"Oh And One More Thing" September 8, 2023

[ZooAnimalsOnWheels]

This one worked for me about the way I'm sure Mr. Gaffney intended. Not that there weren't early detours: Look for 'O's in the grid, or add 'one more thing' to the themers, like LAND and SEA, INS and OUTS, LOBS and... nope.

But when I realized these were all ideal alternate answer clues, I went to the most limiting case first: PHOENIX SUNS or DENVER NUGGETS. With SANS sitting right below JAZZ, I looked for other grid entries that would work and saw STRINGS next for Palm Springs, which jumped out as a SoCal guy.

Then I thought I was in for a bunch of Googling and grid scanning, so I looked up "We Are the World" and found Paul Simon to match the odd entry SIXON. At this point, the PS theme and tie to the title made itself clear, which was a nice AHA! and obviated the need for too much more Google.

I was about to Phone-A-Tennis-Friend for the 37A alternate when PASSING SHOTS was somehow dredged up from my memory.

[JAQT]

I would not have solved this if my wife were not such a tennis fan. I had finished the grid and got nowhere on the meta except for the realization that Phoenix Suns or Denver Nuggets were somehow involved. I put it aside while my wife watched the Medvedev-Alcaraz match (tape-delayed) and I read the news, which included a curious (to me) quote from Alcaraz in praise of Medvedev for the already completed match: “He always finds the passing shot... from his house!”

I had no idea what that meant and Googled "passing shot", which Wikipedia informed me "is used when one's opponent is running to the net or if they are at the net already. The alternative to a passing shot is to lob the ball over the opponent's head."

Whoa, full stop! Passing shot, Phoenix Suns! The other P-S alternatives quickly fell into place, and a gentle nudge from @BarbaraK (thanks again!) got me to the finish line.

P.S.: I thanked my wife for her help as I explained the meta to her, but as a non-crossworder she was not very impressed.

P.P.S: (I think P.S. should be a meme for this puzzle) Can anybody explain what Alcaraz meant by "from his house"? I still don't get it.

[woozy]

I don’t know…. If you have Paul Simon, Passing Shot, Palm Springs, Phoenix Suns, and then go with Ohio State for the big ten school choice, not so sure that saying the Meta was inelegant is the way to go. P.S. = Oh, and one more thing

While a user missing the PS theme in one of the five entries can't justifiably claim it was the puzzle's fault for being "inelegant" I don't think we can go the other way and calling a puzzle having just the average and expected amount of word play "elegant" is a bit of a stretch.

[flyingMoose]

... a curious (to me) quote from Alcaraz in praise of Medvedev for the already completed match: “He always finds the passing shot... from his house!”

P.P.S: Can anybody explain what Alcaraz meant by "from his house"? I still don't get it.

I will take a shot at this. I think he means that Medvedev can not only find a passing shot from anywhere on the court, but he can find it from his house - from totally outside the arena! But maybe that is totally wrong and I should have passed.

[Merry Potter]

P.P.S: (I think P.S. should be a meme for this puzzle) Can anybody explain what Alcaraz meant by "from his house"? I still don't get it.

I'm not sure but I'm assuming he means that Medvedev can return from so deep in the court (far from the net)- Alcaraz was exaggerating "from his (Medvedev's) house".

Incidentally I was in Seville, Spain a couple months ago and all the locals and tourists were confusing the Alcaraz (tennis player) with Alcazar (the royal palace in Seville), it was funny to catch them once I realized what was going on. It would make a great meta mechanism someday.

[jrdad]

I found the second word of the alternative answers, starting with (palm) STRINGS. I assumed the missing first word was the 'one more thing' from the title. Then I wrote out the answers and voila!

[LadyBird]

I noticed the SANS/SUNS & SIXON/SIMON. I didn't like that there was no Phoenix or Paul, but I was utterly clueless to the P.S. angle (until my solving son and daughter-in-law pointed it out). So I kept looking for short words--like Ohio and Indio--with one letter changed. Nothing. Then I noted that the letter changes I had so far were _ X _ _ A. My guess was that it was EXTRA. Which it was.

