"Golden Years" - January 14, 2022

[martimeryard]

I cave. Can I get a nudge? I believe I have half of the answer but nothing much brewing.

EDIT: Shout out to ship4u (Don) and relic (Alan). Thanks for the messages!

[jrdad]

Finally slogged ashore.

[GTIJohnny]

After 3 days off, I'm submitting a projected solution from my 50% certainty. I am really just treading shallow water on a sandbar, 50 yards from shore.

[Prozach]

On Shore.

[Notbitter]

On shore.

[PHOFER]

Ashore with half confidence like many others as I have found only half the answer, definitively. I have not seen reference in prior posts, and I admit I have not read them all, but half of the puzzle title seems to have nothing to do with the answer many of us deduce, but it must have something to do with the answer. Why is it there? I can find no connection.

There may be only those who can interpolate data and . . . . But this seems to be a big fat piece of data that throws all the interpolated answers into doubt.

[C=64]

Ashore. Submitted final answer and will probably regret going against the grain, but there were enough things to justify me being a rebel on the beach. If anyone else submitted a 'different' one or are leaning towards there being more than the 'half' mechanism, open to chatting!

There is a reasonable argument to be made, in weeks where there will probably be a ton of submissions, that it's a good strategy to submit a less likely answer. Even if you think there's only a 10% chance that the alternate answer is correct, the number of people submitting it will be low enough that your chance of winning the mug is actually higher that way.

I use this strategy in situations like "guess who will score the first goal of tonight's hockey game and you could win tickets to the next game." I'll pick a defenseman who rarely scores, so I have a low probability of guessing correctly but a high probability of having my name drawn if I'm right. And it worked once.

[Relic]

Sorry to say, I submitted my hail Mary! Better than trying to run the ball with only 14 seconds left in the game. Sometimes you just have to take a shot for the win. The mechanism I found accounts for only the back half of the solution. At this time that's good enough for me. Looking forward to seeing what I missed.

[woozy]

I want to point out my 50% refers to how much of the answer I have found. I found half of it. It does *not* refer to the degree of confidence in my submitted answer. Which is about 94%. I think in some of our communications there is misinterpretation.

[Bob cruise director]

Our final report has 8 on the ship and an even 200 on the shore

And we have a new muggle since lunch - frostyjhammer

Making their way to the shore are:

Notbitter
Prozach
Debbie
phofer
jrdad
frostyjhammer
eagle1279
martimeryard
relic (and Maggie)

Good luck winning the mug and have a good week.

[periperi]

Looking for a late nudge, I feel close, but missing a step.

[Nadine]

Fairly certain I am on shore. Looking forward to seeing if I was on the right track with the mechanism.

[pilsbandy]

Thought I had it on Friday just from the name of the puzzle and the hint at the answer.

Now I've gotten myself in a hole because I can't figure out WHY the puzzle would make that the answer.

Any chance for a last minute nudge toward the shore?

[rosiegirl]

Made it to shore with almost two hours to spare!

[michaelm]

Very much looking forward to the Golden Years post-mortem.
Should be a lively board.

[Joe Ross]

The official WSJ solution will not be posted until soon after 4 PM ET, Monday, Martin Luther King Day.

Happy 100th birthday, Betty White! We enjoyed your Golden Years. Thank you!


Who else are you going to submit? VANNA WHITE? BARRY WHITE? SNOW(Y) WHITE?

Seriously, I look forward to other answers!

[MajordomoTom]

Betty White was my answer also.

Lake Placid approved.

[martimeryard]

Shaun White was my guess in the end. I couldn't figure out where Shaun comes exactly, but there are a few gold medal Olympians sprinkled in the puzzle (Ohno, Picabo, Gail, ???)

[Colin]

BETTY WHITE for me too, but I spent hours after getting to shore trying to solve for BETTY. Some people advised me over my career: “Stop looking for perfection and move on, Colin.” No good though, I like things to be crisp!

[meowmiao71]

Shaun White was my guess in the end. I couldn't figure out where Shaun comes exactly, but there are a few gold medal Olympians sprinkled in the puzzle (Ohno, Picabo, Gail, ???)

Wow! You make a compelling argument. If it turns out to be Shaun and not Betty (who was my guess), I think you have excellent odds of winning the mug!