A place to discuss the weekly Wall Street Journal Crossword Puzzle Contest, starting every Thursday around 4:00 p.m. Eastern time. Please do not post any answers or hints before the contest deadline which is midnight Sunday Eastern time.
MikeMillerwsj wrote: ↑Mon May 06, 2024 3:12 pm
The contest answer is SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA. In each theme answer, the first three letters of each word are the first letters of a zodiac sign: CAPybara/Capricorn, CANasta/Cancer, LIBel/Libra, PIStons/Pisces, AQUinas/Aquarius, GEMstone/Gemini, VIRal/ Virgo, SAGuaro/Sagittarius, LEOtard/Leo and TAUtness/Taurus. The unused signs are Scorpio (SCO) and Aries (ARI), leading to the contest answer.
This was an extremely clever and tricky one, with a medium-sized turnout and a high success rate: 1,216 entries, 85% correct (75% is closer to the norm). Lots and lots of other cities among the incorrect guesses, including SANTA CLARITA (19) INDIANAPOLIS (15), JACKSONVILLE (11), BOISE (11)... can anyone explain those? Plus BAKERSFIELD (7, one solver cited a baker's dozen of the letter A), EL PASO (6), SAN FRANCISCO (5), LAS VEGAS (5), and many others.
Still waiting to confirm the winner--stay tuned.
Those first three are 12-letter city names in the top 100. And SC is two words, which kind of aligns with the themers and turning 10 words to 12.
Perhaps BOISE was looking for a 5-letter city, assuming you pull a letter from each themer (which do contain BOISE in order among them).
Read the title, and immediately thought of a baker's dozen. Could the city be Bakersfield? I check the list of the 100 most populous US cities and Bakersfield was 48th in 2020, so this must be right!
Fill in the grid and the five themers stand out as very odd answers. But, how can I get to Bakersfield from them? CapybaraCanasta is such an odd answer. Hmmm... A whole lot of A's. Checking all the themers, and I count thirteen A's in all! Seems like confimation to me.
It wasn't until later that I notice LibelPistons didn't have an A at all. Could I have been wrong? Damn! I was so sure that the thirteens A's was the confirmation.
I was way late for the Zoom meeting, so missed the first part, and could tell from the conversation that Bakersfield was incorrect. I catch a hint that the title refers to filling out the themers to an even dozen.
So I look again at the themers and write them down, one word at a time. Thinking of groups of twelve I spot the zodiac connection and determine that ARIes and SCOrpio are missing. Now what? I see SCOT in the grid, giving an extra T, but where is ARI? I find it in RIpA, giving me an extra P. P-T? T-P? Portland? Tampa?
I go back to the list of cities and both are there. But what's this at 92nd position?!?!?! SCOttsdale, ARIzona. Duh!
If I'm around, I am willing to join the Muggle Zoom room at other times to lend a hand to those in need.
MikeMillerwsj wrote: ↑Mon May 06, 2024 3:12 pm
The contest answer is SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA. In each theme answer, the first three letters of each word are the first letters of a zodiac sign: CAPybara/Capricorn, CANasta/Cancer, LIBel/Libra, PIStons/Pisces, AQUinas/Aquarius, GEMstone/Gemini, VIRal/ Virgo, SAGuaro/Sagittarius, LEOtard/Leo and TAUtness/Taurus. The unused signs are Scorpio (SCO) and Aries (ARI), leading to the contest answer.
This was an extremely clever and tricky one, with a medium-sized turnout and a high success rate: 1,216 entries, 85% correct (75% is closer to the norm). Lots and lots of other cities among the incorrect guesses, including SANTA CLARITA (19) INDIANAPOLIS (15), JACKSONVILLE (11), BOISE (11)... can anyone explain those? Plus BAKERSFIELD (7, one solver cited a baker's dozen of the letter A), EL PASO (6), SAN FRANCISCO (5), LAS VEGAS (5), and many others.
Still waiting to confirm the winner--stay tuned.
