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Speak Plainly! (Meta)

· By benchen71 · Published 2024-11-12T05:00:53.891Z

Meta Prompt
The answer to the meta is a 15-letter phrase
Here's another puzzle I constructed last year but didn't bother to write an introduction for at the time. Talk about lying down on the job! No matter. I'm sure my being wide of the mark then won't prevent you from having a whale of a time with this puzzle now! The answer to the meta is a 15-letter phrase. Answer & explanation: https://www.xword-muggles.com/viewtopic.php?p=185306#p185306
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!
Checking for previous play data...

Leaderboard (updated hourly)

  • Darth solved 2024-11-12T13:21:01.570Z
  • kurtalert solved 2024-11-12T16:26:18.475Z
  • Hector solved 2024-11-12T16:50:56.730Z
  • LarsCaine solved 2024-11-12T18:14:09.555Z
  • Trixxi solved 2024-11-12T18:25:25.107Z
  • Pair O Ducks solved 2024-11-12T18:31:09.384Z
  • markhr solved 2024-11-12T18:36:58.160Z
  • boharr solved 2024-11-12T19:03:10.229Z
  • rjy solved 2024-11-12T20:26:59.650Z
  • iceman solved 2024-11-12T20:38:38.774Z
  • MatthewL solved 2024-11-12T20:56:36.367Z
  • hoover solved 2024-11-12T20:58:51.347Z
  • Carolyn B solved 2024-11-12T21:17:09.099Z
  • JM solved 2024-11-12T21:19:24.845Z
  • Danny K Bernstein solved 2024-11-12T21:23:36.055Z
  • woozy solved 2024-11-12T21:24:31.825Z
  • dannyvee solved 2024-11-12T21:26:18.687Z
  • DrTom solved 2024-11-12T21:35:12.843Z
  • whimsy solved 2024-11-12T21:44:43.169Z
  • Carolyn solved 2024-11-12T22:20:02.542Z
  • Mr Tex solved 2024-11-12T22:25:13.650Z
  • Berto solved 2024-11-12T22:43:57.403Z
  • Morendil solved 2024-11-12T23:42:20.887Z
  • Jaclyn solved 2024-11-12T23:45:07.819Z
  • Bird Lives solved 2024-11-13T01:26:18.377Z
  • KayW solved 2024-11-13T01:27:50.530Z
  • HeadinHome solved 2024-11-13T03:34:18.827Z
  • I K Snamhcok solved 2024-11-13T03:41:33.115Z
  • Nessa Teal solved 2024-11-13T13:58:08.427Z
  • Stun Gun solved 2024-11-13T14:15:53.692Z
  • lbray53 solved 2024-11-13T14:56:02.716Z
  • Serafin solved 2024-11-14T03:12:08.669Z
  • Lance solved 2024-11-14T14:25:56.526Z
  • Avlan solved 2024-11-15T02:25:47.656Z
  • Tyrpmom solved 2024-11-15T03:29:10.733Z
  • omnilynx solved 2024-11-15T05:29:37.958Z
  • frostyjhammer solved 2024-11-15T16:26:20.733Z
  • Capn Rick solved 2024-11-16T17:52:26.363Z
  • Flora Wynn solved 2024-12-20T22:19:54.104Z
  • Darrell solved 2024-12-27T00:35:20.046Z
  • Alvibu67 solved 2025-01-05T15:52:58.293Z
  • ajk solved 2025-01-21T20:50:02.330Z

