"Deal Breaker" - March 18, 2022

[rosiegirl]

Happy to say for the first time in the forum that I have made it “on shore” !

Welcome - glad to have you. What school are you going to working on your pHd?

Thanks! I will be going to University of Wisconsin-Madison to study gene therapy

My dad's alma mater and mother's home town. Madison is a great city...still have some extended family living there.

[Ann]

On the shore!

[LadyBird]

Post-enlightenment! I am ashore. A very satisfying KAS 3. I had the stomach flu on St. Patrick's Day (either that or food poisoning from a toll plaza sandwich) so I'll have my Guinness today, along with the delayed Reuben Casserole.

[Susan Goldberg]

Sorry I missed you! I’m sure you will see the answer soon, though.

And, I’m on shore! Thanks for the vote of confidence!

Now it’s my turn to buy you a drink at the tiki bar. May I suggest a Black-eyed Susan?

Haha. Excellent plan!

[DrTom]

Happy to say for the first time in the forum that I have made it “on shore” !

Welcome - glad to have you. What school are you going to working on your pHd?

Thanks! I will be going to University of Wisconsin-Madison to study gene therapy

Best take your flannel lined genes! Madison can be VERY cold in the winter. However, as I remember there were plenty of places to get your "anti-freeze" topped off.

[Tom Shea]

Count me amongst Isaac's customers.

No intention of looking further this weekend, so I'll just have the sushi and a sav. blanc. Or two or three.

Will delve into humiliating duh! on Monday.

[ajk]

Thanks! I will be going to University of Wisconsin-Madison to study gene therapy

Can confirm that this is good place to do one's PhD.

Also: Ashore after a very late start but pretty quick solve.

[Ergcat]

Ashore! Always fun to solve with mom ergcat in person Beer me.

@regfish7 @Ergcat hopefully your mother's refrigerator was full of beer that she bought

We were at @Regfish7 house but luckily she lives right across the street from a brewery… we went there!

[Ergcat]

I am visiting my DD and fellow muggle, Regfish. She has requested that I wait until after she’s off work to do the grid and meta with her! It is killing me to wait!!! Hopefully it will be a quick solve for us!

It was actually interesting to see her at work this week. She is a math professor and in one of her classes ( data analytics) they are working on algorithms for the NCAA bracket. I had to laugh when she was telling students their homework was to make their bracket and write two paragraphs explaining which algorithm they used and why. College has changed a lot since I was there 40 yrs ago!!

[Diana]

I don't recognize more than a quarter of the Muggles on the board because I don't do this anymore. (And barely solve anymore- not on shore yet.)

I just logged in to show my pal Al. (He's on the far right, not the bagpipe guy).

Yep, that's LuckyGuest aka Al Sisti. Grand Marshall. I know you'd all be proud to see this longtime Muggle leading the long-loved crosswordese town of UTICA in the Saint Patrick's Day Parade. Yay!

[CPJohnson]

Looks like I’m with Isaac this weekend, on my usual barstool. No solve yet.

[boharr]

I am visiting my DD and fellow muggle, Regfish. She has requested that I wait until after she’s off work to do the grid and meta with her! It is killing me to wait!!! Hopefully it will be a quick solve for us!

It was actually interesting to see her at work this week. She is a math professor and in one of her classes ( data analytics) they are working on algorithms for the NCAA bracket. I had to laugh when she was telling students their homework was to make their bracket and write two paragraphs explaining which algorithm they used and why. College has changed a lot since I was there 40 yrs ago!!

Wait. She has an algorithm that solves the NCAA bracket? Why that’s worth a mug at least

[BensMom]

I keep going down rabbit holes that lead nowhere. Haven't had a lot of time to look into it until now - our six month old is down for bed, the husband is playing Zelda, and the house is clean. Time to solve this meta!!! haha.

[Hidden in 3D]

ASHORE at last! I had the right metanism all along but wasn't applying it correctly. The lightbulb came on while taking a walk with our beagle earlier this afternoon.

[ReB]

Ashore. Once I finally completed the grid and started to focus on the meta, the mechanism quickly became apparent, though I needed a nudge from my wife (who does not do metas) to accomplish the final step.

[Jeanrosz]

Made it ashore! Finally! Again red herrings really got me…

[mikeB]

On the shore Saturday evening. It was a relatively quick process. Sometimes, there is an "Aha" followed by "What now?" such as (for me) last week's. You think you've figured out the mechanism, but you can't put it to bed. So more work lies ahead. You end up with two Aha Moments for the price of one. Other times, like this week, you work the grid and suddenly there is a neon sign screaming LOOK HERE. In just two or three more minutes you have hit send to the WSJ email. But it isn't really a neon sign, it's just something you happen to notice. It looks like neon once you see it, but on a different day, you might not "happen to notice" it. Each meta is a solid and unchanging structure to which we aspiring solvers bring our own vicissitudes. No two puzzles are alike, and, for a given puzzle, no two paths to the correct answer are alike. That's why there are so many interestingly different stories here about the same puzzle each week. And why it's so much fun to work these metas, whether victorious or not.

[Omnibus]

On the beach, albeit rather late. Was having too much fun at St Pat’s parties yesterday to stop and solve.

[OffAndRunning]

Ashore!

[Notbitter]

On shore.