Grid:15 minutes; Meta: 5 more
Peter Gordon’s Wall Street Journal contest crossword, “Table for Two” — Conrad’s writeup.
WSJ Contest – 12.01.2024
This we’re looking for a state motto. There were five long theme entries, each containing AU (the symbol for gold in the periodic table) and AG (silver):
- C(AU)TIONFL(AG): [Yellow signal at Indy]
- (AU)GUST(AG)EORGIA: [Masters setting]
- RUP(AU)LSDR(AG)RACE: [Reality show on which you Lip Sync for Your Life]
- BE(AU)TYP(AG)EANTS: [Gowns with sashes might be worn at them]
- L(AU)NDRYB(AG)S: [Things schlepped to washeterias]
Gold and silver leads to our contest solution Oro y Plata (Spanish for gold and silver), Montana’s state motto. Peter provided a clean and straightforward meta for Thanksgiving weekend. Solvers: please share your thoughts.
Fun one. Notice that the bottom two have a Y between the Au and Ag. Nice additional touch.
I accidentally submitted “Montana” facepalm
Been there.
I did the same, and didn’t even realize that it was wrong until now…double ‘DUH’…
Definatley a fun meta!! Good work Peter!
Did anyone else submit “Eureka!”? It’s the motto of California.
I did. Never noticed the AG…
Stuff like this always reminds me of Barry Goldwater’s campaign stickers.
I suppose the puzzle title “Table for two” refers to the periodic table and the two elements.
I was hung up on the state abbrevs. in the theme entries.
CAUTION FLAG: CA, UT, FL, (LA)
AUGUSTA GEORGIA: OR, IA
RUPAULS DRAG RACE: PA, SD
BEAUTY PAGEANTS: UT, PA
LAUNDRY BAGS: LA, ND
Except for the first, they each contain exactly two. There are repeats of Utah and Pennsylvania (and arguably Louisiana), but I thought that might be inconsequential. Looked at the letters in between, as well as few other outlandish avenues.
I took the same mistaken route. Even I should have got this week’s, since the AG’s popped out at me and I know chemical symbols, and for once it had a single step. But I got hung up looking for states, enough to fill a table, and “for two” made me think of more paired letters.
So I set the puzzle aside and, in a fresh look, saw plethora of two-letter state abbreviations. Thinking of a table, I wondered if it’s right-hand column would be state abbreviations. In line with the multiple stages of most metas, maybe the first letters of their state mottos would read out as another state, requiring that one know its motto as the answer. (I admit I was also thinking of Eric’s post in Saturday’s puzzles that it’d be easy if you know state mottos.) But I wasn’t willing to look up mottos to find out.
Regarding my post on Friday: If I find the meta within a few minutes, I assume that it’s not because I’m good at solving metas (trust me, I’m not). Rather, I figure it’s pretty easy as metas go. My goal in posting is to encourage others who struggle with the metas to give it a try, because they can be a lot of fun.
As Bob M noted, “Table for Two” is a hint to look at the periodic table. I initially didn’t know what to do with this meta, but once I thought about the title, the AU and AG bigrams jumped out at me.
I alluded to this on Friday: “Oro y plata” is one of the few state mottos I know, but I know it mainly from NYT crossword puzzles. It’s sometimes a Fill in the Blank clue for “oro.” I know that not everyone has seen that motto or remembers it; if I hadn’t known it, I might not have gotten the answer.
I have seen “Oro y Plata” before but I didn’t remember it while solving the meta. Once I spotted the AUs and AGs I looked up “state motto gold and silver” and that led me to “Oro y Plata.” So I don’t think you needed to have known the motto to get the answer.
I agree that if you made the periodic table connection, and you know a little Spanish, finding the right motto shouldn’t be too hard even if you didn’t remember “Oro y plata.” What Iwas trying to say was that the meta was easy for me in part because I remembered Montana’s motto.
And as I said on Friday, I don’t see anything wrong with getting a little help from the internet, such as you did.