"The Woman in White" February 17, 2023

[martimeryard]

Can I bounce my answer off someone? I might need a hint.
EDIT: Thanks for reaching out Bob! Ashore!

[caf.caf]

On Shore after walking the shore this morning.
Thanks Ship4U!!

[ricky]

Well, I got it wrong, I just determined after revisiting the grid again. My reasoning still makes sense, but it's not what was intended. Can't say more until tomorrow.

[kgiano]

On shore after small nudge from Zoom meeting

[Bob cruise director]

Can I bounce my answer off someone? I might need a hint.

@martimeryard send me a PM and give me your logic

[LadyBird]

Oops, I was trying to reply to LadyBird:))

download/file.php?mode=view&id=10601

I have the same pic! Guess we were 2 muggles passing in the morning:))

What a small, small Muggle world. If you see someone wandering the beach wearing binoculars, it might be me.

[Joe Ross]

REMINDER: Tomorrow is a WSJ non-publishing holiday, so the official answer will not be published at midnight.

The deadline remains 11:59 PM ET, tonight.

Muggles are encouraged to post their answers &/or reveals after midnight ET.

[aaugusti]

We made it to shore this afternoon. Fun puzzle!

[Bob cruise director]

Good evening muggles
Our final count is 4 on the ship and 210 on the shore

Good luck winning the mug and stay safe if you are in the path of the storm throughout the midwest and the south.

[Happy]

An idea came to me at the last minute. I think I managed to sneak ashore just in time.

[Franklin.Bluth]

The key is found in the clue/answer to 61-Across, "Lincoln, who was the wife of the 16th president..."/MARY.

Four United States First Ladies' names are found in grid entries:

17A: TAKE A POP AT = Pat Nixon - wife of the 37th president
24A: COCKAMAMIE = Mamie Eisenhower - wife of the 34th president
41A: MALIGNANCY = Nancy Reagan - wife of the 40th president
53A: VISUAL AURA = Laura Bush - wife of the 43rd president

The grid entries corresponding to those presidents' positions give us the following, the first letters of which spell the first name of the meta answer:

37A: BEAR
34A: ERGO
40A: SSN
43A: SONO

BESS TRUMAN

[CopperRiver]

Ok…so what’d everybody submit? I‘ll throw out my answer at risk of being completely wrong. Bess Truman.

My first answer I didn’t submit was Lou Henry Hoover because each President goes back back threes. But I couldn’t connect her to the puzzle.

[Berto]

I put BESS (Elizabeth “Bess” Truman) in the subject line.
I never know if anyone is receiving the e-mails, if it is human or bot… but thought I’d leave no doubt!

[BarbaraK]

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.

[Relic]

I submitted Bess Truman with some concern. The interval of 3's was intriguing, even 61A with 16 fits into the pattern of the intervals of 3. Ultimately I preferred the mapping approach.I do wonder, however, if Mike threw out the interval of 3 as an intentional red herring.

[escapeartist]

I submitted Bess Truman with some concern. The interval of 3's was intriguing, even 61A with 16 fits into the pattern of the intervals of 3. Ultimately I preferred the mapping approach.I do wonder, however, if Mike threw out the interval of 3 as an intentional red herring.

That is where I stood on this - submitted Lou Hoover

[Sleepy]

Mary Lincoln leads you to 16th president as mentioned in the clue. 16A leads you to “V”. Bess Truman’s middle name: Virginia! I’m sure this is no coincidence because Shenk is a genius creating these Metas!

[woozy]

My first answer I didn’t submit was Lou Henry Hoover because each President goes back back threes. But I couldn’t connect her to the puzzle.

Except they don't. They jump about. From 37 to 34 to 40 to 43. There's no pattern. And if there was you don't know if the next should but 46 (JILL BIDEN) or 31 (LOU HOOVER) [although as the first four were republicans it would have to be HOOVER].

No offense but that's just too flimsy to be valid (also why differences of three? Why not 4 or 2? That's just too arbitrary with no reference or rationale.)

[kgiano]

1 Rabbit hole - five republican presidential wives names that all have "A" as the 2nd letter? BARBARA BUSH
Second rabbit hole - five republican presidential wives names - but hmmm what is the link to another president - in 33A and 36A I see GR...ANT and that's a president so Ulysses Grant was married to JULIA GRANT

[woozy]

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.

That was awesome!

And I didn't have to hit reveal (but I had to wikipedia a long, long, way)

.......

I did sort of wonder about that rabbit hole but not long enough to do anything clever about it.