Apparently, Melbourne has 12 seasons: winter, fool's spring, second winter, spring of deception, the swooping, the pollening, actual spring, summer, hell, false autumn, second summer, actual autumn. If you want to know why one of these seasons is called "the swooping" look no further than this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGGTcYfrEZU. You are now ready to attempt the meta, the answer to which is an animal. Answer & explanation: https://www.xword-muggles.com/viewtopic.php?p=205368#p205368
Check out "The MOAT Mini Pack of Marching Bands" here: https://www.ephesusscroll.com/about/interest4.html. US$5 gets you 7 Marching Bands which, hard enough on their own, now contain metas too. And once again there's a mega-meta!
Ready to get started?
to save your puzzle progress/stats
This is a contest/meta puzzle. To submit your answer, first finish solving the grid (or reveal it if you get stuck or solved offline).
Leaderboard (updated hourly)
Darth solved 20 days ago
hoover solved 20 days ago
woozy solved 20 days ago
Tom Wilson solved 20 days ago
Danny K Bernstein solved 20 days ago
Berto solved 20 days ago
Bird Lives solved 20 days ago
LarsCaine solved 20 days ago
edestlin solved 20 days ago
Cindy Weatherman solved 20 days ago
Alex Sisti solved 20 days ago
boharr solved 20 days ago
Cindy Heisler solved 20 days ago
Moreo5 solved 20 days ago
Meg solved 20 days ago
Pair O Ducks solved 20 days ago
kurtalert solved 20 days ago
Carolyn solved 20 days ago
DIS solved 20 days ago
KayW solved 20 days ago
rjy solved 20 days ago
FedexPope solved 20 days ago
Mr Tex solved 20 days ago
Lance solved 20 days ago
MatthewL solved 20 days ago
Dave C solved 20 days ago
Myelbow solved 20 days ago
heidi solved 20 days ago
Patrick Povinelli solved 20 days ago
Johnny Luau solved 20 days ago
DrTom solved 20 days ago
I K Snamhcok solved 20 days ago
Ergcat solved 20 days ago
Tyrpmom solved 20 days ago
imontoo solved 20 days ago
DCBilly solved 20 days ago
Tim solved 20 days ago
markhr solved 20 days ago
ReB solved 20 days ago
lbray53 solved 20 days ago
Hector solved 20 days ago
cohdane solved 20 days ago
CPJohnson solved 20 days ago
hbxwords solved 20 days ago
rvkal solved 19 days ago
Spid4567 solved 19 days ago
shalmanezer solved 19 days ago
puzzasaur solved 19 days ago
Mg305 solved 19 days ago
eleanor48 solved 19 days ago
Avlan solved 19 days ago
SJ solved 19 days ago
ajk solved 19 days ago
whimsy solved 19 days ago
david solved 17 days ago
ELSavage solved 16 days ago
Polyagonist solved 15 days ago
HeadinHome solved 13 days ago
Brainbow solved 7 days ago
Comments
Sign in with google to leave a comment of your own:
I kept trying to figure out how Lord Acton ("Power corrupts") figured into it. And even after solving, I don't know the connection between a mole rat and a magpie. It was all fun nonetheless.
KayW 🤓3:36 · 19 days ago
I figured it was because mole rats are blind. Their eyes don't work! Their eyes don't work! Aughhh!!!
Moreo5 🤓14:08 · 20 days ago
Ha Ha! We have similar seasons in SW MI. And aggressive, territorial red-winged blackbirds. Currently, everything is covered in yellow pollen.
Oh, that IS funny, and if it was indeed the nidus for this meta, more's the better. I tried to make this a little more complex, afraid I was missing somehting by not looking for an alternate clue/answer for IYAM, MOVIE, RIEN (which meant nothing to me!), etc. I actually got there the wrong way of sorts since I chose TRANSACT for ACT ON, but any old synonym in a storm.
Fun puzzle, and some clues that were very humourous! Oh, and I will not apologize for how we spell things in America, there I've zed it!
Oh I knew that, it was just that you must have spent so much time finding words that worked with or without an I that I thought there might be a it more. Puzzle was great as it was, but all those alternate words...the temptation was too great!
My subtle humor sometimes comes across less as subtle and more as non-existent....
Ergcat 14:24 · 20 days ago
Great construction! Thanks, Ben!
imontoo 7s · 20 days ago
Well done, Ben!
Tyrpmom 24:52 · 20 days ago
Good stuff. The video was so funny. A bird just did that to my husband last night as he grilled close to a nest.
ReB 30:28 · 20 days ago
The video was a scream! Well-constructed puzzle. From the title, I knew exactly what to do from the start, took a bit of time to find the synonyms. Thanks
Filled in a handful of entries yesterday before getting distracted. When I came back today the mechanism jumped out almost before I'd entered anything. Did wonder if the downs being real words (except maybe 3D) was going to be relevant. Also wound up with TRANSACT instead of TAKE, but got there in the end. :)
whimsy 24:49 · 19 days ago
MOVIE had me suspicious about the grid (I had skipped the NW corner and moved on because I couldn't think of a Thanksgiving item that began with I) but then RIEN for Stimpy's pal definitely had me thinking -- "Aha, he has a cunning plan (as good as one of Baldrick's) going on here!" Thanks, Ben!
HeadinHome 🤓3:11 · 13 days ago
just catching up … missed this last week. great puzzle!