"That's A Plus" - November 8, 2019

[MarkL]

On shore! Who eats sweetbreads?

One time in my life. Actually quite good.

Didn't know what they were at the time (violating my rule of don't eat what you can't identify).

Don't know that I'd ever order them again, now that I know what they are.

One of those food items where I wonder: Who was the first person to say, "let's eat that."

P.S., Agree with comments on the Saturday WSJ puzzle. Amazing construction.

Some cultures, in good times and bad, subscribe to using everything but the 'oink' or 'moo.' I agree that, and the first lobster, must have been interesting events!

[MikeMillerwsj]

This contest drew entries galore,
(2,374),
97%
Were correct when they sent
Us the accurate letters (all 4).

(And congratulations to this week's winner, Lee Friedman of Bowie, MD!)

[Al Sisti]

This contest drew entries galore,
(2,374),
97%
Were correct when they sent
Us the accurate letters (all 4).

(And congratulations to this week's winner, Lee Friedman of Bowie, MD!)

Love this!!

[oldjudge]

I just received my first MGWCC this morning and happily it was relatively squeezy. I was afraid that I would be shut out for a while. That will probably come next week.

[Janet P]

This contest drew entries galore,
(2,374),
97%
Were correct when they sent
Us the accurate letters (all 4).

(And congratulations to this week's winner, Lee Friedman of Bowie, MD!)

Wow! Thanks for joining in the spirit of this week's board, Mike

[Joe Ross]

Looking forward to where The Pied Piper, aka tim1217, leads us next week, poetically. A little iambic pentameter, haiku, tanka, nonet...?

[PHOFER]

This contest drew entries galore,
(2,374),
97%
Were correct when they sent
Us the accurate letters (all 4).

(And congratulations to this week's winner, Lee Friedman of Bowie, MD!)

Hysterical!

[DrTom]

Well I got it though I thought that the non-sequential letter order was a pageant in waiting. I did struggle with another PLUS but abandoned it because it took more mental manipulation than ALSO:

If you look at the four plus signs, in one corner of each are the letters M, O, R & E and the go sequentially. I almost could have gone that way if they had occupied 4 different corners of the PLUS sign but the O and E were both upper right. But I struggled with that for a while...I tried to post a picture of what I saw but apparently I do not know how to inset a picture from my computer, nor do I know how to put it somewhere I can refer to it by URL, so I'll have to go pictureless. I'd love a quick tutorial though.

[DrTom]

And then there is "read the instructions Tom!!!" I went to the FAQs and of course "How to add a picture" was there, so here tis:

I probably did not need to attach it but I wanted to to show that Joe Ross's efforts in telling us how to create the grid in Excel were not in vain!

[juliet]

Made it to shore but had limited internet. I missed the user friendly online crossword grid and the friendly user conversation blog!

Tom's illustration of "MORE" hiding on the periphery of the plus shapes is worth remembering--perhaps a similar mechanism will appear in a future puzzle!

[ArnoldMBrockman]

I Believe That The Wall Street Journal Should At Least Award 2 Cups(Maybe 3) Every Week For Correct Answers. Is This Possible And What Do The Rest Of Our Readers Think About This Idea

[DrTom]

Well at the risk of sounding self promoting, I say the MORE the merrier!

At the additional risk of sounding greedy I say they should award as many cups as fiscally possible because I do so want a mug. The scarcity of the object itself and the bragging rights is implies make it even that much more valuable. Additionally, since the only thing of note I have ever won was the draft lottery (Yes Tom, you can forget struggling to acquire a position after those last four years because you have won an all expense paid vacation, complete with meals and wardrobe to many exotic lands!!! - and I imagine that announced in the best Don Pardo voice) I surmise I will be very cross with words before I win a prize extolling my proficiency with crosswords. For example, this week I was again an ALSO ran...

[Al Sisti]

MORE.jpg

Well at the risk of sounding self promoting, I say the MORE the merrier!

At the additional risk of sounding greedy I say they should award as many cups as fiscally possible because I do so want a mug. The scarcity of the object itself and the bragging rights is implies make it even that much more valuable. Additionally, since the only thing of note I have ever won was the draft lottery (Yes Tom, you can forget struggling to acquire a position after those last four years because you have won an all expense paid vacation, complete with meals and wardrobe to many exotic lands!!! - and I imagine that announced in the best Don Pardo voice) I surmise I will be very cross with words before I win a prize extolling my proficiency with crosswords. For example, this week I was again an ALSO ran...

That is too weird... I just told a friend last week that the only thing I ever won was the draft lottery in 1971. Any wins after that will be gravy...

[lostatsea]

I'm new to the wsj puzzles and while I can complete the puzzles, I very rarely grok the contest answer. Where can I find it? It's nice to know so many people are "ashore" (whatever the derivation of that is ???) but no one gives a clue as to the answer.

[Hector]

Welcome. There are great FAQs in the Welcome Aboard forum.

[Bob cruise director]

I'm new to the wsj puzzles and while I can complete the puzzles, I very rarely grok the contest answer. Where can I find it? It's nice to know so many people are "ashore" (whatever the derivation of that is ???) but no one gives a clue as to the answer.

Lost At Sea
Welcome to the group. A few answers to your questions both asked and implied

1) under the tab Come Aboard/FAQ Community there are the answers to the background of a lot of the comments that you will see here like "shore"
2) Also there are a bunch of suggestions on how to solve these kinds of contests

As far as where to find the answer, there are several sources:
1) in the Monday WSJ both in print and on line the answer is given
2) if you check back here after midnight on Sunday you will see the answers, the paths people got there or got to the wrong answer. Also if you go to the end of the comments each week, you will find the answers to previous puzzles. Some people who are new to this go back and try old puzzles to get the hang of it.
3) On the web site crosswordfiend.com, after midnight, they give the answer

If there are any other questions, please feel free to ask either as a private message or in the general comments.