"Finishing The Story" September 2, 2022

[ajlying]

Started WSJ crosswords 2 weeks ago. Totally butchered last week and just when I was about to give up, got ashore with 3 hours to spare. No better feeling in the world.

[802puzzler]

Late to start, but on the beach! Enjoy the rest of the long weekend folks!

[Bob cruise director]

Good evening muggles

Our final count is 17 muggles on the ship and 179 on the shore.

And welcome to our newest muggle - ajlying

Good luck to all winning the mug

[martimeryard]

Ashore! For the first time in a long while. I was looking for a more elegant(?) mechanism than the one that was used. Boy, was I out there down some holes, but I know at least few people did the same thing I did.

[Ann]

Last minute revelation! ON. THE. SHORE!!

[mysterebus]

Finally ashoreeeeee! But more like a-sore from all the unnecessarily deep digging lol.

[Bill Bovard]

Got it! Fun IF you get it. Looked at it on and off for several days and finally saw the simple solution.
Google needed for me, my knowledge of literature is quite limited.

[Inca]

Well that was cutting it close! I had kind of given up on this but came back for one last look....and it just came to me. So I'm in the running for the mug.

[Colin]

Family weekend,
Grand children priority.
Not even on board!

[Joe Ross]

[DBMiller]

I did not know all the books from the clues and had to use Google for some. I also only looked at the long answers and missed that the middle clue was also starred the first time around. So I only started with. .

Pride and Prejudice
A Christmas Carol
Crime and Punishment
The Sun Also Rises

Looking to the puzzle's title, I first looked at the last word of each title, and then the last letter of each word in the titles. And I also looked at the last word of each movel. This all, of course, led nowhere.

However, looking at the first letter of each title, led me to the rat disguised as the rabbit, which I presume is the same one others chased for a bit.

PAP - A character from Huckleberry Finn
TSAR - Many characters in War and Peace

I do several crossword puzzles a day sometimes, and they run together often. I should have remembered TSARS was in this one, but I didn't.

And so I continued on with the chase. Even though ACC and CAP didn't make sense. I might stretch CAP into AHAB from Moby Dick, but I know that when I start stretching that far, I had better look elsewhere.

Went to bed Thursday night and slept on it. When I woke up, I looked at the puzzle again and noticed that I had missed the middle starred clue.

And so Breakfast at Tiffany's and BAT. Another full word!? Can't be a coincidence. And there in the upper right corner was BATH Game, set, and match leading to my favorite candy bar… 3 musketeers and ATHOS.

Wasn't sure whether to call myself an ATHOL,or a DUMbASs for not seeing it sooner, or what.

Signed,
DB, the illustrious rabbit hunter.

[Limerick Savant]

This is how I took a shot at finishing the story. It’s the best explanation that my COVID addled brain could devise. So call me…

Initially Confused

PAPa H surely shot for the TSARs!
Fyodor on the floor in Jane’s cars?
Truman tried like the Dickens
But until the plot thickens
Alexandre can’t craft candy bars.

[woozy]

So

Pride And Prejudice => P A P + A=> PAPA => A
A Christmas Carol => ACC + T=> ACCT => T
Breakfast at Tiffany's => BAT + H => BATH => H
Crime and Punishment => CAP + O => CAPO => O
The Sun Also Rises => TSAR + S => TSARS => S

=> ATHOS a character of a story.

...

Now usually my rabbit holes never lead anywhere. So when I have a rabbit hole that actually gets an answer, albeit I very *bad* and irritating answer, it gives me pause.

Finish the story means look at the last letter.

pride and prejudic E
a christmas caro L
breakfast at tiffan Y
crime and punishmen T
the sun also rise S

and finishing from the end to the front is: STYLE which... is the character of every story.

But.... that stinks!

I admit it.

But when rabbit holes never give *anything* and here I have an actual answer.... well, it threw me for a loop.

(.... until I realized that Breakfast at Tiffany's has an apostrophe s)

[mheberlingx100]

So glad Elizabeth Bennett was a clue answer. Pride and Prejudice is my wife’s favorite book.

[escapeartist]

Now usually my rabbit holes never lead anywhere.

yeah, this week felt like, "what else can I try"

[kawaja]

?

[Olof]

Got the letters TAOSH, which suggested "The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes". First time to be 'sure' about an answer that ended up not being the answer. Never heard of this Athos character.

[Cindy N]

Here is my tale of rabbit holes, which I eventually found my way out of.

Since it was "Finishing the Story", I started by listing the book titles. However instead of using the initials I looked at the last word in the title (Finishing, right?)

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
A CHRISTMAS CAROL
BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
THE SUN ALSO RISES

But what next? I started looking in the clues and the grid for other versions. CAROL = SONG. 5D was a SONG - REHAB. But it stopped there. Perhaps I needed a different way to finish the story. How about the last line/word?

Pride and Prejudice // the means of uniting (T)hem.
A Christmas Carol // God bless us, Every (O)ne. (More than one had it as two words, rather than "everyone")
Breakfast at Tiffany's // ???
Crime and Punishment // she only lived in his (L)ife.
The Sun Also Rises // Isn't it pretty to think (S)o?

TOL?S Tolls? For Whom the Bell Tolls!!! Main character is Robert Jordan! Just need to confirm it with the last word for Breakfast at Tiffany's
But I couldn't find it anywhere. But that had to be it, right? Right? Except if I was having this much trouble, that didn't bode well for my theory.

Now what? Back to the beginning, but look at the whole title. I stared at the grid, muttering "Pride and Prejudice, Pride and Prejudice, Pride and Prejudice" and there it was PAP(A). Ha! Five minutes later I had ATHOS and submitted.

I kind of wish my last word solution had worked. And with the first one correct word I found being PAPA, I felt a little vindication for my previous rabbit hole. Hemingway!

[flyingMoose]

Never heard of this Athos character.

One of The Three Musketeers (and other stories). See 12D of the weekend WSJ puzzle.

[woozy]

Pride and Prejudice // the means of uniting (T)hem.
A Christmas Carol // God bless us, Every (O)ne. (More than one had it as two words, rather than "everyone")
Breakfast at Tiffany's // ???
Crime and Punishment // she only lived in his (L)ife.
The Sun Also Rises // Isn't it pretty to think (S)o?

FWIW Breakfast at Tiffany's // African hut or whatever, I hope Holly has, (T)oo.

I went that route too. I hadn't realized that Breakfast at Tiffany's was only a short story.