Central Casting
◆ · By Bird Lives · Published 2024-03-04T13:00:02.164Z
Meta Prompt
The answer is an actor whose name sounds like a middle school subject.
1. The title and the “sounds like a middle school subject” part of the prompt seem unrelated — surely we’re not looking for a teenage actor. But they both have words that refer to a key thematic element.
2. The theme entries themselves don’t matter. But their clues do.
3. As in many metas, these are cover-two clues. Each can apply to another entry in the grid, but . . .
4. Only after that entry has been slighty altered. That alteration derives from the common idea mentioned in Nudge 1.
5. you find those alternative entries and proceed in the usual way, you will get gibberish. Again, you have to apply the common idea.
6. Or you could just go to the Internet and look up the date of the puzzle (it’s repeated in the intro) and find that it is designated as a special day.
Checking for previous play data...
1A
* Place name-checked in "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere"
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Across
- 1A* Place name-checked in "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere"
- 8ALynyrd Skynyrd thought it was a sweet home
- 15AArtist's workplace
- 16AElf in "Lord of the Rings"
- 17AAnother name for Othello (the game, not the jealous guy)
- 18AOriginal nickname for London police soon replaced by "Bobbies"
- 19ABauxite or tantalite
- 20AHe says that having a "thankless child" is "sharper than a serpent's tooth "
- 22AWhat's black and white wet all over
- 23A* They're included on important certificates
- 28AYour old style
- 29AUK classical label
- 30ANot as well done
- 32APuzzles companion in the bookstore
- 34A* Where you might find an anvil and hammer
- 38AHound sound
- 40AAmontillado container
- 43ACurious item for language learners
- 44AModerna ends with this type of vaccine
- 45A* They come after openings
- 47AApple product
- 48AGenre for Snorlax or Totoro
- 50AFencer's choice
- 51ATo whom Nabokov dedicated each of his books
- 52A* Tolkien creation
- 54AIdentifies
- 56AWord before mint or fishing
- 59AInhabitant suffix
- 60ADeBeauvoir's "The Second ___"
- 63A* George Eliot novel
- 68ALOL
- 70AGone under
- 71ALacto-___ vegetarian
- 72AThe hots, more formally
- 74ALana Turner, Ezra Pound, or Mark Woychik,
- 78A"Come on in"
- 79A___ warnings ("You have the right to remain silent, but any fresh fruit you're wearing on your head may be used against you")
- 80ADoo-wop cover group
- 81A* A time of your life
Down
- 1DSweetener at the health food store
- 2DSNL alum Cheri
- 3D"___ Let Me Go" novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, song by Jay Livingston
- 4DGuardians on the scoreboard
- 5DTo hear in Spanish
- 6DCaesar's thing
- 7DWhat oilmen, Marines, and dentists do
- 8DSource of fine Andean wool
- 9DThey take the male gaze to extremes
- 10DRipen
- 11DGaucho's weapon
- 12DHeads-up
- 13DSousa specialty
- 14DTest 19A
- 21DVanGogh had one
- 24DWood for decks and ships
- 25D"Let me think. . . "
- 26DPart of the puzzle
- 27DRound of four
- 31DGet ___ of (remove)
- 32DHoly ____
- 33DFile menu choice
- 35DRacers' data
- 36DFrost
- 37DAlong with "Chicken Dance" and "Macarena," it's one of the songs most often banned at weddings
- 38DCrow
- 39D___ Domini
- 41DDrink cautiously
- 42DEager to trace lost persons?
- 45DSigns on for another hitch
- 46D"___ to please"
- 49DIt comprises Austin FC, Red Bulls, and two dozen other teams
- 51DChange direction
- 53DWhence Dresden china
- 55DKingston Trio song, source of the name for Boston's CharlieCard
- 57DMeryl of Vassar or Hillary of Wellesley
- 58DWent quickly
- 60D"___good, but she lies / ___ hard on herself" (Sara Bareilles)
- 61DSoil
- 62DLanguage of Miriam Makeba's "Click Song"
- 64DGo on the cheap
- 65DWho expects the Spanish Inquisition
- 66DDodge
- 67DFarrow named after Satchel Paige
- 69DLots
- 73DPreference of many muggles who come ashore
- 75DRobt. Altman or Wm Wyler, e.g.
- 76DExist
- 77DDeerstalker or boater