"Jewel Case" - August 13, 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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mheberlingx100
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#361

Post by mheberlingx100 »

Wendy Walker wrote: Mon Aug 16, 2021 8:27 am I was so lucky to get this one so quickly! My first thought was that "case" in the title indicated that the mechanism would involve some kind of "surrounding" (as in the classic ENVELOPE meta from a few years back). DIAMOND's presence in the middle indicated that the "surround" would be a diamond. I started looking in the grid and -- there it was.
Re: the spoiler incident. I saw the original comment. I didn't understand it but thought it seemed a tad uncivil. If the first rule of the Forum is "No spoilers," the second is "Don't be rude."
The other tip off on the Hope Diamond clue is the parentheses in the clue. Not sure if it always means it’s important to solving, but it’s the first rabbit hole that I would dive into.
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Joe Ross
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#362

Post by Joe Ross »

mheberlingx100 wrote: Mon Aug 16, 2021 6:59 am After solving, my first thought was of the Flintstones. They would have celebrities animated and placed in their stories but with their names changed to give a Stone Age feel to them. Tony Curtis became Stony Curtis. And Ann-Margret became Ann Marg-Rock.
Brilliant! An honest chuckle to start Monday. Thank you!
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femullen
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#363

Post by femullen »

My lovely daughter also failed to solve this week and, worse, contributed to my not solving by pointing out MERRY XMAS (at 68A and 29D), which sent me in search of FANCY holiday gifts or sumpm. Immediately on sending me down this rat hole, she departed on foreign travel (i.e., to the US) and was able to "help" no more.

My Hail Mary was going to be AMINO, because removing the Ds at the fore and aft of DIAMOND (the "jewel case") left IAMON, an anagram of AMINO. There was, however, nothing else in the puzzle to suggest a type of acid, so I didn't throw the pass but instead grounded the ball and ended the game.


Also, is the following a spoiler or just part of solving technique? I wrote to the northern (smarter) half of Equipe Canuck on Friday (before she sailed away and left me marooned),

"I'm going to guess that the meta is in the grid this week, not in the clues, or at least not mainly in the clues. The reason is that the puzzle maker and editor are two different people: Matt Gaffney would then be primarily responsible for the grid, while Mike Shenk would be primarily responsible for the clues."

This turned out to be correct. But like every other solving aid, it can't be a general rule, more a rule of thumb.
For nudges, feel free to PM me. I won't have a clue how to help you, but you might shove me ashore.
michaelm
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#364

Post by michaelm »

Most of my rabbit holes were music related, as for two days I full-on interpreted Jewel Cases as CD holders in the presence of (Neil) DIAMOND, MEDIA, ADELE, MEGAN (Thee Stallion), JOHNPAUL, INDIA (Arie), JAM et cet. I did arrive at another five letter adjective beginning with S and ending with Y that can actually be spelled down the right most column: SEEDY. CD. Earworm of a sort!
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Zagman49
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#365

Post by Zagman49 »

hcbirker wrote: Mon Aug 16, 2021 12:27 am I just saw the H and P and inserted the letters to get to "stony" assuming that a CD was inserted into an HP computer.
And there's also Chicago-based HP Jewelers..
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Joe Ross
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#366

Post by Joe Ross »

I was up to my armpits in miry clay on this puzzle, so I went to the Past Solutions on the suggestion of another muggle & a post by BirdLives saying the mechanism reminded him of a Marie Kelly (aka Mike Shenk, anagrammed from Really Mike) puzzle , starting at the beginning.

I tried a few, which didn't work, then tried the May 20, 2016 solution, Driving Around, which "cased single black squares in the grid. This grid had 2, but that didn't work. However, I noticed that at the corners of the 2 black squares, HOPE in a diamond pattern. per HOPE DIAMOND in the middle of the grid, which gave me 2 of the 5 letters needed. 30 seconds later, I had the other three letters cased in HOPE.

Below was my spreadsheet immediately after solving, which I shared with a solved muggle who was confused about the diamond pattern, having solved with "H_P". (I've learned to note every idea & to not delete details of failed ideas until I arrive at the solution.)

