"Power Trips" - July 15, 2022

[Georgeall]

The intersection of TRIP(e) (23 across) and POW(wow) (24 down) looked like the meta-nism, then I was finding other instances of TRIP in 15 down and 35 down, 14 across and 16 across, and 62 across and 64 across. Trying to figure out how these related to musical trios kept me going for most of the weekend, until I finally saw the triplets on Sunday afternoon. The "Fish out of water" was a red herring indeed.

[mheberlingx100]

I used to play poker once a month with my coworkers, and the dealer calls the rules for the hand. Often as they dealt, they’d say, “Jacks or better to open, trips to win”, i.e. you needed three of a kind to win the hand.

When I saw the title, that’s the first thing that came to mind. Look for three of a kind. Hubbub and Powwow sealed the approach. I can’t recall ever seeing those words in a crossword grid.

Powwow also made me think of my Pennsylvania Dutch grandmother. Powwowing was a folk medicine/magic she’d do for minor ailments. She once told me to powwow warts away, you tie a string around a potato and throw it in a fire. If the string burns first, the wart would go away. I just thought it was a waste of a good potato.

[Ben B]

Wow. KAS 5 for me. I don’t feel bad we didn’t get it. Too many red herrings as have been mentioned with TRIP crossing POW in the grid and the irrelevance of the long middle answer that has so many potential meanings to consider. I do think however that we would have gotten it if the title was POWER TRIO although we did consider many triple groupings in the grid. Obviously just not the right one!

I also think we would have gotten it if the hint gave the number of letters on the answer as is often done. (that applies to last week’s fail for us too). It seems that the constructors use that as a way to control the difficulty level which I appreciate. Can’t wait to try again on Thursday!

[Flying_Burrito]

I spent 1 hr + on 54 down only to eventually drop it since I knew that powwow, hubbub and ohhush had to be part of the meta. The 3 letters for those answers and others were clear from the start but i was too focused on the Power word. I am not a poker player BUT i know my bands and I thought the answer had to be Beastie Boys, Rush, The Police or Green Day. Spent more time on the letters b/n the 3 same letters but when i circled H, P, O and I went back to my original list, the other ones came easily. CAS 2 for me but if MG did not specify that it was a trio (and I think he was trying to provide an additional clue to the 3 letters in the meta) I would have not solved it.

[ship4u]

When filing out the grid, I immediatley thought HUBBUB, POWWOW, OHHUSH and LOOPHOLE were very odd and suspected that they might be part of a mechanism. We struggled over it all Thursday evening and Friday morning. Thanks to a muggle friend giving the poker hint, I realized that a trip was 3 of a kind and was off and running. Great fun!

[ship4u]

BTW, The Police had a song that would have made an appropriate theme for coronavirus safety: "Don't Stand So Close To Me."

[KayW]

As others have said, the odd clueing of 54D was a big red herring for me. And imagine my excitement when I googled and learned that ELO is a trio But I couldn’t find anything else in the puzzle to get to that and eventually found The Police.

[Colin]

As others have said, the odd clueing of 54D was a big red herring for me. And imagine my excitement when I googled and learned that ELO is a trio But I couldn’t find anything else in the puzzle to get to that and eventually found The Police.

Brilliant! I threw in ELO as my ‘11:57pm on Sunday’ answer. My (somewhat pathetic) reasoning:

ECO, OFF and LOOPHOLE are all modes that interrupt power (per title). First letters spelling ELO, a famous music trio (Lynne, Wood and Bevan)

Being an electrical engineer, ELO had to be the answer for me; but I knew my meta hypothesis had a blown fuse!

[Joepickett]

I tried anagrams of the tripled letters and I was hoping that BLIND MICE was going to pop out somehow. Then I abandoned that and found the correct answer.

[MikeM000]

Things that led nowhere outside of things that have already been mentioned:

-SHARI and ERAGON: fish names with one letter changed
-LOOPHOLE: contains a place that stores water, spelled backward
-Changing Os to Ps (or vice versa) for the Power Trips/Trios thing

Sorry Kelsey, but there were no connections to be made here for me.

