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Down by the Bay

◆◆ · By Holly McFarland · Published 2024-09-19T21:48:26.123Z

Yeah, I don't know. Sorry.
This one goes out to Dob and Momes from Crossweird, a crossword stream I've been watching for the past few months. Something they've been doing recently is solving hard puzzles with the help of chat, after using this tool to remove all the across clues, leaving them with only downs... and then using it again to replace about a third of the words with "turtle". So I got the idea in my head of constructing a puzzle where the word turtle really does appear in each down clue at least once. I think it's a fun idea because most people do the acrosses first, so hiding a gimmick in the downs feels like a punchline.
Yes, obviously, I would have LOVED to call this puzzle "Turtles All the Way Down". God, what a good title. I'm actually a little angry with myself that I'm not using it. Unfortunately, it makes the joke a little obvious. I don't want to mention turtles in the title directly because I'm afraid of the jig being up when you read your first down clue. By only alluding to turtles (I checked, you can find them at the bay) I hope it'll take at least two :3
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  • kurtalert 3:58 · 2024-09-19T22:09:25.895Z
    Pretty hard - thanks Holly!
    • akatookey 🤓3:53 · 2024-09-19T22:29:44.122Z
      LOVE THIS SO MUCH OMG TURTLES ARE SO GOOD
      • Lila Goldenberg 3:28 · 2024-09-19T23:43:00.615Z
        this was so sweet and so cute and voicey and amazing 100 turtles out of 100 turtles. delightful!
        • Rich I 🤓3:52 · 2024-09-19T23:56:25.408Z
          amazing work!!
          • VivienJustJ 🤓7:49 · 2024-09-20T04:47:12.511Z
            😎👍
            • Sad Mafioso 🤓10:33 · 2024-09-20T07:02:14.788Z
              Took me a while but finally got it!!!
              • Sendhil Revuluri 🤓2:38 · 2024-09-20T16:07:14.517Z
                🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢
                • sabrina 🤓3:55 · 2024-09-20T22:31:58.922Z
                  fun puzzle holly ty :)
                  • Jessica 7:03 · 2024-09-21T04:32:45.676Z
                    Great theme, thanks
                    • riotblob 🤓4:52 · 2024-09-21T04:17:36.210Z
                      turtles!!!!!!!!!!!!
                      1A
                      (A) blast, a joy, a delight
                      1
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                      4
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                      14
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                      18
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                      20
                      21
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                      27
                      Across
                      1. 1A
                        (A) blast, a joy, a delight
                      2. 5A
                        Government organization that, according to a complaint by one Mr. Mathers, "won't let [him] be"
                      3. 8A
                        Onion-like movie hero
                      4. 10A
                        American firearms manufacturer, briefly
                      5. 11A
                        Aptly named MOBA where you play as deities
                      6. 12A
                        Relatively uncommon nonbinary pronoun ime (I think it's pretty)
                      7. 13A
                        Alert
                      8. 15A
                        Schoolchildren's storage bags worn behind the torso
                      9. 18A
                        Stereotypical Australian attention-getter
                      10. 19A
                        Word that's often replaced with "you"
                      11. 20A
                        Metal Gear Solid character who's physic powers were activated by fallout from the 1957 Kyshtym disaster. I guess.
                      12. 24A
                        Comfy clothes for sleeping, or for going to the convenience store if you're brave enough
                      13. 25A
                        Expands, as bread
                      14. 26A
                        Remote batteries
                      15. 27A
                        ___-hop, rap parody genre where artists rhyme about tea and cricket
                      Down
                      1. 1D
                        Standard for staying up to date with reptile blogs (never miss turtle news again!)
                      2. 2D
                        Unit of a different kind of resistance than a stubborn turtle might put up
                      3. 3D
                        Type of scan you may have done for your turtle at a veterinary hospital, maybe (I didn't do any research for this clue (except to spell check "veterinary"))
                      4. 4D
                        Relaxing place to take your turtle
                      5. 5D
                        Currency that, when converted to CAD, you can buy a turtle near me for 156 of
                      6. 6D
                        Scary house noise that sounds like where you might find a turtle
                      7. 7D
                        With "Jr", fast-food joint name reminiscent of a once-beloved Discord turtle
                      8. 9D
                        "Move your ___", possible exclamation by someone stuck behind a turtle
                      9. 14D
                        Language in which "turtar" is the word for turtle
                      10. 15D
                        Turtle enemy found across the Mushroom Kingdom
                      11. 16D
                        Potential occupation for an underage turtle
                      12. 17D
                        What a turtle apparently loooves to make
                      13. 21D
                        Turtle-esque, reminiscent of turtles, turtle-___
                      14. 22D
                        Word at the start of the Minecraft turtle mob's name, if you're playing on Bedrock
                      15. 23D
                        Monster of greek myth so large as to be mistaken for an island, the ___-turtle
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