"Tight Spots" January 17, 2025

[Tom Shea]

At sea close to the equator.

I got nothin'.

Good luck to all and stay warm.

[femullen]

Well, now, I've staggered down the brow straight into the briney, and I've swum ashore to some sucking tropical rabbit hole. No cabana bar in sight, nor beach, nor Muggles neither. Entirely lost ashore this week, as I reportedly was on a boozy night in Suva 40-sumpm years ago. Ah! I spy thru wobbly eye a friendly tavern glow. Let us enter and put again our tongues awash.

It better not be a forehead-slapper this midnight. My soggy squash can't take it.

Isaac!

[Hank37]

Hank is on shore! A bit late here, but midnight is the deadline!

Seemed too easy at first, but I'm certain I got it right.

Hank

[hcbirker]

Official WSJ reveal tomorrow because of the holiday.

[lacangah]

Hi - I treated the grid as one large bedsheet (after all, who doesn’t have a crossword bedsheet - lol). Given that one could fold the lower left ‘N’ under the ‘O,’ and the lower right ‘S’ under the ‘E,’ for NOSE.

Congratulations to everyone who solved it - have a great week.

[MikeyG]

My notepad app suffered through this - now you can too!

Thursday:

1. Tight Spots - 1-syllable part of the body

2. I thought this was going to be a "Zip in, Zip Out" with the themer: HOSPITAL CORNERS. Surely ER would be involved?

3. ER is not really the hospital - I don't see anything with ER being sandwiched, or with corners of entries. Find the word BED? But it's not prevalent.

4. Do we focus more on the bed? "Tightly tucked parts of a made bed."

5. Are we looking at corners of the grid? WTNS? Nothing there. I see THE in the middle of ETHER, but that might not be anything.

6. What is a "tight spot" in a crossword grid? We see those 2-by-2 squares - are they related? (Note there are no current "corners" by the grid yet.)

7. Time for alternates:

Dramatic increase in price: LEAP (HIKE)
Jam sound: TOOT (BEEP, HORN)
Pay tribute to: HONOR (LAUD)
Part of many California place names: SAN (LOS)
Do some kitchen prep: PARE (CHOP, PEEL, STIR)
Some PTA attendees: DADS (MOMS)
Hiking route: TRAIL (PATH)
Small change: PENNIES (ONES)
Much of a world map: ASIA (OCEAN)

LTSPDTP - little there.

8. Still, even with this? How does this relate to the theme? How does this give us any tight spots? What is a tight spot?

9. Earlier, I thought ER corners were relevant, but I see four. Let me look at those again. (Nothing there, really.)

10. So tempted to add ER to parts of words, but that's not going to help, I don't think. This ER thing, I fear, is ending us up in a rabbit hole if we're not careful.

11. Nothing yet - but we're trying to work on unraveling this grid. Lots of weird stuff is going on, though I can't really say a) what's weird and/or b) what's relevant.

12. Examples of brutal fill:

CALIBRE
RETROVERT (???)
ENARBOR
FIRESHIP
STICH

13. "H" and "L" are the "corners" of the word HOSPITAL. Maybe that has something to do with it, who knows. (HIGH and LOW?)

14. There are a bunch of words with OR:

HONOR
ALORANGE
ENARBOR
IGNORE
GORDO

15. What is escaping me? I'm seeing nothing.

16. We're at about 2 hours so far. Here are some general questions we're trying to link together:

1. What, if anything, about the word HOSPITAL is relevant? (ER? OR? H?)
2. Does the word TIGHT from the title play a role due to its reoccurrence in the clue for HOSPITAL CORNERS?
3. Are the odd 2-by-2 black squares significant? (Corollary: The fact that there are no black "L" shapes in the grid)

And, also, of course, how is this impacting the fill?

Friday:

17. Well, we had a breakthrough last night after about 1:45 more - but the breakthrough did not give us the answer right away.

The only instance of the letter "H" is in the upper quadrant of the grid, five times. Any time we have something like that, that makes the constrained fill make a bit more sense (I would've preferred OTOH instead of OSSA to get rid of LAIS, but that adds the "H," so that takes care of that. Of course, you'd think ENARBOR and RETROVERT still could be something else.)