Comments

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  • Darth 11:41 · 2024-11-12T13:26:22.978Z
    Well, that was slightly frustrating. Lol. Thanks, Ben.
    • benchen71 constructor · 2024-11-12T20:20:44.684Z
      Sorry about that. That wasn't my intention. I thought this would be a nice fun "week 2"!
    • kurtalert 🤓4:59 · 2024-11-12T16:26:33.316Z
      LMAO. Dude.
      • Hector 3s · 2024-11-12T16:51:40.583Z
        Loved it, but 1 and 5 aren't letters :-)
        • benchen71 constructor · 2024-11-12T20:19:36.885Z
          I guess it's not quite as literal as I would have liked.
        • boharr 3s · 2024-11-12T19:05:48.355Z
          I always loved those letters 1 and 5.
          • benchen71 constructor · 2024-11-12T20:20:17.105Z
            Yes, but if the hint had said "a 15-character phrase" it would have looked suspicious and been wrong as well!
            • JM 🤓11:05 · 2024-11-12T21:28:33.579Z
              Interesting dilemma— “a 18 character phrase” adds up but ain’t so hot grammatically.
              • boharr 3s · 2024-11-13T00:56:26.390Z
                Needed a different and fairer prompt I'm afraid.
            • MatthewL 🤓7:06 · 2024-11-12T21:03:01.534Z
              Very tricksy, Ben. I suspect that you've been flooded with Crosshare guesses that contain any number of phrases from the intro. Thanks for the puzzle!
              • hoover 2s · 2024-11-12T20:59:37.229Z
                Dang it! I almost typed that in six hours ago, after my third guess "ANSWER TO THE META" didn't work.
                • woozy 12:08 · 2024-11-12T21:27:13.580Z
                  Someone has to say it.
                  1. that's called a "prompt" not a note and
                  2. 1 and 5 are not letters.
                  And no one has to say this
                  1. "signed and sealed" is 15 letters that literally means in the Nate.
                  Okay. Full puzzle. Even if impossible to get. Thanks.
                  • benchen71 constructor · 2024-11-12T22:40:35.183Z
                    Fair cop, guv. Sorry for the undue frustration!
                  • Carolyn 3s · 2024-11-12T22:21:36.820Z
                    Oh my! Not what I expected, but clever, I guess....
                    • Morendil 🤓10:00 · 2024-11-12T23:43:08.300Z
                      Phew. Light bulb finally went on.
                      • KayW 🤓4:33 · 2024-11-13T01:29:55.767Z
                        Without the nudges, I found all the idioms and IN NOTE LITERALLY. First I tried BETWEEN THE LINES (which is 15-letters and could be something "literally in a note"). Then I tried IN NOTE LITERALLY. Then I read the nudges and slapped my forehead. Good one, Ben!!!
                        • DrTom 4s · 2024-11-12T21:40:30.516Z
                          Hey stop picking on 1 and 5; 1'm 5erious
                          • Bird Lives 5s · 2024-11-13T01:31:48.368Z
                            I parsed the letters correctly and looked for a fifteen-letter phrase that was already on the screen. The long clue for IDIOM, a clue that was obviously a key to the solution, ended with "at the drop of a hat." Fifteen letters. True, it was not "in note" but rather in clue, but it seemed to work.
                            • DrTom 4s · 2024-11-12T21:39:27.520Z
                              Well THAT was diabolical! You are right, the "15 letter" was misleading. I think "The meta answer is 15 characters long" would not have been too much of a tip off, but hey it is not my puzzle. But in the end, every cloud had a silver lining; I gave it the old college try even if I banged about like a bull in a china shop.
                              Thanks for the workout Ben
                              • benchen71 constructor · 2024-11-13T05:32:54.377Z
                                It would have to be "The meta is 16 characters long" (for a meta answer of "16 CHARACTERS LONG"). But, as you say, that would have been too much of a tip off. Plus, I really liked the fact that the letters derived from the grid also gave you a 15-letter phrase: IN NOTE LITERALLY.
                              • HeadinHome 3:52 · 2024-11-13T03:36:07.457Z
                                Oh for Pete’s sake. Starin’ right at it. I needed the nudge about what the “note” referred to .. have never used a puz file.
                                • benchen71 constructor · 2024-11-13T05:33:53.285Z
                                  This never occurred to me! I'm going to chalk this one up to my lack of test solvers!!
                                • lbray53 3s · 2024-11-13T15:06:55.339Z
                                  Like Bird Lives, I picked up on 37A. The "at the drop of a hat" seemed like an extraneous note added to the end of the clue. I submitted that and of course it was wrong. But then, that phrase had 15 letters but was an idiom, so not literal. What does the phrase mean literally?
                                  "Do it immediately" has 15 letters. NOPE.
                                  Well, a quick search yielded that "at the drop of a hat" was how races were started, so I submitted:
                                  The start of a race. NOPE When a race starts. NOPE
                                  I also struggled accepting 15 as a letter.
                                  I think my answers were defensible at least. But hey! No skin off my nose. (another 15-letter phrase by the way)
                                  • hoover 2s · 2024-11-14T06:21:25.928Z
                                    That's because in Strine, "15" is not a letter, but two.
                                  • Capn Rick 🤓7:18 · 2024-11-16T17:55:41.824Z
                                    Ben, you tricky rascal you! This would've made a great April Fools Day meta. 😁
                                    • ajk 🤓9:31 · 2025-01-21T20:52:29.820Z
                                      Lol continuing my trek back through this semester's puzzles, and I had the same solving experience as others did a couple of months before me. 😆 Instantly got to INNOTELITERALLY but that parsed as gibberish, even when I had it right (i.e. I wrote IN NOTE LITERALLY and then was still lost). Even with the nudge about the puz file I didn't get it. Needed the shove of nudge 6. Not my favorite one of the series. :) But I admire the effort and creativity. :)
                                      1A
                                      Just the ticket
                                      1
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                                      61
                                      62
                                      63
                                      Across
                                      1. 1A
                                        Just the ticket
                                      2. 6A
                                        They cross rds
                                      3. 9A
                                        Toaster waffles
                                      4. 14A
                                        ___cotta (earthenware)
                                      5. 15A
                                        Forty winks
                                      6. 16A
                                        Two-door auto
                                      7. 17A
                                        Like a babe in the woods
                                      8. 18A
                                        Taika Waititi's spouse, Rita ___
                                      9. 19A
                                        Every time you turn around
                                      10. 20A
                                        Less than a few
                                      11. 22A
