XWord Muggles Forum

On shore.
Will try to stay quiet for a while in case any Olympian god early solvers imbibed a wee bit too much nectar last evening.
Enjoy the Games everyone!

mattythewsjpuzzler wrote: ↑Thu Jul 22, 2021 4:39 pm Ashore! Page 1??!

You think 19a is a nod to us Muggles?

michaelm wrote: ↑Fri Jul 23, 2021 8:42 am On shore.
Will try to stay quiet for a while in case any Olympian god early solvers imbibed a wee too much nectar last evening.
Enjoy the Games everyone!

I already am - my homegirl Amanda Chidester drove in the only run for USA softball against Canada the other night! She only had to wait 13 years to do it.

Got the AHA! just now and rode a mostly pleasant wave onto the beach....

Spent an embarrassing amount of time down a rabbit hole but finally have toes in sand. Too early for a drink but I’ll keep my dance card open this evening.

I‘m targeting Saturday to start swimming to shore. Meantime having an Evian with juice on the Lido Deck.

Cleats in the sand soon. I’ll have an Arnold Palmer.

lbray53 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 22, 2021 9:45 pm

MatthewL wrote: ↑Thu Jul 22, 2021 4:53 pm Ashore! And just missed Page 1. Oh well, I'll take a Terrapin Recreation Ale. I think I deserve it after missing the meta 2 straight weeks.

Do you get it in the silo cans?

That's the only way they sell it (at least where I live). Not complaining.

sanmilton wrote: ↑Fri Jul 23, 2021 12:47 am

zach wrote: ↑Thu Jul 22, 2021 11:09 pm I’d like to propose a new word for when it takes more than an hour just to complete the grid.

Gridiculous.

I’m lost at sea.

zach, you're certainly not alone this week in having experienced gridlock. There are recondite names crossing each other as well as recherché nouns (proper and common) and a couple of rather rare references to films from the 1980s. Just keep at it, and you may improve your skills as a sandwich-maker and even learn to fly.

Learnin me all *kinds* of new words!

On shore baby

Ashore, and inspired by first pager Scott M, I am researching barrel aging Manhattans…while sipping an unaged one.

Wendy Walker wrote: ↑Thu Jul 22, 2021 8:57 pm

benchen71 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 22, 2021 8:51 pm First time poster and onshore! G & T coming up later today...

Welcome to the Forum, Benchen71! We are delighted to have a new Muggle! Just let Meg's cabana boy know your gin of choice: Bombay Sapphire, Bluecoat or Hendricks?

Let me toss in a recommendation for Monkey 47. Although I'd hesitate to add anything more than the tiniest splash of a high quality tonic. Delicious stuff.

On shore and lined up at the Tiki bar for morning Mimosa. I haven’t been this close to the cabana boy for several weeks, since I’ve made it only to the Sand Bar lately.
Thanks, Mike, as always. You’re a/an 10D!

And look! 16A on the 60A- our Love Boat has shrunk
Actually it’s the Baltic Lord with cargo of frozen fish as seen from our rental cottage on Passamaquoddy Bay in Eastport this week.

I just Googled Eastport to see where Maine Marge was vacationing and look what I learned: "Eastport is the easternmost city in the United States." Ahem!

I’m on shore

Was feeling all pleased with my nerd cred since the Hitchhiker’s protagonist was a gimme. But then I did Thursday’s LA Times, and when I filled in Logan’s Run with no crossings, I decided I’m just pathetic

Wendy Walker wrote: ↑Fri Jul 23, 2021 9:52 am I just Googled Eastport to see where Maine Marge was vacationing and look what I learned: "Eastport is the easternmost city in the United States." Ahem!

The keyword here may be "city," as I don't think the Aleutians have any cities. Just longitude.

Wendy Walker wrote: ↑Fri Jul 23, 2021 9:52 am I just Googled Eastport to see where Maine Marge was vacationing and look what I learned: "Eastport is the easternmost city in the United States." Ahem!

One of the mystic qualities of Eastport (part of my beat years ago in the Coast Guard) is that from there you can see into the future: Campobello, just offshore, is on Atlantic time.

Ashore!

One point of solace in my three-week losing streak* is that I've finished all the grids, sans Mr. G, in the usual 15-20 minutes--including this week's multiple and intersecting pop-culture answers, ordinarily my Waterloo. On the meta, however, 19A.


(*My late-Sunday-night epiphany two weeks ago ended up being wrong: DISCRETE and DISCREET are, sadly, different words, and, more sadly, spelling counts. Another Monday morning palm-to-forehead.)

Had book club last night, so waited until this morning to attempt… and used the actual PRINT WSJ this morning to do the grid. Something feels pure and old-school about that.

Needed new-school method (googs) for the crossing letter at 13A/4D (guessed right but wanted certainty). Like many I saw the beginnings of the meta emerging while doing the grid, but it took a few minutes to put it all together. I agree that this would be a great one for tutoring someone learning about metas… it’s kind of a classic form, and not overly difficult. I enjoyed the confirmation of the solution in the puzzle… was wondering why that was there!

27A was a new term for me… and I have one of those! Just didn’t know they were called that.

Ashore, but too early for drinking — not good to DWI (design while intoxicated). Happy weekend all!

My partner and I have been really landing in the middle of the ocean the past few weeks! We find an idea, but can't seem to make our way to shore. Please send us a nudge or two to assist. We completed the grid with minimal searches, but now are just flummoxed for the meta. We've considered 31A and the title but aren't getting far...


UPDATE!

Thanks to some wonderful assists (we all need a lifeguard now and then), we're happily on shore, toes in the sand! Definitely need a margarita today