"Getting Possessive" - March 11, 2022

[jrdad]

I initially went with 'doctor's patient', which yields "Chess" as a solution. I struggled for a while trying to find a second word for that until I found 'orders'.

[Nlobb]

I had all kinds of wrong connections on this one.
Doctor’s patients and office…
Baker’s recipe and tbsp…
Judge’s atty…
Also chef’s caps.
I certainly never heard of a chef’s kiss. First thing you think of when you think of a chef is that white hat if anyone actually wears those or not…
Very confusing puzzle!!!

[Plymouthrock]

Ashore again, what will it be
I can’t find me no Elmer T
For Judge’s chambers and teacher’s pet types
Blanton's is best with all its hype
But for writer’s block, loosenin’ the brain
That parvenu Bulleit’s can be better than grain
On Doctor’s orders when febrile and sore
Weller with a twist, goes deep in the pore
For a wee bit extra, that Baker’s dozen
I fancy Maker’s and a little discreet guzzlin’
But for solving Shenk’s meta, with a celebratory twinkle
Take down that bottle of Pappy Van Winkle

[iggystan]

As I said, I thought I had it right, but got it wrong. I got “CHEF’S” and put it down to think, and then said, “hey, what about CHEF’S COAT?” I went back to the puzzle and there was “COAT” as part of one of the down answers. I never thought to apply the mechanism again to get “KISS.” Aughhhhhhh!!!!

[Al Sisti]

Heard the answer spoken and the gesture performed last night on Food Network!!!

Writing the theme answers separate from the grid (which I always do unless I notice something else obvious to do while solving the grid), really made the occupations jump out. Since possessive is in the title, and the clue for SIX seemed a little odd, BAKER’S DOZEN jumped out. Others quickly followed (all were the first word in a clue). Seeing CHEF’S though, I could not seem to come up with a 4-letter word. Google helped me out. Then noticed KISS for the last clue, locking it very tightly.

Excellent meta!

And in Ricky D's "Get the Horns" from last week . I had never heard the term either and had "Chef Salad" ready to go, and I thought "Nah, let me look up 'Chef's ????' first." It came up right away. I looked up the definition, got educated, and went back to the grid... and sure enough KISS was there. In my opinion, a perfectly fair puzzle with no guessing involved.

[Darth]

Did somebody say Kiss?... Have a good week! Darth

[Kas]

I’d never heard the phrase CHEF’S KISS before, but when I couldn’t think of any 4-letter words to complete the phrase, google autocomplete suggested it and spotting the clue at 77a cinched it. As soon as I saw the emoticon I realized I was familiar with the concept if not the term.

That was my exact process, too.

One addition: In addition to "KISS" being in the last Across Clue (which I felt sort of cinched the answer)...the fact that the grid answer was Peter...as in Peter Rabbit? I'm just saying...

[boharr]

First thing you think of when you think of a chef is that white hat if anyone actually wears those or not…

The hat is a toque.

[rosiegirl]

Will be interested to see how many correct answers were submitted both in number and percentage-wise. And while I am familiar with the visual of a "Chef's kiss" it is not something that I knew had an actual name. While I didn't have much time to actually work on the answer this weekend, I never thought to look at the grid clues...spent my time looking for answers in the grid that would pair with judge's, etc, which, of course, got me nothing. Another strategy learned (in addition to googling part of an answer and seeing if anything pops up!)
Congrats to all that got the answer and hoping a fellow Muggle is the cup winner this week!

[ZooAnimalsOnWheels]

Yep, I first looked for "HAT", even though that is the wrong number of letters. But once I saw "KISS" in the final across clue, I knew that was the answer.

For the people that aren't familiar with the phrase, I'll echo @OliviaL's comment that the word has had a resurgence lately in the on-line world, with people posting the word or the image (sometimes with a MWAH!) in appreciation of a particularly apt comment or meme.

[MaineMarge]

March 14
Happy Pi Day, Folks
Chefs of Muggledom! Let’s get on it!

[Nlobb]

When I think of a toque I think of a warm winter hat with a pompom on top! Another meaning for the same word…

[Dplass]

I had all kinds of wrong connections on this one.
Doctor’s patients and office…
Baker’s recipe and tbsp…
Judge’s atty…
Also chef’s caps.
I certainly never heard of a chef’s kiss. First thing you think of when you think of a chef is that white hat if anyone actually wears those or not…
Very confusing puzzle!!!

This.

[Hidden in 3D]

I thought this meta was brilliant and was shocked to read that so many MUGgles had issues with it. Ah well, to each his own! When I googled Chef's ____, I found this great piece from Merriam-Webster: CHEF'S KISS . I take it the dictionary folks are keeping an eye on "chef's kiss" but they're not quite ready to add it to their reference work!

[kfahey714]

Kudos to the solver's. I had the right idea in following the possessives but too many jumps to make for my small brain.

[woozy]

I found this great piece from Merriam-Webster: CHEF'S KISS .

That is a delightful article.

.....

But.....

.....

Not sour grapes. I got this and it was my very first page one ever solve.

.... but I really disliked this puzzle....

These "fill in the blanks" are always too ambiguous and vague. However the weirdly written "Chambers dated him" was a dead giveaway for a mechanism so that was acceptable. And so spelling out CHEFS and thinking of a phrase CHEF'S ______ blank is fine (and CHEF SALAD is not acceptable as it is not a possessive).

But.... there are dozens of CHEF'S ______ possibilities and nearly all of them are more common than Chef's Kiss. To artificially restrict it to "oh, but it must be four letters" is as satisfying as a used Kleenex. And finally, then what? For the mechanism we always took a <OCCUPATION>'s <OBJECT> as proccess to get a => ALTERNATIVE WORD. To then have <OCCUPATION>'s <OBJECT> actually be the meta rather than merely a step to the meta, is utterly illogical, arbitrary, and unjustified. And to have the word "CHEF'S" be both in the meta clue and the meta answer is completely illogical and utterly unpleasant. For this puzzle to be legitimate, the only possible logical, consistent, and justifiable answer to the meta is "PETER". (which of course, is not the prompt,[1])

A horrid puzzle....

.... still I hope I win the mug.....


======

[1] Hmmmmm..... had the prompt been "this week's answer is a persons first name" and the intended meta was PETER, and everything about the puzzle including the title been exactly the same would I, or others, have liked it? ..... I dunno. I guess it'd be too convoluted and strange and the final answer too arbitrarily and distanced from mechanism. Also I don't know if having the meta answer explicitly written in the grid precedented? I think it would be rejected. I think I'd think it was interesting but ultimately it's unsatisfying and I wouldn't like it. Actually I'd probably struggle for three days say "Well, it *can't* be 'PETER' as that's in the grid but.... what else could it be" and ultimately give up.

Although meta with "DIAMOND" written front and center was almost like that. Slightly different but having DIAMOND right there in the grid was off-putting.

[ship4u]

When I think of a toque I think of a warm winter hat with a pompom on top! Another meaning for the same word…

My understanding is that "toque" is an Arabic word for "hat" and can be used for any brimless hat such as your winter pompom. The french began refering to the chef's hat as a "toque blanche."

[JetStream]

I was lost at sea on this one so my streak ended at 3. I'm glad I gave up early on it as I don't think I'd know I had the answer even if I did. I 'kinda' get it at this point but it's still a nebulous answer to me.

[pookie]

Like investing oneself in a cliff-hanger only to be slapped with an ambiguous ending.
I'm betting that the people who work the WSJ crossword contest are intelligent.
They deserve better.

[Abide]

@DrTom, can you prescribe chill pills?