"Three Little Words" - August 6, 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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JAQT
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#341

Post by JAQT »

Bill_Swerski_13 wrote: Sun Aug 08, 2021 5:52 pm A late-breaking journey ashore on my first day as a Muggle. Hooray! Now it's pizza time.
Welcome to "Da Muggles"!

(Hoping there are some fans out there of SNL from the 90s)
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Shirley
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#342

Post by Shirley »

LadyBird wrote: Sun Aug 08, 2021 2:41 pm
hoover wrote: Sat Aug 07, 2021 6:43 pm
I binge-read a bunch of the Ludlum novels in the early 80s. After about four, I realized that I no longer had any idea which ones I had read and which ones I hadn't, and reading the first few pages of each didn't help. Then I stopped reading them.
I have a number of mystery series that I read--and always had trouble keeping them straight. Especially when they have a similar setting. There are 3 series all set in and around WW1: two by Charles Todd (nurse Bess Crawford and Inspector Ian Rutledge) and one by Jacqueline Winspear (Maisie Dobbs). So I have a list on my phone with all of the (many) series that I read--listing all of the books in the series and I put an asterisk by them as I read them. Very helpful when I go to the library.

My neighbor's mom also loved mystery series. In those pre-smart phone days, she would just put a unique mark on the back cover of library books as she read them, so that she would know if she had already read it or not on her subsequent trips to the library.
My dad always put a mark at the bottom of page 7 (his birth day) in library books to mark whether he had read them or not.
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whimsy
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#343

Post by whimsy »

^How subversive of those oldsters! :D ^
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LadyBird
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#344

Post by LadyBird »

ky-mike wrote: Sun Aug 08, 2021 6:57 pm
eagle1279 wrote: Sun Aug 08, 2021 6:49 pm
SReh26 wrote: Sat Aug 07, 2021 4:24 pm

I’ve come to drink with you again....
Because a rabbit softly creeping….
Invades my dreams while I am sleeping
And the "answer" that was planted in my brain
Was insane
rosiegirl
Posts: 158
Joined: Sun Nov 22, 2020 4:26 pm

#345

Post by rosiegirl »

ZooAnimalsOnWheels wrote: Sun Aug 08, 2021 1:44 pm
rosiegirl wrote: Sun Aug 08, 2021 1:06 pm Was there an Abbott and Costello Marathon yesterday? My husband was watching one where the "mad scientist" was trying to switch brains between Costello and Frankenstein.
TCM is doing an August with each day devoted to a different star. Yesterday was Abbott and Costello, today is Esther Williams. So I was able to watch this historically accurate musical number this morning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOXJZW6IS2M :D Of course, it was much higher quality on TCM.
I caught some of the Esther Williams movies, also. Went on line to read more about her life, which was interesting.
littlepigeon
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#346

Post by littlepigeon »

Hello all, I’m another new Muggle (to this forum, at least; I started doing the CCs at some point toward the end of 2020). My autocorrect just tried to change my greeting to “Help,” which I think is more appropriate.

I’ve so far gotten a decent number of the CC answers correct over the months I’ve been attempting them, but when I saw the hint for this week’s, I was certain I’d have no trouble solving it——I’m a peak millennial (born in ‘88), so the first half of the 2000s featured most of the music I grew up with (and still love, in some cases). The last time that I can recall the CC answer being something related to the 2000s, it was “Usher,” and I figured that one out in less than 10 seconds after finishing the grid.

AND YET. After finishing *this* grid, I couldn’t detect anything—literally anything—useful to run with after going through all the usual meta-solving strategies; the few connections I noticed that I thought might matter were tenuous at best, so I decided just to put a pin in that route. I then thought of approximately 30 three-word song titles from the 2000s that I then cross-checked to determine which ones were truly #1s (hah). Based on comments from a couple of y’all’s posts, I can now safely throw out at least half my list, but I’m mostly hating that this CC is apparently one of those “right in your face” metas and I’m still failing to see it.

TL;DR I should definitely know this one, but I’m so far just hanging out in open water way, way out at sea, dog paddling around in circles. (Also, I apologize in advance for how often I fall into the parenthetical. My ADHD mind has a hard time expressing one train of thought very linear-ly. Also also, my greatest fear in life is the ocean, the whole thing, but I guess specifically open water. Just a fun, unrelated fact about me. 🤡)
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MikeM000
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#347

Post by MikeM000 »

Note to any broken heroes on a last chance power drive --

This might help:

=LEN(A2)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A2," ",""))

(High chart position of #23, 1975)
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littlegreycells
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#348

Post by littlegreycells »

Ashore at the last second!!! Phew
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TeaJenny
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#349

Post by TeaJenny »

JAQT wrote: Sun Aug 08, 2021 6:58 pm
Bill_Swerski_13 wrote: Sun Aug 08, 2021 5:52 pm A late-breaking journey ashore on my first day as a Muggle. Hooray! Now it's pizza time.
Welcome to "Da Muggles"!

(Hoping there are some fans out there of SNL from the 90s)
Do we all have to don grass skirts and coconut bras?
You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me. ~C.S. Lewis
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boharr
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#350

Post by boharr »

Went to a ballgame today. Why, I haven't changed a bit.
IMG_0961.JPG
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Bob cruise director
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#351

Post by Bob cruise director »

Good evening Muggles

Before our final report we have two more new muggles - Bill Swerski 13 and little pigeon

And we close with 9 on the ship and 215 on the shore.

