"Showtime" November 25, 2022

[Susan Goldberg]

I trod many of the same unrewarding paths.

What kept me away from using the entire YEAR a la @Collegetowngirl was the word "...usually" in the clue!

And @Susan Goldberg, our minds were working alike! How could Miss sitting down.... MUFFET not be a camouflaged tie-in?! (I stretched the POLYESTER to be garish dresses in a "Shop collection", and the HUSTLER to be "Profitable extraction.")

My own extremely shallow hole, looking at Oscar winners like @clonefitz did, was seeing that two words in the grid, CHAIR and SOTS gave me Chariots (of Fire) -- with a single "S" left over. Surely that would be one that with several companions would form a 5 letter answer! Didn't go anywhere but was briefly a lot of fun!

Ah Whimsy. I knew we were kindred spirits. I tried the same two paths with hustler and polyester - but at a certain point it became clear - this just wasn’t going to work! (I had a spinal tap once and it is seared in my memory; I think that’s why I just couldn’t give this up.)

[Richard]

I thought the years were important but with Thanksgiving dinner, visiting family, going to a football game, and hosting my son and grandson just did not have much time. Can not say for sure I would have gotten it in a normal week.

In looking at it, excellent construction and I like answers that are no doubters.

[The XWord Rabbit]

The XWord Rabbit has just begun reviewing the post-solution reveal comments and wonders what misguided path was taken to arrive at GENRE for the meta. It received 30 such responses while EPICS received 20.

[BarbaraK]

It would be fun to see a summary of each year of where the winners are from. Something like a map with pins in it. Perhaps with a miniature mug instead of a pin.

I don't remember who, but one of our spreadsheet keepers tracks where all the winners come from.

[Janet]

It would be fun to see a summary of each year of where the winners are from. Something like a map with pins in it. Perhaps with a miniature mug instead of a pin.

I don't remember who, but one of our spreadsheet keepers tracks where all the winners come from.

Oh, that would be good. I think that could be combined with a map for a nice visual.

[femullen]

There are infinite ways to apply the years, each as prima-facie reasonable as any other. I tried them all save one.

[JetStream]

All I can say is wow - and congrats to the solvers.

[chart]

The XWord Rabbit has just begun reviewing the post-solution reveal comments and wonders what misguided path was taken to arrive at GENRE for the meta. It received 30 such responses while EPICS received 20.

I figured it was a hail Mary since every themed clue led with the genre (after the year). Horror, comedy, mockumentary, erotic horror, drama.

[chart]

My rabbit hole was SHOWtime ---> 26A SHOW-ERs ---> 3 of 5 movies ending in -ER's seemed like an odd coincidence ---> other 2 could have -ER's appended (PLAY-ER TAP-ER) ---> 70A SHEAR-ER in Spinal Tap ---> Dead end.

[chart]

I trod many of the same unrewarding paths.

What kept me away from using the entire YEAR a la @Collegetowngirl was the word "...usually" in the clue!

Me too - I thought that was a signal to only use the 2 digit version (especially since they all started with 19 which seemed too uniform). But that led nowhere and I had to keep going.

I also briefly considered using Roman Numerals instead of 4 digits, but 1988 is MCMLXXXVIII so that seemed like an immediate dead end.

[Bob cruise director]

The winner this week is a muggle with blog name Ksoav although she has not posted in a long time.

Congratulations to Katherine

[Streroto]

Well of course, it seems so obvious now. But I didn’t know what to do with the years, so I added the four digits of each year. Got 26, 19, 22, 21, and 17. The letters in those numbered squares S, I, E, P, C anagram into my answer: EPICS.

That was my answer, too. It didn't seem right, but it was all I could find.

Saw this too early on but kept in mind the warning from friends here about anagrams. That is, if you have to anagram the meta, it (probably) is incorrect. Tried the Roman numerals as well, however briefly.

Really enjoyed, classic Mike with clues involved.

Stay well all

[Ksoav]

The winner this week is a muggle with blog name Ksoav although she has not posted in a long time.

