Read from top to bottom, the letters in each of this shape in the grid will describe either something found (in a shortened form) at the center of each across entry or how to order their corresponding clues
4D
Nailed a test
5D
Christmas tree
6D
Slippery fish
7D
Dryly humorous
9D
Make possible
10D
"___ got it!"
12D
Approved
14D
"Toy Story" boy
15D
"A Christmas Carol" boy
16D
"Son ___ gun!"
17D
Poker prize
19D
Dr. of rap
20D
Prohibit
21D
Moody music genre
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Per 3D, read the circled letters top to bottom to get ATOM. If you take the center 1/2 letters of each across clue, each one forms an element symbol. Furthermore, since ATOM can also be parsed as A TO M, we can reorder the across clues by the letter of the alphabet they start with, which ranges from A to M. Finally, take the first letter of each element name in this order to get IN A PERIODICAL.
As a publisher, I’m not sure about 11A. The ISBN is an identifying number for a particular book. It is not a copyright page and actually has little to do with the copyrights of a text at all. You can copyright a book’s text while it can have 4+ different ISBNs for each available format, language, etc. The two aren’t related.
The clue was intended to be parsed as "abbreviation that is on a copyright page" rather than "an abbreviation that means copyright page", though I can see how it might be confusing. I've changed the clue to "Copyright page info (abbr.)".
Raven 5:19 · 12 months ago
Much better and clearer clue. Thanks. :)
Charles Montpetit 🤓3:47 · about 1 year ago
I didn't want the fun to end, so I kept looking for further steps to take. For instance, the meta phrase could be parsed as IN A PERIODIC "AL", meaning something that's hidden at the core of the element ALUMINIUM. The answer to the prompt "Where might you find a crossword" would then be "I", meaning that crosswords are in one's heart (aww). But I guess that IN A PERIODICAL is ok too.