"Happy Together" - February 25, 2022

[Limerick Savant]

Though, initially, I was remiss
Headed straight down the rabbit abyss
By solving the meta
I’m feeling much betta
Since ignorance surely ain’t this

[ship4u]

My wife thinks that I'm getting carried away with meta solving.

[Henry Paul]

For once I quickly got the mechanism and ended up with SBISL... and of course SBISL isn't a real word, so it was off on some silly chases of "well, maybe it's like 'shoots and scores/Skor' or "inn and out'... I never thought to put things in grid order as opposed to clue order, so this yet another trick for the bag. Wasn't until I wrote my imaginary email at 2am that suddenly B L I S S came up.

And I keep singing David Gilmore from "Learning to Fly" (A Momentary Lapse of Reason):

There's no sensation to compare with this
Suspended animation, a state of bliss
Can't keep my mind from the circling skies
Tongue-tied and twisted just an earth-bound misfit, I

[Cruciverbalisticexpi]

I actually guessed the answer before I figured out the meta. Kinda worked backwards from that sense to figure it out. Guess that works!

[ZooAnimalsOnWheels]

I spent a day trying to really complicate this. I was thinking the Happy Together might be leading to words that could be found elsewhere in the puzzle that derived from the long clues--i.e. Mix and Match=MIAMI; Alive and Well=ADVIL--or ALI; Room and Board=Omar; but, try as I might, could not find a fit for Bigger and Better or Rant and Rave. Then, after a couple other paths that didn't pay off either, put it down for a day. Coming at it with a fresh outlook led me to the trail that led to BLISS.

MIAMI was my side door into the mechanism. With it sitting right on top of MIX AND MATCH, I noticed the same thing you did, and that got me to repeat "M and M" to myself, which reminded me of the very odd clueing for SKOR as a "piece of chocolate candy".

[minimuggle]

Well I made a rookie mistake. I got the M & M, A &W, etc right away. But then I looked at the clues and took the first letter of the clue that matched. So I got P (piece of chocolate for M & M), R (rootbeer for A & W), , D (drink for R & B..I looked up R & B drinks which are boba tea with many flavors), E (energizer for R & R). So I immediately jumped to PRIDE. Like an idiot I used the "inn" in the grid since it wasn't in the clues duhhh. Very rookie mistake, but I can still claim rookie status. When a friend and I compared notes and she asked how I got PRIDE, I realized my mistake but it was too late to feel "bliss" since I had submitted "pride" so quickly.

[ship4u]

B & B was the first to jump out at me with INN fairly prominent in the lower center of the grid, so I printed each out:
M & M
A & W
B & B
R & B
R & R
The next one that "must be more than a coincidence" was A&W Root Beer with BARQ'S Root Beer in the number one slot. Then, Rhythm & Blues, and Rest & Relaxation. Bingo! I thought M&M equated with SKOR was a stretch at first, but BLISS felt like it had to be correct.

[DrTom]

Well I made a rookie mistake. I got the M & M, A &W, etc right away. But then I looked at the clues and took the first letter of the clue that matched. So I got P (piece of chocolate for M & M), R (rootbeer for A & W), , D (drink for R & B..I looked up R & B drinks which are boba tea with many flavors), E (energizer for R & R). So I immediately jumped to PRIDE. Like an idiot I used the "inn" in the grid since it wasn't in the clues duhhh. Very rookie mistake, but I can still claim rookie status. When a friend and I compared notes and she asked how I got PRIDE, I realized my mistake but it was too late to feel "bliss" since I had submitted "pride" so quickly.

Ah yes, the old adage, Pride goeth before the Bliss

[DrTom]

OK, anyone else but me cannot get the Turtles out of their head????

[Wendy Walker]

B & B was the first to jump out at me with INN fairly prominent in the lower center of the grid, so I printed each out:
M & M
A & W
B & B
R & B
R & R
The next one that "must be more than a coincidence" was A&W Root Beer with BARQ'S Root Beer in the number one slot. Then, Rhythm & Blues, and Rest & Relaxation. Bingo! I thought M&M equated with SKOR was a stretch at first, but BLISS felt like it had to be correct.

Outstanding! It's hard to believe you started doing meta puzzles just a few months ago!

