Read Between the Lines
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Read Between the Lines

· By Mikey G

Meta Prompt
[Level 1] The answer to the meta is a bookworm's goal.
Checking for previous play data...

Leaderboard (updated hourly)

  • oldjudge solved 2024-07-20T17:00:57.040Z
  • Hector solved 2024-07-20T17:12:43.461Z
  • KayW solved 2024-07-20T17:12:54.744Z
  • Cindy Weatherman solved 2024-07-20T17:19:50.586Z
  • CPJohnson solved 2024-07-20T17:26:06.191Z
  • kurtalert solved 2024-07-20T17:28:58.774Z
  • Meg solved 2024-07-20T17:31:39.442Z
  • Darth solved 2024-07-20T17:32:01.230Z
  • Joe solved 2024-07-20T17:39:50.061Z
  • boharr solved 2024-07-20T17:47:32.202Z
  • woozy solved 2024-07-20T17:52:02.664Z
  • Julie bookworm solved 2024-07-20T18:07:56.641Z
  • Rick solved 2024-07-20T18:18:21.393Z
  • hoover solved 2024-07-20T18:23:12.479Z
  • FrankieHeck solved 2024-07-20T19:02:55.305Z
  • HeadinHome solved 2024-07-20T19:37:30.223Z
  • Cindy Heisler solved 2024-07-20T19:49:49.423Z
  • damefox solved 2024-07-20T19:55:53.164Z
  • LesY solved 2024-07-20T19:58:48.483Z
  • edestlin solved 2024-07-20T20:15:47.705Z
  • LarsCaine solved 2024-07-20T20:24:36.126Z
  • Danny K Bernstein solved 2024-07-20T20:47:55.609Z
  • JM solved 2024-07-20T20:48:56.905Z
  • rjy solved 2024-07-20T20:51:02.892Z
  • BarbaraK solved 2024-07-20T21:34:49.453Z
  • DrTom solved 2024-07-20T21:35:09.119Z
  • heidi solved 2024-07-20T21:50:58.164Z
  • whimsy solved 2024-07-20T22:06:21.167Z
  • Capn Rick solved 2024-07-20T22:23:19.095Z
  • benchen71 solved 2024-07-20T22:30:43.287Z
  • Abide solved 2024-07-20T22:35:07.941Z
  • frostyjhammer solved 2024-07-20T22:38:11.819Z
  • I K Snamhcok solved 2024-07-20T22:55:51.423Z
  • markhr solved 2024-07-20T23:15:28.683Z
  • andeux solved 2024-07-21T00:03:28.533Z
  • Berto solved 2024-07-21T02:05:52.730Z
  • Mr Tex solved 2024-07-21T03:15:24.212Z
  • rvkal solved 2024-07-21T03:27:54.916Z
  • dannyvee solved 2024-07-21T05:48:58.371Z
  • Avlan solved 2024-07-21T07:55:54.776Z
  • Darrell solved 2024-07-21T08:00:25.302Z
  • SJ solved 2024-07-21T08:35:39.960Z
  • Qmark solved 2024-07-21T13:24:13.211Z
  • Schmeel solved 2024-07-21T13:30:05.428Z
  • Bob J solved 2024-07-21T14:05:07.379Z
  • Bbaack solved 2024-07-21T15:33:15.541Z
  • MatthewL solved 2024-07-21T16:27:42.047Z
  • Myelbow solved 2024-07-21T16:44:30.856Z
  • Pair O Ducks solved 2024-07-21T17:47:26.920Z
  • Toast solved 2024-07-21T19:08:59.561Z
  • Larry Edelstein solved 2024-07-21T19:22:49.247Z
  • Gutman solved 2024-07-21T20:26:28.426Z
  • Laura M solved 2024-07-21T20:51:44.617Z
  • Philip Chow solved 2024-07-21T23:55:07.083Z
  • BrennerTJ solved 2024-07-22T00:35:23.362Z
  • lbray53 solved 2024-07-22T01:17:38.864Z
  • Salty solved 2024-07-22T16:32:02.941Z
  • DIS solved 2024-07-22T19:10:53.261Z
  • Alex Sisti solved 2024-07-22T21:42:42.010Z
  • Steve M solved 2024-07-23T16:13:16.668Z
  • DCBilly solved 2024-07-24T15:47:10.664Z
  • Eric Porter solved 2024-07-25T23:59:13.597Z
  • ELSavage solved 2024-07-26T00:22:20.164Z
  • SJMcK solved 2024-07-26T00:29:30.458Z
  • Kulea solved 2024-07-26T07:47:01.735Z
  • dilly solved 2024-07-26T12:44:50.989Z
  • Meta World Peace solved 2024-07-26T18:25:52.080Z
  • Alvibu67 solved 2024-07-26T22:52:29.778Z
  • syoustra solved 2024-07-26T23:33:12.469Z
  • axmszr solved 2024-07-28T06:23:12.009Z
  • Tyrpmom solved 2024-07-28T16:27:12.735Z
  • Me solved 2024-07-29T04:16:50.601Z
  • lukadisgre solved 2024-09-23T14:19:01.895Z