[MaineMarge]

Guess it is the old teacher in me that made the 3 letters in poWWoW and huBBuB jump out at first. On to tAmArA, lOOphOle, etc. Initially I was trying to make something out of those multiple letters- ABIWHOMEC. All I know about famous trios is what Google just taught me, so I could see a long song and dance coming up anagramming those 9 letters.
Fortunately the common method of using the first letter of those words worked.

Here’s a power trio in my garden

These 3 blooms are amidst a quintuplet, not a trio, of West Elkton peonies in a curve near the road.
Powerful sight that stops traffic when in full bloom.

[HunterX]

Ouch! My forehead is suitably slapped. Had the triple letter words marked right off the bat. But I, too, kept trying to come up with something from ABIWHOMEC. Switched to working on the Power herrings. Then on to the fish. Double letters. Three letter words. Then to staring blankly and hoping something would pop out.

I will hang my head in shame today. Shoulda... coulda.... woulda...

[Scott M]

64A

[Flying_Burrito]

As others have said, the odd clueing of 54D was a big red herring for me. And imagine my excitement when I googled and learned that ELO is a trio But I couldn’t find anything else in the puzzle to get to that and eventually found The Police.

Brilliant! I threw in ELO as my ‘11:57pm on Sunday’ answer. My (somewhat pathetic) reasoning:

ECO, OFF and LOOPHOLE are all modes that interrupt power (per title). First letters spelling ELO, a famous music trio (Lynne, Wood and Bevan)

Being an electrical engineer, ELO had to be the answer for me; but I knew my meta hypothesis had a blown fuse!

Brilliant posts Kay and Colin. Can't stop humming the refrain from Telephone Line this morning

[Ergcat]

3. Finally, I used the letters between each pattern of the same letter 2x in a row and then 1x to spell out UP HOUSES. I stretched that to “Up the Ladder to the Roof,” a hit single for the Supremes.
HUBB(U)B
LOO(PH)OLE
POWW(O)W
OHH(US)H
IMM(E)MORIAL
CHEE(S)E

Ha! I clearly did too much here.

This was my rabbit hole for the longest time! I used the “Fish out of water” hint to think that I was to take the odd letters between the triple letters . They spelled “Up House” which I then googled the heck out of!
When I checked for synonyms of “Power Trips” ,
“Police action/abuse” came up! I certainly hope this was not MG’s intention but rather The poker term “trips” for 3-of-a-kind . I do think the title was a poor one overall.

[mlvilv]

well that did not go well. I was trying really hard to do something with the hubbub, powwow, oh hush, etc. But those stuck out to me more than tamara, cheese, etc so I never caught those other words. I did see 'ore', 'airier' and 'oils' so I came up with Earth Wind and Fire.

[Dplass]

Ouch! My forehead is suitably slapped. Had the triple letter words marked right off the bat. But I, too, kept trying to come up with something from ABIWHOMEC. Switched to working on the Power herrings. Then on to the fish. Double letters. Three letter words. Then to staring blankly and hoping something would pop out.

I will hang my head in shame today. Shoulda... coulda.... woulda...

The triple letters were just too juicy for me to pass by so I used that other often metanism and it Just Worked.

[Joe Ross]

I know I will be hated for this, but I have to:

May we declare a moratorium on using THE POLICE in every music-related crossword/contest, please?

Let's go back to overusing and beating-to-dumbfoundedness BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, maybe?

Afterall, it takes another earworm to dislodge the first, yes?

[Jackie88]

I know I will be hated for this, but I have to:

May we declare a moratorium on using THE POLICE in every music-related crossword/contest, please?

Let's go back to overusing and beating-to-dumbfoundedness BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, maybe?

Afterall, it takes another earworm to dislodge the first, yes?

All weekend long: de do do do, de da da da

[Janet P]

I must be the only one who didn't immediately clue-in to a famous musical trio being a band. First thought that came to me was Do-Re-Mi but I couldn't make that work and then saw several comments here that mentioned bands.
Like some others, I played with double letters and then triple letters but my poker playing days are 50 years back so "TRIPS" in the title didn't provide a click for me. Although, as I look back on my notes, I can see a list of words whose first letters I could have anagrammed.
Not sure if I SHOULD have gotten it (maybe?) but with help from a search engine I might have gotten it even though I would never have made the connection to the title.