"Build Your Brand" - May 8, 2020

[howardl]

Hint 4. Once you have found these alternative clues, you find the grid answer for the alternative clues (so in my example, Verrazzano). And you will have five of these answers.

[howardl]

Hint 5. The first letters of these answers (V in my example plus 4 more first letters) will spell out the answer.

[MarkL]

groan, you've exceeded your 140 characters for today.

I guess I'll have to get rid of a few. I think they call that character assassination (DOUBLE groan....)

I've created a monster!

[MarkL]

Well, right archipelago - wrong beach. Got the five hidden brands and their connection to two clues. Saw KOOL and connected it to 45A (fatal flaw) and 24D. So, a brand and two connected clues ...

KOOL's parent company was RJ Reynolds (a well known company) but is now owned by ITG BRANDS (not such a well-known company) but fits the title.

[Bird Lives]

Random thoughts.

1. Insider trading. MGWCC subscribers had an edge here. The basic mechanism for this meta (one clue that applied to two entries) was also the mainspring of the most recent MGWCC. Maybe that’s why some MGWCC people were among the early solvers. I of course was not one of them. That’s because of . . .

2. ... Recurring letters. These distracted me for quite a while: OATS, TOASTerovens, ROAST, COASTal, COASTer. And especially — sHOPPIngcart crossed with HIPPO. APU/UPA. Two BEANs in the clues. (Where was Joe Ross's Top Ten advice when i needed it?) Also distracting was . . .

3. ... “Build” in the title. It suggested to me that brand names might be constructed by combining short answers. It’s amazing how much time you can spend wondering if ESCUPA or PROSAIL are brands.

4. YMCAS kept calling to me, singing “Macy’s is a brand, Macy’s is a brand.” Also, if you add UMA (Thurman) and shake gently, you get our famous old friend Yma Sumac. As Dr. Tom says, it may be an age thing. For getting Ms Sumac, being an older solver is an advantage. Not so for. . .

5. . . . LIFE. A few weeks ago, I didn’t know that COMBOS was a snack. This week, I thought that Life was a magazine. The cereal wasn’t widely known until after I had left my cerealized youth behind.

[Colin]

First, got OSTER in TOASTEROVENS and ‘researched’ CURTA, GASOLE and PING but couldn’t find anything in CEREALAISLE. Then, I found the brands in the clues, but could not find the (now, so obvious) link to the theme clues... duh! Spent ages focused on “Build YOUR Brand” and with so many occurrences of IN, decided to invest in a “LinkedIn” theme search... trying to see bricks around the INs or something. Inspiring to read the actual solution... very nice meta.

[MaineMarge]

As a Muggle who always spends a lot of time scouring the clues, I deserve 10 lashes for not seeing this method until Sunday. Actually I did think about Mustang when trying to see how premium gasoline could fit into the big scheme of things, but my brain’s desk clerk must have been out on break then.
And let’s give Matt the Devious Gold Star Award for creating such a buffet of warrens with seemingly billions of empty rabbit holes in the grid- as the illustrious Joe Ross showed us so perfectly in post #369.
Bravo Matt!

[Bird Lives]

My $0.02 — I’d be in favor of a return to a strict no nudges asked or given policy.

Everyone can wait til the official deadline, and learn just as much about meta solving strategies afterwards as beforehand.

<snip>
tl;dr I don't like nudges but it is and will always be a reality unless the meta constructor explicitly says they are against it. Or if all forum users agree that we shouldn't get nudges, we simply don't. It's not like you can Google a meta answer, you need another person who actually solved it.

That's why I try to think that of this is as a conversation between me and the puzzle constructor; I am not competeing with other solvers. In this state of internal zen-like tranquility, I remain undisturbed by thoughts of how many others have solved it or whether some of them have used nudges, hints, or Google. (If only.)

[anjhinz]

Aaaarrrghhh, I had noticed the brand names in the clues last night, but didn't connect them to themers - got stuck looking for something "sandwich" related then just gave up.

[TPS]

This really isn't fair if you cannot print the puzzle out. I copied it by hand and now it's an absolute mess.

Ford is a company. Mustang is a brand/model.
Singer is a corporation. What's the brand?
Subway appears to be a franchise. Is it also a brand? Never been there, so why associate them with TOASTEROVENS?
Target is corporation, not a brand. They sell "brands" like Quaker Oats Life.

