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Put it All Together

· By DrTom · Published 2024-05-12T11:30:33.821Z

Meta Prompt
The answer to the meta is a name for supreme beings
When the Captain asked me for a Smooth Sailing Sunday Solve (wait is that too many S's?) I could not resist. What I had to resist is trying to Tom this darn thing up. It is VERY hard to do what the Captain does; make a fun, interesting, challenging but not mind-bending puzzle with solid fill. Truthfully if he had not helped me I probably would not have managed.
I'm hoping this is just right for this Sunday and doesn't keep you tied up trying to determine (1) what I am getting at (2) WHY Cap'n Rick even asked me in the first place.
There are a few nudges in case you need them, but I'd bet most do not.
I want to extend a thanks to boharr who graciously tested and gave some great feedback on making the puzzle better.
Nudge 1] The meta answer is 7 letters long
Nudge 2] Cap insisted that it be symmetric
Nudge 3] The title was originally "Put Them All Together" but we though that might tip it too much
Nudge 4] What is the publication day - not the date, the day
REVEAL!
There were 7 themers (not 8 like some idiot said at first) and each theme answer was a disguised animal "mother".
If you took the clues for the theme answer you get:
Make like Johnny Appleseed
Ooh, look out for that low flying drone!
Threaten to the point of intimidation
Helper with the family's children
Egg donor?
Region of darkness seen on the moon
Sounds a little like you?
The first letter of each of those spells out MOTHERS
For a graphic depiction of the solve please go to:
Checking for previous play data...

Leaderboard (updated hourly)

  • LarsCaine solved 2024-05-12T12:40:27.615Z
  • Berto solved 2024-05-12T12:44:02.265Z
  • boharr solved 2024-05-12T12:55:10.785Z
  • Tom Wilson solved 2024-05-12T13:18:26.365Z
  • Cindy Weatherman solved 2024-05-12T13:27:23.720Z
  • woozy solved 2024-05-12T13:58:09.355Z
  • Dave C solved 2024-05-12T14:01:48.715Z
  • Wendy Walker solved 2024-05-12T14:21:39.988Z
  • Meg solved 2024-05-12T14:24:29.988Z
  • Jaclyn solved 2024-05-12T15:00:04.826Z
  • ajk solved 2024-05-12T15:04:34.818Z
  • whimsy solved 2024-05-12T15:07:34.465Z
  • Mikey G solved 2024-05-12T15:11:54.427Z
  • BMW solved 2024-05-12T15:12:08.559Z
  • I K Snamhcok solved 2024-05-12T15:15:20.594Z
  • Abide solved 2024-05-12T15:19:45.728Z
  • hoover solved 2024-05-12T15:21:21.936Z
  • markhr solved 2024-05-12T15:31:42.320Z
  • Hector solved 2024-05-12T16:08:55.913Z
  • Capn Rick solved 2024-05-12T16:08:56.558Z
  • Pair O Ducks solved 2024-05-12T16:42:27.840Z
  • KayW solved 2024-05-12T17:00:03.778Z
  • HeadinHome solved 2024-05-12T17:18:08.017Z
  • MatthewL solved 2024-05-12T17:29:52.166Z
  • DIS solved 2024-05-12T17:54:51.758Z
  • An Ephemeral Collation solved 2024-05-12T18:19:44.094Z
  • JM solved 2024-05-12T18:26:47.001Z
  • CPJohnson solved 2024-05-12T18:47:02.199Z
  • Laura M solved 2024-05-12T18:52:10.286Z
  • ben m solved 2024-05-12T19:23:52.875Z
  • lbray53 solved 2024-05-12T22:44:15.484Z
  • heidi solved 2024-05-12T23:49:04.605Z
  • DCBilly solved 2024-05-13T00:29:21.364Z
  • Turtle solved 2024-05-13T01:06:29.718Z
  • andeux solved 2024-05-13T01:12:24.468Z
  • Bird Lives solved 2024-05-13T01:41:01.052Z
  • Darth solved 2024-05-13T03:16:37.531Z
  • Anita and Steve solved 2024-05-13T03:29:56.770Z
  • ELSavage solved 2024-05-13T04:40:21.898Z
  • Dow Jones solved 2024-05-13T05:24:31.037Z
  • rjy solved 2024-05-13T05:35:31.942Z
  • Schmeel solved 2024-05-13T06:41:08.074Z
  • Mwoychick solved 2024-05-13T09:14:56.566Z
  • kurtalert solved 2024-05-13T17:02:18.215Z
  • Steve M solved 2024-05-13T22:49:18.978Z
  • Gutman solved 2024-05-13T23:22:40.796Z
  • Eric Porter solved 2024-05-14T02:17:21.037Z
  • Jeremy Smith solved 2024-05-14T02:46:52.508Z
  • THC solved 2024-05-14T17:02:20.938Z
  • omnilynx solved 2024-05-15T01:41:55.681Z
  • Danny K Bernstein solved 2024-05-15T21:23:38.981Z
  • BarbaraK solved 2024-05-16T14:50:02.134Z
  • Cindy Heisler solved 2024-05-17T00:56:34.899Z
  • Qmark solved 2024-05-17T19:32:34.509Z
  • Sharkicicles solved 2024-05-18T21:35:38.072Z

Comments

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  • Berto 1s · 2024-05-12T12:49:35.711Z
    Fun one DrTom!! Nudge 1 is very confusing, but TBF probably unnecessary. (I seem to have a blind spot when it comes to linking puzzles to the day/date of publication…) Happy Mothers Day all!!
