Grid:10 minutes; Meta: 5 less
Matt Gaffney’s Wall Street Journal contest crossword, “Opening Act” — Conrad’s writeup.
This week we’re looking for a noted entertainer. There were four two-word theme entries, with words beginning with J LO:
WSJ Contest – 12.29.2024
- (J)ACK(LO)NDON: [Author of 1902’s “To Build a Fire”]
- (J)ILTED(LO)VER: [Miss Havisham in “Great Expectations,” e.g.]
- (J)UST(LO)OKING: [Unlikely to buy anything]
- (J)EEZ(LO)UISE: [Exasperated utterance]
That leads to our contest solution J LO. I solved this after completing about a third of the grid. Matt ended the year with an easy (week 1 on the MGWCC difficulty scale) puzzle. Solvers: please share your thoughts. And happy new year, everyone!
I like that. Challenging puzzle. Fun meta. Happy New Year. And thank you.
Anybody notice the two “LJ” answers going down (LILJON and LORDJIM)?
Those had me second guessing myself for a second.
Of course the answer is JLo, which caused me to slap my forehead after I submitted Jerry Lewis. Ouch.
Lol!
I submitted Jennifer Lopez, not JLo. To match the themers. I also noticed LORD JIM which fits in reverse. :)
Thank God for crosswords because I would not have known who she was if she hadn’t appeared in so many all these years.
Yes, what about LORD JIM? J LO backwards/vertical? Any thoughts?
I submitted Jennifer Lopez as well, pretty much for the same reasons. I assume that the WSJ will accept J-Lo if it happens to be the answer on the one that is randomly selected.
So many J-L celebrities (John Lennon, Jared Leto, etc).
I initially thought the first name should start with JO, since JA, JE, JI, and JU were all in the grid, but as I was looking for a JO LO name, JLO popped into my head. Oh yeah, duh!
I came up with Jay Leno. Now realize that JLo was the easiest answer to work here.
Me too. Oh well. Was looking for complexity so didn’t even look at JLo.
Will Jon Lovitz be counted?
If not, it stinks!
Wow, that’s a great question. Maybe Matt Gaffney will allow that.
Will J.Lo be accepted as well as Jennifer Lopez?