"Be Transformed" - June 3, 2022

A place to discuss the weekly Wall Street Journal Crossword Puzzle Contest, starting every Thursday around 4:00 p.m. Eastern time. Please do not post any answers or hints before the contest deadline which is midnight Sunday Eastern time.
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Joe Ross
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#281

Post by Joe Ross »

whimsy wrote: Mon Jun 06, 2022 12:14 pm I also got stuck thinking about "transformer" toys from the '90s and wanted to be able to pull or swivel "arms/legs" from nearby entries away from the themers.
So no way for me! :D
More than meets the eye...

bunny transformer .jpg
SewYoung
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#282

Post by SewYoung »

Joe Ross wrote: Mon Jun 06, 2022 12:28 pm
whimsy wrote: Mon Jun 06, 2022 12:14 pm I also got stuck thinking about "transformer" toys from the '90s and wanted to be able to pull or swivel "arms/legs" from nearby entries away from the themers.
So no way for me! :D
More than meets the eye...


bunny transformer .jpg
That's just scary looking........
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Joe Ross
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#283

Post by Joe Ross »

SewYoung wrote: Mon Jun 06, 2022 12:31 pm
Joe Ross wrote: Mon Jun 06, 2022 12:28 pm
whimsy wrote: Mon Jun 06, 2022 12:14 pm I also got stuck thinking about "transformer" toys from the '90s and wanted to be able to pull or swivel "arms/legs" from nearby entries away from the themers.
So no way for me! :D
More than meets the eye...


bunny transformer .jpg
That's just scary looking........
Somebody must balance whimsy's inexhaustible supply of cute & cuddly bunnies.
Berto
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#284

Post by Berto »

Abide wrote: Mon Jun 06, 2022 12:38 am I really liked the mechanism and title confirmation, but the SEQUEL in the middle felt like an "odd man out" with the others all at the start. If the metanisms aren't all in the same area, usually you might see two theme entries that place the gimmick in a different area, so you'd have a 2/2 symmetry. Also "Annie Mae" bugged me - Tina Turner was born Anna Mae Bullock. I couldn't find any authority she was ever known as Annie Mae, either by "childhood friends" or anyone else.
Totally thrown off by that. Assumed Anna > Annie and/or A>IE was a transformation, part of the meta.
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HunterX
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#285

Post by HunterX »

anaerobe wrote: Mon Jun 06, 2022 11:21 am Didn't have a spare second for the puzzle this weekend-I was too busy getting a son-in-law! WOOHOO!
Wait... I just got married this weekend. Are YOU my new in-law???

Oh, that's not us in that lovely photo. Also, I already know my new in-laws. And neither of them do meta-puzzles. Though my FIL and I trade puns all the time.
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HunterX
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#286

Post by HunterX »

With a trans child, and as this was the first puzzle of Pride Month, I was really hoping the answer name was GAYE. And the title would fit (sort of) being "Be TRANS-formed." But I couldn't work out a metanism to justify that answer.

And the awesomely subtle nudge I got from @Wendy Walker was so subtle I didn't recognize it as a nudge. It worked subliminally. I had mentioned what I had done with the 4 long-A words in the themers, and she asked, "So you want an udge-nay?" I, being thick-headed the past few weeks, responded, "Yes please" and asking it be really subtle. While waiting for her response, I looked at the puzzle again and it hit me: All Way = WALL. Of course! It was only THEN that I realized Wendy had used Pig Latin in her PM. (Head-slap "D'Oh!")
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whimsy
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#287

Post by whimsy »

SewYoung wrote: Mon Jun 06, 2022 12:31 pm
Joe Ross wrote: Mon Jun 06, 2022 12:28 pm
whimsy wrote: Mon Jun 06, 2022 12:14 pm I also got stuck thinking about "transformer" toys from the '90s and wanted to be able to pull or swivel "arms/legs" from nearby entries away from the themers.
So no way for me! :D
More than meets the eye...


bunny transformer .jpg
That's just scary looking........
Right!
My kids had this kind of transformer, wouldn't you know?
Capturezzbots.PNG
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mheberlingx100
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#288

Post by mheberlingx100 »

Berto wrote: Mon Jun 06, 2022 12:25 pm
Colin wrote: Mon Jun 06, 2022 9:08 am Pig latin… Ya whaaaat!?? That’s new to me. If it was Cockney rhyming slang I might’ve stood a chance. Then I would’ve had time to pick up the dog, call up a couple of old chinas, go out for a few too many Britneys, eat a late night Ruby, fall down on me bottle, and then stumble home to apologize to me treacle.
Nodding my loaf in agreement. Was pulling out what’s left of my Barnet all weekend, scoured every corner of the grid with me mince pies, lay awake pondering in my scratcher and got nowhere.
Would you Adam and Eve it, I keep saying how fun these puzzles are to my trouble and strife but she keeps accusing me of telling porkies.
Last edited by mheberlingx100 on Mon Jun 06, 2022 5:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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woozy
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#289

Post by woozy »

So I figured the themers all had words with *AY in them and I thought we had to do something with them. (No-one what that Hibernia was a hint toward gALL WAY? No? ... oh, well) And I had (g)alway and (f)annie mae and either cold, gold, mold of fold bay. but really couldn't think of anything for Equal Say.

Struggled for two days.

I asked for a nudge. Got a response of "notice the two word pairs ALL WAY, ANNIE MAE, EQUAL SAY, and OLD BAY and try to transform them" and my thoughts were.... well, yeah, I got that and.... oh, EQUAL SAY.... somehow seeing it written out....

Had I actually said them allowed I would have gotten it even sooner. I can't see anyone saying "equal say" out loud and not thinking "hey, it sounds like I'm trying to do pig latin"... but it never occurred to my to write them on paper much less to say aloud.

