"A Year to Watch" - December 31, 2021

[JeanneC]

Maybe Matt meant shows that have enough episodes for a“binge watch”? I too saw “Mash” and was off to the races.

[boharr]

The only shows I had ever heard of were MASH and I spy. I had to google other possibilities and finally came up with several shows some of which were right and other shows like Path and Net were not. I realize now that if I had clued in on the fact that there was just one letter to the left of the TV show I could have googled the shows more efficiently but I don’t really enjoy having to look up so many things to get an answer!!!
Happy new year to all!!

My Google bill skyrocketed.

[Ronaldo]

I whiffed badly on this one. I found the TV shows Arrow, Wings, I spy, Mash, Amen and Weeds. Missed Alf. Instead of using the missing letters, I used the first letters of the shows: AWIMAW. The rabbit hole I never escaped from was AWIMAWE, the chorus of the song The Lion Sleeps Tonight. I was looking for TV show that had to do with The Lion King, but to no avail. There's always next week.

[drbockel2]

I got it, but honestly I'd never heard of the TV show ARROW. It just became obvious enough once I had the rest of it figured out.

[DBMiller]

"A year to Watch"... Watch what? 75A says 2022 means TV. So a year to watch TV, hence look for TV shows.

There was a show on UPN named "Half & Half". Talk about throwing a wrench into the mix. Also, "SNL" was an answer and a TV show. Not to mention the TV shows in the clues (Family Ties).

When the meta is described as an N-letter word/phase, I don't necessarily look for an extra connection to the title. And last week, we were told to look for a word related to Christmas. And I didn't see a connection between "CAROLS" and "Now That's a Gift".

Oh... It's ALAN Alda from M*A*S*H. Tim ALLEN is from Home Improvement. And Tim Daly is from WINGS. Yet another rabbit hole to have chased.

[EmilyW]

This puzzle probably has the record for most rabbit holes I've been down. I started out with TV show from each decade and thought I needed one from the 2020s. Then I thought there was letter to number code going on due to 75A. Maybe I need to take half of something? I asked my non-crossword boyfriend to take a look and he was convinced that Friends was the answer because of HALF AND HALF since they hang out at a coffee shop. I told him there's probably more to it than that but I would submit as my Hail Mary if I couldn't figure it out. I never did make the connection with the half, but I finally noticed the letters before the TV show in each answer spelled out NEWHART so I got it just in time.

[David R]

I find it fascinating how few people on here know TV shows. Other then AMEN all of the others came to me pretty quickly, once I saw MASH which was as big an opening that you can be given to the direction of the meta. The other parts of the meta mechanism have legitimate complaints and was more convoluted then needed.

[Joe Ross]

Lots of times, only one word in the title is a pointer to the solution. After solving, I assumed that "watch" just meant "watch TV" since the meta prompt asked for a TV show.

I agree with Cynthia's initial progression:

• Title: A YEAR TO WATCH

• Watch what? 75A TV ___ (what 2022 might be considered, since those are the 20th and 22nd letters)

So, we're WATCHing TV, which also matches the Meta Clue, ...a seven-letter TV show title.


Where do we find the 7 letters?

• 37A+38A+40A - HALF AND HALF - coffee lightener (you just need a little of it, in real life and for this contest answer)

So, we're looking in halves of 7 clues or grid entries.

• The typical longest across entries give us 6 Theme Entries composed of two words each.

• It's reasonable to look at the center entries, HALF AND HALF, as the 7th Theme Entry.

• Look at the words in both halves of the Theme Entries. Find seven TV show titles.

• The halves' extra letters give NEWHART, in clue order.

I also agree with 2 more things raised by muggles:

• NEWHART doesn't seem to tie in to the title, except that it's something (a TV show) to watch in a given year, but not this past nor current year necessarily.

• The numbers referenced in 75A seem superfulous & possibly intended for another, unsued mechanism? Matt doesn't create red herrings intentionally.

[Toby]

After using Google to confirm the TV shows I hadn't heard of, I followed most of the red herrings described above until a solver gave me the hint to just write down all the theme answer in order on paper. Then one more red herring (AWIMAWE? Chorus from the Lion Sleeps Tonight?) before realizing I should copy down the full theme while lining up the shows. I'm still puzzled by the title, but maybe it refers to the fact that all of the shows ran for multiple years. I hope not too late to wish everyone a Happy New Year.

[LadyBird]

There were a number of shows/actors referenced in clues, but that didn't go anywhere. Fortunately, MASH jumped out at me (loved that show--even requested off at work so I could watch the finale). Recognized WINGS and had to google the rest. Never caught on to ALF, so I was looking at NEW ART and going HUH? Husband said maybe you take just a smidgen of HALF AND HALF (i.e. the H) and put that between the two halves of the answer to make NEWHART (another great finale).

