"Signs of the Times" January 20, 2023

[Cindy N]

Did anyone notice the Google Doodle for1/22? Celebrating the Year of the Rabbit. If you hovered over it, it said Happy Lunar New Year./

[woozy]

Did anyone notice the Google Doodle for1/22? Celebrating the Year of the Rabbit. If you hovered over it, it said Happy Lunar New Year./

And if you search for "lunar new year".... try it. I don't know how long it will last.

https://www.google.com/search?q=lunar+new+year

[Ergcat]

Year of the Rabbit!! Hope that not a sign of things to come in metas of 2023! We don’t need to be chasing more silly rabbits!

[SingleMalt]

Joining you all on the beach today in an effort to top our record. Been a while, what's on tap?

I'm hoping @SingleMalt will share the Oban.

Yes Sir!

[emerisle]

Lol...never close to shore as in a deep rabbit hole. Ha!

[pjc]

Took me a while to notice that the middle CHINA clue was the key to the puzzle. I mostly floundered, trying to see patterns in the answers. Before solving, the most promising path seemed to be all the colors in the clues (WHITE rabbit, Study in SCARLET, etc.). I couldn't let that go for some time.

Anyway, as I said before, start of a new streak!

[whimsy]

Yes indeed, this would have been frowned upon if posted earlier --

(Although I know of some that consider that to be every year...)

[JJD]

I noticed CHINA and then all the animals. But I assumed there would be more to it, so I highlighted the 12+ people named in clues as well. I thought maybe I’d need to see which person was born in each of the zodiac years or something. But I was too busy this weekend to sit at the computer to research. I almost reverse pageant-ed myself?
I don’t know if I would have noticed the easier answer, though!

Congratulations to all the solvers and kudos to the puzzle creator.

[zach]

This one was my personal record for quickest meta solve. I had the mechanism and answer in about 60 seconds. After filling in “China,” the animals popped out, and I was done. Still had fun filling in the grid.

[MaineMarge]

Such a classic Mike - double checking the clues right off the bat helps with so many of his metas. It’s always the year of the GOAT with this guy.
Yup,@whimsy, it is always the year of the (white) rabbit at our place.
This guy has kept watch right here since we built this pond in 1997.

[Barney]

Current rating on Fiend is 4.63. Rare generosity! Endorse! (I rated it a 5)

[zacmoretz]

Aboard! Cheers y’all!

Do you mean "ashore"?

Oops! Yes I did! Autocorrect I guess…

[mikeB]

I was working the grid when I got called for departure to dinner. Mrs. B. asked how the meta was going. (Yes, it has finally come to that.) I had about half of the grid completed, but I expressed a feeling that the answer might have something to do with Lunar New Year. Mrs. B. had been preparing Hong Bao (Red Envelopes) to distribute, so my comment was topical. My surmise was affected by three helpers: the central entry and its clue (zodiac), the prompt (. . . an event), and the title, which used the word “SIGNS” rather than the cliché’s more common singular form, thus raising the significance of the zodiac hint. Quick solve after returning home from dinner. Only after the reveal did I know that the clues were in the animals’ zodiac order (starting with Rabbit, of course) – an amazing grace note from Mr. Shenk. Happy Lunar New Year, everyone!

[31 Down]

This one was my personal record for quickest meta solve. I had the mechanism and answer in about 60 seconds. After filling in “China,” the animals popped out, and I was done. Still had fun filling in the grid.

Saw the animals and did the same but missed (like many others?) the full elegant mechanism - that the answers spelled it out. So alternative events names, such as "Chinese New Year" and crossword stalwart "Tet", are incorrect.

[MikeM000]

BTW - 61 across was totally new to me. I really only know of Crusader Rabbit from references characters on Leave It to Beaver made.

[MikeMillerwsj]

The contest answer is LUNAR NEW YEAR. As suggested by the central answer CHINA— “Nation with a 12-animal zodiac”—12 Across clues contain the name of one of those animals in zodiac order (rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, pig, rat, ox, tiger). The first letters of those clues’ answers, in order, spell the contest answer.

A big turnout for this extremely clever puzzle (starting with the fact that LUNAR NEW YEAR happens to have 12 letters... and then embedding all 12 signs in the clues... with answers whose initials spell out the solution!). We had 2005 entries, with about 87% correct, above our typical 75%. Also 143 guesses for CHINESE NEW YEAR (presumably spotting all those animals but not going the final step). And 13 for YEAR OF THE RABBIT.

Congrats to this week's winner: Kevin Bryant of Pompano Beach, Fla.!

[JeanneC]

Congrats to the winner!
Maybe I’m getting close? My town is in Florida too and also starts with a “P”.

[FrancesY]

This one was my personal record for quickest meta solve. I had the mechanism and answer in about 60 seconds. After filling in “China,” the animals popped out, and I was done. Still had fun filling in the grid.

Saw the animals and did the same but missed (like many others?) the full elegant mechanism - that the answers spelled it out. So alternative events names, such as "Chinese New Year" and crossword stalwart "Tet", are incorrect.

I also didn’t see the animal grid entries spelling out the answer. (So nicely constructed.) So when I was considering Lunar New Year, I thought about Vietnam using a Cat instead of a Rabbit in its zodiac. Decided specificity was called for and submitted Chinese New Year.

[Dplass]

BTW - 61 across was totally new to me. I really only know of Crusader Rabbit from references characters on Leave It to Beaver made.



rags.JPG

I never heard of it either, but got it from the crosses.

[Al Sisti]

BTW - 61 across was totally new to me. I really only know of Crusader Rabbit from references characters on Leave It to Beaver made.



rags.JPG

I only knew it because I worked with a guy from "Bedfuhd Sty," and he couldn't believe we (upstaters) never heard of it. Of course, he always thought of "upstate" as meaning Yonkers.