MGWCC #826 — “Sound Alternatives”

[clonefitz]

Was there a pattern to knowing which two syllables to pick out from each of the themers? Or to pick out which clues referenced the "alternatives"? I feel like I must have missed something.

Ah, just figured it out. The two digit clue number references which syllables! @Joe Ross , you will need to tweak a couple of your answers, same sounds but different syllables.

[schmidzy]

There is, syllables from the clue numbers:

12D (1,2) - PHYSIotherapy
25D (2,5) - psyCHOphysioLOgy
36D (3,6) - revoLUtionarY
41D (4,1) - ANtediLUvian
54D (5,4) - hallucinOGENic
61D (6,1) - INdianapoLIS

[Leslie]

Oh well. I had FIZZY and JENNA and tried for a couple of days to find the others, but never thought of using unconnected syllables based on the clue numbers. (I did also try to backsolve from C___O_, but couldn’t come up with an appropriate word.)

[ZooAnimalsOnWheels]

For PSYCHOPATHOLOGY, I had only O, or schwa, as the 5th syllable, and ended up with KO-A as an alternate I was searching for. I eventually figured it must be ALE and 'cola', but back-solving for other A answers caused me to learn a new word! Considering AGED led me to Khoa, which is an Indian dairy food not dissimilar from cheese, but I didn't think it was 'like many cheeses'. I also briefly considered whether using it as a connector between 'Zip' and 'Dah' would give give you Zip-Ko-a-Dah, or 'Zip Code'.

[Bird Lives]

How is the answer, CARBON, related to the mechanism or the title?

[KayW]

How is the answer, CARBON, related to the mechanism or the title?

I thought long and hard about that before submitting. At first I didn't see anything, and I was afraid that for a week 5, there would be yet another step. Finally came up with: CARBON is element #6. 6 theme entries, of 6 syllables each. And the prompt was "a six-letter word". Good enough for me.

[Conrad]

I made the mistake of beginning to solve this one on Monday due to work/travel. Asked a friend for a nudge Monday night, and dragged myself across the finish line with a couple of hours to spare. Hit the "not solo solve" button and submitted.

I find "sounds like" metas inferior due to the vast differences in how people pronounce words. Matt added an additional curveball beyond that: identify the syllables, and then identify how they are pronounced. Lots of people will disagree on both fronts.

Is it PSY-CHO or PSYCH-O? Depends on who says it. I had REV-O-LU-TION-A-RY in my notes, so I was looking for LU-RY (and not LU-Y/Louis).

I found (PHYS-I)OTHERAPY/FIZZY mainly due to the nudge and the 1/2 order of syllables. I would have whiffed on this one if I hadn't spotted the vague clue for BLONDIE (LU/AN -> LUANN). I entered C..B.. in my notes, looked at a list of words fitting that pattern, and backsolved CARBON.

I was never sure what the "A" was supposed to map to: I had PSY-CHO-PA-THOL-O-GY in my notes, so was looking for some rhyme of CHO O. Does the end of that word sound like "..ology" or "..olagy"? Depends on who says it.

But hey, it's a week 5, so it's supposed to be challenging.

[Bird Lives]

How is the answer, CARBON, related to the mechanism or the title?

I thought long and hard about that before submitting. At first I didn't see anything, and I was afraid that for a week 5, there would be yet another step. Finally came up with: CARBON is element #6. 6 theme entries, of 6 syllables each. And the prompt was "a six-letter word". Good enough for me.

It's there a prize or badge for backsolving? If so, you're the winner.

[KayW]

How is the answer, CARBON, related to the mechanism or the title?

I thought long and hard about that before submitting. At first I didn't see anything, and I was afraid that for a week 5, there would be yet another step. Finally came up with: CARBON is element #6. 6 theme entries, of 6 syllables each. And the prompt was "a six-letter word". Good enough for me.

It's there a prize or badge for backsolving? If so, you're the winner.

So sorry to disappoint but I found CARBON through the syllabic homophones. I meant that after I got to CARBON, I was afraid there was yet another step to get a word that tied to the title. (And maybe I should have kept my mouth shut here. MUCH more impressive to pluck element 6 out of thin air!)

[Bird Lives]

By backsolving I meant knowing what the answer is and then figuring out a logic that gets you there. You knew that the answer was CARBON, and you came up with a logical (sort of) explanation. I know that usually backsolving involves finding the mechanism, so this is slightly different, but not much.

Btw, I did the same thing -- thinking that CARBON might be an intermediate step.

[JoDave]

Well at least I was on the right track but I could only find 4 of the letters and didn’t see the clue number connection. What’s up with the asymmetrical grid?

[sharkicicles]

I made the mistake of beginning to solve this one on Monday due to work/travel. Asked a friend for a nudge Monday night, and dragged myself across the finish line with a couple of hours to spare. Hit the "not solo solve" button and submitted.

I find "sounds like" metas inferior due to the vast differences in how people pronounce words. Matt added an additional curveball beyond that: identify the syllables, and then identify how they are pronounced. Lots of people will disagree on both fronts.

Is it PSY-CHO or PSYCH-O? Depends on who says it. I had REV-O-LU-TION-A-RY in my notes, so I was looking for LU-RY (and not LU-Y/Louis).

I found (PHYS-I)OTHERAPY/FIZZY mainly due to the nudge and the 1/2 order of syllables. I would have whiffed on this one if I hadn't spotted the vague clue for BLONDIE (LU/AN -> LUANN). I entered C..B.. in my notes, looked at a list of words fitting that pattern, and backsolved CARBON.

I was never sure what the "A" was supposed to map to: I had PSY-CHO-PA-THOL-O-GY in my notes, so was looking for some rhyme of CHO O. Does the end of that word sound like "..ology" or "..olagy"? Depends on who says it.

But hey, it's a week 5, so it's supposed to be challenging.

Very, very good points.

As a native Chicagoan who doesn't think he has that much of the stereotypical accent (I suppose those on the Zoom calls could say yes or no on this) my mental map is definitely different on puzzles that require the homonym-style to solve than what I've seen the actual answer to be.

[KayW]

...and I can't tell you how long I tried to figure out what the heck "ISSIN" was before I added "L" to the beginning