[pookie]

AWIMAW. The rabbit hole I never escaped from was AWIMAWE, the chorus of the song The Lion Sleeps Tonight.

LAUGHED OUT LOUD! Too funny!

[SusieG]

My husband actually helped me with *this* puzzle because I didn’t know ARROW and WEEDS were TV shows. I also forgot that ISPY was a TV show, as I always associate that with the kids game. I saw MASH and WINGS right away, but it didn’t click until I actively tried to think of TV shows and MASH was the first to come to mind.

My first rabbit hole was generated by TV TIME. Agree that it seems to be a red herring and maybe Matt didn’t mean for us to give it that much weight, as he was just pointing out that T and V are 20 and 22 as an interesting fact. The half and half clue threw me for a loop at first, also. I folded my grid in half à la Mad Magazine, looking for a hidden message to appear.

[FatJack]

I noticed that there were TV series that started in every decade from 70's forward. So obviously the answer is the seven letter TV series known as DECADES. Whoops. I was on the wrong beach.

[OGuyDave]

Similar to last week: My TV show this week is "Lost in Space."

I spied "I Spy" but never made the connection. And how could I not have seen "M*A*S*H"? Maybe because it didn't have the asterisks? "Weeds" and "Amen": Never heard of either of 'em. "Arrow" is only vaguely familiar. "Wings" was a favorite, though.

Sweet potato. Can you tell the difference between this and pumpkin?

TFTXWD anyway. And Happy New Year to everyone.

[MarkWoychick]

I may have missed this rabbit hole already being mentioned, but I thought the M and I in 75A were referring to Roman numerals. TV shows used to have the year “spelled” out at the end - MCMLXXXVI, so it seemed like it might be a fit. I started looking for some way to make the ends of the show’s debut years spell something. Closest I got was a show called CIVIC TV, but it seemed too obscure and there were just too many Is. When I gave up on that approach I finally found NEWHART.

[MikeMillerwsj]

The contest answer is NEWHART. Remove one letter from one word of each theme answer to get a TV show: (N)ARROW, (E)WINGS, (W)I SPY, (H)ALF, (A)MASH, (R)AMEN and (T)WEEDS. The removed letters spell the contest answer.

Happy new year to all! And happy Newhart to quite a lot of you. We had 1328 entries, about 87% correct. A big turnout for FRIENDS (48) -- possibly because you could spell it with one letter from each of the hidden TV shows? Also DRAGNET (6), FIREFLY (5), THE PATH (5), THE WIRE (4) and a handful of others.

Congrats to the first winner of 2022, George Spinner of Chicago, Ill.!

[femullen]

Sometimes I feel like I should wear a dunce cap.

Thanks to Mike Miller, I finally get it: taking out the letters for NEWHART leaves the titles of other TV shows in the theme answers. Unfortunately, MASH is the only one I've heard of, so none of this "clicked" in my mind even when I saw the solution. I just sat there wondering, "Yeah, ok, but how would you know to pick THOSE particular letters?" Proof, if it were still needed, that the Gaffney Guild are both better informed and more clever than I am.

As Red Sox fans used to say before 2004, "Wait'll next year!"

[Ergcat]

Sometimes I feel like I should wear a dunce cap.

Thanks to Mike Miller, I finally get it: taking out the letters for NEWHART leaves the titles of other TV shows in the theme answers. Unfortunately, MASH is the only one I've heard of, so none of this "clicked" in my mind even when I saw the solution. I just sat there wondering, "Yeah, ok, but how would you know to pick THOSE particular letters?" Proof, if it were still needed, that the Gaffney Guild are both better informed and more clever than I am.

As Red Sox fans used to say before 2004, "Wait'll next year!"

I agree! Mike Miller gave a great explanation for the mechanism… it makes sense now!

[Joe Ross]

Sometimes I feel like I should wear a dunce cap.

Thanks to Mike Miller, I finally get it: taking out the letters for NEWHART leaves the titles of other TV shows in the theme answers. Unfortunately, MASH is the only one I've heard of, so none of this "clicked" in my mind even when I saw the solution. I just sat there wondering, "Yeah, ok, but how would you know to pick THOSE particular letters?" Proof, if it were still needed, that the Gaffney Guild are both better informed and more clever than I am.

As Red Sox fans used to say before 2004, "Wait'll next year!"

I agree! Mike Miller gave a great explanation for the mechanism… it makes sense now!

Mike Miller copied that explanation from WSJ's published solution.

[vandono]

Is it Mike Miller the WSJ senior editor whose domain includes the crosswords?