"One Thing Leads To Another" - February 4, 2022

[patpatchica]

I ended up with the letters in this order - POOLSSELDNE. I stayed stuck there for some hours until I figured out it actually spelled something backwards. I guess it really was an endless loop for me.

[aaugusti]

I solved it a little differently. I found the 11 pairs, then started at 1a:

EARS—> NEW
NEW—>DEAL
DEAL—>LOT
LOT—>ELITE
ELITE—>SEAL
SEAL—>STAR
STAR—>LEAD
LEAD—>ODOR
ODOR—>OZONE
OZONE—PARTS
PARTS—>EARS

When I discovered it I yelled “Endless loop” and my 8 year old thought I yelled “endless poop.” That gave us all a good laugh tonight.

[woozy]

Very elegant, but a bear to make I'll bet. Nice job Mike (and lovely graphic Joe)

Really? I think it'd be one of the easier ones to make. You just need 11 words starting with the letters you want and make clues that end in those words. I guess you might have a hard time constructing a clue for PARTS that ends with the word "ozone" but that's probably a relatively easy part of making a crossword (which I've never made and which as seem utterly impossible and pure magic that I'm astonished anyone can make a four by four grid much less a 15 by 15 one.... every day)

[woozy]

So who's willing to admit they figured out the theme and know the letters in the correct order and knew they just had to find the starting point so it spelled a two word phrase (and maybe they were thinking of mobius strips and ouroborous while they were looking because they knew they had and endless loop) and you had all that....... and it still took them over a minute to get it. Who's willing to admit that?

I'm not. But if it happened to anyone (and it totally didn't happen to me) it'd be interesting if they'd be willing to admit it.

[Gman]

So who's willing to admit they figured out the theme and know the letters in the correct order and knew they just had to find the starting point so it spelled a two word phrase (and maybe they were thinking of mobius strips and ouroborous while they were looking because they knew they had and endless loop) and you had all that....... and it still took them over a minute to get it. Who's willing to admit that?

I'm not. But if it happened to anyone (and it totally didn't happen to me) it'd be interesting if they'd be willing to admit it.

I went the wrong way and for the life of me could not figure out what POOLSSELDNEP meant, and even that took me a while to get. Finally the light went off that POOL had to be LOOP, and the rest fell into place quickly. But I admit, it definitely took more than a minute.

[KayW]

I got as far as POOLSSELDNE on Thursday afternoon and didn’t see ENDLESS LOOP until Saturday

A beautifully autological meta.

[Dplass]

My first result was POOLSSELDNE.

Me too!

[CPJohnson]

I was saved again by Tina's list of hints in Come Aboard!...FAQs - Community/Solving Resources...Hints for Solving Metas Contests...post #11....thanks, @Tina ! After seeing the common words in the grid and the clues, it took an embarrassingly long time to figure out the correct order for the letters.

[ReB]

My first result was POOLSSELDNE.

That was the sandbar I hit once I saw the pattern (since I expected that the answer would start with 1A). Floundered for a moment and then decided to try the other direction, and that took me ashore.

[Al Sisti]

My first result was POOLSSELDNE.

That was the sandbar I hit once I saw the pattern (since I expected that the answer would start with 1A). Floundered for a moment and then decided to try the other direction, and that took me ashore.

There's gotta be a Tiki bar somewhere named "The Sandbar," wouldn't you think?

[RDaleHall]

Fun and creative Meta. Similarly to others had something at first like EPOOLS SELDN, knew I was on the right path, but worried that there was some Latin translation I was going to have to do... Watching too much of The Lost Symbol I guess. On to some FIFA Club World Cup watching this week.

[Joe Ross]

There's gotta be a Tiki bar somewhere named "The Sandbar," wouldn't you think?

Although there isn't a sign in this photo, this is The Sandbar Tiki Grille in Florida. Looks like a place to be.

[auee89]

There's gotta be a Tiki bar somewhere named "The Sandbar," wouldn't you think?

Yes, there is! The Sandbar. Fond memories. Great watering hole without a beach in sight.

[OGuyDave]

Done Friday, and done, one hour before the deadline.

Struggled mightily on this one, until the magic moment. But then, like BobDylan and Inca (and it looks like many others), step two eluded me. Hey, maybe an online anagrammer can help! Sure did, instantly recognized the answer, and was able to backsolve from there. Great puzzle!

That's right! --> <-- That's wrong!


Found this comic in the papers a few days ago. Really made me laugh.

TFTXWD

[DianeA]

So who's willing to admit they figured out the theme and know the letters in the correct order and knew they just had to find the starting point so it spelled a two word phrase (and maybe they were thinking of mobius strips and ouroborous while they were looking because they knew they had and endless loop) and you had all that....... and it still took them over a minute to get it. Who's willing to admit that?

I can't believe how lucky i was. After seeing the common words in the clues and grid, I started with 1A, wrote down "Ears", and continued from there. I thought it was designed to be that clear.

[OliviaL]

I picked up the puzzle late Sunday and solved the meta at precisely 10:12pm MT… 12 minutes too late! I spent way too much time looking in the wrong places, thus at 9:59pm I was still missing an D and an S in the ENDLESS LOOP, leading me to randomly submit THE NEW ELITE even thought I knew it was incorrect. A few minutes after the deadline, I realized the loop was endless with both a sigh and a smile as I put it all together.

[MatthewL]

Interestingly, saw this comic in the Friday paper. Gave me a chuckle.

[DrTom]

Very elegant, but a bear to make I'll bet. Nice job Mike (and lovely graphic Joe)

Really? I think it'd be one of the easier ones to make. You just need 11 words starting with the letters you want and make clues that end in those words. I guess you might have a hard time constructing a clue for PARTS that ends with the word "ozone" but that's probably a relatively easy part of making a crossword (which I've never made and which as seem utterly impossible and pure magic that I'm astonished anyone can make a four by four grid much less a 15 by 15 one.... every day)

The trick is getting 11 words that HAVE to be in the grid somewhere and making the grid fit all of them without ending up with clues that demand you know Sanskrit spellings of chemical compounds.

Trust me, a lot of my ideas have ended up in smoking piles because what seemed like it ought to be easy at Noon by 2:00 AM was a source for a litany of words I learned in the Navy.

[DrTom]

There's gotta be a Tiki bar somewhere named "The Sandbar," wouldn't you think?

Although there isn't a sign in this photo, this is The Sandbar Tiki Grille in Florida. Looks like a place to be.

OK Meg, go check it out for us - perhaps a stopping point on the way to the beach if you get caught in an endless loop?

[DrTom]

There's gotta be a Tiki bar somewhere named "The Sandbar," wouldn't you think?

Yes, there is! The Sandbar. Fond memories. Great watering hole without a beach in sight.

Ah yes, the serene seaside in Kansas. Used to go there after skiing in Texas....