In the lead up to this puzzle going live I discovered that I hadn't written any introduction! So now I have to try and remember how this puzzle came into being more than 12 months down the track. And I have to confess that I can't precisely recollect! However, I have a sneaking suspicion that it happened one Sunday at church as we were singing a song by Matt Redman. And then working out the puzzle mechanics just might have distracted me from the sermon! The answer to the meta is a 6-letter word. Answer & explanation: https://www.xword-muggles.com/viewtopic.php?p=174080#p174080
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!
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Leaderboard (updated hourly)
Berto solved 2024-07-23T11:30:39.702Z
hoover solved 2024-07-23T12:51:09.126Z
LarsCaine solved 2024-07-23T12:51:21.746Z
kymike solved 2024-07-23T13:11:33.546Z
whimsy solved 2024-07-23T13:19:05.782Z
Meg solved 2024-07-23T13:44:38.088Z
imontoo solved 2024-07-23T14:04:26.373Z
MatthewL solved 2024-07-23T14:06:48.150Z
Hector solved 2024-07-23T14:15:37.593Z
boharr solved 2024-07-23T14:17:46.535Z
Avlan solved 2024-07-23T14:25:42.442Z
Scrivimancer solved 2024-07-23T14:37:30.002Z
Bird Lives solved 2024-07-23T15:18:10.367Z
woozy solved 2024-07-23T15:41:42.556Z
Alex Sisti solved 2024-07-23T15:44:48.417Z
I K Snamhcok solved 2024-07-23T15:45:50.288Z
Cindy Weatherman solved 2024-07-23T15:56:19.486Z
Carolyn solved 2024-07-23T16:02:19.893Z
Jaclyn solved 2024-07-23T16:09:07.363Z
lbray53 solved 2024-07-23T16:12:19.054Z
DIS solved 2024-07-23T16:35:52.440Z
rjy solved 2024-07-23T16:52:47.841Z
markhr solved 2024-07-23T17:08:18.074Z
heidi solved 2024-07-23T17:48:23.786Z
Danny K Bernstein solved 2024-07-23T18:07:16.467Z
JM solved 2024-07-23T19:20:44.719Z
Darth solved 2024-07-23T20:04:42.533Z
Cindy Heisler solved 2024-07-23T21:22:25.699Z
Laura M solved 2024-07-23T21:29:32.142Z
CPJohnson solved 2024-07-23T22:19:22.225Z
Alvibu67 solved 2024-07-23T22:59:31.870Z
omnilynx solved 2024-07-24T01:20:58.427Z
Tyrpmom solved 2024-07-24T03:11:44.233Z
HeadinHome solved 2024-07-24T11:04:52.782Z
Pair O Ducks solved 2024-07-24T11:13:21.025Z
DrTom solved 2024-07-24T14:51:07.980Z
Abide solved 2024-07-24T21:13:14.529Z
Dave C solved 2024-07-24T22:17:56.842Z
ajk solved 2024-07-24T23:45:02.137Z
DCBilly solved 2024-07-25T12:58:43.815Z
edestlin solved 2024-07-25T16:25:33.628Z
Johnny Luau solved 2024-07-25T16:56:42.753Z
KayW solved 2024-07-25T19:36:16.800Z
frostyjhammer solved 2024-07-26T04:33:38.983Z
AaronT solved 2024-07-27T00:23:08.442Z
ELSavage solved 2024-07-28T01:49:41.344Z
moron solved 2024-07-29T07:44:49.554Z
kurtalert solved 2024-07-31T20:01:41.293Z
Comments
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Berto 1s · 2024-07-23T11:32:51.230Z
I had the giving part sussed, I guess it took me a bit longer to take! At least I resisted the temptation to submit FYLEAT… fun one, thanks Ben!
kymike 5s · 2024-07-23T13:12:40.911Z
Like most of Ben's metas. I will give it a chance. It may take a while to figure it out, though. However, this one was smooth sailing. Thanks Ben!
whimsy 🤓10:07 · 2024-07-23T13:20:49.645Z
Wonderful, not quite expected next step! Liked this a lot!
Thanks, Ben!
imontoo 3s · 2024-07-23T14:05:31.148Z
Enjoyed it, Ben!
64A made me chuckle.
MatthewL 🤓6:53 · 2024-07-23T14:08:49.211Z
Took a minute, but then realized I had to take as well. Darn near submitted FEALTY, which can be anagrammed from FYLEAT, and seemed appropriate for the story of Job, but then thought the better of it. Thanks for the puzzle, Ben!
Yes, but that line is in the song because it comes from Job 1:21b which reads, "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised."
