"Inner Turmoil" - April 8, 2022

[Colin]

My email sent to WSJ:

TORN - As suggested by the clue for 70A, there are four different letters contained in the total of six letters between the adjacent starting and ending pairs of letters in 5A O(NT)O, 15A P(OO)P and 18A E(TR)E. These four letters N, T, O and R anagram to TORN, which is one example of mental state resulting from the title, Inner Turmoil. Unfortunately, I cannot see a relationship between TORN and the puzzle’s wordplay, as suggested in the meta clue. Except, perhaps, that my hair has been TORN out trying to find a better answer!

I knew my submission was a Hail Mary, but now seeing the answer, I think that Inner Turmoil is an unCUTE title. Nonetheless, my hat is off to the solvers who got this with no nudges… well done!

[cbarbee002]

I guessed that it was a four-letter gap in the alphabet, and due to the title (INner Turmoil), I was (unjustifiably) convinced that the mechanism involved letters between I and N (which are 4-letters apart). Of course that didn't work. Right church, wrong pew. Or more like right city, wrong house.

[Barney]

OOOH! I love alphabet runs. And don’t try hiding one from an OLD 2nd grade teacher
Here 2 of our old meta solving friends were in play-
1. Looking at the first letters of words in the 4 longest answers
2. Scouring the other grid entries for likely matchups
FGHI/FIGHT was my first find.

Here’s right back atcha, Matt
A Fanny Kicking Puzzle! Uber Zowie!

So simple and clear ….

Through the rear view mirror.

[Joe Ross]

Simple DNF for me, but I was privileged to witness a brighter mind solve.

Everyone who solved has my respect for their brilliance! Congratulations!

[Tom Wilson]

I made it to shore with mere minutes to spare, finding (as usually happens) a last-minute spark of clarity while doing something entirely unrelated. Now, let's just hope the "last one in, first one drawn" strategy scores me a mug!

[MaineMarge]

My email sent to WSJ:

TORN - As suggested by the clue for 70A….
……… edit…..
Unfortunately, I cannot see a relationship between TORN and the puzzle’s wordplay, as suggested in the meta clue. Except, perhaps, that my hair has been TORN out trying to find a better answer!

Colin, this guy is feeling your pain

[Commodore]

My Inner Turmoil:

Tip o' the soggy cap to puzzle creators and solvers!

[Dplass]

My email sent to WSJ:

TORN - As suggested by the clue for 70A, there are four different letters contained in the total of six letters between the adjacent starting and ending pairs of letters in 5A O(NT)O, 15A P(OO)P and 18A E(TR)E. These four letters N, T, O and R anagram to TORN, which is one example of mental state resulting from the title, Inner Turmoil. Unfortunately, I cannot see a relationship between TORN and the puzzle’s wordplay, as suggested in the meta clue. Except, perhaps, that my hair has been TORN out trying to find a better answer!

I knew my submission was a Hail Mary, but now seeing the answer, I think that Inner Turmoil is an unCUTE title. Nonetheless, my hat is off to the solvers who got this with no nudges… well done!

I agree that the title is uncute. I was also baffled by the clue at 70A; it was both unparseable and parseable in multiple ways. It might have been better omitted, and with some other kind of clue/hint as to the sequential nature of the metanism. E.g., with a quippy title (of which I cannot provide a suggestion.)

[Wendy Walker]

Our Friday afternoon Zoom Group Solve was astonishing. One Muggle, Charlotte, broke the whole thing wide open when she suggested that maybe we should be looking for letter pairs that are four letters apart in the alphabet rather than in the grid. Over Peter's objections (he REALLY wants a mug), I gave an enthusiastic "thumbs up," and minutes later almost everyone had solved. Upon questioning, Charlotte said she is a "lurker" and doesn't post on the Forum, but here's hoping she joins us. She saved the day for lots of Muggle solvers!

[drbockel2]

OK, I'm still not getting the mechanism on KNOCKOUTPUNCH. The clue says 4 letters between the letter pairs. All other theme words follow this mechanism to a T. but there are 6 letters between the K and P so it seems to fail (in my clearly misunderstood brain).

