What an Odd Puzzle

Answer: THAT'S NOT EVEN CLOSE

Explanation: Pretty SAD! Take, in order, any numbered square that starts at least one entry (possibly two) of an odd length (so, 3, 5, or 7 letters long). In standard top-down order, they'll spell out THAT'S NOT EVEN CLOSE, our meta answer. I've had this idea percolating for about a year or so but decided to save it for the date of 1/11. Stay odd, folks! You'll be "primed" for success! (Well, sometimes.)

Needed rescue! Thanks Mikey

Okay....

So get this. I figured I had no option but to consider which letters occurred an odd number of times so I started to count them. I got about 3/4 of the way to counting them all when I decided there probably weren't any letters that occur an even number of times. So that made my think "not even". And so as a guess I put in "that's not even close".

Then I wondered if there was something more as there are many variations of the phrase and you wouldn't want something that openended.

This was a WAG based on the letters I saw. I did at one point highlight the first letter of all the across entries that had an odd number of letters, but TATVESE just didn’t take me anywhere. Neither did all the letters in odd-numbered squares (TYTNOKEENVOEE). Early on I saw “that’s” by just omitting the Y in the first line, and the line near the bottom could “feels” by omitting 3 letters, but that was a dead end. Also saw “UNO” spanning across the aisle of line 2 (an odd number), and the word “one” in several clues. Tried omitting all the letters that are in “EVEN” (since “odd” is NOT even), and also tried highlighting only odd letters (A, C, E, G etc.). In the end I just scanned the grid for words I could make, and the phrase appeared. NOWWW I see what you were doing … very close to one of my early attempts. Good challenge!

At first I didn't have a clue, but then it came to me. My first reaction was that the original rating of 2.5 was correct, but of course, that's what you think when you solve it rather quickly.

Absolutely loved the confirmation ("not even") right in the middle of the phrase, though I did briefly wonder if that was a red herring.

Sometimes you see them and sometimes you don't. This was the first thing I tried, and sure enough! Thanks for making me feel like a genius (you're the genius).

Hmm... Well, what were the odds? Thanks, Mikey!

I could have sworn I tried the ODD numbers the first time, but I must not have been keeping a good track of the letters and I KNOW I was trying to fit the A and D odd numbers in (1A and 1D give two T's) but when I went back today I quickly got THAT'S and CLOSE so I knew it was in there somewhere.

Fun as usual!

Finally got it. Nudges didn't really help, but they did remind me to go back and look at the puzzle again. Thanks for the puzzle, Mikey!

Tried a few different things, but finally resolved the dis-parity.

Looks like a pretty constricted construct. Impressive!

[just now caught the "not even" part]

With these sorts of hidden messages, I love how the likelihood gradually morphs from "wild guess" to "solid gold" with each additional letter!