Matt Gaffney’s Wall Street Journal contest crossword, “Two’s Company”—Laura’s review
This week, Matt wants us to find a two-letter initialism. OK!
WSJ Contest – 6.19.20 – Solution
We learn from 66-Across that there are SEVEN theme answers in the grid:
- [18a: Mike Hammer or Sam Spade, e.g.]: DETECTIVE
- [20a: Capital divided into four quadrants]: WASHINGTON
- [31a: Written afterthought]: ADDED NOTE
- [38a: Elliott and Gertie meet one in a 1982 movie]: ALIEN
- [40a: Taker of the Hippocratic Oath]: PHYSICIAN
- [52a: Abode on a road]: MOBILE HOME
- [58a: Spinner over the airwaves]: RADIO HOST
First insight: All of these entries have a two-letter equivalent:
DETECTIVE == PI
WASHINGTON == DC
ADDED NOTE == PS
ALIEN == ET
PHYSICIAN == MD
MOBILE HOME == RV
RADIO HOST == DJ
Second insight: All of these two-letter initialisms are contained in the grid, as three-letter entries (hmm, this may be why there are so many three-letter entries in the grid!):
PI == [11a: Penultimate Greek letter]: PSI
DC == [10d: Spectacled dwarf]: DOC
PS == [43a: Texting abbr. that may precede “thx”]: PLS
ET == [36d: Summer setting in Philly]: EDT
MD == [24d: Prefix with any month]: MID
RV == [16a: Fire up, as an engine]: REV
DJ == [61a: Sixers legend, familiarly]: DRJ
Third insight: The letters added to the two-letter initialisms in order to make the three-letter entries spell out SOLDIER.
Fourth insight: Applying the first insight, a two-letter initialism for SOLDIER is GI, which is our answer. The abbreviation GI is understood to stand for general issue, but some etymologists claim it initially stood for galvanized iron. I thought this was lovely! It had a really satisfying mechanism, a solid Week 2.5, maybe, on the Gaffney Scale — gettable, but just challenging enough.
I temporarily forgot about the initialism requirement and had “Mobile Home” as AL for the longest time. I’ve been doing too many crosswords. I wonder if ACL was purposely put in to trip me up.
That happened to me as well. I think Governor Mee-Maw in 13d got me thinking that way.
loved the elegance of the title “two’s company” hunting at “three’s a crowd” and the third letter added is always “coming between” the other two letters. just like a true third wheel.
Also GI being part of a company
G.I. = Government Issue: because the uniforms, equipment, armaments, meals, orders and assignments were Government Issue.
Did you see the link (to American Heritage) in the write-up?
Further support at m-w. Also here and here.