"Backdrops" February 2,2023

[Scott M]

I guess I can at least be first to claim my spot at Isaac's bar. Seeing nothing so far.

[Meg]

And I missed page 1 again! I’m on the beach and ever thankful to my Muggle friends. The cabana boy is enjoying some warm temperatures. He’s looking pretty good in that striped Speedo.

[Beth Tyrpin]

🏝

[TMart]

On the beach. That was a tough one!

[DCBilly]

Ashore! And it's 5:00!

[Flying_Burrito]

This 5A has been solved. Ashore, surprised that it's as crowded as a church after Easter. 2016 Romeo y Julieta after dinner with rum

[mheberlingx100]

On the beach. Wow - good, tough puzzle.

[The XWord Rabbit]

“The time has come,” the Rabbit said,
To talk of many things:
Of metas, mugs and rabbit holes,
and everything it brings.”

It’s hard to believe it’s been six months since your XWord Rabbit first promised to recognize the best of those who were willing to share their stories of roads frustratingly taken in their quest to solve the Friday WSJ Crossword Puzzle Contest, but here we are.

What began as a bit of a joke on a fateful Zoom call last July is now a harsh reality, as your Rabbit is happy to announce the first round of finalists for the coveted GOLDEN RABBIT HOLE AWARD.

First, a few statistics:

There were 27 Rabbit Hole nominations over the course of 26 WSJ puzzles.
“Power Play” on 08/05 garnered the most with three.
There were 9 weeks with no nominations at all.
DBMiller was the most nominated Muggle with 3 Rabbit Hole stories.
ZooAnimalsonWheels and BarbaraK each had two.

The XWord Rabbit regrets he could not include all nominees, some of which are worth citing as Honorable Mentions. For instance:

Houman Tamaddon who had a lovely response to the very first puzzle receiving a Rabbit report, “Power Play”, 08/05. It involved the letter J and a player on the Chicago Blackhawks hockey team. Fun ensued.

Your Rabbit would be remiss not mentioning Omnibus and aaugusti who both played with domain names in the “Find Us Online” puzzle, 09/23, and arrived at some particularly amusing solutions.

And finally there was Ladybird and mheberlingx100 who had short but elegantly wrong answers to the “Consider the Alternative” puzzle, 10/06.

To all of them, your Rabbit respectfully gives his thanks.
And now – a drumroll, please: It's time to announce our finalists –

DBMILLER (Was there any doubt?) Nominated 3 times, but clearly his #213 post for “Power Play” (The August 5th puzzle) was Your Rabbit’s favorite. It involved Shakespeare and square roots (among other things). A long and winding story run amok – just what your Rabbit was looking for.

BARBARAK for post #303. “Fall Classic” puzzle, 10/20. A tale of getting tied up in knots with 4 letter and 7 letter words.

and MIKEYG for post #284. “What Should I Wear?” puzzle, 12/14. An elegant and lengthy report involving everything including birthplaces, Canadian provinces and Alf from Melmac.

To the aforementioned finalists: You should receive a PM from The XWord Rabbit shortly, so you can receive your mugs, and congratulations to all of you!

[boharr]

On shore. Not to interrupt The Xword Rabbit, but I need a beer.

[Toby]

Nice one for a cold afternoon.

[ChrisKochmanski]

Ashore!

[ajk]

ETA: original links have now been chased out of their hiding places.

Think a couple of the Rabbit's links wandered down their own rabbit holes:
@BarbaraK's post is here

and @MikeyG's is here

[burak]

I started doing these on Thursdays, and I can now say that I'm ashore on the second page instead of 13th lol.

[MajordomoTom]

page 2 and on the beach, toes in the sand, cold one in hand (soon, after a 6 pm call)

[Larrry]

On the (soon to be crowded?) beach

[BarbaraK]

Oh, look, just over three years, so it's time for the third in the series of WSJ contests titled Backdrops I wonder if Mike doesn't even keep track of titles that have been used before, or if one puzzle gives him an idea for another way to use the title but he keeps it on the back burner for a while.

I'm on the beach, basking in the glory of the impending arrival of my rabbit hole finalist mug while staring blankly at the Fireball meta.

[NebFaninCA]

On shore!

[Schmeel]

Ashore!

[Cindy]

Solved. On an iPad. How annoying. But on a happier note, it is my husband’s third day of retirement!

[chriscross]

Question for the forum: when do the honorable mention mugs arrive? I have about 20 banked, but I figured the first few would have arrived by now.