How do I write a JQL to find all issues that haven't had a specific state change after a certain date?

[SSchoepel]

I need to find all issues in a current sprint minus the ones that had a specific state prior to starting the sprint.

project = XYZ AND Sprint = 1 AND assignee in (user)

That gets me all that users items, but now I need to filter out this: status changed to "Ready for Closure" BEFORE 2016-12-21

I cannot put a NOT in there. Is there some sort of subquery I can use or is there an operator I'm missing?

[SSchoepel · Accepted solution]

Nevermind, I got it. JIRA was crabby at me but the filter still functions (says "was" doesn't work with my status).

project = XYZ AND Sprint = 1 AND assignee in (user) and status was not in ("Ready for Closure") BEFORE 2016-12-21