"Group Outings" - September 18, 2020

[Wendy Walker]

I was looking at the contest when my wife called. As she was talking I saw the path to success.

Mark and I do video calls now and he knows that when I'm looking off to the side on a Thursday, I'm probably looking at the puzzle clipboard. Then again, he has learned not to phone on Thursday evening until after I notify him I've solved.

[SeanS]

Ashore. Since my bet on Tommy Fleetwood to win the 1A at Winged Foot this weekend (+3300) didn't work out, nice to throw my hat in the ring for this week's mug.

[Bellinghamster]

I feel like this might have been an easy one, but since it’s my first time officially ashore, I’ll just sit back and enjoy my drink regardless

Happy weekend all,
Kerri

[Dplass]

I am now on the correct shore and I've submitted my answer.

I expect enough people made the same mistake I did that it will show up in Mike Miller's email. I think it's more difficult than the 2 star rating this puzzle currently has, but maybe this just wasn't my kind of puzzle.

I concur that I feel it was more difficult than the 2-star rating.

[boharr]

I feel like this might have been an easy one, but since it’s my first time officially ashore, I’ll just sit back and enjoy my drink regardless

Happy weekend all,
Kerri

Congratulations!

[DBMiller]

Done and done. Figured it out while eating lunch earlier today.

[Andrew Bradburn]

Got it, but it did not come easy to me. Had to come back after a day to get a fresh look, and that did it.

Air quality is a bit better in LA this weekend than last, but we are not out of the (burning) woods yet.

[David R]

Got it last night and now can have a proper Rosh Hashana knowing that there isn't something left to do. Shana Tovah to the Jewish muggles!

[Joe]

I have been staring at this super easy meta off and on since yesterday and I can't see a thing. What is wrong with me?

[boharr]

I have been staring at this super easy meta off and on since yesterday and I can't see a thing. What is wrong with me?

Well, it's not all that super easy. As many are learning. Don't be discouraged.

[CopperRiver]

Completed grid Thursday. Zero progress on meta until just now. Got an answer but going to ponder a bit to submit to make sure. So I’m treading water for a bit with shore in sight (I hope).

Happy Friday to all!
Kathy

[JimJim]

Ashore. Fun one Patrick!

[grwinski]

Ashore! -- These puzzles are always 'terrible' until the 'aha' arrives, and then, as Tony the Tiger would say, 'they're grrrreat!'

With that said, at least we got this week's -- always happy when you get the process/solution and you're able to say to yourself 'it can't be anything else'. Even if we had gotten last weeks, I don't think we would have had the confidence in that solution.

Rita and George

[Kaille]

I just tuned into the Crossword Q & A but stopped watching when they began talking about the "Variations on a Theme" crossword. Does anyone know how I can access that? Do I just need to log into my WSJ account?

Color me dim, and thank you in advance.

[BarbaraK]

"Toy Box" was my "not in a million years" one!

I like to do puzzles and have done a lot of them over my life but I had honestly forgotten that Word Squares were even a thing - so aside from about 5 other things that would have made that one unsolvable for me - that would have certainly killed me.

Hard to believe that Toy Box had a higher solve rate than Pageant.

I don't think solve percentage is the best way to compare puzzle difficulty. Some puzzles have a defined set of possibilities, and I think that encourages guessing. And then PAGEANT is really in a category of it's own.

In raw numbers, 242 people got the correct answer to PAGEANT. Only 98 got CLUE. So I'd argue that means Toy Box/CLUE was harder.

It took me all weekend to get that one. When I was refilling the grid yet again, I realized that I didn't really know exactly what a word square was, so I googled it and read the wikipedia article. And then, those 7 four letter words, 2 with the same first letter, suddenly made sense.

I prefer to solve the crossword part of metas without google. But for the meta part, I google everything I'm not absolutely sure of and even some of what I am.

[Gman]

Feeling very blind/stupid with all this chatter about how easy this one is supposed to be. At sea. It's still early, though. Maybe it will hit me, or maybe like with "you need glasses," it will go annoyingly undetected despite being right in front of me.

[KDubs]

I have been staring at this super easy meta off and on since yesterday and I can't see a thing. What is wrong with me?

I’m with you, Joe! Wasn’t able to get to this yesterday, and we’ve solved the grid but are seeing nothing. I’m sure we’re over-complicating it, so maybe seeing it with fresh eyes later will spark something.

I hope everyone out West is staying safe from the fires. We moved from Los Angeles to Connecticut last year, and I remember how horrifying it is to smell the smoke, even though we were in an urban area relatively safe from the danger. My heart is with you all.

[Bob cruise director]

"Toy Box" was my "not in a million years" one!

I like to do puzzles and have done a lot of them over my life but I had honestly forgotten that Word Squares were even a thing - so aside from about 5 other things that would have made that one unsolvable for me - that would have certainly killed me.

Hard to believe that Toy Box had a higher solve rate than Pageant.

I don't think solve percentage is the best way to compare puzzle difficulty. Some puzzles have a defined set of possibilities, and I think that encourages guessing. And then PAGEANT is really in a category of it's own.

In raw numbers, 242 people got the correct answer to PAGEANT. Only 98 got CLUE. So I'd argue that means Toy Box/CLUE was harder.

It took me all weekend to get that one. When I was refilling the grid yet again, I realized that I didn't really know exactly what a word square was, so I googled it and read the wikipedia article. And then, those 7 four letter words, 2 with the same first letter, suddenly made sense.

I prefer to solve the crossword part of metas without google. But for the meta part, I google everything I'm not absolutely sure of and even some of what I am.

Barbara
I am not sure what is a good metric which is why I keep graphs. The problem with pure numbers is that over time we have doubled the participation so naturally the contests from the "early years" would have lower numbers. I agree with you that the ones with a low and finite number of possible answers encourage guessing.

This contest was different in that there were very few references to actors/directors, or TV shows of which I know very little but when I reach a dead end, I will google them. I can't remember when I have had to google to get the meta

[BarbaraK]

Feeling very blind/stupid with all this chatter about how easy this one is supposed to be. At sea. It's still early, though. Maybe it will hit me, or maybe like with "you need glasses," it will go annoyingly undetected despite being right in front of me.

All of them are easy for some people and harder for others. It's more a matter of happening to be thinking the same way as the creator any given week.

And the early posts are generally by the solvers who found it easy, because those who are struggling with it are still busy staring at it and not posting here.

[hcbirker]

I just tuned into the Crossword Q & A but stopped watching when they began talking about the "Variations on a Theme" crossword. Does anyone know how I can access that? Do I just need to log into my WSJ account?

Color me dim, and thank you in advance.

Go to the Acapulco Lounge. Joe posted it there.