the esteemed SReh26 (thank you!). After discarding it as hopelessly vague, I spent an hour (ha, I’m sure 2-3) of pure scut work (good crosswordese there) and arrived at an (the) answer , but it was one I didn’t expect … because … I think, it was a little too obvious, as others have commented. Then I agonized (however briefly) over whether to submit. Ultimately, I did, despite a wee bit of moral ambiguity.
You thought „just squint real hard at it“ was vague? 😂

But yes, Ive altered my nudge style to be more socratic, precisely so that people can solve it themselves and submit their answer to the wsj.

Which they can do regardness btw- one for all and all for one! We are competing with non muggles, that benighted rabble (sarc alert!), not with each other.
User avatar
SReh26
Posts: 763
Joined: Thu Apr 01, 2021 10:48 pm

#356

Post by SReh26 »

HunterX wrote: Mon Jul 05, 2021 4:26 pm
SReh26 wrote: Mon Jul 05, 2021 4:04 pm Thanks for the game recommendations.

I loved hangman. My brother and I played it all the time. Go Fish was also big, briefly. My mom‘s a big scrabble player. My dad used to cheat in backgammon games with me telling me it was my role to catch it. Then I read in Ron Chernow‘s book Titan that Rockefeller‘s dad used to do the same with him.
Scrabble: My grandmother (the aforementioned bridge player) and her sister used to play a continuous game of Scrabble over the summer when they vacationed together in Maine. They got so cut-throat at it that they had a laminated placard of all the "acceptable" two and three letter words that you might have to look up to confirm.

Backgammon: My dad never cheated, and would often give me a chance to take back my move with a, "You sure you want to do that...?" And he waited until I was old enough to start using the doubling cube, when he did have us use the Murphy rule of automatic doubling when starting with a pair. But he never hesitated to play the "backgame." He taught me a couple of cute names for things too, though the only one I remember right now (besides the standard terms) is "lovers leap," which is an early 6-5 that can be used to move a checker from the 24 point to the safety of the 13 point.
Let me guess, AIs, EMs and ENs were on the laminate? 😅
User avatar
HunterX
Posts: 1163
Joined: Fri Dec 04, 2020 9:17 pm
Location: Philadelphia, PA

#357

Post by HunterX »

SReh26 wrote: Mon Jul 05, 2021 8:06 pm
HunterX wrote: Mon Jul 05, 2021 4:26 pm Scrabble: My grandmother (the aforementioned bridge player) and her sister used to play a continuous game of Scrabble over the summer when they vacationed together in Maine. They got so cut-throat at it that they had a laminated placard of all the "acceptable" two and three letter words that you might have to look up to confirm.
Let me guess, AIs, EMs and ENs were on the laminate? 😅
I believe so. However, as a 12 year old, I thought of it as a holy and most sacred text only to be handled by the high priestesses of the almighty Scrabble board. And I knew mine eyes would burn with the fires of a rack of seven Q-tiles were I to merely glance at it sideways.
User avatar
Limerick Savant
Posts: 220
Joined: Sun Jun 09, 2019 12:22 am
Location: Mobile, AL
Contact:

#358

Post by Limerick Savant »

HunterX wrote: Mon Jul 05, 2021 1:53 pm
SReh26 wrote: Mon Jul 05, 2021 1:34 pm
Def logical guess with a side of luck. With Reese‘s, I had the considerable advantage of being a long standing connoisseur of junk office candy. But PEA was in the lower right corner of the puzzle, so with that and the clue of bit parts, pieces really leapt to mind. However, Charleston Chew had been my first guess. 😂

WTTW: 99.6 percent of what I write here is not intended to be serious.
Charleston Chew? That's a new one on me. Named after the dance, not the city, no less. Can't imagine why they combined a dance and a candy. Wonder if there's a Jitterbug Jawbreaker...
Twist Twizzler...
Moonwalk Milkdud...
Robot Rolo...
Squaredance Sourdrop...
Breakdance Bubblegum...
Ah but you left out the most obvious
The Candy Floss
Dedicated to no nonsense nonsense
User avatar
mntlblok
Posts: 324
Joined: Tue Jun 15, 2021 6:13 am
Location: The Villages, FL
Contact:

#359

Post by mntlblok »

Let me guess, AIs, EMs and ENs were on the laminate? 😅
[/quote]

Could never remember whether that was a two or three-toed. . .
P1h3r1e3d13
Posts: 18
Joined: Thu Jun 03, 2021 5:53 pm

#360

Post by P1h3r1e3d13 »

Oh, I was so close to doing this all on my own! Grid was a cinch, and then I got as close as the answer substrings outside the foods: NUTM EEK S LING HAL AY ONS GLER AH EO. And I knew from Pardon My English that I was looking for 10 letters, but couldn't quite make those ends meet.
Locked