WSJ (Contest) Grid: 20 minutes; Meta: 15 more 
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Matt Gaffney’s Wall Street Journal contest crossword, “Character Study” — Conrad’s writeup
This week we’re looking for a 14-letter proper name. There were five long theme entries. Matt gave us a big fat hint in the final horizontal entry: TRASH (Take out the ___ (task you must perform on this puzzle)). Here are the themers with the trash highlighted:
- [REFUSE]DTOANSWER: Took the Fifth, say
- G[LITTER]ATI: Hollywood stars and such
- I[WASTE]MPTED: “That definitely crossed my mind!”
- HAROL[DROSS]: The New Yorker co-founder and longtime editor-in chief
- BROWNSU[GARBAGE]L: Sweet breakfast item
WSJ Contest – 11.09.2025
Taking out the trash left DTOANSWER, GATI, etc. That seemed like a dead rabbit hole, but I noticed really weird clues while solving the grid. Namely OWN’s clue: Dominate totally on, as Nadal serving Wimbledon’s early rounds. The clue’s words started with DTOANSWER. Weirdness explained, and rabbit located:
- OWN: Dominate totally on, as Nadal serving Wimbledon’s early rounds -> DTOANSWER
- SWING: Golfer’s attempt to impress -> GATI
- COUNDOWN: It may precede the Enterprise’s departure -> IMPTED
- ATE: Had apples, raisins or lemons -> HAROL
- REST: Big reason one would not stay up late -> BROWNSUL
The mapped letters spell OSCAR, leading to our trash-loving contest answer OSCAR THE GROUCH. Solvers: please share your thoughts.
That’s a great one! And yes, those were some bizarre clues. I should have taken that more seriously. Congratulation to the better rabbit hunters in the group.
This was a fun one!! Good job Matt!!
Nicely done! I noticed the weirdly verbose clues too but wrongly assumed we were looking for the answers to them elsewhere.
I submitted MEPHISTOPHELES because of the INFERNO. And it was the only name I could think of that is 14 letters. Better luck next time. No GROUCH here.
Ugh. I even remember thinking “why Wimbledon? He’s more famous for dominating Roland Garros” and still didn’t make the connection
That’s funny! I sent in Oscar the Grouch because he’s a character associated with garbage. I didn’t even notice the next step. Just thought it was one of those super easy metas…
Puzzle: WSJ (Contest); Rating: 4.5 stars
I almost went with the messy, but I guess not exactly trash-related, OSCAR Madison but that was only 12 letters!
Oh, Oscar the Grouch… sure!
I just Googled someone who takes out the trash and got Oscar the Grouch and Matthew Lillard.
Puzzle: WSJ (Contest); Rating: 1.5 stars
These multi-level metas are starting to grind on me. I’m okay with the “Oscar” part of the solution, but how does one get “The Grouch”? (I could have submitted Oscar Madison because he was a notorious slob who didn’t take out the trash.)
Oscar Madison has only 12 letters
Oscar the Grouch is the name of the Sesame Street character who lives in a trash can.