Welcome to summer - the time of year when millions of folks head "Down East" to enjoy the beauty and wonder that the great state of Maine has to offer. Whether it's camping on a lake or basking on a beach, "Vacationland" is the place to go if you love the great outdoors. It's no wonder that @MaineMarge has made this state her home, and her lovely flower gardens enhance the scenic beauty there.
Thanks, Darth. Hopefully solvers will figure out that they need to use the L-word pairs that go "Down" and "East" from those L's. I'll have to take another look to see how Berto got in there. Maybe he's a Mainer, too?
Berto 2s · 2024-06-24T23:54:30.474Z
Ha - first time I’ve been a red herring, and definitely not from Maine. Us Brits are more familiar with Mr Bean, but 39ac helped me get the right angle to solve!
Wowza. Even by your high standards this is impressive!
The NANCY and ELS clues leapt off the screen while filling the grid, and the former turned out to be my way in, because I fairly quickly saw LOIS. Knowing things would be symmetric then focused me on LOCK, and eventually I tumbled to the idea that there were only 5 Ls, and saw how the ELS clue applied.
OK, so then it was alternate answers time. LOIS = NANCY, LOVE = AMOUR, LOCK = BESTBETS (?--doubt that number mismatch would slip through), VERB(?? -- almost certainly cleaner than that), LION = ??? There was then a brief pause while I combed the clue lists a couple more times.
Finally my eyes landed on LANE and I was like ooooh. Was much easier to find matches for LIONLIKE and LOCKLIPS
Since I had been thinking maybe L would feature in the answer (and since I have been to Freeport more than once) the step from BEAN to the answer was quick. Though I did have to google to verify that the LL was part of his name.
Great series of ahas, and very tight links between all parts. Excellent work, thanks!
Thanks, Alan! Your solving experience went pretty much as I had anticipated. I think LOISLANE will be the entry point for most folks, which is why I placed it in the SE corner. Thanks for your detailed description. I'll be able to copy and paste a lot of it for my reveal!
That's understandable, Ben, considering where you're from. Here in the States, I think virtually everyone is familiar with Bean's "Maine Hunting Boots" (also called "Duck Boots").
HeadinHome 🤓2:12 · 2024-06-24T17:17:52.858Z
Also - the placement of REI as an outdoor store right in the center… yes?
Thanks, Wendy! Yes, the placement of REI, another outdoor retailer, below ELS was not coincidental. The same with LEONS as the L. L. stands for Leon Leonwood.
HeadinHome 🤓2:12 · 2024-06-24T17:17:12.207Z
Found out that Maiden Maine is a noted sailing event! That confused me for a while, and didn’t even notice ALL the others were LL, duh. This was a great final aha. Thanks! (Helps that I’ve been to LLBean in Maine — that jogged my memory.)
Silly me, I left out the LL. I looked forever for MAIDENMAINE (and even through there is place in Maine with that name - either a cliff or a hat maker- I realize now it is MADE IN MAINE) and ASNOS (SPANISH ASSES) and just could not see it. I had BEAN early and looked for more, finally it hit me that "Hey all of them are LL...Oh Good Grief Tom! LL and BEAN, from MAINE, with the Classic (and though I have no use for them here I did covet them when I lived in Michigan) Down East Boots.
I did get away from the path and in a rabbit hole because the LIONESS EL also worked, was not a DOWN EAST and did not have two L's. As it turns out LIONESS can also be COURAGEOUS, so I was fishing for other directions than the puzzle stated. Finally I saw that everything else was LL and that LIONLIKE was a MUCH better alternate.
LOISLANE was my ticket to the show and it would have gone MUCH smoother had I not tried to force ELSA in there.
Nice Easter Eggs with REI, BOOTS (i.e. DOWN EAST) and LEON LEONwood Bean. Another superb Cap'n Crossword.
Stared at this off and on for a day, and finally noticed the Ls being very symmetrical (a hallmark of a Capn Rick puzzle). Finally saw LOISLANE and after that it was fairly straightforward. Did not notice all the easter eggs until reading the comments, but those are quite clever as well. Thanks for the puzzle!
Thanks for sticking with it, Matthew! Glad you enjoyed it.
hoover 4s · 2024-06-25T20:15:49.748Z
Like others, I quickly got to BEAN and it didn't work. I tried MR BEAN as well. Then my eye lit on REI in the center and I figured out I needed to go one step further with the synonyms! Uh, no, REI didn't work either. After staring at it a bit, it came to me that L. L. Bean was a person before he was a store.
Thanks for solving, hoover. Yep, Leon Leonwood (aka L. L.) Bean started the company back in 1912 with his Maine Hunting Shoes (aka Duck Boots).
Dave C 2s · 2024-06-25T20:49:50.800Z
I got it based on ELS and REI and didn't realize the sophistication until reading the comments here. Nicely done. At first I thought it would somehow be related to the diagonal rows of E's - down E"s...
Wow! I needed a few of the hints. One of the several rabbit holes I went down was: If you change 31DPEONY to PENNY and combine it with the entry under it 59DLANE = PENNY LANE. Same with 29DDISCO to CISCO combined with 59DKIDS you could get CISCO KID. I kept looking for words that traveling east!
Oh jeez I can't believe I needed the nudges. I have forked over so much money to this person's company over the years LOL. Superb meta as always, cap'n - thanks!
Great Easter Eggs comments above everyone, just wow! Special thanks to the Cap'n for register assistance at the end of one LL of a virtual shopping experience.
I needed lots of help with this one but still felt like I was "livin' large" when my slow-on-the-draw BEAN made the last L.L.eap! Another great hike this week, Capn!