Grid: 10 minutes; meta: 4 extra 

Matt Gaffney’s Wall Street Journal contest crossword, “Tense Situation” — Conrad’s writeup.

This week we’re searching for the grid reply that’s a secret sixth theme reply. There had been 5 starred theme entries, every containing a gift tense verb:

• [17A *Ask what others would do]: SEEKADVICE
• [25A *Get into crisis mode]: THINKFAST
• [39A *Contribute, as a team member does]: BRINGTOTHETABLE
• [48A *Cult classic of 1999]: FIGHTCLUB
• [62A *Cause great damage (this one is a little loose)]: WREAKHAVOC

WSJ Contest – 08.26.22 – Solution

The previous tense of every verb* rhymed with OUGHT:

• SEEK -> SOUGHT
• THINK -> THOUGHT
• BRING -> BROUGHT
• FIGHT -> FOUGHT
• WREAK -> WROUGHT*

I scanned the grid searching for a gift tense verb with a rhyming previous tense. BOUGHT is the previous tense of BUY, making BUYIT our contest resolution. I used to be about to submit my reply, and needed to double examine what Matt meant about 62a (“this one is a little loose”). It seems the previous tense of WREAK is WREAKED. I used to be an English main as an undergrad, and this sailed proper previous me.

Here is extra data than you require on this challenge: ‘Wrought derives from Middle English worken, the past participle of our very familiar verb work, following similar verb patterns still in use today (caught, bought, taught).’ The spotlight of my undergrad research was studying, translating, re-reading, and at last getting the Canterbury Tales in Middle English (the Miller’s Tale is delightfully filthy). Solvers: would you will have observed WROUGHT if Matt hadn’t pointed it out? Let me know you made out within the feedback.