How Did They Do That? — 03/23/22

[ChrisKochmanski]

Got it!

[Meg]

Me too! I think I just got lucky, actually.

[ricky]

You both got it!

Here's the link for everyone else:

http://www.lexicondevil.live/2022/03/pu ... -that.html

[boharr]

Got it.

[lbray53]

Solved. It took me awhile to figure it out. I really like the answer checker on the website.

[ricky]

Solved. It took me awhile to figure it out. I really like the answer checker on the website.

Thanks for the feedback! I'll keep incorporating the answer checker.

[ricky]

Leaderboard:

Congratulations to winners PAOLO P. and MEGARIFFIC!

Now for the explanation:

This one wasn't that tough, but it probably required Googling. There were three entries of twelve letters each. All were notable people: KATIE LEDECKY (swimmer), RODNEY MULLEN (skateboarder), and BLACK THOUGHT (rapper). Reading up a little on the backgrounds of all of them would reveal that Katie Ledecky is a champion FREESTYLE swimmer, Rodney Mullen is one of the fathers of FREESTYLE skateboarding, and Black Thought is a noted FREESTYLE rapper. (All of them are also distinguished in non-freestyle aspects of their craft.) That's our nine-letter answer.

Interestingly, the concept of FREESTYLE is different in each discipline. In swimming, it generally means "any stroke, but part of the body must be above the surface of the water"; in practice, this... crud Gaffney just came out I'll finish this later EDIT: 20th place on MGWCC, not too shabby! Anyway, freestyle swimming mostly utilizes the front crawl in practice. In Skateboarding, "freestyle" means on flat ground, and used to also mean "no obstacles," as opposed to street skating, which utilizes obstacles, but Rodney Mullen helped blur the line between the two. In hip-hop, freestyle rapping means verses that are entirely improvised, though some set the bar lower, at verses that contain at least some improvised elements.

[Laura M]

Nope, didn't see the connection at all. Nice idea though!

[Al Sisti]

Dang! One-in-three chance of being picked and I still missed out. I guess I never will never get a WSJ mug. Wait... isn't this is one of those probability and statistics problems I regularly butchered, all three times I took the course? Picking two winners (without replacement) out of six names is not the same as one-out-of-three, I don't believe. It's more like 1/6 odds of being picked for the first one and 1/5 for the second one. Oh, wait again! I forgot, the first solver is always winner #1, and then there's a random winner chosen from the rest. So my odds were 1-in-5. But I'm still not going to win a WSJ mug.

[ricky]

Oh, wait again! I forgot, the first solver is always winner #1, and then there's a random winner chosen from the rest. So my odds were 1-in-5.

That's correct. However, as a practical matter, I will note that the majority of regular entrants have won at least once. Just keep entering and your number will come up!

Another note about this month's puzzle that I forgot to mention: in a very oblique nod to the puzzle's theme, the grid is asymmetrical.