WSJ (Contest) Grid: untimed; Meta: slept on it 
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Matt Gaffney’s Wall Street Journal contest crossword, “Leadoff Double” — Conrad’s writeup
This week we’re prompted, The answer to this week’s contest crossword is what you might say when you figure it out. There were five long theme entries:
- PSILOVEYOU: Song from the Beatles’ debut album
- SIXTYFIVEMPH: Limit, on many a hwy.
- LONGISLANDSOUND: New Haven is on it
- JOHNFKENNEDY: Famed airport eponym
- ADDSZINGTO: Makes peppier
I spun my wheels for a long time. Based off of the title word double: I looked for doubled letters in the grid (there were lots). I know that is a doomed rabbit hole the vast majority of the time. It certainly was here. I eventually pulled myself out that dead end and went to bed.
I woke and wondered what else double could mean. I spotted the vague clue for YIKES (I just made a big mistake!) My brain jumped to OOPS. Two leadoff O’s. I got close when I spotted the clue for HONEY (the final horizontal entry, mirroring YIKES): ___ tea. Unfortunately, I mentally inserted GREEN there (doubled Es, but not leadoff). I spun my wheels more.
The meta clicked when I thought OOLONG could match HONEY’s clue. Two leadoff O’s, matching LONG in LONGISLANDSOUND. I had the rabbit: each theme entry had a word, acronym or letter (more on that in a bit) that mapped to another grid entry with OO appended:
WSJ Contest – 08.31.2025
- YIKES: OOPS -> [PS]ILOVEYOU
- APPEAL: OOMPH -> SIXTYFIVE[MPH]
- HONEY: OOLONG -> [LONG]ISLANDSOUND
- OHNO: OOF -> JOHN[F]KENNEDY
- OPEN: OOZING -> ADDS[ZING]TO
The mapped entries spell our contest solution YAHOO. This meta felt inconsistent to me. The mapping mechanism required a word, acronym or letter from the themers. Some were in the beginning, some at the end, and some in the middle. Made it harder to solve, but not in a “some metas are tougher than others” vein. I certainly could be missing something. Solvers: please share your thoughts.
Puzzle: WSJ (Contest); Rating: 5 stars
I didn’t have an issue with this one. Perfectly cromulent.
Puzzle: WSJ (Contest); Rating: 5 stars
“We need to have some tea again!”
“Yeah, it’s been oolong!”
I don’t know why, but as soon as I saw LONG – even before the “tea” at the bottom, I thought OOLONG. The P.S. to OOPS confirmed that, but then I was wondering about SIXTY, until I got to the end of the clue. Grid was crunchy but made it through.
Thanks, Matt! I oohed and aahed at this one!
Puzzle: WSJ (Contest); Rating: 4.5 stars
I got the YAHOO letters right away but not in order and decided the answer had to be HOORAY. Spent too much time trying to manufacture the R when I noticed I had YAHOO written down in order in my jottings.
Congrats to all who figured this one out. I never thought of adding double letters. I was looking for twins, or doubles, similar to the last Matt puzzle: DIANE LADD vs DIANE LANE or whatever it was.
YIKES popped out at me of course, but I thought OHNO was its double.
Then I went down a rabbit hole thinking that we were supposed to replace the themers. Found five doubles for them starting with BABY IT’S YOU from the Beatles Debut album to replace PS I LOVE YOU. Same number of letters.
Then just for fun (knowing this was a dead-end) I filled out the rest.
BABY ITS YOU for PS I LOVE YOU
NO CELL PHONES for SIXTYFIVE MPH
QUINNIPIAC RIVER for LONG ISLAND SOUND
RONALD REAGAN for JOHN F KENNEDY
STIMULATES for ADDS ZING TO
Funnily enough I thought of YAHOO as the answer, but didn’t submit it. I sent in BRAVO instead. Which Matt deserves for this clever headscratcher.
Puzzle: WSJ (Contest); Rating: 4 stars
I had a brief detour because Please Please Me was on The Beatles debut album. I looked for alternative answers with double words at the front.
If YIKES and (OO)PS hadn’t been near each other in the grid, I would never have seen them.
And kudos to Sharkiciclrs for ’cromulent’.
There are some puzzles in which I’m really disappointed in myself for not figuring out the meta. Then there are those that I am OK with not getting.
This puzzle falls into the latter category.
whut
Puzzle: WSJ (Contest); Rating: 4 stars
I thought the mechanism here was completely consistent, adding OO to the front of one of the “word-like” (i.e., normally written separated by spaces) pieces of each themer. My dissatisfaction came from a couple of the mappings, even though I got all of them.
I thought “oof” and “oh no” was a bit of a stretch, but then “oomph” really doesn’t seem right to me for “appeal”. 🤷♂️
I agree that oomph and appeal aren’t really the same, but to me they’re both reasonable answers for the clue, “Attractive, exciting quality.”
I don’t believe I’ve ever said oof and wonder if that’s more popular with the younger generations. If so, I’m no authority on it’s meaning:)
I eventually stumbled my way through the meta to YAHOO. But did anyone else take the title literally. As in, the “double” in LEADOFF is…the Letter F? There are 6 clues that ‘leadoff’ with the letter F. Spent too much time trying to force an answer from this line of thinking.