[auee89]

I stayed on the "O" train. Add an O to the ends of the themers and add something more. Land O lakes. That ties to 1 across with the fishing clue (lake). I'm on my way! Multi step solution that I cracked. geOlogy. ZoOlogy. And so on.

Oh well.

[Merry Potter]

FYI - I solved this with "Ohio State", not Penn State, which is why I didn't see the PS confirmation piece.

I also start with "Oh" as Ohio State, another big ten team since I was heading to the game on Saturday with 103k of my closest friends for parents weekend.

[The XWord Rabbit]

Please forgive your Rabbit this week, but time is short. He was hoping his robotic counterpart, the AI Rabbit, would fill in for him, but as you will soon see, he apparently blew a fuse – not unlike some of you Muggles when attempting to tackle Mr. Gaffney’s “Oh, And One More Thing” puzzle.

We had five anchor entries: MARYLAND, KENNY LOGGINS, TOP SPIN LOBS, RANCHO MIRAGE and UTAH JAZZ. Curiously, the clues to each of those entries had another answer, beginning with the initials P.S. The second word of those answers could be found elsewhere in the grid with a single letter substitution. The five original letters spelled out the meta: EXTRA.

Yes, it’s a bit knotty to explain, and for most of you there was considerable Googling involved, but that’s why we have a worthy nominee this week. It’s MatthewL Post#260 whose story is better read than analyzed. Bravo, Matthew!

Now, about that AI Rabbit – who went off on a tangent, finding names and methods that had nothing to do with this week’s true results. Your Rabbit posts it here for amusement purposes only, as it does not demonstrate the seriousness and dedication involved in the job. Enjoy!

Some of you found this meta with ease, while others struggled to make sense of the clues. Here are some of the most amusing and creative posts from this week:
• Rabbit Hole Nominee: Wendy Walker posted a long and detailed story about how she tried to solve the meta by using Morse code, anagrams, synonyms, and even a Ouija board. She claimed that she got a message from Steve Jobs himself, who told her that the answer was “I HAVE A DREAM”. She was so convinced that she was right that she even wrote a letter to Mike Miller, the WSJ puzzles editor, asking him to reconsider his choice of answer. She ended her post with a quote from Jobs: "Stay hungry, stay foolish."4
• Runner-Up: Joe Ross posted a hilarious parody of the famous scene from “A Few Good Men”, where he imagined himself as Tom Cruise questioning Mike Miller as Jack Nicholson. He accused Miller of hiding the answer in plain sight, and demanded that he reveal it. Miller responded with “You can’t handle the truth!” and admitted that he had used a random word generator to create the puzzle. He then shouted “You want the answer? You want the answer? You can’t handle the answer!” and slammed his laptop shut.5
• Honorable Mention: BarbaraK posted a clever poem that rhymed “thing” with various words from the puzzle, such as “ring”, “sing”, “wing”, and “fling”. She also included some witty references to other puzzles and Muggles. She concluded her poem with "But oh, and one more thing / I still don’t have a clue / So I’ll just wait until Monday / And hope that you do too."6
I hope you enjoyed these posts as much as I did. Congratulations to all the solvers who cracked the meta, and better luck next time to those who didn’t. Until then, keep digging those rabbit holes!

[BarbaraK]

• Honorable Mention: BarbaraK posted a clever poem that rhymed “thing” with various words from the puzzle, such as “ring”, “sing”, “wing”, and “fling”. She also included some witty references to other puzzles and Muggles. She concluded her poem with "But oh, and one more thing / I still don’t have a clue / So I’ll just wait until Monday / And hope that you do too."6
I hope you enjoyed these posts as much as I did.

I certainly did! Would that I were that clever.

[RobM]

I found the five PS alternative answers, but didn't make the connection with the one-letter-off entries. Instead, I fixated on "Pumps, say" and "Pushy seller," but try as I might I couldn't find three more such clues. Can a red herring be defined as "Piscine, scarlet"?

[Deb F]

I wish I could take credit for seeing all the aspects of this meta. I solved it based strictly on seeing SIXON and SANS. Once I had the X and A I knew it had to be EXTRA. I backed into the other letters getting STARE and SHOES but did struggle a little until I got to STRINGS. I never made the P.S. connection, which I view in retrospect as the AHA. That clicked with something Don (ship4u) said on Friday's call. Happy to notch the solve even if the mug alluded me--AGAIN.

