"Scale Back" - April 29, 2022

[KayW]

I also got detoured by “triad”, but I do not see that anybody else has commented on Taps at 1A. That song only uses three notes, which I learned from Google is the C Major triad (notes C, E, and G). Took me a long time to give up on that path.

That's exactly the wrong turn I took at first. I finally asked someone who had already solved to it for me so I could move on to something else.

[EmilyW]

I'm the opposite of most of the commenters in that REACHES was the first one I saw, and I doubt I would have come up with DOCENT without the help of the Zoom. I don't think I have ever used that word outside of a crossword.

[femullen]

I feel like the schoolboy who didn't do his weekend homework.

I ran out of time, so, alas,
The meta, I gave it a pass.
You may think it strange
Spending time at the range
And flogging the river for bass.

I have a braggable smallmouth to share as soon as I figure out how to insert photos.

And no, I had no clue on the meta. Worked on it Friday. Wouldn't have made a difference if I'd spent all day Saturday and Sunday as well.

[Ben B]

Like Wendy and Marge (honored to be in their company) I looked closely at the clues and spent almost a hour thinking how could “key signature” not be significant? Those clues were so oddly worded. Thankfully DoCent and TiAra ushered me to the beach.

[boharr]

No wonder our non-musical Muggles had hard times with this.

Actually, I think my woeful lack of music knowledge (remember my offer to NOT sing if I got a beer) helped me on this one. I was oblivious to all the rabbit holes that others found. I did know DO RE MI, but I had to look up Cantata.

[woozy]

Way back a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle (Steve Rubenstein) did a column about whether it was fair to sucker punch someone in Scrabble. He had played ACHE. His girlfriend had added a D to make ACHED. And he said, as he placed down his R and E tiles, "If you ache for a second time, you re-ache, and if it happened in the past you re-ached". His girlfriend protested and asked him to take them back and he asked if she challenged. So she did as she was certain re-ache can not be acceptable. Later she accused him of cheating and he wasn't sure whether he had or hadn't.

[boharr]

I kept thinking “GUIDE?” Really?!? I should know by now that when something just doesn’t ring true it’s a huge clue.

Me too. As I filled in the grid I started to write "docent" only it didn't fit. So, yes, someone else to listen to when something doesn't ring true -- yourself.

[Inca]

I kept thinking “GUIDE?” Really?!? I should know by now that when something just doesn’t ring true it’s a huge clue.

Me too. As I filled in the grid I started to write "docent" only it didn't fit. So, yes, someone else to listen to when something doesn't ring true -- yourself.

Right. And since when is a "bejeweled topper" in a crossword a CROWN and not a TIARA? Having said that, although I thought DOCENT and TIARA when I filled the grid, it took me a loong time to put it all together, for some reason.

[Joe Ross]

No wonder our non-musical Muggles had hard times with this.

Actually, I think my woeful lack of music knowledge (remember my offer to NOT sing if I got a beer) helped me on this one. I was oblivious to all the rabbit holes that others found. I did know DO RE MI, but I had to look up Cantata.

Now we know how to make Bob pay for his "free" beer... YAY!

[BarbaraK]

So how many tried playing the 'notes' in the theme answers and listening for some familiar tune? It's got to be there, right? Even ends on a C. Or maybe three at a time. Or try to fit it in with Taps somehow - a music clue at 1 across has to be relevant to the theme, right? So many rabbit holes.

My first attempt with do-re-mi was adding them to the end of the theme entries because 'guide dog' seemed so perfect. It was a day later before I thought of using them to start new answers.

[iggystan]

I was definitely thinking chords at first because of TRIAD, but that obviously didn’t work with all of the starred clues. Maybe it was in my brain lying dormant, but I thought both DOCENT and TIARA first for those two clues, and yesterday when I was looking at it again, CENT jumped out and I was off to the races. FA-THERED was my last find; THERED was definitely an odd fill and I should have mentally “asterisk”ed that one.

[billkatz]

Way back a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle (Steve Rubenstein) did a column about whether it was fair to sucker punch someone in Scrabble. He had played ACHE. His girlfriend had added a D to make ACHED. And he said, as he placed down his R and E tiles, "If you ache for a second time, you re-ache, and if it happened in the past you re-ached". His girlfriend protested and asked him to take them back and he asked if she challenged. So she did as she was certain re-ache can not be acceptable. Later she accused him of cheating and he wasn't sure whether he had or hadn't.

I used to love Steve Rubinstein's columns - back when I got a paper in the paper form...

[woozy]

Way back a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle (Steve Rubenstein) did a column about whether it was fair to sucker punch someone in Scrabble. He had played ACHE. His girlfriend had added a D to make ACHED. And he said, as he placed down his R and E tiles, "If you ache for a second time, you re-ache, and if it happened in the past you re-ached". His girlfriend protested and asked him to take them back and he asked if she challenged. So she did as she was certain re-ache can not be acceptable. Later she accused him of cheating and he wasn't sure whether he had or hadn't.

I used to love Steve Rubinstein's columns - back when I got a paper in the paper form...

Whatever happened to him--- I ask rhetorically knowing full well I can wiki the information....

[LadyBird]

Many of those same rabbit holes but unfortunately I never saw the DO RE MI, even though I was rather surprised by CROWN instead of TIARA.

One of my meta how-to hints revolves around the word BACK when it appears in a title--think backwards. So I tried going backwards 8 letters (a scale) from the first letter of the *answers. Of course, that was gibberish. Tried going back from the first ABCDEFG in each *answer--again gibberish. Then I thought--try going forward 8 letters from the last letter of the *answers. I did come up with ARIA ACE, which is a brand of flamenco guitar but that just didn't seem very elegant.

Here's hoping my luck/skill turns soon!

[escapeartist]

One of my meta how-to hints revolves around the word BACK when it appears in a title--think backwards. So I tried going backwards 8 letters (a scale) from the first letter of the *answers. Of course, that was gibberish. Tried going back from the first ABCDEFG in each *answer--again gibberish. Then I thought--try going forward 8 letters from the last letter of the *answers. I did come up with ARIA ACE, which is a brand of flamenco guitar but that just didn't seem very elegant.

My first try with the scale used OD, ER, IM, AF, etc.. and got nowhere

[LadyBird]

Some of my patients at the wildlife hospital that I volunteer at--Great Horned Owlets.

And what will be their dinner. I joked with the staff that they should put one of these in the freezer section at the grocery.

[drbockel2]

I drowned.

[Richard]

When I saw 'Museum Worker" I thought Docent but only 5 letters. When I saw "Bejeweled Topper" I tried to put in Tiara. After completing the gird, looked at the title and was off to find the rest. I had it as Do Ra Mi Fa So Thought it had to be Solace but could not find the LACE.

Very good meta imho,

[PhantomPhan]

Did I miss the stats post, or is that still coming?

[Dplass]

Did I miss the stats post, or is that still coming?

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