"Shifty Schemers" November 11, 2022

[Inca]

In providing minimal help to a muggle on a recent contest, I referenced @Tina's gold standard of Hints for Solving Meta Contests, which I review whenever stuck.

Thank you, Tina, and all muggles who have added their wisdom!

Is there a way to "save" or "mark as favorite" certain posts so that we can find them easily when we want to refer to them?

[Joe Ross]

In providing minimal help to a muggle on a recent contest, I referenced @Tina's gold standard of Hints for Solving Meta Contests, which I review whenever stuck.

Thank you, Tina, and all muggles who have added their wisdom!

Is there a way to "save" or "mark as favorite" certain posts so that we can find them easily when we want to refer to them?

You can bookmark individual posts or topics. Each post has a # at its beginning. Right-click/sustain-press the post # & bookmark it from the resulting pop-up menu.

[whimsy]

and I’m working on @Bird Lives‘s challenge… it’s ON!

What we’re looking for is a name, preferably well-known, that becomes a word or phrase, preferably recognizable, when one letter is shifted to another position. I couldn’t find any. If only BLAN were a word, there would be BODY BLAN. Or if Tom and Gisele named their daughter CINDER (short for Cinderella of course), we’d have CIDER BRANDY, i.e. Calvados or applejack.

How did Mike come up with these? Did he do what I did and mentally run through names – maybe lists of names in various categories (movie stars, athletes, etc.) — till he found four good ones? Probably not. My guess is that he’s one of those people who looks at a name, word, or phrase and sees anagrams. (Remember Marie Kelly?) Maybe he even records these in a notebook, with a special section for when he finds a one-letter-shifter. When that section finally has four eight-letter names, he goes to work.

Mine do not follow the pattern exactly but here goes --

1. Clue: Hoi polloi >> RANK AND FILE = Frank Andile (You know, that famous guy on Facebook)

2. Clue: The usual proximity >> NORMAL NEAR = Norman Lear (OK -- but much better camouflaged if the letter in question shifts more than one spot as all of Mike's do

3. (In keeping with "Rosie Jose")
Clue: Offer organs at auction >> BID LIVERS = Bird Lives --- Very famous personage

[whimsy]

It might just be me, but attending parochial school in New England in the 60's seemed to lead to a steady diet of the Pilgrims and the Revolution in history classes. So "pamphleteer" and PTOMAINE in the "same breath" had to be Tom. (And he was familiar enough that we could call him that.)

[Guffman]

I never met Bil Keane, but his cartoons hung on the walls of many of the writer/artists I knew -- all for the wrong reasons. "Family Circus" was ripe for re-captioning, usually with dreadful but hilarious results. The parodies reached a zenith on the internet with the "Dysfunctional Family Circus", a site that ran for 4 years before Keane's syndicate shut it down. Keane died in 2011, but left a real legacy in the cartooning world.

[Secret Adversary]

I had what seemed to be a promising path:

Pen pal? -> PRISONER, also PENCIL -> Miniature golf freebie
Pageant wear -> TIARA, also DRESS -> Suit yourself?
Travel woe -> JET LAG, also ROAD CREW -> Group that may do some grading
Products of some plants -> AUTO, also TEAS -> Lipton offerings

but it definitely wasn't shifty and didn't spell anything. Got to the right place in the end after a most useful nudge that my path was actually a cul-de-sac.

[LadyBird]

Checking in briefly from Cape Town, South Africa. Downloaded the puzzle on my iPad while on the 36 hour trip here. (With an 8 hour layover in Doha just as the World Cup was starting.) Finished the grid, but never made it to the beach. Been a bit busy though.

Have to admit, I don’t remember two of the people, don’t know another, and am not buddies enough with Thomas Paine to have called him Tom. But it is quite an impressive construction!

Off to see two oceans this morning at Cape Point. Then taking a gander at some. Penguins. Don’t know if I’ll be able to get the next two week’s metas either, as I’ll be in the Nambiti Game Reserve, then Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe.

It’s a rough gig, but somebody’s got to do it. The local wines here have certainly helped!

Taking a gander at some penguins? Well that is something to crow about, are you doing it on a lark? Remember not to break any cardinal rules. OK, Ladybird, you jump in now.

Why do I hear Toto playing in my mind....

Challenge accepted, Dr. Tom!

Don't be too gull-ible in your travels and don't swallow hook, line & sinker whatever someone warblers on about. I hope that you are swift in solving the next meta. Have a great trip and a safe re-tern.

[Penny_Keatley]

I definitely snatched defeat from the jaws of victory this week. After correctly getting "TOM PAINE", "ROD CAREW", "LANCE ITO", and "BIL KEANE", I incorrectly assumed that these were rearrangements of the letters rather than just "shifting" one letter. I took the first letter of the last name of each person and poof! I got PICK. And then -- and this was the hardest part of all -- I convinced myself that this was the right answer because...what else could it be?

