Jump at the Chance

No need for a spoiler here: Also asymmetrical because I had an absolute bear of a time going through this. Probably took at least 15 different symmetrical grid attempts until I realized I had no other choice but to bend the rules this time.

Answer: QUANTUM LEAP

Explanation: Seven vertical (i.e. Down) entries toward the bottom of the grid contain the word UP within them (the only "U"s in the grid, once I quickly changed RUES/URL to ROES/ORL at the last moment). They're also clued relatively awkwardly, which usually indicates "alternate entries," which is in play again! Once we go up to the top of the column, we find another entry that can satisfy that clue with an initial letter appended (i.e. CUPS goes to TIPS, which is a medicine cabinet sight when it becomes Q-TIPS, NITE to UNITE, and so forth.

Wow, very cool!

Got there, but not the intended way. I surmised from the beginning that it was QUANTUM LEAP nad then convinced myself it was with all the very different, and drastic differences, in the similar items: REA ->RAE, SLEET -> SNOW, GINGER PET -> GINGER PERSON, NNW -> SSE...this was clearly a case of me not seeing the elegance but finding a way to convince myself that what I thought was correct. Obviously SOMETIMES, jumping to conclusions pays off. I do like the real mechanism MUCH better and should have seen the UPs. In truth I had CAPS for the medicine cabinet and accepted that perhaps the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra must have done a gig for the military service men?

Very nice!! There are a lot of ONs in the grid, unfortunately. I spent some time trying to jump from up to on. Great puzzle!

Very original, although I never heard of the show. Thanks, Mikey!

Nice one. I have to watch more TV. Or solve more metas.

Great show/great puzzle

AMAZING!!! loved this puzzle as it has a very unique mechanism and satisfying solve!... SOUP/UDON was my way in... i was like soup IN a bento box?! isn't it usually packed on the side this is such a weird clue and definitely hiding something... it was embarrassing how long it took me to even spot the UPs... my first thought with "jump" was to leap over black squares... thank you and happy leap day! my first ever rebus puzzle I made was a leap year puzzle 2/29/12 - i'll dig it up and post it with revamped clues since even 12-years-ago clues can feel dated

Nice one! CUPS -> QTIPS was my entry point given the odd cluing for CUPS. Didn't even notice the repeated UPs in the grid until you called them out!

VERY clever!! When I first saw those 7 UPs at the bottom of the grid, I googled and was so excited to see there was some sort of show called "7 UP" (okay, some sort of documentary, not actually a tv show, but hey it was SOMETHING) I tried submitting it. Twice. Haha. Then tried SO MANY other ways to go UP from those letters... Love the metanism and the cluing. Thanks Mikey!

This one kicks it UP a notch. Loved it!

I'll admit that I saw nothing but the asymmetry and just WAGged my answer.

I saw the ups, but it took me forever to see where to jump. Very nice and I loved the show. Thanks, Mikey!

Got this with this mornings nudges after a few days of wondering why the obviously correct answer "Upstairs Downstairs" was not being accepted.

Awesome. That show was so cool. Thanks Mikey!

Oh my gosh. I wanted the answer to be Quantum Leap from the start, but it took me an awful lot of your nudges to finally get there. I was just not seeing the things I needed to see at all, and spent way too long messing with asymmetry. Clever puzzle!

I needed the nudges, but I love it!

Needed nudges, but got caught with the (likely) inadvertent red herring that when we were to look above the UPs, we saw just as many ONs… jump UP / jump ON… it all fits, right?? Especially with the 61a and 41d clues that were screaming - or so we thought - to look at all those ONs. Just could not piece it all together until the final nudge dropped.

Tough path for us, but doesn’t detract from a brilliant puzzle. Cheers!

Oh man that just took me way too long! I had noticed all the Us and Ps in the lower lines but not all the UPs. Duh. Needed all the nudges, especially the one about cups (qtips popped right out… then followed that pattern). Really cute!

Had to browbeat the idea of Nudge #7 into my head to finally use what worked, instead of insisting on using letters from the "UP" words: UREA, SEATER, COOPED, DERICK, spelled incorrectly of course, but hey, out of desperation.... :-) Thanks for the puzzle and the generous nudging, Mikey!

Wow! That was quite a puzzle. I needed the nudges and still had to work at it. I hadn't heard of the show so that made it harder.

Great puzzle, Mikey! I needed 6/7 nudges to get there. I saw 1D TIPS spelled “up” (ie, backwards) and added UP to get SPITUP but I knew that wasn’t right! There were also 7 Ps in addition to the ones in the UPs, but that went nowhere. Fun puzzle overall, and great TV show!

Needed nudge 2 and 6 to find my way to the finish line...thanks Mikey!