"Plurality" May 12, 2023

[Bob cruise director]

Celebrating Mother’s Day and my 40th Wedding Anniversary today! I don’t want to brag BUT even after 40 years I can still fit into my Wedding…. HAT! Lol!
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@Ergcat Congratulations. We expect another picture when you hit #50

[Fogway]

Exhausted but finally ashore. A Glenmorangie Nectar D'Or, please, neat.

[Bob cruise director]

Good evening muggles

Our final count is 9 on the ship and 207 on the shore

Good luck in winning the coveted mug

[Collegetowngirl]

On shore. Amazed at the construction. Also, I saw nothing nothing nothing all day Saturday and today until about 15 minutes ago. Not even a rabbit hole. Just pure nothing. If you’re hanging out with Isaac, don’t be discouraged! The light can still come on!

[mrmd]

Thank you! I have decided not to submit any more to infinitesimally increase chances for other Muggles. Well, at least for a year or so....!

Ashore after a bit of noodling for the last step. Very satisfying as untidy became tidy! Was feeling slightly guilty about winning the mug last week, as I didn’t feel the answer was a slam dunk, but managing this week’s on my own makes me feel like I am (just) worthy!

Another muggle mugged! Woo hoo!! Congratulations!!!

[tonyrobots]

On shore. Found this one quite easy, grid took longer than the meta. Now back to the MGWCC, hopefully doing this one will spark something over there…

Edit: oh, and happy Mom’s day to all the moms!

[hcbirker]

[hcbirker]

[pjc]

Only rabbit hole of note for me was trying to figure out something with the double (plural) letters scattered throughout the grid - especially ones like in the NW where there's an 'A' trapped between two 'BB's.

It all came together Friday once I abandoned those thoughts.

[iggystan]

Aside. Has anyone done NYT today? It is a true tour de force. I’ve noted in this forum that since I discovered metas my love of non meta crosswords has waned a bit. But I still do them and every now and then one just blows me away. This is one of them.

Plus I don’t have MGWCC yet…

Stay well all! Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms in this forum!

I still love non-meta crosswords and I agree, the Sunday NYT was incredibly constructed.

[kfahey714]

Took me 10 minutes to understand that solution even after reading the answer. As always, tip of the cap to anyone whose brain was capable of solving that.

[BethA]

Aside. Has anyone done NYT today? It is a true tour de force. I’ve noted in this forum that since I discovered metas my love of non meta crosswords has waned a bit. But I still do them and every now and then one just blows me away. This is one of them.

Plus I don’t have MGWCC yet…

Stay well all! Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms in this forum!

I still love non-meta crosswords and I agree, the Sunday NYT was incredibly constructed.

@Streroto

I always do the NYT. Sunday's was fun, and also had the added bonus for some of us alums, seeing the clue "University of Cincinnati athlete"! That isn't too common in crosswords!

[OliviaL]

I haven’t played Risk, but I believe REDS also fit the clue for 7 down, which was “Group of colored pieces in risk.” This led me to DATUA so I back-solved to find the M in METS. Anyone else?

[Ergcat]

I haven’t played Risk, but I believe REDS also fit the clue for 7 down, which was “Group of colored pieces in risk.” This led me to DATUA so I back-solved to find the M in METS. Anyone else?

I also noted that. I agree that REDS could fit that clue.
I chased several rabbits after abandoning early on making the second word of the themers plural because I thought the plural of TEMPO was TEMPOS! Duh!
One particularly pesky rabbit was seeing “RISK” as part of “BRISK” in a themer. Then trying to tie it to the clue containing “RISK”. Similarly, I saw “QUA” in “SQUARE” and saw that was part of the clue for FEAR “QUAking cause”. Well, that worked for 2 themers, so I was looking for other clue words embedded in the other themers. I don’t think I found any others but I was digging in every clue for a while!

[Merry Potter]

Aside. Has anyone done NYT today? It is a true tour de force. I’ve noted in this forum that since I discovered metas my love of non meta crosswords has waned a bit. But I still do them and every now and then one just blows me away. This is one of them.

Plus I don’t have MGWCC yet…

Stay well all! Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms in this forum!

I still love non-meta crosswords and I agree, the Sunday NYT was incredibly constructed.