Comments

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  • oldjudge 2s · 2024-07-20T17:04:05.645Z
    Love the novel approach. Great job, Mikey!
    • Joe 🤓9:04 · 2024-07-20T17:40:14.858Z
      I'm all outta metas this weekend!
      • KayW 🤓5:16 · 2024-07-20T17:14:26.526Z
        Fun level I meta, thanks! (and several EGGS-elent clues)
        • kurtalert 🤓8:07 · 2024-07-20T17:31:41.112Z
          Funny - I had this same idea for a metanism last week while solving another puzzle. This popped right out at me as a result. Nice one, thanks Mikey!
          • Mikey G constructor · 2024-07-20T20:23:06.486Z
            I had the title "Read Between the Lines" scrawled down for a few months but had nothing to do with it. And then I was like, "Oh! Of course." Yes, on particularly hard WSJ and MGWCCs, the failed metanisms for those are a wellspring for the future!
          • Darth 9:18 · 2024-07-20T17:35:01.829Z
            Nice one, Mikey! I like it.
            • boharr 4s · 2024-07-20T17:50:29.296Z
              Oh, those things are lines! Thanks, Mikey.
              • hoover 2s · 2024-07-20T18:24:06.615Z
                Having last week's two letter I be something weird helped prepare for this week's.
                • Mikey G constructor · 2024-07-20T17:00:27.264Z
                  Answer: SHELF-CARE
                  Explanation: The title says it all! Treating the "I"s as lines, the nine letters between them in standard top-bottom spell out SHELF-CARE, the answer to the meta, an apt pun on self-care, and what I hope to get on my vacation! I'm currently at 50 books read this year, which is a bit behind my pacing for my goal of 124 (100 plus year). Here's to reading! Let me know any great recs in the comments!
                  • HeadinHome 2:12 · 2024-07-20T19:42:50.293Z
                    Had to reveal to finish the top right corner! ECHT is a completely new word to me, and did not know VAIO (and it didn’t come up when I googled “Sony brands” .. ?? Odd). I had ELSE for “alt.” (thinking “alternate”). So yes, the mechanism was a cinch, but the grid was actually kind of hard! (Kemba Walker was almost all cross-grid solving — just don’t know sports names.) Thanks for the Saturday diversion!
                    • Mikey G constructor · 2024-07-20T20:22:04.808Z
                      I have a weird habit of making grids harder than the metas, haha. I think that's happened before on WSJ! I would have qualified "echt" with something like a German city, since that's the language origin - but that word has come into English! Gabrielle Zevin's incredible book "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" used that, amongst tons of other amazing vocab words, in her inventive story about two video game programmers. That might have been where I learned about it as well!
                      • woozy 🤓14:25 · 2024-07-21T02:53:50.428Z
                        Heh. I ran across ECHT just a week or two ago trying to constructa a crossword that fell by the wayside. Didn't help me remember though. I got this all by the cross clues. Merriam Webster page on ECHT is pretty fun read though.
                      • Mikey G constructor · 2024-07-20T20:24:38.394Z
                        18-D was unfinished, hahaha. I think it was originally "Good advice for a Post-It note" but I didn't like the it duplication. Whoops! 🤣
                        • BarbaraK 3s · 2024-07-20T21:47:04.925Z
                          Nicely done!
                          Believe it or not, this was a very early WSJ meta, probably before you started solving them.
                          It stuck in my mind mainly because there was much discussion about filling grids in upper or lower case and Sally (the original cruise director) said she couldn’t be expected to solve that one because she used lower case and dotted her i’s with little hearts like a schoolgirl so they didn’t look at all like lines :)
                        • Abide 9:32 · 2024-07-20T22:42:13.411Z
                          Very impressive. I was distracted by the uppercase Ls instead of looking for thr "lowercase" ones.
                          • woozy 🤓14:25 · 2024-07-21T02:49:19.366Z
                            Dare I say, solving this was an ... absolute.... delight?
                            I was going to say as a level one it failed the "have the answer jump out at you as you solve on a small screen in bumpy car going 70mph over the Sierras and the wife yelling at you 'put down the damned phone and look at the view'" test, but then ... it utterly passed that test as the metanism jumped into sight.
                            • DrTom 2s · 2024-07-20T21:36:09.244Z
                              Level 1 as advertised. I was sure it was going to end up SHELFISHNESS....
                              • DrTom 2s · 2024-07-20T21:39:45.164Z
                                With HeadinHome; I wondered what the ECHT is he talking about until I looked it up.
                                • Qmark 4s · 2024-07-21T13:24:29.490Z
                                  Enjoyed it...thanks Mikey!
                                  • MatthewL 🤓7:04 · 2024-07-21T16:28:57.309Z
                                    Enjoyed that, especially since I bombed on your last one. Thanks for the puzzle, Mikey!
                                    • Philip Chow 🤓6:38 · 2024-07-21T23:59:36.223Z
                                      Fun puzzle - enjoy your vacation!! Sorry I don’t have any recommendations, I barely read I’m so uncultured… the only culture I get is from yogurt
                                      • DIS 🤓4:40 · 2024-07-22T19:22:46.661Z
                                        This should have been # 101. Other than that it really hit tome.
                                        • Steve M 42:08 · 2024-07-23T16:22:46.467Z
                                          Briefly looked for things that could somehow be between the lines, but quickly spotted the “I”s. Nice one!
                                          • Meta World Peace 3s · 2024-07-26T18:28:07.512Z
                                            It paid to have your blinders on when solving this week! I dearly want to try banana split OREOs if they ever return to the supermarket--birthday cake is my reigning fave.
                                            1A
                                            Pop in (but call first, so I know not to be home)
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                                            46
                                            Across
                                            1. 1A
                                              Pop in (but call first, so I know not to be home)
                                            2. 6A
