Fr-r-reezing! (Meta)
◆ · By benchen71 · Published 2024-12-17T05:00:38.625Z
Meta Prompt
The answer to the meta is an appropriate verb
Sometimes you just have to drown your failure-to-solve-a-meta-sorrows by creating your own meta! After struggling with a supposed "week 2" Gaffney today (11/11/2023), I decided to try out an idea that was loosely based on a failed solving attempt. This meta was the result. Before completing the cluing for this puzzle I did end up solving the Gaffney, so that helped lighten the mood a little! The answer to the meta is an appropriate verb. Nudges available here: https://www.xword-muggles.com/viewtopic.php?p=188665#p188665
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...
Pretty much the first idea I had, although the second way I thought to apply it. Good stuff, thanks. Now I need to get caught up on all the ones I missed. 
1A
"Believe" singer
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Across
- 1A"Believe" singer
- 5AEmulate a beaver
- 9APoisonous shrub
- 14A"A ___ by any other name would smell as sweet"
- 15AImpetuous
- 16AScrabble piece needed to spell "piece"
- 17AEgyptian snakes
- 18ACommedia dell'___
- 19AJudean king who really wasn't all that great
- 20APerson who derives advantage from something, especially a trust, will, or life insurance policy
- 23A"I get it!"
- 24AMorgoth's lieutenant
- 25AServe drinks in an establishment
- 27AHeld by a clamp
- 30AWheel shaft
- 31ATower site of Genesis 11
- 34A"Night at the Museum" actor ___ Malek
- 36A"___, I'm no good at being noble, but it doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world." (Casablanca quote)
- 39AGive ___ whirl
- 40AFr-r-reezing!
- 43ALake in Quebec?
- 44A"The ___ is Rising" (novel by Susan Cooper and a call-back to an earlier MOAT)
- 46ARun a spool of film backwards?
- 47ASweater type
- 49AOpposite of "ja"
- 51ACoffee with all the fun taken out of it
- 53A"Gold" band ___ Ballet
- 56AFrom dawn to dusk
- 60ANYC congresswoman
- 61AMovie about a group of young ballet dancers (and Zoe Saldana's debut film)
- 64ADame Nellie ___ (there's that sense of deja vu again!)
- 66AFedora fabric
- 67ACain and Abel's nephew
- 68ACampaign tactic for those who go low
- 69ALand in the sea
- 70A4046.86 square metres
- 71A"Levv" vocalist Audrey ___
- 72ARomanov ruler
- 73A"I refuse to join any club that would have ___ a member." (Groucho Marx)
Down
- 1DSebastian (from "The Little Mermaid") and the rest of his family
- 2DGomer's husband
- 3DChannel for college sports
- 4DRetain for future use
- 5D8 down and oats, for two
- 6DDrug agent (why do I suddenly have a weird sense of deja vu?)
- 7D___ spumante
- 8DBread ingredient
- 9DFurless cat breed
- 10DVehicle with an open-topped tray behind the passenger compartment, familiarly
- 11DPlum known for being sweet and full of flavour
- 12DHawaiian greeting
- 13DTree associated with Lebanon
- 21DStraight men
- 22DBroadcast again
- 26D551, to Caesar
- 28DShaken fermented hops beverage for actress Kathryn?
- 29D"___ and Confused" (movie that was Matthew McConaughey's big break)
- 31DMake an offer
- 32DDwayne Johnson's mother
- 33D"Billions of bilious blue blistering ___!" (Captain Haddock outburst)
- 35D"A ___ formality!"
- 37DBag in Paris?
- 38DBill the Cat exclamation
- 41DForearm bones
- 42DElliptical shapes
- 45DBarbie's boyfriend
- 48DPhiladelphia Eagles, for example
- 50DHigh-tech office necessity
- 52DJune ___ Cash
- 53DKafka character Gregor ___
- 54DLimericks and sonnets, for example
- 55DNot up to the job
- 57DWhat "The body says what words cannot" is talking about
- 58DAthenian forum
- 59DAffirmative responses
- 62DDanny Ocean's ex-wife
- 63DAnne Hathaway role with the gift of obedience
- 65D"Shear me!"