So, that's the beginning but not the end. It does help answer Q1, and we assume that ER/OR is a dead end for the time being. (Q3 and the 2-by-2 squares are still up in the air.)

18. But, the next step is, "How is that relevant? What does that give us?"

My initial thought last night was to let the "H"s be markers and "move" that part of the grid to various other parts. Nothing really developed - taking symmetric letters on a 180-degree rotation (but how is that related to "tight spot") gives us LEUSD, which is nothing.

19. And, obviously, it isn't just that there are a set number of Hs; it's the fact that they are very specifically lodged in the upper-left quadrant. Why? Why would that be necessary instead of having just five random Hs scattered through the grid? (Or in a set of themers?)

And even if we look at the "corners" of the "H"s, again, that wouldn't necessitate them being clustered in the NW.

20. The clue for EAST is a bit cumbersome, so I was wondering if going east, going east then down to get to SW? Do we have to get *to* a tight spot of the grid? Out of a tight spot?

21. I mean...the "H"s look like the five fingers of a HAND? With W being the wrist? There is only one "W" in the grid as well. That...can't be it, can it?

It's clever, but is there a reason that had to be relegated to the upper quadrant? That really makes me doubt it and almost implies that 75% of the grid is doing nothing, other than not providing any "H"s.

So, we'd guess HAND now, and people were talking about there possibly being two answers, so I'd guess WRIST was the other (and the one-syllable might be there to negate FINGER).

Is this really it? I would like a bit more of a click, but if something else were relevant, I'd like to think it'd've come out in the wash by now.

HAND [4:18.32]

Result: NOT CORRECT (OH NOES)

22. Still, let's dust ourselves off with some nudges and see if we can make some legitimate progress. Yeah, looking back, mine is far, far too tenuous - but I think I was distracted by how little progress I was making that I led the red herring carry me to the wrong shore.

Question #1: Are the cluster of Hs in the upper-left relevant? [No.] [Oh, great, come on.]

Question #2: Would this meta be solvable with no title and no clue for HOSPITAL CORNERS? [Yes.]

Question #3: Are certain "bedlike shapes" found in the grid that will help us solve the meta? [No.]

Question #4: Are the two 2-by-2 squares in the center of the grid relevant? [Indirectly.]

23. Hint based on this giant notepad: #5, based on the corners, is valid (and the HOSPITAL word is irrelevant).

24. But...I don't see anything in the corners - maybe SON/DAD toward the bottom. That's not a corner, though. ATE LESS. Again, side, not a corner. There's that box of WOLF/WASH/HOPE/FIRE - maybe finding words around that? But I don't know why that would involve the whole grid.

25. Oh...wait. I wonder if I have to find the letters nestled in the corners? That might explain why there aren't too many squares like that in the grid, so we'll be hugging the grid. WHERE...oh, goodness, that's it. One second.

WHERE THE ULNA ENDS. Oh, WRIST - oh, wow, HAND might be the alternate then.

Add 30 minutes, so [4:48.32] but still a miss. It is done, nonetheless - and now my weekend is officially free!!!



Mikey G

[Bob cruise director]

20250117-WSJCC-TightSpots-reveal.png



Official WSJ reveal tomorrow because of the holiday.

@hcbirker Heidi - the picture you are showing is of a hand. The wrist is just a part of your hand.

And then we have the minor detail that all land vertebrates have an ulna bone including mammals, birds and some reptiles which opens up a wide selection of names that are at the end of their bones like a paw or a hoof.

One of many web sites explaining wrist and hand. From this site "The human hand is made up of the wrist, palm, and fingers and consists of 27 bones, 27 joints, 34 muscles, over 100 ligaments and tendons, and many blood vessels and nerves."

https://www.precisionorthosports.com/ha ... %20cooking.

[hcbirker]

My notepad app suffered through this - now you can too!

Thursday:

1. Tight Spots - 1-syllable part of the body

2. I thought this was going to be a "Zip in, Zip Out" with the themer: HOSPITAL CORNERS. Surely ER would be involved?

3. ER is not really the hospital - I don't see anything with ER being sandwiched, or with corners of entries. Find the word BED? But it's not prevalent.

