Re: "Executive Search" - June 5, 2020
Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2020 10:28 am
Not a Z anywhere actually. That's what I did before going back to sort out the path. That and the fact that Zachary Taylor was the 12th preisdent.
A place to discuss the WSJ Weekly Crossword Contest and other "meta"-style crosswords
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Not a Z anywhere actually. That's what I did before going back to sort out the path. That and the fact that Zachary Taylor was the 12th preisdent.
GGGGGGGGGGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH: My sentiments exactly, along with several head slaps. I often type up a list of my solving strategies because my margin scribbles or notes on the back of printed puzzles get too messy to decipher. The very first thing on the page is a column of all the two-word answers. Beside those is a column of the first letters of the two words, with an unfortunate error - I noted DEJAVU as DJ. Unbelievable! I am quite sure my poor pea-sized brain decided that there were two Js, so the strategy of first letters was not the correct solving mechanism. I typed "No Z" below the two columns. I would really like to think that had I started this puzzle earlier in the weekend, rather than last night, I would not have made this mistake. I also would like to think that I would have noticed that there was no T in the second column instead of fixating on the fact that there were plenty of Ts in the grid.Bob cruise director wrote: ↑Mon Jun 08, 2020 9:35 am
GGGGGGGGGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!
I also went down the synonym trail. And actually wrote down the first letters to find a pattern, but missed it. I blame a printed page hideously disfigured with gobbledygook in ink. The nuns are once again disappointed in me.MaineMarge wrote: ↑Mon Jun 08, 2020 7:14 am My apologies in advance for any upcoming punctuation errors.
I scored totally zero on my own. No, that’s not really really easy on the KAS scale.
That’s zilch on the chance to get the mug scale.
A kind nudge got me as far as a nearby coral reef late last night—(space?) the beach was under curfew by then.
Welch’s and Starbucks led me to search for CEO type executives whose letters could morph into the answer. No Z for Zuckerman or Bezos
All those double letters (19A) went nowhere.
Then surely all the synonymous grid words
were the key:
Clone/Xerox copy
Calyx/pod
Unite/couple
Alee/Ang Lee
I won/strut
Ante/pay up
I played with the 12 two word toys every way except the right way.
Mega meta kudos to Matt and all you smart solving Muggles.
Zoom Time now
Could not agree more. I don't consider myself a strong solver -- usually struggle with the majority of metas, but I had this one with no rabbit holes. I looked at the list of double-words and must have subconsciously seen that the leading letters were all different. Wrote down the letters of the alphabet right under that list, started crossing them off, and the smile widened and widened as I realized there were no dups. TZ? Oh, ZT!
Well I found one word answers that worked for some of the two word answers.camandsampowercouple wrote: ↑Mon Jun 08, 2020 8:16 am Dang I was nowhere near this answer. A whole bunch of the two word answers had clues that also worked for them:
Make a twin of - XEROX COPY
Get out of the house, say - SELL FOR
Prior to, poetically - NO MORE
Starbucks feature - GRAPE JUICE
"Let me think" - KEEP QUIET
I was having trouble finding a clue for every single one, but I was unable to look at this puzzle in any other way to get an answer.
Sure. The two-word entries determine two-digit numbers: PAYUP, for instance, is 32 based on the number of letters in the two words. The letter at 32 in the grid is E. Similarly for the eleven other two-word entries, and you get letters that anagram to TOPCOAT PERCH. Given the brilliance of that mechanism, it seems to me unfairly arbitrary that there hasn't yet been a president by that name.
Thanks! And I'm going to stash that in my toolbox as well because I'm sure one of these days a constructor will implement it!Hector wrote: ↑Mon Jun 08, 2020 12:02 pmSure. The two-word entries determine two-digit numbers: PAYUP, for instance, is 32 based on the number of letters in the two words. The letter at 32 in the grid is E. Similarly for the eleven other two-word entries, and you get letters that anagram to TOPCOAT PERCH. Given the brilliance of that mechanism, it seems to me unfairly arbitrary that there hasn't yet been a president by that name.
The crossword gurus take revenge in a harsh way. One week I got the meta looking at it and then for the next two weeks it was zero, zip, nadaOGuyDave wrote: ↑Mon Jun 08, 2020 10:42 amCould not agree more. I don't consider myself a strong solver -- usually struggle with the majority of metas, but I had this one with no rabbit holes. I looked at the list of double-words and must have subconsciously seen that the leading letters were all different. Wrote down the letters of the alphabet right under that list, started crossing them off, and the smile widened and widened as I realized there were no dups. TZ? Oh, ZT!
Nice to get two this weekend after an O'fer last weekend.
Stay safe.
The problem with something like policy is that it is too subjective and not unique. For something like a president, you have a bounded set of options.damefox wrote: ↑Mon Jun 08, 2020 12:22 pm This was a clever mechanism, and I can't even imagine how long it took to come up with 12 two-word phrases where the words started with 24 unique letters of the alphabet, not to mention fit them all into a crossword grid. My one issue with this meta is that the mechanism itself does not lead to a unique answer. The prompt could just as easily have been "The meta answer is a type of policy" and then ZT would have been "zero tolerance." That arguably works better because it completes the set of two-word phrases better than Zachary Taylor does. A name isn't a two-word phrase in the same way that the rest of the theme entries are. Zachary Taylor ends up being a cute answer because by coincidence he was the 12th president. (Maybe that was an intentional nod, but I have a very hard time believing that was anything other than a happy coincidence.) The title also seemed a little arbitrary to me. But I'm being nitpicky now - it's definitely a very impressive construction.
When they have had something completing a theme or anything like that, all of the clue answers have something in common which these ones did not except for their unique first letters.Laura M wrote: ↑Mon Jun 08, 2020 12:28 pm It might not have helped me, but I think that this puzzle would have been better prompted as "A U.S. president whose name completes the theme." At least I would have gone in with the mindset of figuring out what's missing, and not the mindset of looking for 12-letter names! Anyway, it's a good meta lesson for me that sometimes the missing-piece puzzles aren't clued as such!
Isn't that enough? Filling in the last two letters of the 26 seems to me like it would be completing a theme. But maybe it's a stretch.Bob cruise director wrote: ↑Mon Jun 08, 2020 1:00 pmWhen they have had something completing a theme or anything like that, all of the clue answers have something in common which these ones did not except for their unique first letters.Laura M wrote: ↑Mon Jun 08, 2020 12:28 pm It might not have helped me, but I think that this puzzle would have been better prompted as "A U.S. president whose name completes the theme." At least I would have gone in with the mindset of figuring out what's missing, and not the mindset of looking for 12-letter names! Anyway, it's a good meta lesson for me that sometimes the missing-piece puzzles aren't clued as such!
Oh, I completely agree with that, and I'm still kicking myself for not noticing that all of the first letters were different. I certainly looked at them all enough times! But even if I'd been more observant, I'm still not sure that I would have gotten to Zachary Taylor, or felt a very good click if I had; the title and the prompt don't seem to me to confirm it.Bob cruise director wrote: ↑Mon Jun 08, 2020 1:00 pm The real tell should have been having 12 two word answers, all of which were unique. That would have led down the path of which letters weren't used and why.