Sailing The S̶e̶v̶e̶n̶Five Seas (Meta)
◆ · By benchen71 · Published 2024-02-15T06:00:33.462Z
Meta Prompt
The answer to the meta is a type of boat
When Cap'n Rick won the most recent Crosshare midi crossword contest and chose "The Sea" as the theme for the new contest I thought I should submit an entry both in homage to him as a meta constructor and also to see if I could cram a meta into an 11x11 grid. The answer to the meta is a type of boat. Answer & explanation: https://xword-muggles.com/viewtopic.php?p=157576#p157576
Nudges, in order of increasing blatancy:
- There is a hint in the grid: 20A. Prefix for boats powered by steam, unlike the meta answer which, like some entries in this grid, takes a more "nautical" prefix
- Did you notice that in this grid one letter is conspicuous by its absence, given the puzzle title?
- There are no Cs in the grid. 5 symmetrical entries can take a C as a prefix.
- It's time to play the "alternate entries" game!
Check out "The MOAT MEOW Mashup Pack" here: https://www.ephesusscroll.com/about/interest4.html. US$10 gives you access to 14 metas that don't always abide by the "rules" of the game. You won't quite know what to expect: asymmetry, 2-letter words, uncrossed letters, sometimes all of those, and sometimes none! One thing is for sure, these are some of the more creative metas my brain has been able to come up with. And there's more: this time there's a mega-meta!
Checking for previous play data...
(though of course it was inferrable)
1A
Depart
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
Across
- 1ADepart
- 6AFail to win
- 10ATV financial adviser Suze
- 11AHorse opera
- 12APitched roof feature
- 13A"Where are all the aliens?" paradox
- 14AColumbus campus (abbr.)
- 15AEasiest section of a song to sing along to, probably
- 17ASubj. for some immigrants
- 19ABack muscle, briefly
- 20APrefix for boats powered by steam, unlike the meta answer which, like some entries in this grid, takes a more "nautical" prefix
- 21APerson who directs the activities of a spy
- 24Aμ
- 26AApt acronym for "Ukrainian Youth Ensemble"
- 27AWith 38A: Neighbourhood in which much of the Port of Los Angeles can be found
- 29AWild Central Asian equines
- 32A"Friends" character, well-known to Rachel
- 34A___ fisted (stingy)
- 35AOutdo
- 37AFrench beings
- 38ASee 27A
- 39A"The Owl and the Pussycat" poet
- 40AFalcon-headed Egyptian god
Down
- 1DNike's swoosh, for example
- 2DWipe, as a whiteboard
- 3DSurprise attack
- 4DKilmer of "Top Gun"
- 5DFed. power dept.
- 6DOphelia's brother
- 7DAnother, in Madrid
- 8DRound of four
- 9D___ Isle (Ireland)
- 11DButcher's discards
- 16DTribal leader
- 18DOne yucking it up
- 22DRussian refusals
- 23DFor mature audiences
- 24DRoadside lodging
- 25DJoin together
- 28DMicronesian nation with a flag consisting of a blue background with a white star under a horizontal yellow line
- 30DIndian tourist city with a famous mausoleum
- 31DSecond-year student
- 33DMailing ctrs.
- 36D"The Matrix" protagonist