@Streroto

I always do the NYT. Sunday's was fun, and also had the added bonus for some of us alums, seeing the clue "University of Cincinnati athlete"! That isn't too common in crosswords!

I also do the NYT Sunday crossword each week. Talk about foreshadowing, coincidence, and a (very) little nudge, I noted in my "I solved" muggle post on Friday, that I was delayed in solving since I was at a track meet at University of Cincinnati on Thurs night. I clarified that they are *Bearcats* and not *REDS* (wink, wink, nudge nudge).

[ron]

I had figured a mechanism pretty quick, but when I came up with D-A-T I tried to jump right to DATA somehow. So I was wondering if the solution would only use one of the E's substituted into SQUARE FOOT, and where was an A word to fit either TENS or REDS. That didn't really make sense though and there was no A word.

At one point I was looking at UNITS for TENS, and wondered if DATU could be a word. It is! Or rather they are - rulers in the Philippines.

But that just seemed too obscure. Then I got to crawling through the clues and the Reds popped out along with memories of Rose's nasty run at Harrelson and the rest fell into place.

[JetStream]

Well....I did make it ashore as my answer was DATA but I got there in a slightly different way. I had the DAT but then I just picked A as the final letter even though it didn't really fit. I thought REDS -> ARMY or TENS -> ARMY or something like that. I knew DAT and I know DATA is plural but I missed the UM -> A part.

I'll take it although I need to put an asterisk by this one.

[mikeB]

Some interesting twists for me. Four-letter plural nouns sprinkled around the grid, some with connections elsewhere using the letter S. Rabbity examples are such pairs as DRAG/RAGS, BURN/BUNS. Distraction is worsened by the clue/entry at 64A (ESS) suggesting that the letter S figures prominently in solving this puzzle. Well, yes, the letter S is . . . prominently absent in the answer and in the stepping-stones that get you there. And then there’s the fourth letter of the answer that is not explicitly revealed. That letter needs to be inferred from the title, the prompt, and the mechanism as it is revealed in the solve (including that unexpected twofer delivered by FOOT, which put UM in the spotlight). None of these is a show-stopper, of course, but they do make for a pleasantly twisty solve. How is it possible to pack so much fun into a meta? Fortunately, Mr. Shenk knows how. Kudos to him for this very entertaining meta.

[Ergcat]

I had figured a mechanism pretty quick, but when I came up with D-A-T I tried to jump right to DATA somehow. So I was wondering if the solution would only use one of the E's substituted into SQUARE FOOT, and where was an A word to fit either TENS or REDS. That didn't really make sense though and there was no A word.

At one point I was looking at UNITS for TENS, and wondered if DATU could be a word. It is! Or rather they are - rulers in the Philippines.

But that just seemed too obscure. Then I got to crawling through the clues and the Reds popped out along with memories of Rose's nasty run at Harrelson and the rest fell into place.

well, as @OliviaL pointed out in post above, "REDS" does seem to fit the clue "Colored group as in Risk" which would yield "ARMY" and there's your A!

[KayW]

@FKelly posted this very apt poem to the forum on Friday. Unfortunately, it was a little TOO apt in describing this week's metanism. So I had to redact it until after the deadline.

On shore!
Thanks to the zoom sess. Should have mentioned that PLURALITY reminded me of a recent Shenk acrostic. And that reminded me of a poem.

English Language by unknown author
We'll begin with box, and the plural is boxes,
But the plural of ox should be oxen, not oxes.

Then one fowl is goose, but two are called geese,
Yet the plural of mouse should never be meese;

You may find a lone mouse or a whole nest of mice,
But the plural of house is houses, not hice;

If the plural of man is always called men,
Why shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen?

The cow in the plural may be cows or kine,
And the plural of vow is vows, not vine,

And if I speak of a foot and you show me your feet,
And I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?

If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
Why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth?

If the singular’s this and the plural is these,
Should the plural of kiss be nicknamed keese?

Then one may be that, and three would be those.
Yet hat in the plural would never be hose,
And the plural of cat is cats, not cose.

We speak of a brother, and also of brethren,
But though we say mother, we never say methren;

Then masculine pronouns are he, his, and him,
But imagine the feminine, she, shis, and shim.

So the English, I think, you all will agree,
Is the most wonderful language you ever did see.