Matt Gaffney’s Wall Street Journal contest crossword, “But You Can Call Me…” — Conrad’s writeup.
This week we’re looking for a five-letter word. There were five numbered theme entries, here they are in numbered order:
- ROBERTESTES: [“Melrose Place” and “Silk Stalkings” actor (1)]
- ABRAHAMLINCOLN: [Penny person (2)]
- BENJAMINZOBRIST: [Chicago Cub who was the 2016 World Series MVP (3)]
- THOMASBRADY: [Quarterback with seven Super Bowl rings (4)]
- CALVINCOOLIDGE: [30th of 47 (5)]
WSJ Contest – 01.25.2025
Rob is short for Robert, Abe is short for Abraham, etc… I wrote those down and tried to find the next step. The grid yielded no signal, so I turned to the clues. ROAD’s clue struck me as odd: Cemetery feature. I thought TOMB would be a better answer, and I had the rabbit: TOM (B)rady = TOMB. Short first name, plus second initial. Odd clues to the rescue, once again. The rest fell quickly, here they are in theme entry order:
- SKIRT: [Loose-fitting garment] -> ROB(E)stes
- HAM: [Man mentioned in Genesis] -> ABE(L)incoln
- OPEL: [German automaker] -> BEN(Z)obrist
- ROAD: [Cemetery feature] -> TOM(B)rady
- TRIG: [H.S. math class] -> CAL(C)oolidge
The first letters of the matching grid entries spell our contest solution SHORT. I thought using the second initial as the extra letter was brilliant. Solvers: please share your thoughts.
The one slightly quirky thing about this puzzle is that both ABE(L) and ABRAHAM appear in Book of Genesis, and Abraham is a far more significant figure in both that book and throughout the Bible. Google AI bot confirmed my childhood recollections.
I wondered if that would rate as a small ding in the construction.
Good one Matt!! It took me 2 days to see the mechanism, but the solution was very rewarding once spotted!!
I didn’t notice the first letter of the last name was significant lol! But still solved it.
This was a fun puzzle. Just the kind I like. Not too complicated, but clever. At first I thought maybe we were seeking synonyms of ABE, CAL and BOB (my first shortened nickname) but that didn’t work out. I knew there must be some reason for the guy with the last name beginning with Z. And then I saw BEN Z and remembered OPEL. It was an easy hike from there. Nice one, Matt! As for cemeteries and roads, I went to one last year that was more like a maze. We drove around and around and took turn after turn and ended up at a dead-end, no pun intended.
I couldn’t find what to do with the short names. Of course Brady is always known as Tom so that part was easy. Seeing how it all worked though, with the initial of the last name forming the words was just unbelievably cool. What a fantastic meta. After all these years I’m just amazed how Matt keeps coming up with these brilliant little gems.
I liked this one a lot, as well. I accidentally hit the submit tab with the default rating of 3. I was going to rate it 4.5