Littlepigeon joined the group with Isaac for the week

and taking the last tenders to the shore are

Jean
WSJosh
Flying_Burrito
iggystan
pookie
Gman
CPJohnson
Bird Lives
eagle1279
JAQT
Bill Swerski 13
and just squeeking in before I closed the ledger Littlegreycells

Good luck winning the mug and stay safe

For all the new muggles, we have a zoom call at 7:30 pm EDT on Tuesday. Details at viewtopic.php?f=18&t=1003
Bob Stevens
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ReB
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Location: East Tennessee

#352

Post by ReB »

Reached something sandy, but probably a sandbar. I suppose the morning light tomorrow will reveal where I ended up.
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regfish7
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Location: South Carolina

#353

Post by regfish7 »

Ashore! This one gave me the run around 😛 and I thought it wouldn’t be that hard since the 2000s was my era of music! Oh well. At least I got it eventually with a nudge from mom.
rosiegirl
Posts: 158
Joined: Sun Nov 22, 2020 4:26 pm

#354

Post by rosiegirl »

Bob cruise director wrote: Sun Aug 08, 2021 8:54 pm Good evening Muggles

Before our final report we have two more new muggles - Bill Swerski 13 and little pigeon

And we close with 9 on the ship and 215 on the shore.

Littlepigeon joined the group with Isaac for the week

and taking the last tenders to the shore are

Jean
WSJosh
Flying_Burrito
iggystan
pookie
Gman
CPJohnson
Bird Lives
eagle1279
JAQT
Bill Swerski 13
and just squeeking in before I closed the ledger Littlegreycells

Good luck winning the mug and stay safe

For all the new muggles, we have a zoom call at 7:30 pm EDT on Tuesday. Details at viewtopic.php?f=18&t=1003

I''m on shore, too!
Ann
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#355

Post by Ann »

Me, too!
eemc
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#356

Post by eemc »

Back from a week at the beach and still made it safely ashore!
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woozy
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#357

Post by woozy »

littlepigeon wrote: Sun Aug 08, 2021 7:41 pm .....
AND YET. After finishing *this* grid, I couldn’t detect anything—literally anything—useful to run with after going through all the usual meta-solving strategies; the few connections I noticed that I thought might matter were tenuous at best, so I decided just to put a pin in that route. I then thought of approximately 30 three-word song titles from the 2000s that I then cross-checked to determine which ones were truly #1s (hah). Based on comments from a couple of y’all’s posts, I can now safely throw out at least half my list, but I’m mostly hating that this CC is apparently one of those “right in your face” metas and I’m still failing to see it.

...
Hopefully at this late date, it's not giving too much away to say, that sometimes its just a matter of breaking a code and knowledge of a subject is immaterial.
Latest meta: Never forget... and never mind (A WSJ retaliation)
michaelm
Posts: 487
Joined: Fri Jan 24, 2020 3:21 pm

#358

Post by michaelm »

LadyBird wrote: Sun Aug 08, 2021 7:33 pm
ky-mike wrote: Sun Aug 08, 2021 6:57 pm
eagle1279 wrote: Sun Aug 08, 2021 6:49 pm

Because a rabbit softly creeping….
Invades my dreams while I am sleeping
And the "answer" that was planted in my brain
Was insane
No more nudge reliance
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Bill_Swerski_13
Posts: 30
Joined: Sun Aug 08, 2021 4:21 pm

#359

Post by Bill_Swerski_13 »

JAQT wrote: Sun Aug 08, 2021 6:58 pm
Bill_Swerski_13 wrote: Sun Aug 08, 2021 5:52 pm A late-breaking journey ashore on my first day as a Muggle. Hooray! Now it's pizza time.
Welcome to "Da Muggles"!

(Hoping there are some fans out there of SNL from the 90s)
Three Little Words for you: "Ditka", "Ditka", and.... "Ditka"!
littlepigeon
Posts: 55
Joined: Sun Aug 08, 2021 7:14 pm

#360

Post by littlepigeon »

woozy wrote: Sun Aug 08, 2021 9:33 pm
littlepigeon wrote: Sun Aug 08, 2021 7:41 pm .....
AND YET. After finishing *this* grid, I couldn’t detect anything—literally anything—useful to run with after going through all the usual meta-solving strategies; the few connections I noticed that I thought might matter were tenuous at best, so I decided just to put a pin in that route. I then thought of approximately 30 three-word song titles from the 2000s that I then cross-checked to determine which ones were truly #1s (hah). Based on comments from a couple of y’all’s posts, I can now safely throw out at least half my list, but I’m mostly hating that this CC is apparently one of those “right in your face” metas and I’m still failing to see it.

...
Hopefully at this late date, it's not giving too much away to say, that sometimes its just a matter of breaking a code and knowledge of a subject is immaterial.

This I know to be true, for sure (e.g., I caught the basic mechanism for last week’s meta answer before I’d started the grid, but ultimately I had never heard of the particular author whose name we were aiming for, so my submission was a guess. Who knew how many science fiction writers publish only under their first initial(s) and surnames? I did not. At least not until I found the list on Wikipedia. 😂).

That said, knowing this to be true somehow isn’t very consoling this round, what with so many people having sorted it out immediately. Ah well. Now there’s just the waiting until it’s Friday again . . .
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