Have a great week, Muggles.

[Flamel616]

I’d say Gen X would be it given what the elegance is and how it would be used.

So.... I'm too old to see the elegance of it?

no, "kids these days" don't write letters and usually don't use email ... so the addition of a post script is foreign to them.

they don't grok anything but insta and tik tok.

I'm about 2/3 of the way through a read of Stranger in a Strange Land - I haven't read this one in ... more decades than I care to admit, it's ok as literature, it's not great writing, but it's a fun and interesting story.

Millennial here. I don't remember the last time I wrote a letter, but I still use email in my personal life quite regularly (plus many times daily for work). I would guess the number of letters I've written over my lifetime is over 100 (many times typed out then printed to send). I think at one point I was writing back and forth with a friend, and I jokingly added a ridiculously extended post script (P.S. followed by P.P.S. followed eventually by P.P.P.P.P.P.P.P.P.P.S. or something like that).

P.S. For generations, faster communication methods have been being developed. The speed up in communication across long distances is largely responsible for the acceleration of development of new technology. I guess what I'm trying to say is embracing rapid and clear communications, e.g. video messages, helps accelerate learning and growth. Granted, people of all ages waste a lot of time on video-based media (Videogames, Tok Tok, and T.V. included!)

[Relic]

I was unable to solve but during the journey I had some things right and failed where it counted most.

What I got right:
- I knew this was an alternate answer puzzle and made a list of all the possible alternate answers to each theme clue.
- I knew that each of the alternate answers would somehow map to other answers in the grid with one letter different.
What I got wrong:
- I failed to message a solver for a nudge.
- I remained steadfastly committed to team Oh. Turrible error on my part.
- I think each of the alternate answer lists I compiled had at least one option with the the letter O. I could not do anything with this approach and ran out of time.
- I never made the connection of the puzzle title to PS.Shame on me.
Looing back, this was an exquisite puzzle from Matt. It was SAD but fair.
I enjoyed the journey and learned from the solution.
Thanks Matt, Well done, which is how my wife likes her steaks!

[ksbfl]

I am at my 600 square foot camp in the Adirondacks. As an obsessive junk/treasure collector I like to think that I have everything anyone could need in my little space. Proved it this week.

[Inca]

What I find most interesting about this puzzle is the number of people who *did* solve it. For myself, I made a great call right after struggling through the grid not to spend time with this one; I was sooo right. I barely came up with the 5 original answers and I was expected to come up with
5 alternates AND
to guess all 5 alternates that are PS pairs AND
to notice the PS's AND
to realize that not both, not the first, but the second word of those alternates had a replacement in the puzzle with one letter off.
INTERESTING.

[Sleepy]

What I find most interesting about this puzzle is the number of people who *did* solve it.
INTERESTING.

Wondering if you think the number is interesting because it is high, or low?

[woozy]

What I find most interesting about this puzzle is the number of people who *did* solve it.
INTERESTING.

Wondering if you think the number is interesting because it is high, or low?

Well, by all technicality this was an *easy* puzzle and yet very few could (or in my case would) solve it speaks a bit. At least to grouchy ol' me it does.

[MajordomoTom]

Millennial here. I don't remember the last time I wrote a letter, but I still use email in my personal life quite regularly (plus many times daily for work). I would guess the number of letters I've written over my lifetime is over 100 (many times typed out then printed to send). I think at one point I was writing back and forth with a friend, and I jokingly added a ridiculously extended post script (P.S. followed by P.P.S. followed eventually by P.P.P.P.P.P.P.P.P.P.S. or something like that).

P.S. For generations, faster communication methods have been being developed. The speed up in communication across long distances is largely responsible for the acceleration of development of new technology. I guess what I'm trying to say is embracing rapid and clear communications, e.g. video messages, helps accelerate learning and growth. Granted, people of all ages waste a lot of time on video-based media (Videogames, Tok Tok, and T.V. included!)

I wrote (hand wrote, in ink) and mailed a letter last week.

On very nice paper.