.... and as to those who are unfamiliar with the Pig Latin... I'm very curious as to what demographics.

A weird thing about pig latin is I had instant aural comprehension until I was 23 and then overnight it completely disappeared. I hear people speak it now and I just can't follow it. But when I was 23 and younger it was an instant filter.
Funny story. I was all set to enter Par for the course for the CrossHare midi contest for April but I mistakenly thought midi meant 7x 7 and not 11 x 11. Oops. Well.... Here's a complex but **small** meta on the subject of golf.
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#290

Post by anaerobe »

HunterX wrote: Mon Jun 06, 2022 12:47 pm
anaerobe wrote: Mon Jun 06, 2022 11:21 am Didn't have a spare second for the puzzle this weekend-I was too busy getting a son-in-law! WOOHOO!
Wait... I just got married this weekend. Are YOU my new in-law???
Depends.....you wanting to borrow money???
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#291

Post by anaerobe »

Barney wrote: Mon Jun 06, 2022 11:41 am
anaerobe wrote: Mon Jun 06, 2022 11:21 am Didn't have a spare second for the puzzle this weekend-I was too busy getting a son-in-law! WOOHOO!

pic.jpg
That’s as beautiful a wedding pic as I’ve ever seen ~~ and both of them, also.
Thanks for the kind words. If you look over their shoulders the blurry, but clearly bald figure, is yours truly. There were several remarks at the ceremony re. how she found a guy with such better hair than her Dad. Oh well......at least I don't have to pay her cell phone bill anymore.
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#292

Post by Magistra »

I knew that way, mae, say, and bay were all a part of it, but I didn't get any further than that. As others noted, saying them aloud might have nudged me along, because I know pig Latin very well. And, like many who grew up in the Boston area in the 70s, I also know Ubbi-Dubbi. Creating a meta around that language would be a trick!
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HunterX
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#293

Post by HunterX »

anaerobe wrote: Mon Jun 06, 2022 5:39 pm
HunterX wrote: Mon Jun 06, 2022 12:47 pm
anaerobe wrote: Mon Jun 06, 2022 11:21 am Didn't have a spare second for the puzzle this weekend-I was too busy getting a son-in-law! WOOHOO!
Wait... I just got married this weekend. Are YOU my new in-law???
Depends.....you wanting to borrow money???
"Borrow"? Yeah, sure. Parents have the best no-interest, no maturity date terms, so....

Thanks Dad!
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Ben B
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#294

Post by Ben B »

Never pulled out of the quatrain hole especially as it was so odd with ABAA which I was convinced was the reason the 4 rhymes were AY AE AY AY. Spent a lot of time with BAE and PEI too. My son mentioned the possibility of pig Latin but we did not see it through. Rats. This would have been very satisfying to solve.
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#295

Post by mikeB »

I wish I could have solved this one, and hats off to those who did. I was a squillion miles away from solving this very clever meta. I like the ones I can't solve but which come with bonus learning tidbits. My double tidbit this time is a new meta mechanism element to consider (pig Latin) and a new solving tool (voicing the key entries to eke out any germane phonetic patterns). It was fun trying unsuccessfully to run this one to ground, and the cherry on top is some new solving skills. But wait . . . new solving skills makes the attempt a successful one, ez-nay ah-pay?
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#296

Post by JJD »

Didn’t spend much time on this one, and I’m glad. KAS5 for me. Congratulations to all who got it!
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#297

Post by BarbaraK »

Someone on Fiend asked how people thought of pig latin. I replied and am posting the same thing here:

I didn’t actually get the pig latin connection until after I’d solved. I saw the ay words immediately and spent 3 days trying all different ways to transform them. Add letters; change letters. Translate, rotate, reflect. Use the direction-sounding words in their clues (intersect Ina and way for “in a way”; turn Mae B for “beam” – then it got even worse.) Looked at much other stuff in the grid and clues.

Finally last night noticed that I could move the first letter of the ay words to the word before and remembered “Bold accusation” and that was that.

Was surprised when eBay came up – saw the ay connection but was really expecting a mathematician or something (Did I mention BAY SE->Bayes). A bit later realized it was pig latin and saw how neatly the title fit
If you want help with a meta, feel free to PM me. The more specific you are about what you have and what you want, the more likely I can help without spoiling.

(And if I help you win a mug, I’ll be especially delighted.)
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#298

Post by Bob cruise director »

BarbaraK wrote: Mon Jun 06, 2022 7:22 pm Someone on Fiend asked how people thought of pig latin. I replied and am posting the same thing here:

I didn’t actually get the pig latin connection until after I’d solved. I saw the ay words immediately and spent 3 days trying all different ways to transform them. Add letters; change letters. Translate, rotate, reflect. Use the direction-sounding words in their clues (intersect Ina and way for “in a way”; turn Mae B for “beam” – then it got even worse.) Looked at much other stuff in the grid and clues.

Finally last night noticed that I could move the first letter of the ay words to the word before and remembered “Bold accusation” and that was that.

Was surprised when eBay came up – saw the ay connection but was really expecting a mathematician or something (Did I mention BAY SE->Bayes). A bit later realized it was pig latin and saw how neatly the title fit
@ship4u Don said he woke up in the middle of the night, sat up and said "I got it". At that point Cynthia was unimpressed.
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Kas
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#299

Post by Kas »

Drat. I was all over the way/mae/bay/say...but I didn't make the piglatin connection. Alas, forlorn and bereft...my journey as a mugless MUGgle continues unabated. (Truly if there was ever a so-called "First World Problem...")
LOL
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#300

Post by Inca »

What i find most amazing about this puzzle is that so many of you solved it
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