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Meta-morphosis

◆◆ · By Bird Lives · Published 2025-01-13T11:02:32.932Z

Meta Prompt
The answer is a tale of personal transformation.
Here are the nudges, though at times they are less like nudges and more like a set of directions.
Nudge 1 Wait a minute. This first clue at 1 Across has two possible answers, and they’re the same except for the first letter. What kind of a lousy constructor would make a clue so ambiguous?
Nudge 2 Using the clue at 1 Down doesn’t help. It has the same ambiguity — two legit answers that differ by a single letter. But wait, those two possible letters are the same ones as for 1 Across.What’s going on, and which letter to choose?
Nudge 3 One of those clues contains the word earlier in parentheses, the other contains the word later in parentheses.
Nudge 4 The clues at 20 Across and 35 Across also have earlier and later but not in parentheses. They both refer to the relative positions of letters in the alphabet.
Nudge 5 Maybe that tells you which of the pair of letters to choose.
Nudge 6 Try that with the Across earlier/later entries plus the entry where the key letters are the same.
Nudge 7 Now erase those letters and fill the squares with the letters indicated for the Down entries. (You didn’t really need this nudge. If you’ve gotten this far, you knew what it had to be.)
Checking for previous play data...

Leaderboard (updated hourly)

  • KayW solved 2025-01-07T00:16:48.121Z
  • Mr Tex solved 2025-01-13T11:47:52.678Z
  • Tom Wilson solved 2025-01-13T12:12:32.470Z
  • Pair O Ducks solved 2025-01-13T12:18:09.844Z
  • Berto solved 2025-01-13T12:30:07.680Z
  • Danny K Bernstein solved 2025-01-13T12:50:11.029Z
  • DIS solved 2025-01-13T12:50:30.789Z
  • Darth solved 2025-01-13T12:58:12.158Z
  • LarsCaine solved 2025-01-13T14:06:53.381Z
  • JM solved 2025-01-13T14:32:37.305Z
  • Capn Rick solved 2025-01-13T14:54:04.563Z
  • Hector solved 2025-01-13T14:58:01.850Z
  • Heb solved 2025-01-13T15:23:20.140Z
  • boharr solved 2025-01-13T15:25:48.560Z
  • hoover solved 2025-01-13T15:47:23.007Z
  • rjy solved 2025-01-13T16:00:19.552Z
  • Meg solved 2025-01-13T16:09:03.519Z
  • dannyvee solved 2025-01-13T16:16:32.363Z
  • markhr solved 2025-01-13T16:42:26.822Z
  • MatthewL solved 2025-01-13T16:52:19.029Z
  • Serafin solved 2025-01-13T17:02:39.575Z
  • DrTom solved 2025-01-13T17:30:37.470Z
  • DaveG solved 2025-01-13T17:35:37.575Z
  • FedexPope solved 2025-01-13T17:42:37.931Z
  • ajk solved 2025-01-13T17:49:44.941Z
  • david solved 2025-01-13T18:02:37.480Z
  • Dave C solved 2025-01-13T18:10:02.195Z
  • Sharkicicles solved 2025-01-13T18:13:00.321Z
  • Abide solved 2025-01-13T18:42:28.436Z
  • Cindy Weatherman solved 2025-01-13T18:57:52.018Z
  • HeadinHome solved 2025-01-13T19:12:09.380Z
  • Lanny Gilbert solved 2025-01-13T19:38:39.368Z
  • woozy solved 2025-01-13T20:05:37.185Z
  • iceman solved 2025-01-13T20:15:09.965Z
  • edestlin solved 2025-01-13T20:18:40.765Z
  • Wendy Walker solved 2025-01-13T20:32:29.082Z
  • whimsy solved 2025-01-13T21:32:13.359Z
  • JHSeeman solved 2025-01-13T21:41:42.434Z
  • Anita and Steve solved 2025-01-13T22:20:20.927Z
  • I K Snamhcok solved 2025-01-13T22:28:16.533Z
  • Lance solved 2025-01-13T22:44:43.031Z
  • michaelm solved 2025-01-13T22:47:19.310Z
  • Gutman solved 2025-01-13T22:54:36.173Z
  • Mwoychick solved 2025-01-14T01:00:13.358Z
  • heidi solved 2025-01-14T01:17:23.367Z
  • lbray53 solved 2025-01-14T01:28:12.369Z
  • Alvibu67 solved 2025-01-14T03:25:41.521Z
  • Kulea solved 2025-01-14T04:35:05.055Z
  • Mikey G solved 2025-01-14T05:23:03.524Z
  • Account solved 2025-01-14T09:35:58.329Z
  • Schmeel solved 2025-01-14T14:10:31.124Z
  • Cindy Heisler solved 2025-01-14T14:27:36.190Z
  • Alex Sisti solved 2025-01-14T17:43:33.056Z
  • Eric Porter solved 2025-01-14T17:46:21.690Z
  • andeux solved 2025-01-14T18:06:29.671Z
  • Jaclyn solved 2025-01-14T18:07:41.149Z
  • rvkal solved 2025-01-14T21:50:50.048Z
  • kymike solved 2025-01-14T22:54:15.494Z
  • Tim solved 2025-01-14T23:00:12.823Z
