"The Woman in White" February 17, 2023

[mikeB]

As several have experienced, the First Ladies' names come quickly, and then the challenge was figuring out how to tie them together to get the solution. My first try was to go to the husbands/presidents -- noting (from bottom to top) George, Ron, Ike and Dick, which abbreviate to G.R.I.D. Whoa! That lasted a few seconds, before realizing that the purpose of 61A was to call attention, not to Mary's name, but to the ordinal 16th. Then Whoosh! This highlights how the constructor can dial difficulty up or down by using (or not) nudges like 16th. Could I have solved this one without that numerical nudge? I'll never know, but I do know there are quite a few experts here who could've. Endogenous nudges: another talent of constructors that makes these metas so much fun over time.

[whimsy]

@BarbaraK -- what a wonderful way to share your rabbit hole! Thank you! (I was temped by the possibility of something along those lines too; but your great puzzle still challenged me!)

[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

This is cool! A crossword remix!

Crossword remix.

We should totally make that a thing.

[LadyBird]

As I was part way through the grid, I did notice the MAMIE in the 2nd themer and thought that might be it. But I didn't see anything in the 1st themer. Then I saw COCK in the 2nd themer (of the poultry variety!). I had put in HENS for "Ckicken tender" so I thought it was going to be a male/female thing after I saw POP in the first themer. But then my meta brain made a course correction.

[hcbirker]

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 great @BarbaraK ! You have talent!

[boharr]

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 great @BarbaraK ! You have talent!

Ditto ^

[Cindy N]

If you have four First Ladies first names in your long theme fills, and your hint/clue references the husband's number to get the first name of his First Lady to give you an example what to use, and those Presidents' numbers spell out BESS,a First Lady (or WOMAN IN WHITEhouse), why would you then try and determine the party affiliation of the four and come up with another name that isn't in the grid or referenced anywhere else that doesn't involve using the President's number?

Yes, I know. Run-on sentence.

[jhseeman]

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.

Great Idea, like the idea of remixes.

[Joe Ross]

[Ergcat]

As several have experienced, the First Ladies' names come quickly, and then the challenge was figuring out how to tie them together to get the solution. My first try was to go to the husbands/presidents -- noting (from bottom to top) George, Ron, Ike and Dick, which abbreviate to G.R.I.D. Whoa! That lasted a few seconds, before realizing that the purpose of 61A was to call attention, not to Mary's name, but to the ordinal 16th. Then Whoosh! This highlights how the constructor can dial difficulty up or down by using (or not) nudges like 16th. Could I have solved this one without that numerical nudge? I'll never know, but I do know there are quite a few experts here who could've. Endogenous nudges: another talent of constructors that makes these metas so much fun over time.

I think I didn’t need the hint…. Seeing how it was a Mike Shenk meta, I automatically thought “this involves numbers/math” somehow. Just lucky we didn’t have to take the square roots of anything!

[woozy]

If you have four First Ladies first names in your long theme fills, and your hint/clue references the husband's number to get the first name of his First Lady to give you an example what to use, and those Presidents' numbers spell out BESS,a First Lady (or WOMAN IN WHITEhouse), why would you then try and determine the party affiliation of the four and come up with another name that isn't in the grid or referenced anywhere else that doesn't involve using the President's number?

Yes, I know. Run-on sentence.

I think maybe it'd be that if we didn't get that the MARY clue was referring to the number at all and just first ladies, we might wrack our brains trying to make sense of things and in desperation through everything at a wall and see what sticks, and we might realize that PAT and MAMIE are three terms apart and NANCY and LAURA likewise as are PAT and NANCY and figure its about three terms apart without thinking about the specific numbers, or being caught up with being 3 apart being significant we wouldn't thing to consider the standard grid code.

Like I said if you chase rabbits and look to close and not step back, I can empathize with considering a convoluted clue sooner than a straightforward one. But seriously, the three terms apart is as convoluted as BIDACTYL rather than TAILLESS. [Actually, I think my step-father in that anecdote used POLYDACT rather than TAILLESS; the amazing thing is he manage to force an entire section of the grid about 7 x 7 to fit the incorrect entry-- but then again my step father took dogged-pigheadness to whole new levels.]

[eagle1279]

Flaunting convention helped me -- I noticed 61A before I started the grid and started from that corner instead of the traditional clue-order. When working from the SE corner, the names NANCY and LAURA appeared before I completed the long answers, so I knew right away I was looking for First Ladies' first names, and in fact PAT and MAMIE helped me fill in those answers. I still had trouble making the connection to BESS because I had trouble with 31D and 37D, but I had -ESS so that finished the solve of both the meta and the grid for me.

[Plymouthrock]

Who thinks it would be fun to write in whether you had
Any help including zoom calls so we could see how many get it all by themselves. I’m always curious about that. Exposing my inner nerd.
I only know one person who does the meta. We never help each other. And for me any help received would take the thrill away. More nerdishness.

[clonefitz]

As I mentioned in the Zoom call Friday, I noticed the "HST" buried in the clue for 27 down. Seems unlikely to be an intentional hint or point of validation, either way I thought it was noteworthy.

[Joe Ross]

Most people note if they had help solving, or if they solve with family or co-solvers.

[KayW]

@BarbaraK - what a fabulous debut meta! I hope we'll be seeing more from you soon. Re-mix or otherwise.

[SusieG]

Hmmm, I thought of that at 4:00 am on Sunday but forgot about it until I went to bed on Sunday night. I briefly thought about jumping up to look at the grid, but went to sleep instead.

[DBMiller]

Finished the grid, noticed all the First Ladies and the MARY clue. Did NOT notice the ordinal. Had a Wiki page up with all the First Ladies. Still didn't notice the ordinals.

Last letters of the four married names in reverse order were BREN - Could it be VanBuren's First Lady? No presidents with a last name starting with U, but there is damacUS and G+RANT in the grid. I still need VAN, though. (How many of you just now thought of Van Gogh? )

Second letter of all the ladies is an A. Could we be looking for Abigail Adams?

FDA is one off from IDA (McKinley?) Not very notable.

Put it away for a while. When I came back to it, I was looking at my list of First Ladies and had my "Doh!" moment. 37,34,40,43. Bingo.

It was also noted in Friday's Zoom that BEStactor was also very close to BESS. The ANTIS and kazakHSTan connection were also pointed out. Human brains and their ability to free associate are amazing.

[Meg]

Thanks @BarbaraK! Do it again with this week's WSJ. Please.

[Barney]

Finished the grid, noticed all the First Ladies and the MARY clue. Did NOT notice the ordinal. Had a Wiki page up with all the First Ladies. Still didn't notice the ordinals.

Last letters of the four married names in reverse order were BREN - Could it be VanBuren's First Lady? No presidents with a last name starting with U, but there is damacUS and G+RANT in the grid. I still need VAN, though. (How many of you just now thought of Van Gogh? )

Second letter of all the ladies is an A. Could we be looking for Abigail Adams?

FDA is one off from IDA (McKinley?) Not very notable.

Put it away for a while. When I came back to it, I was looking at my list of First Ladies and had my "Doh!" moment. 37,34,40,43. Bingo.

It was also noted in Friday's Zoom that BEStactor was also very close to BESS. The ANTIS and kazakHSTan connection were also pointed out. Human brains and their ability to free associate are amazing.

Abigail Adams was our “unicorn” that turned into a skunk .

Never again will I be lured into a reach rather than a find.