Grid: untimed; Meta: 20 minutes
Mike Shenk’s Wall Street Journal contest crossword, “Hear, Hear!” — Conrad’s writeup.
This we’re looking an apt 10-letter phrase. There were four long two-word theme entries:
- TAILGATE: [Site for a pregame party]
- NEWWORLD: [Dvoák symphony subject]
- REINDEER: [Comet, e.g.]
- FOREPAWS: [Dogs offer them when asked to shake]
Mike’s title prompted me to look for homophones. I didn’t find much in the grid, so I turned to the clues. IDOL’s clue “Beloved one” struck me as odd: DEAR was a better definition. I had the rabbit: DEAR is a homophone of DEER. I worked out the rest of the matching entries fairly quickly:
WSJ Contest – 10.27.2024
- YARN [Story] -> TALE (TAIL)
- ONAIR [Way to walk] -> GAIT (GATE)
- RHINO [Serengeti beast] -> GNU (NEW)
- EDDIED [Went around in circles] -> WHIRLED (WORLD)
- REIN [Occupy the throne] -> RULE (REIN)
- IDOL [Beloved one] -> DEAR (DEER)
- TEN [One of a pair of numbers before “good buddy”] -> FOUR (FORE)
- EJECT [VCR button] -> PAUSE (PAWS)
The mapped entries spell YORE RITE, a homophone for our 10-letter contest solution YOU’RE RIGHT. I thought this puzzle was methodical, but classic Shenk. Solvers: please share your thoughts.
The problem is, “dear” is also the answer to the clue “Hard to find” (i.e., scarce), so I was stuck on “yore rste.” And, before that, “dear” is also the answer to the clue “Casual greeting” (i.e., “hey”), so I was stuck on “yore rhte.” Never connected “dear” with “Beloved one.”
I spent too much time thinking about what’s a homophone for “world”, until I checked the wiktionary.