    • boharr 2s · 2024-05-12T12:56:11.964Z
      Thanks, DrTom. Mothers is 7 letters?
      • DrTom constructor · 2024-05-12T18:41:09.845Z
        Of course it is...talk about a red herring nudge. Sorry everyone who looked at the nudges and said WHAT????
      • woozy 🤓16:10 · 2024-05-12T14:04:13.101Z
        Cute.
        But, although I got it without the nudges, nudge 4 is the only nudge I understand. Is there anything more than there are seven female farm animals (duck??) and it was mothers day?
        • DrTom constructor · 2024-05-12T18:45:03.265Z
          Nudge 1 is wrong, should be "..is 7 letters"
          Nudge 2 refers to the fact that the meta related answers are symmetrically placed in the grid
          Nudge 3 refers tot he song "Put them all together they spell Mother..."
        • Dave C 3s · 2024-05-12T14:03:37.310Z
          My wife says you are correct - mothers are supreme beings...
          • I K Snamhcok 3s · 2024-05-12T15:15:56.297Z
            Obviously! Thanks, Dr. T!
            • whimsy 🤓13:01 · 2024-05-12T15:17:35.858Z
              Sorry for making a Queen bee-line to the solution. I had the answer before the mechanism (maybe even before the grid) based on the old song and the day. But lots of fun to go back and figure out what was needed! Thanks, Tom!
              • whimsy 🤓13:01 · 2024-05-12T17:15:14.472Z
                Oh, and of course based on the prompt too! :-)
                • DrTom constructor · 2024-05-12T18:46:44.201Z
                  Which is as it should be. THanks for solving
              • markhr 🤓12:02 · 2024-05-12T15:37:57.369Z
                Woozy - Check the clues
                • woozy 🤓16:10 · 2024-05-12T15:47:04.792Z
                  Oh. Now I get the mechanism....
                  • Abide 3s · 2024-05-12T15:21:08.224Z
                    Unfortunately I needed all 4 nudges. And even then my first guess was "Females" --lol
                    • ajk 🤓7:26 · 2024-05-12T15:10:53.760Z
                      Fun one, thanks. :) Nudge 1 steered me away from the long acrosses, which was helpful, but made me think there should be 8 themers, and I could only find 6 (note that this is distinct from saying that there only are 6 😆). So I got stuck there, and looked at the rest of the nudges. From the title and the (usually helpful for Dr. Tom's puzzles) title image I was trying to string entries together into longer words, but that went nowhere. Nudges 2 and 3 didn't add anything I wasn't already doing/thinking about, but after spending some time thinking nudge 4 was referencing 'Sunday' I finally got it. Still confused how it's 8 letters long though. Appreciate the shout-out at 56D 😊
                      • DrTom constructor · 2024-05-12T18:46:45.666Z
                        The incorrect assumption is that I can count, there are only 7 of course. Thanks for not just abandoning this Mother.
                        • ajk 🤓7:26 · 2024-05-13T14:22:46.336Z
                          😂
                        • DrTom constructor · 2024-05-12T18:52:45.256Z
                          If I could have gotten a female Ram in I would have but given the puzzle, ewe just had to settle. Maybe "Peanuts" was female?
                          • ajk 🤓7:26 · 2024-05-13T14:23:00.473Z
                            Hahaha, nice.
                            • DrTom constructor · 2024-05-13T20:01:48.947Z
                              CSU in joke for all of those wondering "what in the heck is Tom talking about.
                        • Hector 🤓7:06 · 2024-05-12T16:43:11.336Z
                          You got the whole farm in there (except, wisely, the dog). Thanks, Tom!