I don’t disagree with this completely. A corporation can be a brand but a brand can also just be a product/service the corporation provides. I think the puzzle would have been better and more consistent if Matt had stuck to corporations that have brands or just brands that aren’t also corporations. Also, Singer is sort of a dated brand - I highly doubt anyone under 40 knows what a Singer is unless they happen to have sewing as a hobby. Also, Singer made a Toaster Oven. I also didn’t love Torn Curtain as a clue. Those are my minor nits.

[ky-mike]

1. Insider trading. MGWCC subscribers had an edge here. The basic mechanism for this meta (one clue that applied to two entries) was also the mainspring of the most recent MGWCC. Maybe that’s why some MGWCC people were among the early solvers. I of course was not one of them. That’s because of . . .

Probably shouldn't have mentioned this since Matt's deadline isn't until Tuesday at noon. However, since he has over 500 correct responses as of 8:00 am on Monday, its probably not too much of a spoiler.

[Deb F]

I'm right there with Bird Lives. I spent so much time on the recurring letters. Arrrgh. This was a diabolical one. It took quite a lot for me to even understand the resolution. Subway for Toaster Ovens???? Huh?

Have a great week, Muggles.

[damefox]

1. Insider trading. MGWCC subscribers had an edge here. The basic mechanism for this meta (one clue that applied to two entries) was also the mainspring of the most recent MGWCC. Maybe that’s why some MGWCC people were among the early solvers.

I think MGWCC subscribers had an edge here because, unrelated to any particular puzzles, this is one of Matt Gaffney's favorite meta mechanisms. If you're doing a Gaffney puzzle and the grid is yielding nothing, this is absolutely the mechanism you should be looking for. It comes up all the time.

[Bird Lives]

1. Insider trading. MGWCC subscribers had an edge here.

Probably shouldn't have mentioned this since Matt's deadline isn't until Tuesday at noon. However, since he has over 500 correct responses as of 8:00 am on Monday, its probably not too much of a spoiler.

Ooops. But thanks for the absolution on the solution.

[Wendy Walker]

You can guess the first connection I saw: I drove a 1968 Mustang convertible in high school, and this was my Dad's Mustang Shelby (not sure of the year).
Sorry, Inca, for not pulling you ashore. I owe you a Subway lunch!

[Wendy Walker]

The first answer I entered was UPA, and I thought, "Ooo, by changing one letter, that could be UPS!" Off to the races with INN (CNN), ART (ATT), RIA (RCA) ... which almost led to COSTCO ... except for the pesky vowels. I was also struck by the similarity in structure of "RIPUP" and "ONEON," which almost made PIER ONE. And who killed brain cells pondering how to use BSIX?

[bhamren]

I missed this one. Second miss this year on WSJ. Looking at it now it is very much like a recent MGWCC entry where a clue could be used for another answer. I looked through all my usual hints and steps and didn't use this one. Live and learn.

[eagle1279]

Many rabbit holes, a page full of of three- and four-letter anagrams, or words within words, or stock symbols, etc. Tried to backsolve for Costco or Walmart or Target (which sell or are associated with all of the items in the long answers -- even if you have to drive your gassed-up Mustang to Target to return a package of torn (ripped-up) curtains because your Singer is broken, stopping by Subway for a sandwich on the way, and using the refund to buy a box of oat cereal).

Unfortunately, I did not spend much time on the clues because I had some vague recollection of someone noting that Mike/Marie is more likely to put meta steps in the clues, while Matt G. is more likely to include the meta steps within the puzzle. Obviously that observation or my memory is faulty, but I'm doubtful that I would have seen the brand names. Agree that this was a KAS 4 or 5.

[Scott M]

I was not even close. I first thought BSIX was odd and looked for something there - nada. Noticed that OATS was contained in TOASTEROVEN, AIL in CEREALAISLE, HIPPO in SHOPPINGCART, and about a dozen short words in PREMIUMGASOLINE. Then spent hours searching through variations on OATS/ROAST, INRE/RESIN, ART/TRAM, ELO/OLDE, RIO/DIOR, APE/PLEA, RIA/ERIA/ARIA. Ended up with nothing but a headache. MG gets the Red Herring award for this one.

[Wendy Walker]

Many rabbit holes, a page full of of three- and four-letter anagrams, or words within words, or stock symbols, etc.

Yep! I tried stock symbols for a while, too! There are A LOT of them.