Dude, I'm Baked
β Β· By DrTom Β· Published 2024-07-03T11:30:57.100Z
Meta Prompt
The answer is a word a Brit might use to describe our obsession with metas
This was made a while back, and was pretty thoroughly tested. I am guessing it will be about a Kitten or a Calico but it is an implied answer and sometimes those play harder. I have been saving it because I thought it most apropos for this time period, something I hope all the solvers will "get".
KITTEN*
CALICO*
Persian
Puma
Lion
I got scads of help from my testers: edestlin, Cap'n Rick, rjy, Snood, and I thank them all from the bottom of my heart. If there are any quirky parts of the puzzle it is NOT their fault, I probably just did not listen.
With that, I'll leave you to your own devices. If you do not get the cat out immediately don't worry, kitty will probably stay in the bag to avoid all of the people shooting off fireworks.
There will be Friday nudges, or sooner if needed.
πππππππ ππππΌππ πππΌπΏ: Disregard 52D which was written when there was only one letter missing from the Grid. In edits I changed a word and lost the one instance of the letter (W) I had. So 52D does not work as written because there are TWO missing letters...unless of course you look at this note and see that there was supposed to be a W in the grid.....
NUDGES (in increasingly pushy order):
Sorry, had an eye appointment today and I can finally see well enough to post nudges...
Nudge 1] Baked might just as easily refer to a cooking technique as a stoner term
Nudge 2] There are 7 instances of the meta mechanism symmetrically throughout the puzzle.
Nudge 3] One prominently placed "instance" is slightly different than the other 6 in terms of preceding versus following
Nudge 4] If you were watching "Capital Fourth" last evening, or actually if you were almost anywhere, you heard one of the mechanism words
Nudge 5] The graphic actually holds a hint, I've been cautioned to stop that but this was made before that caution. Look at some of the snacks in the picture, are they anywhere else?
The Reveal:
Six symmetrical clues could have the word CRACKER appended to them (like FIRE which was the impetus for the puzzle and the tie in with the 4th).
SODA
OYSTER
SAFE
RITZ
ANIMAL
FIRE
The middle entry, though indeed another CRACKER, was a nudge clue of sorts because here CRACKER comes in front, but I thought people may think CRACKER JACKS, of course and then go back to the others.
All this led to the meta answer - CRACKERS (which I might add are baked!). Which is a term for "crazy" that came to us from the British Navy referring to firecrackers in one's head, originally as "he's got the crackers" and then "he's gone crackers" before the present "he is crackers".
One nudge clue (52D) went awry due to a grid change. Originally the lower left corner had REGINA and GREW.
When I changed the grid (Regina was a more obscure answer than RETINA) I got rid of the W making BOTH Q and W a missing letter. The original idea was that with only the Q missing people would pick up on the name for the duck being QUACKER.
For a graphic representation of the solve please go to:
Checking for previous play data...
1A
Overcome
1
2
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5
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10
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13
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49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
Across
- 1AOvercome
- 5AUrgent request
- 9AYour "Peeps"
- 12ASkedaddle
- 13AMarx who avoided speeches
- 15AUpscale, downscale new grocery chain
- 16ACheeky image on a performer (like Post Malone)
- 18APop or coke in some places
- 19AHead of "The Family Stone"
- 20A"___ said the blind man as he picked up his hammer and saw"
- 21A"Did you ever know you were ___", Bette Midler
- 23ANeighbor of Mexico; Abbr.
- 24ABarney Fife; Abbr.
- 25AFood that can make a necklace
- 28AA drink with your honey
- 29AWood applied to baseballs
- 32ARevivalists, for short
- 33AOne Obi,.e.g.
- 34ADelivery for a diva
- 35APlace to store your valuables
- 36AIf you have these to open you might get a prize
- 37AFancy hotel that might be a put on
- 38A"At Last" James
- 39AHome of Iowa State
- 40AMicrowave your pizza
- 41ALog jam at the airport
- 42AName associated with a gator
- 43AWild and crazy Muppet drummer
- 45AJudy Garland's daughter
- 46A"I want to be in on that e-mail please"
- 47AApple display type that, not surprisingly, works by focusing light
- 50APut on a scale
- 51ACards
- 54APanicked cry in a forest
- 55ACall someone by the wrong name
- 58AMade mad
- 59ABush, Clinton or Reagan, informally
- 60ATen: Prefix
- 61ASandra, Ruby or Billy
- 62A"___ quam videri," North Carolina motto
- 63ADescription for some cabernets
Down
- 1DBesties for short
- 2DFlyer to Ben Gurion
- 3DCabinet chief; Abbr.
- 4DP.G.A. supporter
- 5DStar Trek weapon of choice
- 6DProcrastinator's word
- 7D"Alphabet Suite" art deco artist
- 8DG.I.'s mail drop
- 9DPolar bear raft
- 10DEnvelope dest.
- 11DFrench kitty cry
- 14DBig brassy sounds
- 15DLike a used firepit
- 17DCall for a break
- 22DFrom Jan. 1 until now
- 23DWhere nobody wants to be when solving a meta
- 24DWhat you might find in the front of hotels
- 25DThis could be the start of something big
- 26DIrish poet who sailed to Byzantium
- 27DSimilarity of 29 and 34A
- 28DRepelled with a club or a spray
- 29DA lucrative end to honor
- 30DCapital of the Alaska Territory
- 31DNut in Nutella
- 33DSouth Pacific islands that sound like they want a second helping
- 34DLinks legend, informally
- 36DPeriod for "The Great Gatsby"
- 42D"There is no ___ team!"
- 43DThe most important kind of ingredient
- 44DSanta Fe location: Abbr.
- 45DVeered away from the truth
- 46DClothing choices for some hunters
- 47DTracking chip acronym
- 48DCork's country
- 49DWhere you might find your family members
- 50DNielsen nos.
- 51DComic lightbulb
- 52DDowny pond dweller (whose nick-name nudge starts with the only missing letter)
- 53DHow to fix a cat
- 56DEnd of a program
- 57DTokyo, once