"The Woman in White" February 17, 2023

[Plymouthrock]

I did get it but not without initially going for the maiden names of the four First Ladies. It seemed woman in white would imply White House but also the woman on her wedding day In white. Try as I might their maiden names led nowhere.

[benchen71]

Instead of just writing about my favorite rabbit hole this week, I decided to try to turn it into another meta.

I’ve been experimenting a bit with making crosswords. So far they haven’t been good enough to share. And honestly this one isn’t either. I should have either tossed it or taken more time to work on the rough spots and get help from an experienced constructor. But by then it would have been ancient history, so here it is.

https://crosshare.org/crosswords/MEXu1x ... sj-contest

Apologies for the ugly spots. I won’t be offended if you just hit reveal there or anywhere.

This was excellent! Definitely do this again!

[Joe Ross]

Instead of just writing about my favorite rabbit hole this week, I decided to try to turn it into another meta.

I’ve been experimenting a bit with making crosswords. So far they haven’t been good enough to share. And honestly this one isn’t either. I should have either tossed it or taken more time to work on the rough spots and get help from an experienced constructor. But by then it would have been ancient history, so here it is.

https://crosshare.org/crosswords/MEXu1x ... sj-contest

Apologies for the ugly spots. I won’t be offended if you just hit reveal there or anywhere.

Looking forward to solving this, Barbara!

Based on reaction from two gifted experts, @woozy & @benchen71, PM your next effort to @Abide & @Al Sisti for MMM publication, please, 🙂

[debbierudy]

I did get it but not without initially going for the maiden names of the four First Ladies. It seemed woman in white would imply White House but also the woman on her wedding day In white. Try as I might their maiden names led nowhere.

That was also my reasoning, that it must be something with their maiden names (although "nee" wasn't a grid entry), but nothing worked. As is often the case, my aha moment came when I was doing something else and suddenly wondered about the extra info in 61A - why did he add that? And there it was!

[pjc]

I followed some of the same rabbit holes listed here (married last names; maiden names; etc.), but the last Across clue (AHA! '16'!!) immediately led me to a Wikipedia page of a list of First Ladies by numbers and BESS jumped out of the grid. Seemed like a lock to me. Never considered the intervals between the grid answers, which could have thrown a wrench into my thinking.

This puts my winning streak at 5.

[drbockel2]

Woohoo!

[woozy]

I got cocky when a quarter of the way through the grid and with two themers I figured it had the names of first ladies. So when I saw the final clue I thought, bah, I didn't need that. Then when I finished the grid I figured the answer had to be a first lady but which one? (My first guess was BESS TRUMAN but for utterly no other reason than it slipped off the tongue smoothly). I tried wild stabs (5 republican wives? Is it at all possible we've only had six republican presidents? ... uh, no....) and I suppose if I had thought of terms I might have gone down a rabbit hole of "Well, the are three terms apart" but I didn't.

But looking at the final clue I saw there was more info-- the ordinal terms. So that gave me four numbers and numbers in a meta usually mean one of two things. So it was a lock.

When I heard that LOU HOOVER was being considered it seemed.... well, I've expressed my opinion elsewhere. (I can empathize though....)

[Dplass]

I did get it but not without initially going for the maiden names of the four First Ladies. It seemed woman in white would imply White House but also the woman on her wedding day In white. Try as I might their maiden names led nowhere.

Same. And I also learned that Nancy Davis Reagan had a very different name at birth.

[flyingMoose]

I found 35A to be a suggestion/confirmation that the President would be a Democrat.

[Momo]

I went with the letter A being the second letter for all the first ladies mentioned (even for Mary). Lana also had a 2nd A and she played Jackie O, so that was my guess. Lou is definitely better but that is why I stayed down the wrong rabbit hole. Time to eat lettuce.

[Ergcat]

A confirmation of sorts for me was Bess’s tie to the White House ( “Woman in White”) because Her most significant contribution as first lady was overseeing an extensive structural renovation of the White House, which saved the aging executive mansion from demolition. However, ironically, because of the extensive renovations, the Truman’s lived in Blair House and NOT the White House for a good part of their tenure. So maybe she isn’t quite a “Woman in White”

[MikeM000]

Instead of just writing about my favorite rabbit hole this week, I decided to try to turn it into another meta.

I’ve been experimenting a bit with making crosswords. So far they haven’t been good enough to share. And honestly this one isn’t either. I should have either tossed it or taken more time to work on the rough spots and get help from an experienced constructor. But by then it would have been ancient history, so here it is.

https://crosshare.org/crosswords/MEXu1x ... sj-contest

This is cool! A crossword remix!

[Bob cruise director]

For the people who were wrestling with whether to submit BESS or BESS TRUMAN, you have to understand how the WSJ selects the right answer.

Electronically they have everyone who submits by email and those who submit by the web site in one file. The system randomly selects one entrant. A person looks at the answer to determine if it is correct. In this case, the person would/should and will accept either option as a valid answer. You are not trying to outguess a machine.

And the system calculates the number of each answer so when you see Mike post the percentage of right answers and some of the most common wrong answers, the WSJ does not have some intern sorting through 1000+ entries.

[OGuyDave]

Done Thursday, and done 10:30 ET last night

Some of you old-timers might recognize me. First success since early December. And almost didn't get this one, except for a last-minute look before hitting the sack last night. Hey, I remember this good feeling!

TFTXWD

[Cap'n Rick]

Instead of just writing about my favorite rabbit hole this week, I decided to try to turn it into another meta.

I’ve been experimenting a bit with making crosswords. So far they haven’t been good enough to share. And honestly this one isn’t either. I should have either tossed it or taken more time to work on the rough spots and get help from an experienced constructor. But by then it would have been ancient history, so here it is.

https://crosshare.org/crosswords/MEXu1x ... sj-contest

Apologies for the ugly spots. I won’t be offended if you just hit reveal there or anywhere.

Nice job, @BarbaraK! Looking forward to more from you!

[MarkWoychick]

Instead of just writing about my favorite rabbit hole this week, I decided to try to turn it into another meta.

I’ve been experimenting a bit with making crosswords. So far they haven’t been good enough to share. And honestly this one isn’t either. I should have either tossed it or taken more time to work on the rough spots and get help from an experienced constructor. But by then it would have been ancient history, so here it is.

https://crosshare.org/crosswords/MEXu1x ... sj-contest

Apologies for the ugly spots. I won’t be offended if you just hit reveal there or anywhere.

Thanks for sharing your puzzle - I enjoyed it

[Barney]

The we thought we found turned into a

The 99% solution turned from into vinegar

The into hasenpfeffer

[Al Sisti]

Instead of just writing about my favorite rabbit hole this week, I decided to try to turn it into another meta.

I’ve been experimenting a bit with making crosswords. So far they haven’t been good enough to share. And honestly this one isn’t either. I should have either tossed it or taken more time to work on the rough spots and get help from an experienced constructor. But by then it would have been ancient history, so here it is.

https://crosshare.org/crosswords/MEXu1x ... sj-contest

Apologies for the ugly spots. I won’t be offended if you just hit reveal there or anywhere.

Nice job, @BarbaraK! Looking forward to more from you!

Ditto!

[Ergcat]

@BarbaraK enjoyed your puzzle ! Very clever! Hope you do more!

[jrdad]

I wondered about all of the First Ladies being Republicans and tried to find a path to another one. Then I realized that it was only that the last five Democratic First Lady names wouldn't easily fit in the puzzle's design. And then, voila, there's Bess.