                                              Alt.
                                            3. 10A
                                              Western, for one
                                            4. 12A
                                              Half a soda
                                            5. 13A
                                              See 32-Across
                                            6. 14A
                                              "Hello! Hello!"
                                            7. 15A
                                              These letters are kind of "sketchy"
                                            8. 16A
                                              Connect with
                                            9. 18A
                                              Gymnast Johnson who won "Dancing with the Stars"
                                            10. 19A
                                              I argued with my friend about what a ___ is, but that's water under the bridge
                                            11. 22A
                                              Go for with gusto
                                            12. 26A
                                              Some paramecium propellers are serious; others are ___
                                            13. 28A
                                              Verne's milieu, briefly
                                            14. 29A
                                              Keys, e.g.
                                            15. 31A
                                              Jazzy James
                                            16. 32A
                                              With 13-Across, former Hornets and Celtics basketball star
                                            17. 34A
                                              Figuring out whether your adhesive is crimson, scarlet, or vermilion means going through all this ___
                                            18. 37A
                                              Singer Lana ___ Rey
                                            19. 40A
                                              A 2018 article called the banana split variety of this treat about as convincing as a man yelling "Hey! I'm a banana! Believe that I'm a banana!"
                                            20. 41A
                                              Mediate
                                            21. 43A
                                              She claims she's made of "silicon, memory, and the courage of my convictions"
                                            22. 44A
                                              Character in a Beatles song (who might love to eat 10-Across!)
                                            23. 45A
                                              Dispatched
                                            24. 46A
                                              Vowels often sung
                                            Down
                                            1. 1D
                                              Promises
                                            2. 2D
                                              Somali-born supermodel
                                            3. 3D
                                              To figure out how a department store survives, study ___ biology
                                            4. 4D
                                              Kind
                                            5. 5D
                                              Saw things?
                                            6. 6D
                                              Herb in some teas
                                            7. 7D
                                              Pork purchase
                                            8. 8D
                                              Genuine
                                            9. 9D
                                              Sony brand that's 75% vowels
                                            10. 11D
                                              Kafka novel, with "The"
                                            11. 17D
                                              If you can't find the lambs' mothers, ___ your brain!
                                            12. 18D
                                              Good advice for a sandpaper manufacturer?
                                            13. 19D
                                              One-time Elton John label
                                            14. 20D
                                              Said canola to olive, "___ be seeing you!"
                                            15. 21D
                                              Clay, later
                                            16. 23D
                                              "Can we pick up some avocados?" "Sure, we have time for a ___ stop"
                                            17. 24D
                                              Sternward
                                            18. 25D
                                              Aunt, in Acapulco
                                            19. 27D
                                              All-vowel town near Honolulu with at least one "E"
                                            20. 30D
                                              Prodigious
                                            21. 33D
                                              I have so many pants of this shade - they've really ecru-ed
                                            22. 34D
                                              She got it "all sewed up," per the "Maude" theme
                                            23. 35D
                                              Lake that's probably in crosswords more than Huron, Ontario, Michigan, or Superior
                                            24. 36D
                                              Laura of "Marriage Story"
                                            25. 37D
                                              When I park outside the U.S. Mint, I stop on a ___
                                            26. 38D
                                              Morales of "NYPD Blue" and crosswords
                                            27. 39D
                                              Carson's successor
                                            28. 42D
                                              Form 1040 calc.
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