4. Do we focus more on the bed? "Tightly tucked parts of a made bed."

5. Are we looking at corners of the grid? WTNS? Nothing there. I see THE in the middle of ETHER, but that might not be anything.

6. What is a "tight spot" in a crossword grid? We see those 2-by-2 squares - are they related? (Note there are no current "corners" by the grid yet.)

7. Time for alternates:

Dramatic increase in price: LEAP (HIKE)
Jam sound: TOOT (BEEP, HORN)
Pay tribute to: HONOR (LAUD)
Part of many California place names: SAN (LOS)
Do some kitchen prep: PARE (CHOP, PEEL, STIR)
Some PTA attendees: DADS (MOMS)
Hiking route: TRAIL (PATH)
Small change: PENNIES (ONES)
Much of a world map: ASIA (OCEAN)

LTSPDTP - little there.

8. Still, even with this? How does this relate to the theme? How does this give us any tight spots? What is a tight spot?

9. Earlier, I thought ER corners were relevant, but I see four. Let me look at those again. (Nothing there, really.)

10. So tempted to add ER to parts of words, but that's not going to help, I don't think. This ER thing, I fear, is ending us up in a rabbit hole if we're not careful.

11. Nothing yet - but we're trying to work on unraveling this grid. Lots of weird stuff is going on, though I can't really say a) what's weird and/or b) what's relevant.

12. Examples of brutal fill:

CALIBRE
RETROVERT (???)
ENARBOR
FIRESHIP
STICH

13. "H" and "L" are the "corners" of the word HOSPITAL. Maybe that has something to do with it, who knows. (HIGH and LOW?)

14. There are a bunch of words with OR:

HONOR
ALORANGE
ENARBOR
IGNORE
GORDO

15. What is escaping me? I'm seeing nothing.

16. We're at about 2 hours so far. Here are some general questions we're trying to link together:

1. What, if anything, about the word HOSPITAL is relevant? (ER? OR? H?)
2. Does the word TIGHT from the title play a role due to its reoccurrence in the clue for HOSPITAL CORNERS?
3. Are the odd 2-by-2 black squares significant? (Corollary: The fact that there are no black "L" shapes in the grid)

And, also, of course, how is this impacting the fill?

Friday:

17. Well, we had a breakthrough last night after about 1:45 more - but the breakthrough did not give us the answer right away.

The only instance of the letter "H" is in the upper quadrant of the grid, five times. Any time we have something like that, that makes the constrained fill make a bit more sense (I would've preferred OTOH instead of OSSA to get rid of LAIS, but that adds the "H," so that takes care of that. Of course, you'd think ENARBOR and RETROVERT still could be something else.)

So, that's the beginning but not the end. It does help answer Q1, and we assume that ER/OR is a dead end for the time being. (Q3 and the 2-by-2 squares are still up in the air.)

18. But, the next step is, "How is that relevant? What does that give us?"

My initial thought last night was to let the "H"s be markers and "move" that part of the grid to various other parts. Nothing really developed - taking symmetric letters on a 180-degree rotation (but how is that related to "tight spot") gives us LEUSD, which is nothing.

19. And, obviously, it isn't just that there are a set number of Hs; it's the fact that they are very specifically lodged in the upper-left quadrant. Why? Why would that be necessary instead of having just five random Hs scattered through the grid? (Or in a set of themers?)

And even if we look at the "corners" of the "H"s, again, that wouldn't necessitate them being clustered in the NW.

20. The clue for EAST is a bit cumbersome, so I was wondering if going east, going east then down to get to SW? Do we have to get *to* a tight spot of the grid? Out of a tight spot?

21. I mean...the "H"s look like the five fingers of a HAND? With W being the wrist? There is only one "W" in the grid as well. That...can't be it, can it?

It's clever, but is there a reason that had to be relegated to the upper quadrant? That really makes me doubt it and almost implies that 75% of the grid is doing nothing, other than not providing any "H"s.

So, we'd guess HAND now, and people were talking about there possibly being two answers, so I'd guess WRIST was the other (and the one-syllable might be there to negate FINGER).

