"The Party Starts at 10" - December 31, 2020

[Joe Ross]

[Richard]

What is wrong with “bring in the new?”

[Omnibus]

OK, so now I am curious about this “other” possible answer. I submitted the right one, but spent all weekend trying to suss out what the alternate one is that so many said exists.

Please share, fellow Muggles.

[JRS51]

Wow. Sometimes reading the posts here intimidates me too much. I saw this answer a few days ago after completing the grid. Then I saw posts discussing the clever mechanism, the solid connection to the title, etc and I felt I was missing something more elaborate.
After finding nothing else I did submit this as my answer tonight, and I’m certainly glad I did.
Happy New Year indeed!!

[DBMiller]

What is wrong with “bring in the new?”

The clue for ONE is the reason. 3-2-1 is the sequence of the final countdown (the party starts at 10)

And loosely, the phrase comes from a poem by TENnyson.

[FrankH]

What is wrong with “bring in the new?”

That's what I saw first, and I nearly just settled for that. But with the hint at 66A (and 67A), you are counting down from 10 and then take the letters when you count down to "three, two, one".

[Omnibus]

Wouldn’t it have been more appropriate to title it “The Party Starts at Eight”, since you would be counting the 8th, 9th, and 10th spaces in each of the 10-letter answers?

[DBMiller]

Wouldn’t it have been more appropriate to title it “The Party Starts at Eight”, since you would be counting the 8th, 9th, and 10th spaces in each of the 10-letter answers?

Nope. Put your finger on the top of each 10 letter word and do the New Year's countdown. 10, 9, 8... The letters you land on for 3-2-1 as hinted by the next to last across clue says to use those letters.

[FrankH]

Wow. Sometimes reading the posts here intimidates me too much. I saw this answer a few days ago after completing the grid. Then I saw posts discussing the clever mechanism, the solid connection to the title, etc and I felt I was missing something more elaborate.
After finding nothing else I did submit this as my answer tonight, and I’m certainly glad I did.
Happy New Year indeed!!

Everyone's solving experience is different from others, sometimes quite different (and perhaps occasionally you may be one of the few who got a different feeling from the puzzle). Don't let others' reactions to the puzzle overly influence your thinking and decision.

[Bob Cobb]

Forgot about the puzzle, and in my hurry to do it before close, read the meta directions as a “four-letter word” you might hear. Submitted “YEAR” as the conclusion to the phrase.

[Emmajane]

Two things I liked—
The answers “dropped down” like the Times Square ball, the mushroom, and the Boise potato (loved those photos!) across the puzzle from left to right; and
The answer phrase is from TENnyson...
“Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.”
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, In Memoriam

Very fitting. Happy New Year, Muggles!

[fuggedabowdit]

Wouldn’t it have been more appropriate to title it “The Party Starts at Eight”, since you would be counting the 8th, 9th, and 10th spaces in each of the 10-letter answers?

Nope. Put your finger on the top of each 10 letter word and do the New Year's countdown. 10, 9, 8... The letters you land on for 3-2-1 as hinted by the next to last across clue says to use those letters.

3-2-1 RING IN THE NEW at Midnight -
12 oclock - 12 letters in answer

[escapeartist]

yeah, I was a little unsure of the solution, but later saw the countdown clue - which sealed it for me.

[fuggedabowdit]

Interesting takes on the correctness of Bring or Ring
https://www.mic.com/articles/163755/rin ... h-is-right
https://kris-spisak.com/writing-tip-rin ... 0beginning.

[escapeartist]

Wouldn’t it have been more appropriate to title it “The Party Starts at Eight”, since you would be counting the 8th, 9th, and 10th spaces in each of the 10-letter answers?

not really, because we were in bed by nine

[DrTom]

I wonder how many of us are in Florida at least part of the year? Maybe a Florida meetup is actually doable. Speaking out of supreme self interest, I am about 60 miles south of Jacksonville but will go anywhere in the state for a meet and greet with this group!

I think you are onto something there Jeanne, there are probably a lot of folks who vacation in Florida and there are a fair number who live here too. I'm guessing Flagler Beach is close to where you call home based on my 80+ mile drives to Daytona. There are Muggles in Tampa and other spots. Once there are more vaccinations and we do not have to fret so much about dying if we meet we can talk about a "Muggleup" somewhere in the Sunshine State?

[Mister Squawk]

FWIW Mike's Saturday weekend puzzle was a lot of fun -- finally wrapped it up this morning. I'm looking forward to more challenges from Mr. Shenk in 2021!

[John77]

Glad I knew about the TENnyson connection because I simply missed the countdown reference.

I also thought the possible "Bring out the new' would be an odd violation of symmetry. Nice puzzle.

[LadyBird]

Glad I knew about the TENnyson connection because I simply missed the countdown reference.

I also thought the possible "Bring out the new' would be an odd violation of symmetry. Nice puzzle.

I originally highlighted BRING IN THE NEW and the lack of symmetry bugged me too. As soon as Reaized that the 3-2-1 clue was significant, then I knew it was RING. I wonder if BRING was the 2nd answer people talked about.

[Bird Lives]

The poetic reference might be clear to anyone for Tennyson, but I'm not so sure that Matt intended it when he gave the puzzle its title.

A couple of years ago, I was sure that the inspiration for Matt's Yma Sumac puzzle was a piece that appeared in the New Yorker 57 years earlier but had been anthologized often ("Yma Dream" by Tom Meehan). So I wrote to Matt to confirm. His answer: "I'm afraid not! Never seen that article."