MGWCC #759 - “Bright Idea”

[jhseeman]

Finally Beamed up.....jeez....apparently I"m good at giving hints, but very bad at using those same hints to get myself beamed up (facepalm).

[Bird Lives]

Like @joe (#21), so near but yet so far. Needed a nudge. and oh the chagrin when two seconds later I saw the answer.

[HunterX]

Awaiting the transporter beam.

Floundered around quite a bit searching for the metanism. Big thanks owed to @HoldThatThought for the gentlest of nudging. None of the "This one thing you found is right and you should pursue it more." More of "Okay, so you have figured out this logically and you already know this, so ponder some more on that" guidance. Preserved the "A HA!" moment perfectly. I actually found the metanism while describing exactly where and how I was stuck. (Love when that happens.)

[lbray53]

Beamed up but needed help. Seemed more like a week four to me. There was a disconnect that needed to be bridged without much direction in my opinion. Can’t wait to read the reveal.

[MikeyG]

Beamed up but needed help. Seemed more like a week four to me. There was a disconnect that needed to be bridged without much direction in my opinion. Can’t wait to read the reveal.

This definitely is a Week 3.5 at least, I'd say? I wonder if anyone would say it was too easy for Week 3.

Also, I wonder if Matt will take more pity on us for Week 4 if Week 3's difficulty is underestimated (esp. knowing a Week 5 is on the horizon)! He's done that before (and we dodged a Week 5 with the wild EIGHTIES puzzle being overly difficult, even for Week 4, I think).

The year 2021 saw 5 Week 3's get under 200. Only 2 so far this year (January's DRIFT with the hilarious column of Paula Abdul lyrics and June's NIGHTMARES: 172 and 155, respectively). This will probably get to about 216 or so with the final push, I'd say.

Mikey G, data nerd

[ColinM]

I could not have gotten this one on my own. Thanks again @HoldThatThought .
I'd just like to add that I'm a big fan of Sufjan Stevens and I think season 2 of White Lotus seemed like a 90 minute film stretched across 7 hours. So this puzzle otherwise suited me.

[Joe]

Part of a dress in a North African city could also be ORAN HEM
Bring damage to a matrix character could also be HARM NEO
Pork product from a Nevada city could also be RENO HAM
Pronoun used in a Arabian Peninsula nation could also be OMAN HER

These all anagram to MENORAH

I alluded earlier to a huge non-meta related qualm I have. And that is: why the hate for White Lotus?? I mean everyone's taste is their own, but... this seemed a little harsh for Matt.

I loved the meta, though it was pointed out to me that this is one of those that could potentially be solved without solving the grid. Everything you need is in the clues.

[MikeM000]

I alluded earlier to a huge non-meta related qualm I have. And that is: why the hate for White Lotus?? I mean everyone's taste is their own, but... this seemed a little harsh for Matt.

Especially since the clue itself was a massive reach. I had the leading H when I started the downs and thought we might have our 2nd rebus in 3 weeks, presuming it was HBO[MAX]. Unless The White Lotus came to Matt's house and left a bag of flaming dog poop on his porch and then spray painted "Ada is a loser" on his garage door, it still wouldn't be reasonable to negatively associate it with HULU. (And yes, I realize the entry refers to the ability to subscribe to HBO within Hulu.) "Only Murders...", "The Bear", "The Patient"...all much more connected to the answer.

[Bird Lives]

I alluded earlier to a huge non-meta related qualm I have. And that is: why the hate for White Lotus?? I mean everyone's taste is their own, but... this seemed a little harsh for Matt.

Especially since the clue itself was a massive reach. I had the leading H when I started the downs and thought we might have our 2nd rebus in 3 weeks, presuming it was HBO[MAX]. Unless The White Lotus came to Matt's house and left a bag of flaming dog poop on his porch and then spray painted "Ada is a loser" on his garage door, it still wouldn't be reasonable to negatively associate it with HULU. (And yes, I realize the entry refers to the ability to subscribe to HBO within Hulu.) "Only Murders...", "The Bear", "The Patient"...all much more connected to the answer.