Is this really it? I would like a bit more of a click, but if something else were relevant, I'd like to think it'd've come out in the wash by now.

HAND [4:18.32]

Result: NOT CORRECT (OH NOES)

22. Still, let's dust ourselves off with some nudges and see if we can make some legitimate progress. Yeah, looking back, mine is far, far too tenuous - but I think I was distracted by how little progress I was making that I led the red herring carry me to the wrong shore.

Question #1: Are the cluster of Hs in the upper-left relevant? [No.] [Oh, great, come on.]

Question #2: Would this meta be solvable with no title and no clue for HOSPITAL CORNERS? [Yes.]

Question #3: Are certain "bedlike shapes" found in the grid that will help us solve the meta? [No.]

Question #4: Are the two 2-by-2 squares in the center of the grid relevant? [Indirectly.]

23. Hint based on this giant notepad: #5, based on the corners, is valid (and the HOSPITAL word is irrelevant).

24. But...I don't see anything in the corners - maybe SON/DAD toward the bottom. That's not a corner, though. ATE LESS. Again, side, not a corner. There's that box of WOLF/WASH/HOPE/FIRE - maybe finding words around that? But I don't know why that would involve the whole grid.

25. Oh...wait. I wonder if I have to find the letters nestled in the corners? That might explain why there aren't too many squares like that in the grid, so we'll be hugging the grid. WHERE...oh, goodness, that's it. One second.

WHERE THE ULNA ENDS. Oh, WRIST - oh, wow, HAND might be the alternate then.

Add 30 minutes, so [4:48.32] but still a miss. It is done, nonetheless - and now my weekend is officially free!!!



Mikey G

Mikey I feel your pain. I had to be dragged to the solution.

[scrabbler]

Early on, when I was trying to suss out what HOSPITAL CORNERS could be pointing to, a grid-solving companion pointed out that the four corners of the grid are N,S,W, and the word EAST. I was stuck down that rabbit hole for a while, trying to do something with compass directions. I couldn't believe it was just a coincidence. But it was.

I also wasted a bit of timing fixating on the three answers with three A's each, and the other answers with three of a letter. But it had nothing to do with tight spots or hospital corners, so it was easier to let go of that.

At one point it occurred to me to wonder what LOS ALAMOS means besides the place. Could be important, dead in the middle of the puzzle, and set off in an unusual arrangement. It turns out to be a kind of tree. So I triumphantly shouted "TRUNK!" Sadly there was no more support for this brilliant intuitive leap.

Finally I went back to the hospital corners clue, and decided to circle all the corners, not just the extreme ones, and there it was. I vacillated a bit on which answer to go with, but I felt pretty good about WRIST. Sounds like it was the preferred one?

[ImOnToo]

Here’s the rabbit hole I went down before being redirected by a strong nudge:

Using the grid entry “hospital corners”, I landed upon looking at all of the across grid entries with “OR” in them. The first letters of those words anagram out to “hoagie”. So, I thought hoagie buns. Tight buns? Thought “buns” might be the answer.

[woozy]

I thought the two 2x2 squares had to be important. My first thought was they were the to beds to be folded. But then I figured if we folded the grid the corners would fold under the squares and if we treated the squares as though the were windows we'd read things.

I was going to create a retaliation meta with that mechanism. It'd have the same pattern. The title would be "I fold" and you'd fold the for corners (there'd be diagonals of A B C and D to tell you what order) and they'd read something. I wasn't sure what. Maybe WHAT IS AN ORCA TO DO or maybe WHER ED ON AUGA HIDE.

I figured that would show everyone.

But in the end it was easier just to solve it.

[Cindy N]

If you Google the phrase from the grid "Where the ulna ends" - WRIST is the answer. Multiple browsers and search engines - including incognito and secure - on multiple devices (including some not signed into an account or to another user) - all provided WRIST. Can you get to the HAND? Only through the wrist. Even wiki "a broad distal end that articulates with the carpal bones at the wrist."

Think about it from a break or a sprain standpoint. You can have it afflict your arm, your wrist or your hand. The WRIST is a separate body part. It comes before the hand.