20210813 WSJCC Jewel Case.png
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Joe Ross
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#367

Post by Joe Ross »

femullen wrote: Mon Aug 16, 2021 9:00 am Also, is the following a spoiler or just part of solving technique? I wrote to the northern (smarter) half of Equipe Canuck on Friday (before she sailed away and left me marooned),

"I'm going to guess that the meta is in the grid this week, not in the clues, or at least not mainly in the clues. The reason is that the puzzle maker and editor are two different people: Matt Gaffney would then be primarily responsible for the grid, while Mike Shenk would be primarily responsible for the clues."

This turned out to be correct. But like every other solving aid, it can't be a general rule, more a rule of thumb.
Don't put any stock into this idea for future puzzles, please. It's an interesting way to search for a solution, which I've never considered. It might inspire ideas for solving some of Matt's Week 5s.

Mike Shenk is the listed editor for all WSJ Crossword Puzzles & Contests. Matt Gaffney creates 50% of them & Mike a vast majority of the others. While Mike may make minor edits to Matt's puzzles, he wouldn't take responsibility for the creation of a major chunk of a puzzle, i.e. the clues, without listing himself as a co-creator.
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DrTom
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#368

Post by DrTom »

Joe Ross wrote: Mon Aug 16, 2021 9:10 am I was up to my armpits in miry clay on this puzzle, so I went to the Past Solutions on the suggestion of another muggle & a post by BirdLives saying the mechanism reminded him of a Marie Kelly (aka Mike Shenk, anagrammed from Really Mike) puzzle , starting at the beginning.

I tried a few, which didn't work, then tried the May 20, 2016 solution, Driving Around, which "cased single black squares in the grid. This grid had 2, but that didn't work. However, I noticed that at the corners of the 2 black squares, HOPE in a diamond pattern. per HOPE DIAMOND in the middle of the grid, which gave me 2 of the 5 letters needed. 30 seconds later, I had the other three letters cased in HOPE.

Below was my spreadsheet immediately after solving, which I shared with a solved muggle who was confused about the diamond pattern, having solved with "H_P". (I've learned to note every idea & to not delete details of failed ideas until I arrive at the solution.)


20210813 WSJCC Jewel Case.png
WOW, only Joe would have the discipline and wherewithal to go through the puzzles to find a similar mechanism. I have tried that in the past and ended up in more rabbit holes than before. Just reading through the comments it appears that there were even others that might have done the same thing.

My take home from all of this is that the MIDDLE is often the important place to look. CIRCLETHEBLOCK, SETAGOODEXAMPLE, (Hope)DIAMOND to mention a few all told you exactly what to do. Of course if the middle word is ever PUNT I guess I'll just have to skip that week?
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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Tom Shea
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#369

Post by Tom Shea »

BrianMac wrote: Mon Aug 16, 2021 12:07 am
DannyWalter wrote: Sun Aug 15, 2021 9:58 pm I REALLY want to know what that spoiler was. . .

... It simply broke the only rule we have.

Some spoilers are intentional and some are accidental. We try to remove them all to preserve the purest solving experience for everyone. People often question why their post was removed and they sometimes disagree with the decision. If this happens to you, you can always send me a PM, and I will be happy to discuss it. Or you can launch a public diatribe, but then you should really ask yourself who the “uptight” one is.
Brian, thank you AGAIN. You and Bob deserve our eternal thanks for keeping this place a fun refuge. (thanks also to Joe Ross and the others who keep it interesting -- you know who you are).

This is a cheerful meeting place for all (OK, most) of us because it only has the one strict rule. Among the unwritten ones are keep it fun and be polite. It is still amazing how LITTLE conflict there is here. That is a a tribute to you all.

Now if I could just solve a puzzle before snow falls...

