Grid: untimed; Meta: one minute
Matt Gaffney’s Wall Street Journal contest crossword, “Storefronts” — Conrad’s writeup.
This week we’re looking for a Fortune 500 company. There were four long across entries. Each was comprised of two words: the first started with AT, and the second started with T:
WSJ Contest Solution – 08.11.24
- (AT)LANTIC(T)IME: [It’s observed in Nova Scotia and Puerto Rico]
- (AT)TRIBUTED(T)O: [Supposedly written by]
- (AT)HLETIC(T)APE: [Locker room stuff]
- (AT)OMIC(T)HEORY: [Subject for John Dalton]
That leads to our contest solution AT&T. Short writeup for a straightforward meta. Solvers: please share your thoughts.
When I first started this puzzle, the thought of having 500 possible answers was a bit daunting.
But the A’s and T’s jumped out at me as soon as I finished the grid. The extra T’s in ATLANTIC TIME and ATHLETIC TAPE had me briefly wondering if AT & T was correct, but I figured that had to be the answer.
Thanks for the Jim Croce clip, Conrad. I just got my turntable repaired and hope to soon start listening to some of the old music I have only on vinyl. I still have my Jim Croce albums from the early 1970s. He was probably the first artist whose music I discovered independently, instead of being introduced to it by one of my four older siblings.
AT&T was obvious, but how about this:
Bottom right: S always before T.
ST then AT: Stater Bros, a Fortune 500 supermarket chain that has storefronts.
Or State Farm?
Or AllState?
All S before T then AT.
Or Microsoft
Thanks mATT. I got this one.
At&t seemed too obvious and I couldn’t reconcile that to storefronts so I ended up reading it as 80 (Eight and Tea are also in the grid) which lead me to retailer TJX, #80 in the Fortune 500.
Guess I overthought it. Darn.
I don’t get the store fronts at(t) all? How does that play into any of this?
The fronts (beginnings) of each theme answer are AT and T.