  • InAJelly solved 2025-01-15T04:48:20.849Z
  • DCBilly solved 2025-01-15T13:56:28.625Z
  • Johnny Luau solved 2025-01-15T16:59:51.493Z
  • CPJohnson solved 2025-01-15T17:40:31.359Z
  • DavyGravy solved 2025-01-15T19:27:37.580Z
  • Carolyn solved 2025-01-15T21:47:14.199Z
  • bhamren solved 2025-01-16T15:17:49.362Z
  • Morendil solved 2025-01-16T22:47:53.249Z
  • Lex solved 2025-01-17T19:22:43.591Z
  • HeyMikey solved 2025-01-18T18:04:53.464Z
  • cohdane solved 2025-01-21T01:16:11.475Z
  • Adam Simon Levine solved 2025-01-22T22:41:57.647Z
  • kurtalert solved 2025-01-29T16:38:09.400Z
  • Kristi solved 2025-02-12T03:51:26.243Z

Comments

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  • Berto 1s · 2025-01-13T12:34:42.261Z
    Very clever! I figured out Mr Hyde but didn’t even see the letters to swap were Jekyll until after. Very cool.
    • Tom Wilson 4:47 · 2025-01-13T12:14:04.435Z
      Very impressive!
      • Darth 14:33 · 2025-01-13T13:01:38.454Z
        “With every day, and from both sides of my intelligence, the moral and the intellectual, I thus drew steadily nearer to the truth, by whose partial discovery I have been doomed to such a dreadful shipwreck: that man is not truly one, but truly two.”
        Nice 26A, and well executed. Thanks, Jay!
        • Bird Lives constructor · 2025-01-13T14:04:13.412Z
          Whoever wrote that probably meant to say that it's a meta that is not truly one, but truly two.
        • Mr Tex 10:08 · 2025-01-13T13:09:52.851Z
          This is as amazing a construction as I've ever seen.
          • Capn Rick 9:16 · 2025-01-13T14:55:43.992Z
            Super IDEA with awesome execution, Jay!
            • boharr 9s · 2025-01-13T15:28:54.597Z
              Way too clever for the likes of me, and I'm still not sure of the entire metansim. But nudges got me through. Thanks, Jay.
              • Hector 29:29 · 2025-01-13T15:51:22.359Z
                Bravo! Impressive and very fun.
                • Meg 2s · 2025-01-13T16:09:21.562Z
                  Wow!
                  • hoover 2s · 2025-01-13T15:47:49.628Z
                    Now I see why I had so many incorrect squares when I checked the grid!
                    • MatthewL 🤓15:34 · 2025-01-13T17:21:27.890Z
                      Well, I'm not sure I see the entire mechanism, but I did find JEKYLL, and intuited the answer from that. Will be interested to see what I'm missing. Thanks for the puzzle, Jay!
                      • Bird Lives constructor · 2025-01-13T18:33:25.214Z
                        Take a look at the first square where you put a J. Look at the down and across clues. Is there any other letter that might work in that square?
                        • Abide 4s · 2025-01-13T18:46:56.009Z
                          Think about the (earlier) and (later) tags, in connection with the 30-Across clue.
                          • MatthewL 🤓15:34 · 2025-01-13T21:31:34.308Z
                            Ah. As someone above mentioned, no wonder I got so many wrong squares at first. Thanks!
                          • Sharkicicles 2s · 2025-01-13T18:13:27.190Z
                            Very cool construction! Thanks!
                            • HeadinHome 2:02 · 2025-01-13T19:27:25.203Z
                              Wasn’t sure which letter to put in the grid, so I just revealed. Also kinda WAGged based on the letters I have… i suspect if I spent some time with it I could see how you get the order (right now the befores and afters still confuse me, as to how that applies]. Really clever mechanism!!
                              • woozy 8:44 · 2025-01-13T20:06:22.526Z
                                Love it!
                                But I don't really understand what the later/earlier clues are supposed to mean.
                                • Bird Lives constructor · 2025-01-13T22:20:25.973Z
                                  The hints in 30A and 35A tell you: earlier and later in the alphabet. So 1A could begin with either a J or an M. The clue tells you to use the one that comes earlier in the alphabet.
