I've got a super-sized meta for you this week! But don't let the size of the grid put you off because there's plenty of fun to be had within by all and sundry (at least, I hope so!) The answer to the meta is two words. Nudges available here: https://www.xword-muggles.com/viewtopic.php?p=200192#p200192
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!
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This is a contest/meta puzzle. To submit your answer, first finish solving the grid (or reveal it if you get stuck or solved offline).
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Comments
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hoover 3s · 4 days ago
I saw lots of APR and then there's a FOOLS interspersed along the rhs. I was hoping I wasn't going to have to count 49 (IL) of the APRs.
DCBilly 2s · 4 days ago
Glad I had a second chance to submit after following a red herring.
Well, I wasn't sure if, for once, declaring a red herring wouldn't be the intended. That'd be pretty tricky. So I submitted it. Not sure if there is a fools I missed, of if the whole point was "Ha, tricked you into submitting 'red herring'! APRIL FOOLS.
Hmm...reading my comment I see a double negative implying a triple negative. I meant often (not frequent but often) a meta will have deliberate red herrings that spell out "not this" or "try again" or "red herring". So in a normal meta getting a "red herring" means it's not the answer. So for an April fools trick it'd be funny if "red herring" wasn't a red herring but was the correct answer. (Or, depending on your psyche, it'd be funny if it werent.)
But I'm still not sure if there was a legit way to get the "FOOLS". I see FOSOL in the right hand side but that doesn't do it for me.
MatthewL 🤓9:28 · 3 days ago
Darn it -- fell for the RED HERRING, and then felt like such an APRIL FOOL(s). Oh well, thanks for the puzzle, Ben!
HeadinHome 3:07 · 3 days ago
kind of a WAG — saw all the APRs of course. Still don’t know where the FOOLS rush in. Lucky guess.
Argh. Now I get it. Alpha omega down spell TAKELAST. Thing is my instinct was not to take either the first or the last but the letter immediately following the APRs. Then I tried the ones immediately preceding. The finally the ist letters.
lbray53 2s · 3 days ago
FOOLED ME!
Ergcat 30:44 · 3 days ago
Took me a bit to realize “LAST” was the hint!! That’s no joke! Thanks, Ben!
whimsy 20:41 · 3 days ago
Rabbit, Rabbit!
Love those buns! -- and the puzzle! Thanks, Ben!
Surely there is no other human being other than me who does this?
Well, guess not as you only said it twice, whereas I and my sisters say it three times.
Carolyn 47s · 3 days ago
Happy to see I'm in good company! Finally saw 81D. Thanks for the laugh!
ReB 3s · 3 days ago
Didn't see the TAKELAST hint, that is a second step that spells out the answer explicitly. I solved implicitly: I saw the ten APR along with 83D to derive APRIL and then used the meta title to conclude that the answer must be APRIL FOOLS. Especially given today's date...
Well that was my first impulse of course, given the publication day, but "No", I said that would be too easy! So I went through the crunchy fill (and of course I know why it is crunchy now) and looked for Months (JAN, FEB, MAR, etc.) but then I saw APR and then I saw it again, and then I saw it bridging a space...what?? So I started to take the first letters of those words or bridges containing APR and ended up with RED HERRING...OK, "two words, but wait a minute, Ben is TELLING me that it is not what I am looking for?" LIGHTBULB MOMENT, It IS APRIL FOOLS, you crafty Aussie you!