Laura M 🤓10:42 · 2024-07-23T22:08:51.237Z
Great metanism, loved it! Sadly, I didn't have the same restraint as others and did initially try FEALTY :-)
Loved this one! Step one yields FYLEAT which kinda? goes with Job if you anagram (fly eat) and get a mental picture ewwww. But quickly saw there was a step 2 from OVA being what I wanted for 57D during grid fill. Thanks for the puzzle, though now the earworm lingers (that song… it tends to hang out in my head for a while, which I guess is not a bad thing to be hearing all day long!).
OMG ( pun obviously intended) what a super mechanism! I was trying to take the letter from other words. I got a nudge and with the first remembered how odd YELP was when I expected something else.
Resisted FEALTY because I knew there had to be a take element. But spent quite a while trying to execute take wrong.
Eventually wandered into this deep rabbit hole: there are 6 across entries that leave new words if you take the first or last letter (yes, I know the adds were all at the end, but go with it): A+WARDS, IRIS+E, S+HONE, THEME+T [ed: was really sure this had to be on purpose ], A+GENT, B+GIRL. So now what? Lots of gibberish.
Then I thought, maybe it's one of those pair two letters and find the 3-letter entry with another letter, and lo [heh] it almost works. OFA = FA + O, STY = SY + T, BAN = BA + N, EMT = TE + M, AGE = EA + G, which pulls one from each list of letters per pair. But...it leaves L and T left over, and there are no Ls in the 3-letter entries.
The good news though is that while staring at SCOW L trying to figure out a way that the L was wrong, I eventually saw COWL, and the light bulb went on. Ironically I was recently working on a not-too-dissimilar mechanism, so I really should have seen this earlier.
Great stuff, thanks.
ELSavage 🤓10:12 · 2024-07-28T01:55:19.107Z
Interestingly, my first thought for 57D was ova (but it obviously didn't fit) and I thought 'hood' was too generic for 13D.
As soon as I wrote down the alternate answer for [b(ar]f), I knew the rest and just had to confirm.
Jessica 10:50 · 2024-08-08T15:47:31.782Z
Good puzzle, thanks. Thank you for explaining the answer.
Abbr. for twentieths of an inch point (but drop "inch" because I said so)
12A
Coffee containing just a splash of 21 across
14A
"Son ___ gun!"
15A
"The house that Jack ___"
16A
Disease referenced in Alan Marshall's novel "I Can Jump Puddles"
17A
Ultimate month (abbr.)
18A
Long-form writing piece
19A
___ Pete Maravich
21A
Alcoholic beverage that can be aged in barrels
23A
Josh Gad's wife ___ Darvish
24A
Spanish day that's an anagram of 23 across
26A
CPR expert
27A
Number represented by candles on a cake
29A
Sixth sense (for short) that can help you see things far off?
30A
I've got a nit to pick from you!
32A
Cargo-carrying sailing barge that can make you frown?
33A
"Don't care what they do"
35A
Oscars and Tonys, for two
37A
Present tense versions of the verbs in Job 1:21b that will help you get to the meta answer
39A
Swerve wildly
41A
Maya Angelou's "And Still ___"
42A
Identical sibling who can wind you up like a piece of string?
43A
Gleamed
45A
Penultimate month (abbr.) that can make you explode like a star?
48A
Dorm supervisors (abbr.)
49A
Figure-skater ___ Midori
50A
"Cat ___ Hot Tin Roof"
52A
Yellowfin tuna
53A
Devices that give you easy access to your car
56A
___ Gala, fashion's Night of Nights
58A
Her face launched a thousand ships
59A
Messy eater's neckwear
61A
Secret government operative
62A
Biblical version of "So what happened next..."
63A
Paul's cousin on "Mad About You"
64A
Leah, with respect to 7 down, according to Jacob
65A
"Now!"
66A
Number of bowling pins that can keep you dry when camping?
67A
Eyelid annoyance
Down
1D
Flower-power child of the 60's
2D
"These are not the ___ you are looking for"
3D
"Smoky Mountain Rain" singer Ronnie ___
4D
"What ___ this time?"
5D
Physique, slangily
6D
"___ Good Men" (Cruise and Nicholson movie)
7D
Jacob's second wife
8D
Walrus tooth
9D
Smart aleck
10D
Chagall Guevara song with the lyrics "You command such immense fees from your low friends in high places / If I crawled on both knees would I stay in your good graces?"
11D
Home for a pig, perhaps
13D
Part of a monk's habit
15D
Top of the pile
20D
Patronises, as a radio station
22D
Easily irritated or provoked
25D
European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (abbr., but it's probably not what you think!)