                                  • HeadinHome 2:02 · 2025-01-14T00:01:10.050Z
                                    My question is, how to know which to enter in Crosshare… or was it set up as a rebus? And how is the order of letters supposed to work for the meta? (Like, did it matter which letter to put first in the square, if you’re indeed supposed to put both of them in? Does the across come before the down, for instance?)
                                    • HeadinHome 2:02 · 2025-01-14T00:06:37.887Z
                                      Actually I figured out the order can be gotten from the clue order. Question about how Crosshare was set up remains. ( :
                                      • woozy 8:44 · 2025-01-14T01:01:05.593Z
                                        Ah, I see. So the acrosses spell JEKYLL and the downs spell MR. HYDE.
                                        But I see you didn't take into advantage of Crosshares ability to allow two alternate letters for entry. I got stuck and hit reveal and it corrected it to all acrosses even if I had put some downs in. so I wondered how you were supposed to know which to enter.
                                    • ajk 10:50 · 2025-01-13T17:52:05.899Z
                                      I didn't figure out whether the earlier/later instructions were for what we wanted in the grid or what we were looking for, so the solving experience was a bit annoying (on me, obviously). But very clever and very well executed. Fun one, thanks. I did submit the full title of the story first, and then tried putting a 'the' in front of it, so that's why there are a couple of wrong answers 😂
                                      • DrTom 3s · 2025-01-13T17:42:03.834Z
                                        Well I got it sans nudges and then the hard part was entering it like CROSSHARE wanted. JEKYLL HYDE was wrong, JEKYLL TO HYDE was wrong DR JEKYLL MR HYDE was wrong, STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR HYDE (which is the actual book Stevenson wrote while recuperating from tuberculosis in Scotland; the book was based on a real person, Deacon Brodie, whose house is now a café in Edinburgh which serves a nice haggis lunch!). Finally I lit on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the movie and that was it. Nicely done Jay!
                                        • Wendy Walker 4s · 2025-01-13T20:35:55.922Z
                                          "Hmm, a Michelin rater could be a rater or an eater. And someone in an exam room could be a testee or a tester. I wonder if Jay noticed that!" Oh, silly, silly Wendy. OF COURSE he did. And so much more! Thanks for the hints in 30A and 35A.
                                          • Bird Lives constructor · 2025-01-14T00:23:54.829Z
                                            You're right. I probably should have used the rebus function. Instead, I just went with the Across answers, and left it to solvers to mentally change to the Down answers to get MR HYDE. The problem with rebus squares is that usually all the letters in that square are part of the entry. And I don't think there's any way to indicate to solvers that a particular square should get more than one letter. As I said in the intro, it's a bit awkward.
                                          • I K Snamhcok 2s · 2025-01-13T22:34:45.460Z
                                            Very cool! Though I got it with only JEKYLL. Didn’t notice the interchangeability. So now that I do see it, I must amend “Very cool!” Let’s now say “WAY cool!”
                                            • michaelm 16:05 · 2025-01-13T23:10:54.627Z
                                              Outstanding aha moment! Thanks for working up this MMM in the meta lab, Dr. Jay, or maybe it was really Mr. Abide? 👀
                                              • Abide 4s · 2025-01-14T14:05:59.421Z
                                                Ha, that’s Abyde. 😜
                                              • Lance 2s · 2025-01-13T23:16:33.783Z
                                                That was a super nice construction and fun to solve!
                                                • Alvibu67 3s · 2025-01-14T03:37:16.447Z
                                                  WOW! Mind blown how you constructed this meta. How’d you come up with such a great IDEA? And then cluing had to be very subtle to cover two words in each direction. Very impressive, Jay!
                                                  • Alex Sisti 3s · 2025-01-14T17:44:13.807Z
                                                    Very, very impressive!
                                                    • whimsy 14:32 · 2025-01-13T21:48:52.765Z
                                                      Like hoover, putting in the incorrect letters led me to see the duality, and like Berto I got Mr Hyde but missed Jekell at first. Thanks, Peter for the assistance in understanding that alphabetical order rather than transformation order was implied by the parentheses.
                                                      Oh, and on my first go-round, I missed KEELS/HEELS and YOUR/YEAR as part of the solve so that reading around the outside of the grid in a clockwise fashion, I got Mr. Ed -- but I was pretty sure that wasn't it! 😁
                                                      This too is a great work! Thank you, Jay!
                                                      • DavyGravy 2s · 2025-01-15T19:28:00.939Z
                                                        Great puzzle Jay! Really creative
                                                        • Carolyn 3s · 2025-01-15T21:48:17.034Z
                                                          Wow, just wow! Should have seen it but didn't. Thanks for the nudges.