I too wondered why Matt went out of his way to throw shade on Lotus (Hulu? Really?). But it's his website, so he can do the sort of thing he can't do at WSJ, New York Mag, or other outlets for his puzzles. I hope he posts an explanation.

[MikeyG]

Part of a dress in a North African city could also be ORAN HEM
Bring damage to a matrix character could also be HARM NEO
Pork product from a Nevada city could also be RENO HAM
Pronoun used in a Arabian Peninsula nation could also be OMAN HER

These all anagram to MENORAH

I alluded earlier to a huge non-meta related qualm I have. And that is: why the hate for White Lotus?? I mean everyone's taste is their own, but... this seemed a little harsh for Matt.

I loved the meta, though it was pointed out to me that this is one of those that could potentially be solved without solving the grid. Everything you need is in the clues.

There was one like that with CANDIDE a while back where the meta was not dependent on the grid. (You could argue this time, the grid reduces your possibilities).

I have never seen "The White Lotus," didn't even know it was a thing, so I just found the clue some silly throwaway comment (i.e., 90% of my clues).

Mikey G

[Joe Ross]

[auee89]

Even with nudges, I couldn't see this one. I guess it's the engineer in me. Can't think outside the "grid" (or the clues).

I found ham - bacon, mar - injure, top - bodice, her - them. To no avail. No 7-letter words.

[Bird Lives]

I spotted HAM and HEM hidden in the entries (144A and 57A) and searched for other alternate answers for the others. Finding none, I assumed that this was the end of the very short path I wandered down. It took a significant nudge to get me to look again.

[HoldThatThought]

Put me down as "mystified" re: the enmity and rancor directed to Matt's 11D clue for "One place to watch the overrated...".

The term "overrated" explicitly implies that this is the "speaker's" point of view, and I don't know why it should be problematic that the puzzle author might share a point of view.

By saying that White Lotus is "overrated", Mr G is clearly suggesting that - having read the overwhelming and prolific raves for the series, he watched it, and found it less compelling than he had anticipated.

How dare he make that remark in a set of crossword clues. The community must force him to watch and rave effusively about Squid Games, The Crown and Downton Abbey, posthaste.

[HunterX]

I wondered, at first, whether the clue at 11D was somehow related to the metanism, given the show seems to get praise from critics and viewers alike. Having never seen it, and not knowing much about popular culture, I had to look the show up.

I thought I was lost on the meta until I tried to explain how lost I was to HoldThatThought, writing something to the effect of: "I mean, I can see how I could use NEO instead of TRINITY and use RENO instead of Las Vegas, which would give me an R as the link between themers 2 and 3. And I could take HARM and make HAM which... takes away an R between those. Hmmm... So I guess I'm just moving an R.... Oh, and I could make OMAN if I move... wait.... A HA!"

[sharkicicles]

Whenever BEQ clues an Eric Clapton entry he goes out of his way to say he’s overrated. As someone who also thinks Clapton sucks, I enjoy his cluing and don’t think twice about it.

[woozy]

....

How dare he make that remark in a set of crossword clues. The community must force him to watch and rave effusively about Squid Games, The Crown and Downton Abbey, posthaste.

Well, considering White Lotus isn't on HULU it seemed pretty bizarre

[HoldThatThought]

Seems that it might be

[Al Sisti]

Awaiting the transporter beam.

Floundered around quite a bit searching for the metanism. Big thanks owed to @HoldThatThought for the gentlest of nudging. None of the "This one thing you found is right and you should pursue it more." More of "Okay, so you have figured out this logically and you already know this, so ponder some more on that" guidance. Preserved the "A HA!" moment perfectly. I actually found the metanism while describing exactly where and how I was stuck. (Love when that happens.)

There is a definite art to nudge-giving.