"Tie Game" August 18, 2023

[zach]

I didn’t know what to submit between MOOR and CRUISE. MOOR is probably the better answer, especially as it relates to the “TIE” in “TIE GAME”, but CRUISE is overall less obscure and still fits the “FASTEN TO A DOCK” clue. IMO, both should be accepted.

[Aragorn]

Good one! I got from CONNECTFOUR to the 4 four-letter answers, but didn’t know what to do with them (FEAK??). Tying them together by combining the last letters is a very clever allusion to the puzzle theme!

The other rabbit hole that I spent some time on is there are 4 games among the answers (WORDLE, OTHELLO, etc) but I couldn’t find anything in common among them.

[Laura M]

I did (eventually) get the intended answer, but the red herrings were very enticing. I was totally sure that the "game" clues were the key, and my Hail Mary answer was going to be SPREAD, it just made so much sense!

[benchen71]

Here's my entry for the XWord Rabbit!

Based on the central entry, we are playing CONNECT FOUR! But the title tells us that it is a TIE GAME, so no one is winning. As such, we need to look for connect four attempts that have been stopped (so 3 letters with 1 letter either inside or at one end).

There are five of these all on diagonals running from the top right to bottom left:

• HTTT (the H is the last letter of 17A)

• EEEO (the leading E is the last letter of 22A)

• TTRT (the leading T is the last letter of 29A)

• ETEE (the leading E is the 4th letter of 47A)

• LLOL (the leading L is the 4th letter of 44A)

Putting these letters in order spells THEORTOLET. By judiciously adding a Y and a I this becomes THEORY TOILET which is where this theory ends up because neither word appears in the puzzle clues.

To add insult to injury, there is a winning EEEE (the leading E is the 3rd letter of 18A), which ruins the whole TIE GAME shtick.

[Jace54]

This meta illustrated the fine line that often exists between a fast solve and getting hopelessly stuck in a deep rabbit hole. I was all set to get stuck in the “game” rabbit hole when I recalled a meta where 4-letter words were the path to the solution. So I decided to first look for 4-letter words, and knew I was on the correct path when I saw only 4 of them in the grid. “Fasten” jumped right out from the first two words and I was quickly ashore. My first ever top of page 1!

Turns out that previous puzzle was Quartets from 4-21-2017, where the middle grid entry was “four letter words” and the 4-letter words in the clues led to the answer “Name That Tune”. Crazy how a meta from over 6 years ago saved me!

[Miki]

Wow! Was I off. I submitted “even”. I took 12 down (evident) when I saw the e-v-e-n embedded. I thought 55d “lip” being “right under your nose” was a clue back to 12 down. I subtracted the “i” from Liz, the “d” from Ida and the “t” from PTA (LIP) to change “evident” to “even”.
Talk about overthinking!!
Congrats to those who REALLY solved!

That's why I mentioned Occum's razor

[Miki]

Here's my entry for the XWord Rabbit!

Based on the central entry, we are playing CONNECT FOUR! But the title tells us that it is a TIE GAME, so no one is winning. As such, we need to look for connect four attempts that have been stopped (so 3 letters with 1 letter either inside or at one end).

There are five of these all on diagonals running from the top right to bottom left:

• HTTT (the H is the last letter of 17A)

• EEEO (the leading E is the last letter of 22A)

• TTRT (the leading T is the last letter of 29A)

• ETEE (the leading E is the 4th letter of 47A)

• LLOL (the leading L is the 4th letter of 44A)

Putting these letters in order spells THEORTOLET. By judiciously adding a Y and a I this becomes THEORY TOILET which is where this theory ends up because neither word appears in the puzzle clues.


Tie Game (alt).jpg


To add insult to injury, there is a winning EEEE (the leading E is the 3rd letter of 18A), which ruins the whole TIE GAME shtick.

My game had one more step...EEE was blocked on top by the I above, but then the fourth E was added at the bottom.
Another part to consider, is that the winning player used only T,I,E tiles. And that's a way to ignore LOLL.

[FuminCuban]

After reading the solution, I still like my answer: from the middle E in ELENA diagonally down to the middle E in HER, that's the only set of four letters in a row in the puzzle, fullfilling CONNECT FOUR. The clue for HER has the word POSSESSIVE -- see it? Remove the E and you get four esses in a row, fulfilling the title, TIE GAME. C'mon, that has to be it!

I respectfully request this solution for the coveted Alternate Mug Award.

Thank you and remember,

[BethA]

My contest answer is OPTION. Taking the four answers which include the title word GAME in their clues, CONNECT FOUR games by noting that OLE can be CUT OUT of WORDLE. Another GAME in the grid is PIT. Just as OLE is to WORDLE, so PIT is to OPTION, another GAME found in the clue for 28 Across.

Oh well, MikeS gets his first point of the year! MikeS: 1, MattG: 1, BethA: 31.

Until Thursday…

[MatthewB]

How I didn't get the first step is beyond me. Maybe I just like the boat...

[Joe Ross]

I plumbed four or five rabbit holes, the last three based on five-letter words, after which I asked myself why was I obsessing over five-letter words. I looked for four-letter words, listed them to the right of the grid, and it was like reading a sentence. It was only after making a very few alterations to complete the reveal that I noticed the shared end letters. The mind sees what it sees, sometimes.

[Miki]

How do I share a .jpg ?

[DianeA]

I submitted LINE. With the title TIE GAME, and the clues reading FASTEN TO A DOCK, what better to use than a LINE, the correct nautical term?

[Joe Ross]

How do I share a .jpg ?

• Full Editor & Preview (icon below posting box).

• Attachments tab

• Add files icon

• upload image file

• place cursor in post where you wish image to be

• Place inline icon

[Bird Lives]

The central across entry is key. However, the only letters in the grid that would win a Connect Four game are the Es going up diagonally from HER.
.

.
This is clearly a win for E, not a “Tie Game.”

But there are more fours to be connected. Three of the rows have four of the same letter:
Es in the row starting with UNTESTED
Ls in the row starting with LOI
As in the row starting with TOAD
.

.
The answer, the prompt says, is to be found in one of the clues. Could those connected fours be found in a clue? Indeed. One clue (23D) has exactly four Es and four Ls.

S E a t . f i LL E r . a t . m a n y . a . 2 0 2 0 . b a s E b a LL . g a m E

It also had six As. Those can be ignored. But then, so can this entire line of thinking.

[pjc]

Wow - losing streak is up to three!

I did notice the scarcity of four-letter words, but didn't come up with the idea of linking them. I kinda love it!

Congrats to the solvers!

[OGuyDave]

Didn't get this one. Needed more nudges.

Picture shows my cruise boat, the Viking Polaris, docked in Charlottetown, PEI, Canada, this morning.

It's what? Tied to a what?

TFTXWD anyway

[ricky]

I did get it with a nudge from BarbaraK that was just "ignore the red herrings in the clues." I saw that there were only 4 4-letter entries right off the bat but could never figure out what to do with them. So I went down the CF / WORDLE/ OTHELLO / ARCADE?? rabbit hole.

Without WORDLE and ARCADE in the grid this would have provided a better click .

[LadyBird]

Didn't get this one. Needed more nudges.

Picture shows my cruise boat, the Viking Polaris, docked in Charlottetown, PEI, Canada, this morning.

PEI_20230821.jpg

Are you going to see "Anne-with-an-E" today? I loved that there is a national park dedicated to a fictional character!

I swore I wasn't going to do this, but...

[hoover]

Nope.