As for THUMB? That's on the radius side of your HAND (ulna is pinkie side).

However based on recent puzzles and answers, it seems to be guaranteed not to be WRIST

[halseymac]

I didn’t submit because I thought there were too many possible answers. My thinking is: Ok. If WRIST is correct- I questioned how that works with the theme “Tight Spots”? Wouldn’t JOINT be a better answer? -as in jail- which is a tight spot. Further, Mike also didn’t say it was a human body part. A dog’s ulna ends at the leg joint -for instance.

If we are talking about humans, I agree WRIST, HAND and even PALM could be valid.

[flandangle]

I went for

► Show Spoiler

WRIST

as well, but I was totally thrown by clue 30A "Jam Sound" and spent probably an hour on that line of thinking. TIGHT SPOT = JAM, TOOT is almost TOOTH, etc. I really thought there was something there.

[Joe Ross]

Exactly as @MikeyG laid out, except I started off solving across entries in the NW corner then thought. "Wait, there's a big, fat Indicator Clue running down the middle!"

I then switched to the bottom of the grid, saw ULNA DS from the corner entries, realized that I needed 65 Across, also. Depending on perspective, the ulna ends at the elbow or the wrist, the wrist being of one syllable.

Hence: WRIST

Later, I completed the puzzle and saw more at the top, which I didn't need. (Aren't hospital corners only at the foot of a bed?)

[whimsy]

Well, I got short-sheeted.

Apparently Mike and I do not make our beds in the same manner.

Anyone else hunt in vain to include diagonals?

Oh well, I've made my bed so now I'll lie in it.

[zach]

I didn’t get this one, but this is a topic near and dear to me as I actually had my ulna shortened last August! I was born with a left ulna that was too long, causing something called ulnar abutment syndrome. My ulna was essentially banging into my lunate bone in my hand, and it was incredibly painful. The doctor broke my ulna, shaved off about half centimeter, installed a metal plate with seven screws and voila… no more pain. Here’s the before and after:

[shalmanezer]

I submitted WRIST, but also considered that the wrist is a JOINT that includes the HAND, which contains the PALM, and can be made into a FIST. I really liked that one, because a TIGHT FIST clicks so nicely with the puzzle title.

Until I saw the title was plural (Tight Spots). And the Meta directed me to where the Ulna (not Ulnas, not Ulnae, not even Sidewalk) ends. Plural title does not agree with singular meta.

But then my cat jumped on my lap and I wondered about her PAW which is often also called a FOOT. Contemplating the birds outside the window that my cat was meowing at, I wondered if WING could also fit. Looking further at the beasts of the field, I saw that some have a HOOF while others have a KNEE. So many one-syllable body parts where the ulna ends.

Fortunately then the NFL playoffs kicked off, so I was able to put all these musings aside and concentrate on more important matters. Like how the Bills will likely tear their fans' hearts out in an entirely new way this year, how the Eagles will continue winning while simultaneously prompting their fans to wish Siriani was gone, how Jayden may already be the best QB, and how the Chiefs are, as Thanos emotionlessly declared himself to be, inevitable.

[Colin]

I got the link between TIGHT SPOTS and HOSPITAL CORNERS, but was then looking for a pattern or something that included the reference to HOSPITAL corners, not just all corners. Tried finding the corners of H shapes as that is the usual road sign for hospital - no luck. Then went back to the title and highlighted all the spots where the letters of TIGHT appeared. Still no luck. I saw that it took over an hour to fill up page 1 and snow was heading our way overnight, so I switched my attention to checking out the snowblower.
When I finally saw the answer and how ALL corners led to the answer instead of some link to hospital corners, I felt it could have been cleaner.
Unless I am missing g something in the pattern?

[BigPear]

My first non-answer answer was HEAD. The rectangular configuration down the middle looked as much like a bed (at least as much as the tattoo cat tree looked like a bell), and the letters along the corners spelled HEAD, which of course is one syllable, a part of the body, and also a part of a bed. Even though it technically worked, it did not provide that Schenky click I expected. So redid it on paper (always a key step!) kept looking, and eventually saw the light.