"Be Transformed" - June 3, 2022

[CPJohnson]

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?

The metas that involve sounds-like strategies are always hard for me.

[femullen]

To leave a record for posterior, here's where I went wrong--though I was convinced it must be right.

58A, rhyme pattern for a quatrain: ABAA. With four theme answers, all with a long-A syllable, I was certain that the key was to somehow "transform" the second theme answer, in a meaningful way, so that the long-A was transformed into a B. This led only to dozens of quatrains popping into my fevered mind, none of which advanced toward a solution. Pig Latin never occurred to me, nor would it ever occur to me in a hundred years. I think there was one kid in school who had made a study of this language and practiced it upon his dumbfounded classmates. That's more than 50 years ago, and I haven't thought about it since. "Oh," as they say, "well."

[mheberlingx100]

My wife and I used to use Pig Latin around our daughter when she was young, mostly things like “Ix-nay on the andy-cay.” when we didn’t want her to have sweets. As with most things, she caught on too quickly for our liking.

[katnahat]

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!")

Congratulations!

[MMe]

My wife and I used to use Pig Latin around our daughter when she was young, mostly things like “Ix-nay on the andy-cay.” when we didn’t want her to have sweets. As with most things, she caught on too quickly for our liking.

IX-NAY is a funny one, in that at least in my experience it is used pretty commonly where as saying NIX in the same contexts is entirely unheard of ("nix on the candy").

[Mister Squawk]

I looked at the four rhymers for a long time.

Then I noticed that there were three wrong answers in the grid:

BLANCA (Since the clue references "Juan", then BLANCO (m) would be correct)
QUASAR (PULSARs pulse, QUASARs do not)
ABAA (ABAA is not a quatrain scheme. Normally ABBA would be the correct answer.)

This gives four letter substitutions:

A -> O
Q -> P
A -> L
A -> B

But I got nowhere with this. I asked a helpful muggle if I was on the right track, after which I went back to the rhymers and promptly noted that if you transform the four words so that they rhyme with "BE":

WAY -> WE
MAE -> ME
SAY -> SEE
BAY -> BE

You can then find four clues that begin with the transformed words:

WELCH
MEANGIRLS
SEENOW
BEAU

If you take the first letter in the answer after the transformed word, you get:

L
A
N
A

So I submitted LANA.

[KayW]

Then I noticed that there were three wrong answers in the grid:

BLANCA (Since the clue references "Juan", then BLANCO (m) would be correct)
QUASAR (PULSARs pulse, QUASARs do not)
ABAA (ABAA is not a quatrain scheme. Normally ABBA would be the correct answer.)

.
.
.
So I submitted LANA.

This may a case where "IGNORANCE IS BLISS, TIS FOLLY TO BE WISE". My ignorant little brain was blissfully undisturbed by of any of that.

[ReB]

Note to self: remember to try sounding out theme answers if getting nowhere. Though usually there is a hint somewhere, but I don't see (nor hear) one here. Not the first auditory meta I've encountered, though it's been a while since the last one.

If I had read them out loud, just maybe Pig Latin would have come to mind(??) - but it would have had to be like the aftermath of a bolt from the blue.

[woozy]

QUASAR (PULSARs pulse, QUASARs do not)

Q -> P

But what of A-> L?

promptly noted that if you transform the four words so that they rhyme with "BE":

...

You can then find four clues that begin with the transformed words:

....

If you take the first letter in the answer after the transformed word, you get:

L
A
N
A

So I submitted LANA.

I realize the "click" and "100%er" and "arbitrary noise" is subjective but.... don't you find that a little convoluted?

[BarbaraK]

I looked at the four rhymers for a long time.

Then I noticed that there were three wrong answers in the grid:

BLANCA (Since the clue references "Juan", then BLANCO (m) would be correct)
QUASAR (PULSARs pulse, QUASARs do not)
ABAA (ABAA is not a quatrain scheme. Normally ABBA would be the correct answer.)
...
So I submitted LANA.

Wow! This is amazing.

I will pick one nit though, about BLANCA. If the clue were something like, "White for Juan" as in the word used to describe the color of Juan's skin, then blanco would be the correct form. But "White, to Juan" suggests to me the word Juan would use to describe some other object that is white, and in that case the adjective would agree with the noun being described, not the speaker. A white house is a casa blanca regardless of the sex of the speaker. I think - I'm far from fluent but do know a bit of Spanish.

[Nlobb]

Did I miss the post from mike miller??

[mheberlingx100]

Did I miss the post from mike miller??

No, I don’t think so. I’d like to think it’s because he misplaced my email and so can’t get my contact information to send me the mug…

[Mister Squawk]

If you take the first letter in the answer after the transformed word, you get:

L
A
N
A

So I submitted LANA.

I realize the "click" and "100%er" and "arbitrary noise" is subjective but.... don't you find that a little convoluted?

[billkatz]

Looks like I forgot to post this week - I solved and submitted before the deadline.

[Larrry]

But I got nowhere with this. I asked a helpful muggle if I was on the right track, after which I went back to the rhymers and promptly noted that if you transform the four words so that they rhyme with "BE":

WAY -> WE
MAE -> ME
SAY -> SEE
BAY -> BE

You can then find four clues that begin with the transformed words:

WELCH
MEANGIRLS
SEENOW
BEAU

This was my rabbit hole, and I went one step further with the mechanism where you find another word in the grid to meet the original clue.

WELCH could be Seller without shame -> SHILL
MEANGIRL could be Twitter account operator, sometimes -> BOTS

but then... nothing

[BarbaraK]

Still no announcement from Mike?

What is this world coming to when the editor of a major newspaper has more important things to do than report the results of a crossword contest?!

[Nlobb]

I will volunteer to solve this problem and win the mug!!

[John77]

As a lifelong Three Stooges fan, I thought I was fluent in Pig Latin. I guess I need to brush up.

[BethA]

Happy to get this one fairly quickly. Can’t let it pass without giving partial credit to my dad for my favorite pig latin phrase — Oot-Fray Oops-Lay!!

[mheberlingx100]

I have a flight departing 3:55 EDT. One of the very few times I’m hoping for a (short) delay, so I have something to do on the flight.