"Body Language" - March 25, 2022

[Colin]

Waiting for the Mug email
Just listening to some R E S PEE C T
by Urethra

I can’t believe nobody told you… urine trouble if you write stuff like that!

[mlvilv]

Count me in for the party on the wrong shore. I speed solved and banged out renal in 15 minutes then called it a day. I thought it didn’t sound exactly right in terms of being an actual body part but it’s what I got spelled out so I submitted it and moved on. It’s ok though, we all had a fun time on our beach anyway. Drinks were just as good even though none of them got served in a WSJ mug.

[LadyBird]

Waiting for the Mug email
Just listening to some R E S PEE C T
by Urethra

Or might I suggest some hip hop from KidNeek or some jazz from Al Blatter?

Good luck to those awaiting the email! Although, frankly, submitting the wrong answer only slightly diminishes my chance of winning the mug.

[MikeMillerwsj]

The contest answer is KIDNEY(S). Each of the five long Across answers conceals the adjectival form of a body part: HIDDEN TALENTS, JOCULARLY, SALVADOR ALLENDE, OLDER MALE, GALLOPED ALONG. Five grid answers are one letter off from the referenced body parts: TROTH (tooth), EEE (eye), MONTH (mouth), AKIN (skin), FOOL (foot). The changed letters spell RENAL, suggesting the contest answer.

A big and successful turnout this week, with 2,268 entries and about 78% correct. 134 entrants got partway down the road and submitted RENAL. Or saw hidden body parts but didn't connect all the dots: MOUTH (45), FOOT (25), EYE (15), SKIN (5), and TEETH (11). Plus HEAD (37), FACE (17), TONGUE (11) and several others.

Congrats to this week's winner: Deborah Henry of Maineville, Ohio!

[Dplass]

Waiting for the Mug email
Just listening to some R E S PEE C T
by Urethra

I'm laughing harder than you might expect, because when I was in college there were "too many" Davids in the dorm so TPTB decided we should all have nicknames. The older one was already Mahalia (Jackson) and the younger one was deemed Edison so when it came to me, my choices were Urethra Franklin or Jethro Clampett.

30+ years later some of my college friends still call me Jeth.

[boharr]

This one was too many steps for my wee brain to pursue.

That's the thing I've learned about Matt. He's always saying, "oh, ah, one more thing."

[Joe Ross]

This one was too many steps for my wee brain to pursue.

That's the thing I've learned about Matt. He's always saying, "oh, ah, one more thing."

Let's nickname Matt Gaffney "Columbo."

[HunterX]

I wish I has a loud mic to rate all of these comments. We are all going to be picking on Nephrologists for not eliminating the confusion. I suppose we can rely on some penal code but we have to be careful we do not descend to yellow journalism. At least Nephrologists are not thin skinned, but proctologists, well that is different. A number of people I know had proctologist friends BUT they wrecked em.

When it comes to puns, you are usually golden, showered with praise (or groans). Yer innate sense of humor is unique, and your posts not merely a little tinkling of puns. Butt when you start mentioning proctologists....

I guess I expected you to go there, in the end.

[mikeB]

We Learn, Have Fun and Occasionally Triumph – What More Could We Ask?

This meta was strained, although teenily.
At first I reacted adrenally
But now know that strain,
Which inflicted no pain,
Is no reason to treat authors penally.

The quirk wasn’t written there venally.
And to learn that we function so renally!
This meta was tough,
But still easy enough.
Positioned just right in betweenally.

[DBMiller]

I gotta stop reading these replies and get back to the book I'm reading: Rusty Bedsprings by I. P. Knightley

[ship4u]

changed my mind about posting this.

[florida_manatee]

I will probably get cancelled for this comment, but here goes.

I just looked at The Deal Breaker puzzle of 2 weeks ago.

I guess there are connections to me made between both salvages and las vegas w/"deal breaker": quickie divorces in vegas and salvaging a deal gone sour...weak,

It seemed to me that many reasonable alternative answers existed:

ESPN: WSOP events (from las vegas) were televised on ESPN. The anagram PENS might be construed to mean that one can break a deal with the use of a pen...

Tucson: poker is played at a casino there. Counts could refer to what one does when one is between deals OR card counting while playing blackjack is a deal breaker

ibet: ibet.com is an online gambling site where cards can be played. Bite is the anagram (no connection to deal breaker?)

more so: anagram = e-rooms could be construed as a place where card players unite (untie anagram) to play poker...

A good puzzle, but the name of the puzzle was a deal breaker for me.

[Franklin.Bluth]

Those are creative, but it's hard to argue any of them as "reasonable" alternatives to the obvious choice of LAS VEGAS. The mere fact that an anagram of LAS VEGAS existed as a grid answer, in all unlikeliness, was enough for me.