(edit: typos. note to self: finish first cup of coffee before posting)
Last edited by Tom Shea on Mon Aug 16, 2021 9:41 am, edited 2 times in total.
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femullen
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#370

Post by femullen »

Ok, my last excuse for the week:
~~~
Your honor, I rise to my hind legs to object that the adjective in question is not of five letters but rather of six.

For it is well known throughout the land, across the fruited plain, and from sea to shining sea, that the word describing things that are full of small rocks is spelled STONEY.

In public evidence of this, allow me to remind your honor that just up the road from this courthouse, plummeting from the front range of the Alleghenies and caroming down its gulley to the Shenandoah, runs that famous trout fishery called STONEY Creek (https://www.murraysflyshop.com/pages/fl ... oney-creek), which, though shamefully misspelled on Googlemaps, is, has been, and always will be spelled STONEY.

Thus, for the preservation of justice, for the protection of the common law, and for the promulgation of sound orthography, my grieviously oppressed client, femullen, desires and demands a replay.
For nudges, feel free to PM me. I won't have a clue how to help you, but you might shove me ashore.
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BrennerTJ
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#371

Post by BrennerTJ »

An exciting start to the week! - I received email from Mike Miller that my "correct solution was selected randomly from 1,250 entries" ... woot! 🎊🎉
-Tamara
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TeaJenny
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#372

Post by TeaJenny »

PXL_20210816_133449997.jpg
I was in the HP crowd, but for a different reason. The thought of CD's in jewel cases never crossed my mind.

After chasing several promising, but misleading rabbits (Clues with numbers in them? Convert those to Roman numerals? All those answers are proper names...hmmm. Seven-letter answers? Three-letter answers? Three-letter answers that are abbreviations?) I finally saw the common thread of H-P in four of the answers I had identified as theme answers. DIAMOND threw me off at first, as it lacked the H-P. After some searching, I found HOPS, and the meta answer appeared. STONY made good - if unsatisfying sense - so I went with it and submitted after using Google to confirm that there are such a things as HP (high performance) DIAMONDS, which are often OVERHYPED. That made sense, although it seemed a bit esoteric for a meta connection.

It kept bugging me that each letter of STONY had an O about it, and an E below it, but I couldn't figure out what that meant. After seeing so many comments from others echoing my own lack of satisfaction, I revisited the grid to look at the O-E again. That was when I finally saw the HOPE diamonds. facepalm My answer confirmed, I went to bed happy.
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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Wendy Walker
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#373

Post by Wendy Walker »

BrennerTJ wrote: Mon Aug 16, 2021 9:47 am An exciting start to the week! - I received email from Mike Miller that my "correct solution was selected randomly from 1,250 entries" ... woot! 🎊🎉
WONDERFUL NEWS! Another Muggle wins a mug! Huge congrats to one of our most talented friends.
Good luck, fellow Muggles!
MatthewL
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#374

Post by MatthewL »

BrianMac wrote: Mon Aug 16, 2021 12:07 am
DannyWalter wrote: Sun Aug 15, 2021 9:58 pm I REALLY want to know what that spoiler was. . .

The original comment was “You would have to have been high to miss this one!! LOL.” To be honest, that comment went over my head and I didn’t think much of it. Another poster also seemed to miss what fuggedaboudit was going for and commented “that’s harsh.” Fuggedaboudit replied to this poster, “I'm sorry. I should have said "really really high" LOL”.

By doubling down, fuggedaboudit made obvious he was intentionally hinting at the meta answer (i.e., being high = “stoned”). This forum literally has only one rule: do not post answers or hints before the deadline. Oblique references to the meta answer are always removed when they are clearly intentional.

This had nothing do to with the “use of humor,” the “completely uncontroversial subject matter” or the “staid views of the complainer(s) or moderator” (brother, if you only knew…). It simply broke the only rule we have.

Some spoilers are intentional and some are accidental. We try to remove them all to preserve the purest solving experience for everyone. People often question why their post was removed and they sometimes disagree with the decision. If this happens to you, you can always send me a PM, and I will be happy to discuss it. Or you can launch a public diatribe, but then you should really ask yourself who the “uptight” one is.
