ROTTEN TRICK

So, a Rotten Trick! Well if any day is prime for a Rotten Trick puzzle it is today. Granted it is not as rotten as the one played on Julius Caesar, I mean stabbed to death by a group of your allies has got to top the chart for pure, unadulterated mean. Hah, and all you have to contend with is a DrTom Meta that is, admittedly, at least a 3.

Still relatively few solvers!!! Maybe 3 is the wrong rating? Actually I'll bet a lot of you got what you were supposed to but then said "WHAT?" There is a reason for that and an included nudge clue to help you, though you may not have recognized it as such. So let me do some nudging:

What in the world is he doing... Clue 47A is so funkily worded that it MUST mean something. Think of the day's victim, does that give you any ideas?

Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears (well eyes I guess). Counsul Doctorus Thomus doth decree this day an assist to those fighting the Metagoths. This will continue for the next few diems or possible longer if the Metagoths are not defeated and cattus magna is not released from his sacculum.

Indicium I: Scan the Clues/Grid for "rotten" things people do or did, then do what YOU usually do

Indicium II: Google Caesar code

Indicium III: II refers to a term that has been used MANY times in the Muggle forums, I just hit upon a way to hide that in plain sight

Indicium IV: As some of those who already solved commented to me; "you could have pretty much solved without having to fill the grid..."

Indicium V: Going back to II and III. If Caesar codes are a form of a rotation code, like the ROT 13 that has been discussed from time to time on the Muggle forum, how might I have hidden what ROT number code you were supposed to use?

Indicium VI: You can either use the theme answers letters or the theme clue letters to find the letters you need to solve

Indicium VII: Good puzzle have the letters in Grid order. This is probably not a good puzzle, but the letters are in Grid order

OK, the "reveal"

The idea was supposed to be that solvers found the “rotten” things in the puzzle (1D, 7D, 19A, 39A, 41A, 43A, 45D, 46D, 59D, 64A) and used the clue letters to form a 10 letter answer. The ROTTEN TRICK was that I used the trick of encoding with ROT TEN (ROT-10) a variant of the Caesar cipher. If you took those letters that gave you the 10 rotten things and ran them through a ROT decoder you ended up with the rotten trick that has caused restless nights. SHORT SHEET

I realize that it was difficult and that I probably should have made the answers the needed letters as opposed to the clues since, as some have mentioned, you probably did not even need to solve the grid to get the letters if you paid attention to the rather pejorative adjectives. But, 30 of you did manage to release the cat, so not a complete bomb. Thanks to all who solved and I look forward to our next meeting!