Grid: untimed; Meta: 20 minutes
Mike Shenk’s Wall Street Journal contest crossword, “Reserve Players” — Conrad’s writeup.
This we’re looking for a professional sports team. Mike is famously literal in his metas, and he often leaves a hint in the grid, usually in the SE corner. This meta was no exception: 70a (ONICE), clued as “Kept in reserve,” occupied that very spot. Mike’s clue echoed the title, so I looked for ICE in the grid. I found five ICE’s, here are the three letters “on” each of them:
WSJ Contest – 10.13.2002
- (FLO)GS -> RET[ICE]NT
- (RID)S -> BEN[ICE]TO
- N(APA) -> D[ICE]D
- MO(NTH) -> PR[ICE]
- TI(ERS) -> ON[ICE]
Our contest solution FLORIDA PANTHERS were (playing) on ICE. Familiar mechanism, but the ice hockey angle was nice bonus. As a lifelong Boston Bruins fan: I’ll try to look past the fact that Mike appears to be a Panthers fan. Solvers: please share your thoughts.
This is one of those perfect puzzles to show your friends to get them hooked on metas.
Nicely said.
Agree!
Loved the relatively challenging puzzle and relatively easy meta, allowing for a relaxing weekend.
I had been suffering through an unpleasant slump of not getting meta answers (not just the WSJ, but also recent WaPo and MMMM puzzles), so I appreciated an easy one. I think I got it within a minute or two of finishing the grid. The repeated ICE trigrams were obvious even without the hint at 70A.
As someone who’s never been an ice hockey fan (nor much of a sports fan, period), I recognized the Florida Panthers as a pro team, but couldn’t remember the sport. I forgot to look them up; to learn that they’re an NHL team makes the meta even tighter.
The headline for the review has a small error — the constructor was Mike Shenk, not Matt Gaffney.
Yes, it’s a Mike Shenk puzzle, not Matt Gaffney!
Fixed, thanks!
Aargh! I didn’t do the puzzle until today, and I finally got my first Mike Shenk meta correct, but one day too late to enter the crossword.
That’s frustrating, I’m sure.
But do you really need another coffee cup? I could spare one if you do.
Congratulations on getting the meta! I have a pretty poor track record when it comes to Mike Shenk’s puzzles, so I know how it feels to finally get one.
I didn’t think of it as “I’m a fan of this team” so much as “I’m paying tribute to their Stanley Cup win as they raise the banner and start defending it as the new season begins.”