Mike Shenk’s Wall Street Journal contest crossword, “Underwriters” — Conrad’s writeup.
This week we’re looking for a type of person. I got the gist of the meta right away: look for letters under writers in the grid. My assumption was correct, but Mike added a helpful step: four clues referenced works by authors with three-letter last names, and each entry was opposite another grid entry containing the author’s name as a substring:
WSJ Contest Solution – 07.21.24
- [“The Name of the ___” (1980 book)]: ROSE -> R(ECO)MPENSE
- [“The Joy Luck ___” (1989 book) ]: CLUB: -> (TAN)GENT
- [“The Tell-___ Heart” (1843 story)]: TALE -> (POE)TRY
- [“To ___ a Mockingbird” (1960 book)] KILL -> CARDS(LEE)VE
As expected: the letters under the writers provided the contest solution:
- ECO -> A(POL)AR
- TAN -> (ICY)
- POE -> (HOL)ED
- LEE -> (DER)EK
The letters under the writers spell POLICY HOLDER, our contest solution. Another meta construction marvel by Mike: four letter entries pointing to three letter writers, with three letters under those writers providing the 12-letter answer. Some might quibble that ECO appears twice in the grid, but I won’t. This is a gem. Solvers: please share your thoughts. I’ll end with another non-meta relevant song that I love.
I had the right idea. I just gave up too soon. Spectacular idea and execution and an accessible puzzle to boot. Bravo.
I won’t quibble about the two ECOs because the ECO of ECOLAW got me to POL — I never even noticed the ECO of RECOMPENSE. I did think it a little strange that POL didn’t align with an author’s name the way the other three did.
POLICYHOLDER seemed like a weird “type of person,” but the process by which I got it was solid enough that I submitted it. It took another two hours before the insurance link between underwriters and policyholders clicked.
This was the first WSJ meta I have solved in months. My little victory is extra sweet because the mechanism of this one was a lot of fun. Thanks, Mr. Shenk!
I did the same thing; never saw recompense. It was ecolaw that suggested the authors’s names and I, too, thought it odd that pol was to the side, but, whatever. As I’ve learned, it’s always user error.
This was a fun puzzle! I got a little tangled up with ECO across and ECO down, but quickly sorted it out.
Happy to say I got this one too. I have been in the habit lately of putting these puzzles off until the last possible moment because of the agony they sometimes produce. But this one came very fast. My first stab was looking for things that write, not people, thanks to PENS in Recompense. But that went nowhere. Then I noticed the POE in POETRY and it was a done deal. I did NOT however notice that the missing words from the book titles matched up with the authors’ names. Very cool. Thanks for pointing that out Conrad.
I, too, started with the PEN (or PENS) angle. Then I noticed ECO and LEE. Took me way too long to get to realize that those clues referenced books, and so did two others.
Should have been a one-minute solve to get the META; took about 20 minutes.
I might not have gotten the answer without the clues pointing me to the writers’ names. I first looked for writers in the grid, but managed not to see any. Then, when I went back through the clues, I noticed that four common words had literary clues.
I’m glad I solved it on Friday. The high from having finally gotten the answer to one of these lasted throughout most of the weekend.
Glad to hear it. I feel that way sometimes when I solve a particularly hard Letter Boxed over at that rival newspaper. Forgot to mention that I loved seeing TALL TALE in the middle of the grid. I wonder if it was deliberate or just a lucky crossing.
Thanks!
I missed the TALL TALE. Nice, even if unplanned.
The elegance of this meta construction is so much cleaner than it needs to be. When I think of the forethought that must have gone into it, my mind reels. Thank you, Mike!
Somewhat reminds me of the 8/11/2017 puzzle “Eagle Scout”, where ARNOLD PALMER was spelled out two rows under PAR in the theme answers ; in golf an eagle is a score of two under par on any hole, eagle being referenced in the title. Also reminded me because that is the week I skated the Cup.
I guess I over thought it–I got policyholder but thought that “insuree’ was a better description of a “type of person”–still do.
Fun one! And the title connected well for both meta and final solution flourish.