I had a lot of fun making this one. It all came together over a quick breakfast-for-dinner at Perkins with my boyfriend Mark. Three Post-it notes of scribbling and we had seven beautiful themers, plus a few in reserve that I'll use for nudges. Thanks to Dr. Tom for feedback and Abide for the perfect title.
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kurtalert solved at 2:52 on 6/11/2023
Kent solved at 2:59 on 6/11/2023
Schmeel solved at 11:56 on 6/11/2023
KayW solved at 12:22 on 7/5/2023
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Hector solved at 14:52 on 7/5/2023
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I K Snamhcok solved at 15:18 on 7/5/2023
Bird Lives solved at 15:22 on 7/5/2023
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woozy solved at 17:16 on 7/5/2023
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lbray53 solved at 18:02 on 7/5/2023
Berto solved at 19:11 on 7/5/2023
ReB solved at 19:32 on 7/5/2023
Abide solved at 19:36 on 7/5/2023
Pair O Ducks solved at 19:44 on 7/5/2023
Mwoychick solved at 19:52 on 7/5/2023
Laura M solved at 19:55 on 7/5/2023
Carolyn solved at 20:20 on 7/5/2023
Ergcat solved at 21:04 on 7/5/2023
Qmark solved at 21:58 on 7/5/2023
SJMcK solved at 22:04 on 7/5/2023
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JHSeeman solved at 14:06 on 7/6/2023
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Jaclyn solved at 18:49 on 7/6/2023
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Rick solved at 1:20 on 7/9/2023
markhr solved at 1:31 on 7/9/2023
Alex Sisti solved at 13:49 on 7/10/2023
sledge solved at 13:25 on 7/18/2023
Darth solved at 3:47 on 8/8/2023
Shivangi solved at 5:54 on 8/17/2023
Comments
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Wait! It' possible to submit with an unfilled grid?
KayW 🤓5:52 · 2023-07-05T12:24:56.517Z
Very nice!!! of course I knew what the answer would be once I figured out those DEVIOCROSS entries (haha see what I did there?) but wanted to finish the grid properly and enjoy all the cluing before submitting. Wendy you are definitely the rookie of the year of constructors! And already an ex-rookie!
We went hiking. About a mile in, when two trails merged, Mark started singing, " 'Reunited and it feels so good' ... hey, that might be a good meta!"
Bird Lives 5s · 2023-07-05T15:30:59.993Z
Loved the Stars and Stripes Forever title. You didn't ask for solver contributions, but you're going to get them anyway. Just remember correlation is not CATION. And of course Tom Hulse and F. Murray Abraham, who are AMADECTORS.
Agree with Kay above... what a great puzzle, only a month or so after your maiden voyage?? And remarkably elegant too, with all those USAs symetrically extracted - wow! (love the title too, Abide!)
very clever! hard to figure out what was going on but worth it. Despite that it was still a tough (in a fun way) grid. I overthought the actual meta in trying to spell out the letters the USAs stood for.
Fun, thanks. Couldn't finish the NE corner because I had a couple of wrong squares (I never spell UHURA19AStar Trek lieutenant[-----] properly, and entered one of the USA letters into 30A30AIt lets you stream channels like 70s on 7 and Elvis 24/7[------] by mistake). Eventually got there with a few googles. Nifty puzzle overall.
Very clever and timely. Must say that I had a tough time with quite a few of the straight entries. One I figured out 1A1AOne of eight[-------] then it became a game to discover the other locations.
So much fun! Actually this one came together pretty easily: Except for the central themer, all of them were six or seven letters long (minus the USA), so I could fit them in the grid symmetrically.