Congratulations to Katherine

Thank you!! I got derailed from the blog thanks to a couple of rugrats who are now 3.5 and 1.5 years old and keep me on my toes. I always find time to at least complete the puzzle and usually to read through the comments of the charming muggle community

The coolest part for me is that my husband won the mug 4 years ago on Thanksgiving week, so we are a very lucky household to walk away with 2 mugs from the same week no less!

...or people have turkey brain and the odds were in my favor!

[Wendy Walker]

@Ksoav, if you get a chance please stop by our Zoom call every Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. Eastern. We would LOVE to congratulate you! WELL DONE!

[HeadinHome]

I am beginning to wonder if the email address I use to submit the puzzle answer is just wrong, and I have been sending them out into vacuous space for nigh on to three years now…

[flyingMoose]

I am beginning to wonder if the email address I use to submit the puzzle answer is just wrong …

I am supremely confident that my answers are going to the correct address. Unfortunately, they never seem to appeal to MikeM. I can't even make his Least Wanted lists.

[Al Sisti]

I am beginning to wonder if the email address I use to submit the puzzle answer is just wrong, and I have been sending them out into vacuous space for nigh on to three years now…

Right? I'm thinking of submitting a way-wrong answer one of these weeks, just so he can post "and we even had one stupid solver who sent in [way-wrong answer]!"

[Cindy N]

Well of course, it seems so obvious now. But I didn’t know what to do with the years, so I added the four digits of each year. Got 26, 19, 22, 21, and 17. The letters in those numbered squares S, I, E, P, C anagram into my answer: EPICS.

That is EXACTLY what I did. But I couldn't order the clues in a logical way to get the word without anagramming. Fortunately, I had a fellow muggle who dragged me back out of that rabbit hole!

[The XWord Rabbit]

It has been almost four months since The XWord Rabbit first reviewed your tales of solving gone awry. Unlike the WSJ, a publication that uses a random drawing each week to arrive at a single winner of a coveted mug, The XWord Rabbit’s methodology is based on his own evaluation of your sad stories. Some weeks there is a bounty of tales from which to choose, some not. Unfortunately, this was one of those latter weeks.

“Showtime” was a real multi-step workout from Mr. Shenk. Most critically, solvers had to recognize that the five clues answered by movie titles had 4-letter words buried within them, indicated by the position of each of the four digits in the year they were released. The resulting words began five other clues. The first letters of the answers to them spelled out the meta: SCORE.

You may ask yourself, “Why no nominees, Rabbit?” Let us take advantage of this week’s post to review those things that are most likely to grab his attention.

The uniqueness and futility of the method is critical. (This week was a good example of multiple Muggles taking a similar fruitless path, namely, not considering the digits in the year singly, adding them up, etc. The XWord Rabbit wants stories of conviction and extremes taken by well-meaning “solvers” who have wandered deep into the forest, turned around, and found themselves all alone.)

Eloquence is always appreciated. Your Rabbit is not looking for a college essay by any means, but something that builds on its erroneous thinking. A good story should evoke empathy. Some fellow Muggle(s) devoted part of their week to get nowhere. He wants to ease their pain.

And humor. The best responses see the humor in it all.

It has never been The XWord Rabbit’s intention to make fun of anyone. Rather, he hopes to share in the dedication of our mutual compulsion. There is no newspaper funding his very existence or the mugs he intends to award. Your Rabbit is doing this out of his love of the game.

Sometime in February he plans to announce the first round of finalists. A few mugs will be awarded, eventually leading up to a “Golden Rabbit Hole” grand prize winner in the fall.

There are weeks when merely solving a meta or two should be reward enough. It was the Rabbit’s challenge and intention from the very beginning that he could make not solving them just as much fun. He hopes he has fulfilled that promise.

[Sleepy]

The XWord Rabbit has just begun reviewing the post-solution reveal comments and wonders what misguided path was taken to arrive at GENRE for the meta. It received 30 such responses while EPICS received 20.

Well, I was thinking for a while that there were five year-related clues and therefore the answer would be a five letter word. Then noticed that each of the films had a different genre in the actual clue. So for a while I thought that if I had to make a wild guess, then genre wouldn’t be a bad one. Nothing more than that really.