So, I saw the original posts, but I didn't think "stoned". I thought he was referencing "High Hopes", which would also be a spoiler (albeit a bit milder than what he intended). All of which just goes to show you 2 things: a) wow, I'm old; and b) my failure to see the obvious connection is probably why I struggle with some of the more straightforward metas. On this one, I fixated on the "E" and "A" on either side of "DIAMOND", thinking that the word DIAMOND was encased between an "E" and an "A", and that somehow had to be the mechanism. Searched for days for a way to make that work. Finally, sent up a flare to Meg, who set me on the right track (she was very patient with my cluelessness). One final thought -- while I've only been a part of this community for less than a year, I have found the people on this forum to be among the most uniformly non-judgy folks I have ever encountered online, so the thought that the prior post was removed because of Brian's "staid" reaction to "controversial subject matter" strikes me as completely laughable. I mean, good lord -- half the jokes on this forum are about obtaining copious amounts of alcoholic beverages from Meg's cabana boy. Prudishness does not seem to be a hallmark of this group. In any event, on to Thursday!
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DrTom
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#375

Post by DrTom »

BrennerTJ wrote: Mon Aug 16, 2021 9:47 am An exciting start to the week! - I received email from Mike Miller that my "correct solution was selected randomly from 1,250 entries" ... woot! 🎊🎉
Congratulations! Ah, how we all long for that email! Best I've gotten so far is that some oil millionaire in a nation I can barely pronounce has just decided to give me several million dollars! I've sent my 300 Apple Gift Card numbers to cover processing fees, my bank account numbers and PIN so the money can be deposited and my SSN so they can report what they promise to be only a small portion of the windfall to the IRS.

I cannot wait for it to arrive, but I'd still rather have the email from Mike Miller.
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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Al Sisti
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#376

Post by Al Sisti »

BrennerTJ wrote: Mon Aug 16, 2021 9:47 am An exciting start to the week! - I received email from Mike Miller that my "correct solution was selected randomly from 1,250 entries" ... woot! 🎊🎉
Awesome, Tamara!
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TeaJenny
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#377

Post by TeaJenny »

BrennerTJ wrote: Mon Aug 16, 2021 9:47 am An exciting start to the week! - I received email from Mike Miller that my "correct solution was selected randomly from 1,250 entries" ... woot! 🎊🎉
Congratulations!
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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Bird Lives
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#378

Post by Bird Lives »

BrennerTJ wrote: Mon Aug 16, 2021 9:47 am An exciting start to the week! - I received email from Mike Miller that my "correct solution was selected randomly from 1,250 entries" ... woot! 🎊🎉
Congrats. I feel like I'm only one degree of separation away from the immortals.
Jay
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jrdad
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#379

Post by jrdad »

hoover wrote: Mon Aug 16, 2021 12:14 am
ajk wrote: Mon Aug 16, 2021 12:04 am Spent so much time trying to make something out of HIGHSPEED/LIGHTPEN/JOHNPAUL/OVERHYPED. :lol:

Also tried to find various jewels in a diamond pattern in the grid. Wasn't until I was helpfully refocused on Hope DIAMOND that it finally clicked.
I found and submitted STONY, but I had only seen the letters as being sandwiched between H and P, and I spent way too much time after submitting trying to figure out what HP (Harry Potter? Hewlett Packard?) had to do with diamonds. It wasn't until the next day that I went back and found the O and E, thus spelling HOPE, which made the click.
Exactly my solving experience!
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Bird Lives
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#380

Post by Bird Lives »

BrianMac wrote: Mon Aug 16, 2021 12:07 am [snip]
Some spoilers are intentional and some are accidental. We try to remove them all ...
I've had posts removed, and usually, on second thought (or first thought), I could see how the removal was justified. Besides, if it's such a great an witty comment, it will still be great and witty on Monday.

I only wish that Brian would notify the author when he deletes a post, but that's just because my memory is so unreliable that I have at least once found myself thinking "I thought i posted that, but now I don't see it. Did I decide not to post it, or did Brian remove it?"
Jay
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