                          • whimsy 🤓13:01 · 2024-05-12T17:16:37.581Z
                            Snicker Out Loud! :-)
                            • DrTom constructor · 2024-05-12T18:49:05.153Z
                              Yes, wisely avoided that (though it would have been helpful, duck seemed like a tough one because people often refer to the drake as just "a duck". Glad you did not have a female dog of a time.
                            • HeadinHome 🤓8:28 · 2024-05-12T17:20:08.949Z
                              Why yes. Yes we are. Thanks for the honors. Everyone call your mother if you’re lucky enough to still have one to talk with. ❤️
                              • DrTom constructor · 2024-05-12T18:49:36.048Z
                                Indeed, because when you don't the day is a lot more melancholy.
                              • MatthewL 🤓8:44 · 2024-05-12T17:32:39.478Z
                                Total guess, based on nudge 4 (and the correction to nudge 1). Thanks for the puzzle, Tom, and Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers on here!
                                • Laura M 🤓7:55 · 2024-05-12T18:55:51.771Z
                                  Nice! Hope all of the moms are having a lovely day! I'm happy I got a HMD text from my offspring today, I take what I can get :-)
                                  • Darth 🤓12:45 · 2024-05-13T03:25:20.678Z
                                    Lol. My first thought was Diana Ross. Just thinking puns. Nice idea, and the symmetry did help. Thanks, DrTom.
                                    • Mwoychick 🤓15:26 · 2024-05-13T09:15:44.109Z
                                      Distracted for a while by the appearance of CHE in three of four long entries but got there eventually - thanks, gents
                                      • Anita and Steve 🤓1:40 · 2024-05-13T03:35:55.169Z
                                        I got it, but didn't like the meta prompt, it's too misleading. DEITIES would have satisfied, but MOTHERS doesn't in my opinion. Especially with the unclued SIS at 59D and its symmetrically-balanced entry MEN. That led us to look all over the place for male counterparts hidden in the grid or in the clues. The title seemed to suggest putting the females together with their males in some way.
                                        • DrTom constructor · 2024-05-13T13:57:48.691Z
                                          Sorry, the prompt was not meant to be misleading. Luckily the MEN wasn't BRO! I don't see how DEITIES would have made it any better since the definition of that word is "Gods or goddesses" and would probably lead to the same rabbit hole. Still, I have chased enough rabbits in my time that I do feel your frustration.
                                        • Bird Lives 6s · 2024-05-13T01:48:26.064Z
                                          I saw the title, and this was my first guess. "It" for "them" didn't fool me. But I confess it took a minute to stop parsing the long entries to get the letters. There was a Walt Kelly Pogo version that began "M is for the Murmansk things she gave me." I cannot find it online, but I think the next line was "O means only that she's growing squash," Something, something, the, "Y is for Yakima Valley, Wash." Thanks for the (partial) memory and for a fun, symmetrical puzzle.
                                          • Steve M 29:50 · 2024-05-13T22:51:58.332Z
                                            Thank you for the puzzle. Supreme beings indeed!
                                            • Eric Porter 3s · 2024-05-14T02:26:40.976Z
                                              It's a little evil to have 7 theme answers and the answer be 7 letters long, but not get a letter from each of them. I finally got it when I ignored the meta prompt and everything but nudge 4. It wasn't exactly smooth sailing; I wasn't thinking of Mother's Day even after seeing all of those animals and realizing what they had in common.
                                              • THC 🤓1:22 · 2024-05-14T17:07:16.046Z
                                                Enjoyed this one on this special day for "supreme beings"! The first letters of the "mothers" spell "mensch", and certainly most of them are mensches as well! Thank for another fun one Dr Tom!
                                                • DrTom constructor · 2024-05-16T16:28:46.128Z
                                                  Well that certainly counts as an unintended mechanism. People missed that DUCK is the name for the female duck (DRAKE is the male) so certainly your method was correct and an entirely appropriate word. Did you first enter mensch?
                                                  • THC 🤓1:22 · 2024-05-16T23:35:53.506Z
                                                    No, I couldn't use the “D”, and I couldn't answer with 6 letters. It was then I thought about what DAY Sunday was and the group of mother critters!
