Re: "A Sail of Two Cities" - June 18, 2021
Posted: Mon Jun 21, 2021 3:28 pm
When I went to rate the puzzle, it told me I already had. Perhaps I hit the button inadvertently, but I don't think so. I would have rated it higher that 3.5.
A place to discuss the WSJ Weekly Crossword Contest and other "meta"-style crosswords
https://www.xword-muggles.com/
When I went to rate the puzzle, it told me I already had. Perhaps I hit the button inadvertently, but I don't think so. I would have rated it higher that 3.5.
I figured 1A "SML" was a hint that the different sizes of the bodies of water was important. After the fact, I took it as a hint to look for 3-letter answers, of which there were a lot in the grid.
Congrats for Jon Rahm!tigerfly222 wrote: ↑Sun Jun 20, 2021 2:24 pm On the beach, finally.
I jumped out of the boat I was paddling and @boharr threw me a life preserver from the shore.
Sometimes it takes a village.
Edit: Nothing to do with the meta, just wanted to say that here in Spain, we are finally speeding up Covid vaccinations nicely. Yesterday I got my first jab! Happy to be doing my part.
Might there be a list if mechanisms extant??CPJohnson wrote: ↑Sun Jun 20, 2021 2:49 pmI don't think the mechanism is all that common. Maybe it is if you do LOTS of metas.stmv wrote: ↑Sun Jun 20, 2021 4:40 am Ugh, I got a late start due to visiting family, but even so this took me *way* much longer than it should have. I saw 90% of it very fast, and was treading water within sight of the beach, but I just could not close the deal. Then suddenly while brushing my teeth it hit me, that I had overlooked a common mechanism, and I was even able to guess what the answer was going to be before I worked out the details. Better late than never, and now I'm 100% on the beach, exhausted but pleased.
yes- under Come Aboard! Meta Solving etc.mntlblok wrote: ↑Mon Jun 21, 2021 5:22 pmMight there be a list if mechanisms extant??CPJohnson wrote: ↑Sun Jun 20, 2021 2:49 pmI don't think the mechanism is all that common. Maybe it is if you do LOTS of metas.stmv wrote: ↑Sun Jun 20, 2021 4:40 am Ugh, I got a late start due to visiting family, but even so this took me *way* much longer than it should have. I saw 90% of it very fast, and was treading water within sight of the beach, but I just could not close the deal. Then suddenly while brushing my teeth it hit me, that I had overlooked a common mechanism, and I was even able to guess what the answer was going to be before I worked out the details. Better late than never, and now I'm 100% on the beach, exhausted but pleased.
Only my personal list, as far as I know. I haven't fully explored all the posts in the Come Aboard/FAQs/Hints for Solving section. Here are some of the entries in my list:mntlblok wrote: ↑Mon Jun 21, 2021 5:22 pmMight there be a list if mechanisms extant??CPJohnson wrote: ↑Sun Jun 20, 2021 2:49 pmI don't think the mechanism is all that common. Maybe it is if you do LOTS of metas.stmv wrote: ↑Sun Jun 20, 2021 4:40 am Ugh, I got a late start due to visiting family, but even so this took me *way* much longer than it should have. I saw 90% of it very fast, and was treading water within sight of the beach, but I just could not close the deal. Then suddenly while brushing my teeth it hit me, that I had overlooked a common mechanism, and I was even able to guess what the answer was going to be before I worked out the details. Better late than never, and now I'm 100% on the beach, exhausted but pleased.
And I could list twelve or fifteen *other* such finds for throwing one off. Grrr. . . .hcbirker wrote: ↑Mon Jun 21, 2021 9:58 am After finding all the different bodies of water, I saw "Panama" spaced out at 22 Across, and thought for sure I was on to something. Then found "Seine" at 16 across. So I deduced that I had to find another ocean, sea and lake. Nothing. But I just couldn't stop looking at those bright shiny objects. Making the leap to the three letter clues didn't fit the theme for me. Oh well. On to the next puzzle!
We actually saw some big, ocean racing boats heading south off the coast a few weeks back. Nautical daughter - who is currently sewing sails in Wilmington, NC - informed me that the huge, front sails on them that seemed a cross (to me) of a spinnaker and a jib, was, in fact, a GENOA.
Yep, no luck sailing the English Channel.Notbitter wrote: ↑Mon Jun 21, 2021 10:01 am Okay, way off. In my “twisted” reasoning, I saw the title, “A Sail of Two Cities,” and assumed a play on words with “A Tale of Two Cites” by Dickens. I had each of the two cities. The distances from Google apparently were direct line distances, not the distance if you were to take the meandering course, for example from Basel to Bonn by sailing the Rhine. Thus, the distances were “as the crow flies,” which is an idiom from “Oliver Twist,” another Dickens story….from there, I had nothing, so I just tossed in “idiom” as my Hail Mary. Oh well…congratulations to those who got the final steps that I missed.
One can expect these things to go to those kinds of bizarre lengths???HunterX wrote: ↑Mon Jun 21, 2021 11:07 am Before I finally figured out the correct second step, I got caught up in the "Find an anagram of the [word] in other clues with one letter extra/off" rabbit hole. I noticed that there are anagrams of 'SEA' and 'LAKE' with one letter to change, and 3 for 'OCEAN'. Kept searching for 'CANAL' and 'RIVER' until my eyes went blurry.
Then tried looking for alternate bodies of water for each of the types. 'APIAN ANTICLIMAX' kept making me see 'ATLANTIC' as well as a broken up 'PANAMA'.
Also found the SE(L)INE river, NILE backwards, Lake (Loch) NESS.... And so much more.
Damn! My head's gonna explode.hoover wrote: ↑Mon Jun 21, 2021 12:44 pm Looking at the answer and how it was obtained ... I had all of the cities correct, and I had gone as far as writing out the body of water that connected each, but didn't get to step 3 of finding their initials in the 3LW. Even if I had, I may not have gotten to the answer because I had Mohawk River connecting Utica and Rome.
Rabbit holes:
- I tried playing with the directions (N, E, NW, NNW, NE) and that went nowhere.
- I found a sort of a word ladder in SCARFS SCARES SCALES SCALP (missing its S)
And *more* head explosions.Ergcat wrote: ↑Mon Jun 21, 2021 1:51 pmYes, I had thought WINDY at first. I saw RWR and thought the “w” replaced a “v” in “River” abbrev. then saw “yea” and thought that’s one letter off from “sea”. Next came “Cal” and that’s one letter off from “can” short for canal! So I had w - n -y. I thought had to be “windy” that fits with sailing. But then I couldn’t find the I or D.... but I did see the real path as I was investigating “LEM”!!rosiegirl wrote: ↑Mon Jun 21, 2021 11:50 amI guess no one came up with my answer....WINDY...which I was sure was correct until I was told otherwise?MikeMillerwsj wrote: ↑Mon Jun 21, 2021 11:20 am This contest was a Matt Gaffney special, taking solvers down an elegantly tangled trail with several
Public service announcement for any other thick-headed newbies. Matt Gaffney's Weekly Crossword Contest (MGWCC) (Google worked).Bob cruise director wrote: ↑Mon Jun 21, 2021 1:53 pm A quick note which will be posted a couple of places here. Tomorrow Matt will be sending over one of his early MGWCC that we can all do as a discussion topic for June 29
Not a fancy eater so didn't remember that dish's name. Sadly also figgered "treats" could be "scores". WOTER might not've worked. Oh, and poo sorta rhymes with fu.
You are catching on quickly! Much quicker than I did btw.