[KscX]

If I can’t win the mug HOW am I ever going to win Powerball? It all seems futile. NOT REALLY! I love the contest crossword. Every time I solve one I feel like I would if I won Powerball! I’d much rather spend my money on the WSJ than a lottery ticket. Regardless, looks like I didn’t win the mug. But it was still a fun solve.
And from now on I will always think ptomaine instead of Thomas Paine.

[clonefitz]

"Joy in watching water circle the drain" / "Bassist/vocalist in a Canadian prog rock band, for example" ?

[SusieG]

Very clever construction. I didn’t get close. I am disappointed I didn’t see Rod Carew, because it seems so obvious. I got hung up on seeing LACE newer to JURIST (thought of RBG) and MAINE WRITER, which made me think of Stephen King. So I fixated on those two until time was up.

[Dplass]

Here's the ultimate rabbit hole:

[iggystan]

Unlike some other puzzles, this one came quickly for me. I saw Tom Paine almost right away, followed by Rod Carew. The others came when I looked to the right of Ptomaine and saw Writer, which led to Pamphleteer in the clue. I knew all four names (I am an old guy), so no Googling required. The construction of this puzzle was incredibly neat. Hats off to Mike.

[Colin]

A writer, artist,
Player, jurist hit the bar…
“Ouch! Where’s the medic?”

Congrats to the wise ones - you know who you are!

[DrTom]

Checking in briefly from Cape Town, South Africa. Downloaded the puzzle on my iPad while on the 36 hour trip here. (With an 8 hour layover in Doha just as the World Cup was starting.) Finished the grid, but never made it to the beach. Been a bit busy though.

Have to admit, I don’t remember two of the people, don’t know another, and am not buddies enough with Thomas Paine to have called him Tom. But it is quite an impressive construction!

Off to see two oceans this morning at Cape Point. Then taking a gander at some. Penguins. Don’t know if I’ll be able to get the next two week’s metas either, as I’ll be in the Nambiti Game Reserve, then Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe.

It’s a rough gig, but somebody’s got to do it. The local wines here have certainly helped!

Taking a gander at some penguins? Well that is something to crow about, are you doing it on a lark? Remember not to break any cardinal rules. OK, Ladybird, you jump in now.

Why do I hear Toto playing in my mind....

Challenge accepted, Dr. Tom!

Don't be too gull-ible in your travels and don't swallow hook, line & sinker whatever someone warblers on about. I hope that you are swift in solving the next meta. Have a great trip and a safe re-tern.

I just knew you would score a birdie or an eagle. Plus you did it without Robin any other comments, but I'll stop trying to out bird-pun you, once bittern, twice shy.

[DrTom]

I definitely snatched defeat from the jaws of victory this week. After correctly getting "TOM PAINE", "ROD CAREW", "LANCE ITO", and "BIL KEANE", I incorrectly assumed that these were rearrangements of the letters rather than just "shifting" one letter. I took the first letter of the last name of each person and poof! I got PICK. And then -- and this was the hardest part of all -- I convinced myself that this was the right answer because...what else could it be?

Well, you were not alone. I had at least one person who I was helping say "I got PICK (the same way you did) and am going to submit." I suggested they wait because they had ALL of the components. My comment was simply "why shift a letter if you are not going to do anything else with it?" Apparently that was enough.

If it is any consolation, I'd probably have submitted PICK if it wasn't somehting I had to anagram to get (since that is so seldom-though not never- the last step).

You are a winner in my book!

Tom

[escapeartist]

I noticed the 4 across clues with "xxx, for example"

14A threw me off as the clue was "Hyde, e.g." ("for example" without saying "for example")

So I was looking for scheming polar opposites of the 4 occupations

Writer - propagandist ?
Player - cheater?
Jurist - prisoner was nearby at 60A
Artist - no idea

Congrats to all that got this one!

[CPJohnson]

In providing minimal help to a muggle on a recent contest, I referenced @Tina's gold standard of Hints for Solving Meta Contests, which I review whenever stuck.

Thank you, Tina, and all muggles who have added their wisdom!

Tina's hints are always my first recommendation for new solvers looking for help. I, also, review them frequently.

[Al Sisti]

I never met Bil Keane, but his cartoons hung on the walls of many of the writer/artists I knew -- all for the wrong reasons. "Family Circus" was ripe for re-captioning, usually with dreadful but hilarious results. The parodies reached a zenith on the internet with the "Dysfunctional Family Circus", a site that ran for 4 years before Keane's syndicate shut it down. Keane died in 2011, but left a real legacy in the cartooning world.

dysfunctional-family3-1.jpg

I absolutely hate that strip! I used to wake up and the first thing I did was to draw "angry eyebrows" on all the family members; it changed everything: my mood, the caption. Ah, good times. (and I'm very familiar with the Dysfunctional Family Circus site. My favorite -- which I can't post here -- involves Thel shooting baskets in the driveway).

[WC50]

Another Bil Keane parody for the strong-stomached:

https://pbfcomics.com/comics/way-too-much/