Section Eight (WSJ, 04/27/24)

[ChrisKochmanski]

Another Patrick Berry creation to savor. I found it challenging enough to be absorbing and fun, while not so challenging that I ever felt like giving up.

[Meg]

I was down to one entry that I couldn’t see. But there is a way to use deductive reasoning. Finally got it.
"What e is but i isn’t." What a great clue!!

[ChrisKochmanski]

I was down to one entry that I couldn’t see. But there is a way to use deductive reasoning. Finally got it.
"What e is but i isn’t." What a great clue!!

Agree! Though I had to ask my wife, a retired math teacher, to confirm the answer.

[Bird Lives]

I knew e vs i, but "Self-aggrandizing comment" was a puzzler, a variant which I had to look up on the Internet once I knew what the letters had to be. I'm still doubtful. And I still don't have the "Adhesive dispenser" even though I know what the letters have to include. Either that, or there's an iditarod vehicle I've never heard of.

[KayW]

@Bird Lives
glue gun

I had to backsolve "Spiky burs to avoid when walking barefoot on a lawn". I'd never heard of the answer but was able to google once I got most of the next ring.

[hoover]

@KayW Same here, except I just put the letters in the only arrangement that would make some semblance of words. My last one to fill in was the "No publicity" injunction, which I finally got after scribbling down possibilities. Fortunately I was able to work from the inside out as well as from the outside in.

[sharkicicles]

@Bird Lives
glue gun

I had to backsolve "Spiky burs to avoid when walking barefoot on a lawn". I'd never heard of the answer but was able to google once I got most of the next ring.

Same here, wonder if that’s a regional thing.

[Meg]

We have them in Florida. Super painful when you step on them with bare feet.

[iggystan]

@Bird Lives
glue gun

I had to backsolve "Spiky burs to avoid when walking barefoot on a lawn". I'd never heard of the answer but was able to google once I got most of the next ring.

That was the last one for me to solve as well, and I back-solved it too. It's interesting that it can be two words or one. In Colorado, we have goatheads which are the bane of bicyclists. They look similar to the answer. The rest of the puzzle was fun as always from PB.