Curious if "Scottsdale" (without the state) was counted among the correct answers? Because the instructions asked for a city in the top 100, I contemplated including Arizona, however decided that the instructions were clear that I need only name a city and as such, omitted it.
Thanks!
DaveG
If you see me on the beach, feel free to pm for a nudge. After all the help I’ve got, I am happy to send it forward when I can!
High hopes this week for a few nominees, especially after last Friday’s Zoom call. Some of your stories certainly had promise, but most were a bit short and didn’t “stick the landing”. In the end, it was our two most reliable players who came to rescue the Rabbit.
There was DBMiller (Post) who has the rare talent of being able to justify almost any answer once he puts his mind to it. And benchen71 (Post) with another lovely visual display of substituting letters in the themers, turning them into cities and then anagramming what remained to arrive at Albuquerque. This was Ben’s fourth nomination since last August, and he far and away leads the Muggle pack in tales of solves gone awry.
No video this time. Instead, your Rabbit would like to share his theory regarding this Thursday’s yet unpublished WSJ puzzle.
Two weeks’ ago the answer to the meta was Prague, Oklahoma.
This week the answer was Scottsdale, Arizona.
Don’t you find that curious? Your Rabbit did.
Prague and Scottsdale are just over 1000 miles apart.
Your Rabbit wondered: Is there another city 1000 miles from Scottsdale?”
And yes, there is. Wichita is almost exactly the same distance by car from Scottsdale as Prague.
So, if this week’s puzzle is especially challenging, your Rabbit is submitting “Wichita.”
You Muggles aren’t the only ones who can play this game, you know?
Until next week, then.
The XWord Rabbit wrote: ↑Mon May 06, 2024 7:35 pm
Two weeks’ ago the answer to the meta was Prague, Oklahoma.
This week the answer was Scottsdale, Arizona.
Don’t you find that curious? Your Rabbit did.
Hmmm... Prague to Scottsdale, then ~1000 miles north from Scottsdale to Butte, Montana?
Gaffney and/or Shenk about to make us the "Butte" of their jokes?
If I'm around, I am willing to join the Muggle Zoom room at other times to lend a hand to those in need.
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MikeMillerwsj wrote: ↑Mon May 06, 2024 3:12 pm
The contest answer is SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA. In each theme answer, the first three letters of each word are the first letters of a zodiac sign: CAPybara/Capricorn, CANasta/Cancer, LIBel/Libra, PIStons/Pisces, AQUinas/Aquarius, GEMstone/Gemini, VIRal/ Virgo, SAGuaro/Sagittarius, LEOtard/Leo and TAUtness/Taurus. The unused signs are Scorpio (SCO) and Aries (ARI), leading to the contest answer.
This was an extremely clever and tricky one, with a medium-sized turnout and a high success rate: 1,216 entries, 85% correct (75% is closer to the norm). Lots and lots of other cities among the incorrect guesses, including SANTA CLARITA (19) INDIANAPOLIS (15), JACKSONVILLE (11), BOISE (11)... can anyone explain those? Plus BAKERSFIELD (7, one solver cited a baker's dozen of the letter A), EL PASO (6), SAN FRANCISCO (5), LAS VEGAS (5), and many others.
Still waiting to confirm the winner--stay tuned.
This week's puzzle reminded me of the "Power Pack" with the Tarot card theme of almost a year ago 5/26/23. Incidentally I had no trouble with yesterday's NYT Connections now familiar with Tarot cards
I submitted "SANTA CLARITA" since I had all the signs of the zodiac including SCO from SCOT. The only one missing then was "ARI" and "SANTA CLARITA" was the only city in the TOP 100 of the 2020 census that had "ARI" in the name ( #97 down 5 from SCOTTSDALE at #92 ) Viola!
Attachments
If I don't win a mug, I can always make one... but it won't have the same cachet.
This week's puzzle reminded me of the "Power Pack" with the Tarot card theme of almost a year ago 5/26/23. Incidentally I had no trouble with yesterday's NYT Connections now familiar with Tarot cards
My husband said the same thing about the Tarot cards when we did our Connections yesterday!
but it won't have the same cachet.