                                                • Qmark 7s · 2024-05-17T19:32:59.095Z
                                                  loved it! (no nudges needed)
                                                  1A
                                                  Payment in the upper right hand corner
                                                  1
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                                                  59
                                                  60
                                                  61
                                                  62
                                                  63
                                                  64
                                                  65
                                                  Across
                                                  1. 1A
                                                    Payment in the upper right hand corner
                                                  2. 6A
                                                    Ages and ages
                                                  3. 10A
                                                    Type of enemy
                                                  4. 14A
                                                    Square in the funny paper
                                                  5. 15A
                                                    It's not a vase but it can hold an iris
                                                  6. 16A
                                                    The Sail (southern constellation)
                                                  7. 17A
                                                    Combat zone
                                                  8. 18A
                                                    Went up or down in small increments
                                                  9. 20A
                                                    Make like Johnny Appleseed
                                                  10. 21A
                                                    Early Scot
                                                  11. 23A
                                                    Parliament lengthener?
                                                  12. 24A
                                                    "Oh, look out for that low flying drone!"
                                                  13. 25A
                                                    Sign of things to come
                                                  14. 27A
                                                    Operatives
                                                  15. 31A
                                                    Possessing two upper limbs
                                                  16. 32A
                                                    Squiggly fish
                                                  17. 33A
                                                    Threaten to the point of intimidation
                                                  18. 36A
                                                    Confuse purposefully
                                                  19. 37A
                                                    Helper with the family's children
                                                  20. 39A
                                                    Pad ___, national dish
                                                  21. 40A
                                                    Egg donor?
                                                  22. 41A
                                                    Org. looking everywhere for intelligence
                                                  23. 42A
                                                    Executives
                                                  24. 43A
                                                    Free rein
                                                  25. 46A
                                                    Wraps up
                                                  26. 49A
                                                    Region of darkness seen on the Moon
                                                  27. 50A
                                                    Rich soils
                                                  28. 51A
                                                    James, one of 27A
                                                  29. 52A
                                                    Sounds a little like you?
                                                  30. 55A
                                                    Russian who heeded Reagan's request
                                                  31. 58A
                                                    Famous seagoing bartender
                                                  32. 60A
                                                    Lost in the water or the grid
                                                  33. 61A
                                                    Delhi wrap
                                                  34. 62A
                                                    Cold brew option
                                                  35. 63A
                                                    Take a break
                                                  36. 64A
                                                    Craving
                                                  37. 65A
                                                    Industrial city of Germany and Big Bertha's birthplace
                                                  Down
                                                  1. 1D
                                                    Great places to send people to be pampered
                                                  2. 2D
                                                    Hawaiian tuber
                                                  3. 3D
                                                    All over
                                                  4. 4D
                                                    Chess pieces
                                                  5. 5D
                                                    Annoyed, like an early Egyptian
                                                  6. 6D
                                                    Shout on discovering the meta secret
                                                  7. 7D
                                                    Elliptical
                                                  8. 8D
                                                    After expenses
                                                  9. 9D
                                                    Cul-de-___
                                                  10. 10D
                                                    Heads off
                                                  11. 11D
                                                    Adjust, as laces
                                                  12. 12D
                                                    Fresh from the shower
                                                  13. 13D
                                                    "Oh, is this a special puzzle? I ___ noticed."
                                                  14. 19D
                                                    Name for male deer
                                                  15. 22D
                                                    Appear
                                                  16. 24D
                                                    Attracted
                                                  17. 25D
                                                    Hammer part
                                                  18. 26D
                                                    The "O" in S.R.O.
                                                  19. 27D
                                                    Cummerbund
                                                  20. 28D
                                                    Sea eagle (and crossword staple)
                                                  21. 29D
                                                    "We gotta hurry!"
                                                  22. 30D
                                                    Character rubbed out in a famous story
                                                  23. 33D
                                                    À la mode
                                                  24. 34D
                                                    "@#$%!," e.g.
                                                  25. 35D
                                                    Cheeky
                                                  26. 37D
                                                    Kid with the pocket protector
                                                  27. 38D
                                                    Mason and Matlock; Abbr.
                                                  28. 39D
                                                    Air
                                                  29. 41D
                                                    Spicy sauce or dance
                                                  30. 42D
                                                    Fish in a can
                                                  31. 43D
                                                    It may be hand-to-hand and even mortal
                                                  32. 44D
                                                    Cheap flick
                                                  33. 45D
                                                    PC linkup
                                                  34. 46D
                                                    Composer known for his "Pomp"
                                                  35. 47D
                                                    Lasso loop
                                                  36. 48D
                                                    Trip payments
                                                  37. 51D
                                                    Titanic problem, shortly
                                                  38. 52D
                                                    Puts away food in a fancy restaurant
                                                  39. 53D
                                                    Soft or hard finish
                                                  40. 54D
                                                    Subj. for an M.B.A.
                                                  41. 56D
                                                    Fort Collins sch.
                                                  42. 57D
                                                    Part of a guffaw
                                                  43. 59D
                                                    “___ boom bah!”
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