[DrTom]

Okay … I can now post a possibly funny story about my initial attempt to solve the meta: As I said in an earlier post, I saw the gimmick and wrote down the five letters involved, but I was tired and got one of the letters wrong. So … it is often said that “ignorance is BLISS”, but the result of my ignorance was “BRISS”! (After a nap and a good laugh, I fixed it and reported the correct answer … .)

Well that is a cutting remark!

[LadyBird]

OK, anyone else but me cannot get the Turtles out of their head????

I am STILL singing that darn song in my head today. I even tried singing the National Anthem to reset and that didn't work.

[DrTom]

It's Paczki time!
20220228_072354.jpg

Man how I miss Pcazki (and for those wondering, we always pronounced it Pune schki) Day in Michigan. On my way to the hospital in the morning I'd pass the best Polish Bakery (now unfortunately defunct) and see the ladies lined up outside. People will say "well they are just a jelly donut", and to that I'll say, "yes and a Porsche 911 Turbo is just a car".

I have never had any that good before or since, sigh!

[MikeMillerwsj]

The contest answer is BLISS. Reduced to initials, the five theme answers can satisfy other clues: For example, M&M could use the clue for SKOR (“Piece of chocolate candy”). Similarly, A&W takes the clue for BARQS; B&B takes the clue for INN; R&B takes the clue for SKA; and R&R takes the clue for LEAVE. In top-to-bottom grid order, the first letters of those answers spell the contest answer.

Another big turnout this week: 2150 entries, about 83% correct. (Unscientifically, it feels like the ranks of solvers are growing, and the success rate is growing too. Good news on both scores!).

A big vote for DANDY (73) plus PRIDE (30), PROUD (21), SMART (16), SATED (13), and several others.

Congrats to this week's winner: Tom Greenhalgh of Madison, Wisc. (His second mug!)

[DrTom]

Wow, I saw Tom... and almost immediately started a happy dance! Quite obviously the spellchecker at WSJ got the last name wrong. Second mug indeed....

Just kidding of course, a win for any Tom is a win for all of us. Treat our mug nicely please. In Madison you'll be drinking hot beverages out of it I am sure.

[Ergcat]

It's Paczki time!
20220228_072354.jpg

Man how I miss Pcazki (and for those wondering, we always pronounced it Pune schki) Day in Michigan. On my way to the hospital in the morning I'd pass the best Polish Bakery (now unfortunately defunct) and see the ladies lined up outside. People will say "well they are just a jelly donut", and to that I'll say, "yes and a Porsche 911 Turbo is just a car".

I have never had any that good before or since, sigh!

I just bought a couple of Pacski ( yes, I do believe it is pronounced “pune-schski”) at my local Publix supermarket here in little Seneca, SC. Probably won’t be as good as the ones I used to get in Chicago but they’ll do!

[DrTom]

Me and you and you and me
No matter how we filled the Grid, it had to be
The keystone clue for me was B&B
So blissful together

I can't see me solvin a Gaffney week 5
For all my life
But with a Muggle posse the skies'll be blue
For all my life

Sung of course to the Turtles tune

[RDaleHall]

Similar to others, I literally wrote AANDW in 1A. But it took a couple beats downstream before I realized that would be part of the meta. I'm glad the M&M one was first because that then prompted me to follow the right path.

[vandono]

It's Paczki time!
20220228_072354.jpg

Man how I miss Pcazki (and for those wondering, we always pronounced it Pune schki) Day in Michigan. On my way to the hospital in the morning I'd pass the best Polish Bakery (now unfortunately defunct) and see the ladies lined up outside. People will say "well they are just a jelly donut", and to that I'll say, "yes and a Porsche 911 Turbo is just a car".

I have never had any that good before or since, sigh!

I just bought a couple of Pacski ( yes, I do believe it is pronounced “pune-schski”) at my local Publix supermarket here in little Seneca, SC. Probably won’t be as good as the ones I used to get in Chicago but they’ll do!

In Polish, the "a" has that little ogonek/cedilla that indicates the nasal sound that often gets anglicized to an "n". For the curious, sample Polish pronunciations from Forvo: https://forvo.com/word/p%C4%85czki/#pl

[Inca]

...and so the devoted Muggles are left mugless again