                                                          1A
                                                          Put words in a way that's hard to understand (earlier)
                                                          1
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                                                          25
                                                          26
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                                                          28
                                                          29
                                                          30
                                                          31
                                                          32
                                                          33
                                                          34
                                                          35
                                                          36
                                                          37
                                                          38
                                                          39
                                                          40
                                                          41
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                                                          45
                                                          46
                                                          47
                                                          48
                                                          49
                                                          50
                                                          51
                                                          52
                                                          53
                                                          54
                                                          Across
                                                          1. 1A
                                                            Put words in a way that's hard to understand (earlier)
                                                          2. 7A
                                                            One in the exam room (earlier)
                                                          3. 13A
                                                            Craved what someone else has
                                                          4. 14A
                                                            Location for Cornell knowledge
                                                          5. 15A
                                                            Kitchen appliance brand. Also, with Zee, a NY bridge.
                                                          6. 16A
                                                            Cat that's spotted in South America
                                                          7. 17A
                                                            October birthstone
                                                          8. 19A
                                                            First name in Ethiopian history
                                                          9. 20A
                                                            ___ over, loses one's balance (later)
                                                          10. 23A
                                                            Chin or legal add-on
                                                          11. 25A
                                                            Fresh ___ on NPR
                                                          12. 26A
                                                            What a meta begins with
                                                          13. 27A
                                                            "Call Me By ___ Name" (this one's the same)
                                                          14. 28A
                                                            Norse god often angry (as lispers might say)
                                                          15. 29A
                                                            Tay-tay's main squeeze Travis is a tight one
                                                          16. 30A
                                                            Like Z, coming later than all other letters in the alphabet
                                                          17. 34A
                                                            New Mexico artist colony
                                                          18. 35A
                                                            NATO alphabet letter that comes earlier than all others
                                                          19. 36A
                                                            Male in the family (later)
                                                          20. 39A
                                                            "It's freezing cold"
                                                          21. 40A
                                                            City near London featured in a Monty Python plane-hijack sketch
                                                          22. 41A
                                                            Novelst Calvino
                                                          23. 43A
                                                            Wee bit
                                                          24. 45A
                                                            Nine-days prayer
                                                          25. 47A
                                                            Molecules that are always so negative
                                                          26. 51A
                                                            Motorless aircraft
                                                          27. 52A
                                                            British medical journal, with "The"
                                                          28. 53A
                                                            Like Aaron Rodgers among NFL quarterbacks
                                                          29. 54A
                                                            Hanukkah candle sets for the last night (later)
                                                          Down
                                                          1. 1D
                                                            New York team player (later)
                                                          2. 2D
                                                            "___ voce poca fa" (Barber of Seville)
                                                          3. 3D
                                                            Judge in MLB last year
                                                          4. 4D
                                                            Manic depressive
                                                          5. 5D
                                                            Bounds companion
                                                          6. 6D
                                                            Aussie dame
                                                          7. 7D
                                                            ___ Pepe sherry
                                                          8. 8D
                                                            Durer, notably
                                                          9. 9D
                                                            Where the team in 1 Down used to play
                                                          10. 10D
                                                            Francis Ford Coppola's sister
                                                          11. 11D
                                                            Bacteria for a gut reaction
                                                          12. 12D
                                                            Michelin inspector at times (later)
                                                          13. 18D
                                                            Soprano in "Il Trovatore"
                                                          14. 20D
                                                            It has the makings of a successful product (earlier)
                                                          15. 21D
                                                            Old English letter
                                                          16. 22D
                                                            Job listing letters
                                                          17. 24D
                                                            Beer, slangily
                                                          18. 27D
                                                            Leap or light follower (this one's the same)
                                                          19. 30D
                                                            Heaping praise on
                                                          20. 31D
                                                            Prefix with rock or right
                                                          21. 32D
                                                            49ers touchdowns happen there
                                                          22. 33D
                                                            Goal of many beachgoers
                                                          23. 34D
                                                            Pricey steaks
                                                          24. 36D
                                                            In "Oz," "bikkie" or "barbie" for a scavenger (eariler)
                                                          25. 37D
                                                            Lagoon location
                                                          26. 38D
                                                            Michelangelo masterpiece
                                                          27. 40D
                                                            Maui veranda
                                                          28. 42D
                                                            Jounalist's first sentence
                                                          29. 44D
                                                            Part of a two-word phrase for a fish story (earlier)
                                                          30. 46D
                                                            Matisse metier
                                                          31. 48D
                                                            Dundee "Oh dear!"
                                                          32. 49D
                                                            Nothing but revenue minus costs
                                                          33. 50D
                                                            Manhattan ave. crossers
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