                                        "Say ___ so!"
                                      12. 23A
                                        Give it a whirl
                                      13. 24A
                                        Tarzan portrayer Ron et al.
                                      14. 25A
                                        Striped stones
                                      15. 29A
                                        Light-bulb moment
                                      16. 33A
                                        Forest units
                                      17. 34A
                                        Happen next
                                      18. 35A
                                        What you hear when a dove cries?
                                      19. 36A
                                        At sea
                                      20. 37A
                                        Language with a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words, which gets in the way of plain speaking at the drop of a hat
                                      21. 38A
                                        Spill the beans
                                      22. 39A
                                        Narcissist's problem
                                      23. 40A
                                        Block a river again
                                      24. 41A
                                        ___ paneer (Indian dish made with spinach)
                                      25. 42A
                                        On cloud nine
                                      26. 44A
                                        Lone Star State residents
                                      27. 45A
                                        Out of the wind
                                      28. 46A
                                        Do a vanishing act
                                      29. 47A
                                        Start of Shakespeare's best-known sonnet
                                      30. 50A
                                        Thiamin or riboflavin, for example
                                      31. 55A
                                        Play by ear
                                      32. 56A
                                        Typical airliner
                                      33. 57A
                                        Also-ran
                                      34. 58A
                                        "... ___ man with seven wives"
                                      35. 59A
                                        Lead up the garden path
                                      36. 60A
                                        Shire of "Rocky" films
                                      37. 61A
                                        More amiable
                                      38. 62A
                                        Slip-___ (some shoes)
                                      39. 63A
                                        Cry uncle
                                      Down
                                      1. 1D
                                        "Give ___ further thought"
                                      2. 2D
                                        College official
                                      3. 3D
                                        Lake, canal, or city in Pennsylvania
                                      4. 4D
                                        Australian P.M.
                                      5. 5D
                                        Ophelia's brother
                                      6. 6D
                                        Quite white
                                      7. 7D
                                        Poi ingredient
                                      8. 8D
                                        Health club
                                      9. 9D
                                        Environmental subgroup
                                      10. 10D
                                        "I don't have that card so you'll need to take one from the deck"
                                      11. 11D
                                        Entrails
                                      12. 12D
                                        Ready for customers
                                      13. 13D
                                        In the mail
                                      14. 21D
                                        ___-80 (old Radio Shack computer on which I learned how to program in BASIC)
                                      15. 22D
                                        Pelvic bone
                                      16. 24D
                                        ___ salts (bath additive)
                                      17. 25D
                                        Tamil director Arun Kumar's professional name
                                      18. 26D
                                        The Child's name in "The Mandalorian"
                                      19. 27D
                                        Fable writer
                                      20. 28D
                                        Vietnamese festival
                                      21. 29D
                                        30-ton computer of the '40s and '50s
                                      22. 30D
                                        Fast Amtrak train
                                      23. 31D
                                        Artist Sidney ___ (known for his paintings of Ned Kelly)
                                      24. 32D
                                        Egg centres
                                      25. 34D
                                        Perfect Broadway songwriter (for "Beetlejuice" and "King Kong")
                                      26. 37D
                                        Middle words of a famous palindrome
                                      27. 38D
                                        Put a strain on
                                      28. 40D
                                        Race car safety feature
                                      29. 41D
                                        Punishment imposed for breaking a law
                                      30. 43D
                                        Rock salt
                                      31. 44D
                                        Boy king of Egypt
                                      32. 46D
                                        Sacred ceremonies
                                      33. 47D
                                        Healthy, in Paris
                                      34. 48D
                                        Port in a TV
                                      35. 49D
                                        Obi-Wan portrayer
                                      36. 50D
                                        Blood vessel
                                      37. 51D
                                        Easter Island statues
                                      38. 52D
                                        ___ of Wight
                                      39. 53D
                                        First name of he who took one small step for a man
                                      40. 54D
                                        Bird of Hollywood
                                      41. 56D
                                        Jenny from the Block, for short
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