[whimsy]

I first started with the 4 pairs of initials of the words, and quickly noticed the alphabetic distance matched for the first three themes but not the fourth. For KNO-CKOU-TPUNCH I tried using O-PQRS-T so that the grid spacing in the themes matched the alphabetic spacing. But like @Mister Squawk , once I saw BCDE/CUBED I was off and running.

I had all the alphabet runs (even saw Rust in the first one and wish I'd noticed/remembered the nearby CRUST.)

But I was thrown by the fourth, where the LMNO was not cozily bracketed by the K and the P, and I focused on that being key. What to make of KLMNO -- Oops! I suppose that was perhaps the Cute part.

[ky-mike]

OK, I'm still not getting the mechanism on KNOCKOUTPUNCH. The clue says 4 letters between the letter pairs. All other theme words follow this mechanism to a T. but there are 6 letters between the K and P so it seems to fail (in my clearly misunderstood brain).

Knockout is one word. LMNO are between K and P.

[Ann]

Also fell down the well of trying to find two pairs of letters.

[boharr]

OK, I'm still not getting the mechanism on KNOCKOUTPUNCH. The clue says 4 letters between the letter pairs. All other theme words follow this mechanism to a T. but there are 6 letters between the K and P so it seems to fail (in my clearly misunderstood brain).

Knockout is one word. LMNO are between K and P.

True. But Knockout Punch is the only one that has more than four grid letters (the ones you have to replace with the alphabetical sequences) between the initial letters.

Q ueen V becomes Q rstu V
A udio F becomes A bcde F
E lvin J becomes E fghi J
But K nouckout P becomes K lmno P

[katnahat]

OK, I'm still not getting the mechanism on KNOCKOUTPUNCH. The clue says 4 letters between the letter pairs. All other theme words follow this mechanism to a T. but there are 6 letters between the K and P so it seems to fail (in my clearly misunderstood brain).

I had a problem with this too. I didn't post or submit because I had to be dragged to the boat. I knew the answer thanks to two friends, but I didn't get to the end myself. I love the Friday Zooms, but had to attend on my phone, which made it hard to hear and be heard. I had enough to solve, but 71A didn't follow the exact method of the first three theme answers and took me on a wrong turn that I couldn't get past. Thanks Don and Cynthia for putting me out of my misery. I'm really impressed with those who solved.

[drbockel2]

OK, I'm still not getting the mechanism on KNOCKOUTPUNCH. The clue says 4 letters between the letter pairs. All other theme words follow this mechanism to a T. but there are 6 letters between the K and P so it seems to fail (in my clearly misunderstood brain).

Knockout is one word. LMNO are between K and P.

OK, I see this now. It threw me for a loop because the other theme words seemed to follow a more consistent rule, but I see how this works now. I still wouldn't have gotten it. I spent Saturday in Augusta instead.

[Mister Squawk]

Two decoys for me: TORI in QUEEN VICTORIA, and then the presence of six-letter (e.g. 4 + 2,) words in all but the last theme answer.

[femullen]

I can't even brag of a good rabbit hole. Never saw a thing.

[Bayside Bomber]

My wife and I spent a couple of hours over the weekend getting nowhere. Convinced I would never solve it, I cut my losses and figured that failure wouldn't hurt so bad if I didn't put in the effort. So while I watched the Masters final round, my wife silently drank her Chardonnay while getting nowhere on the puzzle.

Then at 10pm CDT, right before getting into bed, I took another look. Rather than staring mindlessly at the grid, I stared at the clue for 70 across. And it finally hit me and I blurted out: what if "between" referred to the alphabet and not the grid? It was all downhill for both of us from there.

I have finally won my wife's admiration!

[Joepickett]

OK, I'm still not getting the mechanism on KNOCKOUTPUNCH. The clue says 4 letters between the letter pairs. All other theme words follow this mechanism to a T. but there are 6 letters between the K and P so it seems to fail (in my clearly misunderstood brain).

Knockout is one word. LMNO are between K and P.

True. But Knockout Punch is the only one that has more than four grid letters (the ones you have to replace with the alphabetical sequences) between the initial letters.

Q ueen V becomes Q rstu V
A udio F becomes A bcde F
E lvin J becomes E fghi J
But K nouckout P becomes K lmno P

Yes that threw me for the longest time and I wasn't happy when I finally was told why we use K and P. Inconsistent patterns in data drive me nuts.