This one might be slightly harder than my usual "week 1" puzzles. But I'm hopeful that you will follow the path and make it to the meta answer, which is an apt 4-letter word. Answer & explanation: https://www.xword-muggles.com/viewtopic.php?p=184586#p184586
Check out "The MOAT Mini Pack of Marching Bands" here: https://www.ephesusscroll.com/about/interest4.html. US$5 gets you 7 Marching Bands which, hard enough on their own, now contain metas too. And once again there's a mega-meta!
Post your alternate themers below! Here are a few to get you started... "Money put aside for committing adultery?" (TRYSTFUND); "What Bond drinks when he wants to stay sober?" (SPYWATER); and "Cloud-based holiday destination?" (SKYRESORT)
Bashful Competitor to HBO? Sports game of an Inner Hebrides island? Hot food and then we cross the bridge (or is the Y specifically replacing a vowel and not a consonant a requirement?)
Yeah, but PARK??? and .... oh. only the moth count, not the tiger...... Oh. That explains why I only managed to get one out of the four.... Oh, so that means TEA of for LUNCH. I was wondering if Aussie supermarkets had a "Lunch Box" section.
Qmark 5s · 2024-11-05T14:10:52.546Z
Thanks for another great (and timely) meta, Ben!
Meg 5s · 2024-11-05T14:23:42.507Z
I will!!
KayW 🤓2:51 · 2024-11-05T14:46:27.376Z
Nice one, Ben - and thanks for the nod to US events.
Being pretty sure of the answer from the start helped me solve the last bit. I was taking the whole new word -- TIGER MOTH and CAST AWAY did fit the definitions, but LUNCH BOX? -- well, I justified that since you described it as a square meal -- and then I figured (as you would well know ) that kids could end up talking about just about anything in English class, including Disneyland!
I liked this a lot! Thanks, Ben -- for the puzzle and the public service announcement!
Very apt for today. Hmm, let's see -- "Tool you would use to tighten a nut while bowling?" (ALLEYWRENCH) Yeah, I think I'll leave these to the master. Thanks for the puzzle, Ben!
Just did, Ben! So, so, so ready for cheetoh jesus to go away forever.
lbray53 2s · 2024-11-05T17:19:22.206Z
Okay. I had to be reeled in from a WILD goose chase. I was looking for a harder mechanism based on your comments. SO, I found when.
If found MYTH MOTH replacing Y with O. But wait! MOLAR MYLAR by changing O with Y. A vowel transplant. That HAS to be it.
THYME > THEME and PELE > PYLE. Here we go! I am on a roll.
But then I struggled.
LYNCH LUNCH > USER YSER or maybe RUES RYES
CYST CAST could be TAE TYE or RAE RYE or ADS YDS
The mechanism works except for the fact that there is no word that makes sense. I did come up with RAMP, PRAM PUMA
I assumed for the longest time that the entire phrase was important. Not just a moth that flies in the night be specifically a TIGER Moth. Do Australian supermarkets have a "Lunch Box" section? An essay is a theme, but even lose creativity can't call English class a PARK. Banged head against wall and was half convinced that Tiger Moth=Night flier could be coincidence... but it couldn't be. Maybe, maybe, maybe, thinks they might say "Cast Away" as well as "She's off" when they launch a boat. But not really. But then I have V...O so VETO. submit know but if it's not grid order (which would make V very late anyway) but clue order it could be VOTE. That's appropriate and I can maybe back-solve the E and the T.
Yep. Let's see what the comments so. Wait THEME wasESSAY after all? But what about the PARK? There's no PA.... oh, It was just the MOTH. the TIGER wasn't important. So without BOX and just LUNCH = T?... Oh, Tea. So It's not "Cast Away" it's just "Cast"... as in "Cast Off". It wasn't "She's Off". It was just the phrase "Cast off".
Well I had the worst time trying to find a clue I could answer with MATH. Maybe "Round score in the 80's despite bad putting" = TIGERMATH. It finally dawned on me "'Tom, all the other things are real things when you change the letter Y' and then I sank my teeth into VAMPIRE.
I chuckled because you probably could have had it so THeme word order it is VOTE but Grid order it was VETO and then had a title like "The Y's have it; Or Not!" Anyway a fun romp Ben even after desperately trying to fit VILLENUEVE into 50A (Lynch was the original, the one that everybody felt was terrible). Enjoyable and completely rational, unless you approach it the Tom was. Oh, and my contribution:
Cash spent on outfitting your home with the latest colors and trends: STYLEBREAD
If found MYTH MOTH replacing Y with O. But wait! MOLAR MYLAR by changing O with Y. A vowel transplant. That HAS to be it.
THYME > THEME and PELE > PYLE. Here we go! I am on a roll. But then I struggled. LYNCH LUNCH > USER YSER or maybe RUES RYES CYST CAST could be TAE TYE or RAE RYE or ADS YDS The mechanism works except for the fact that there is no word that makes sense. I did come up with RAMP, PRAM PUMA