CROSSHARE
moreMenu
Profile

A pageant of tastes

◆ · By woozy · Published 2023-01-18T03:04:40.421Z

Meta Prompt
The answer is a taste description
I can no longer judge if mine are hard or not. I originally was not going to include the asterisks for the themers but that'd make this too difficult. Now I hope it is hard but getable. This came to me when one of us asked "How to you spell.... " and it didn't look right.
(Okay, I realized the grid was kind of hard so I redid many of the clues. There is one hard section and I fully expect you'll need to google 8D)
Hey Cool! I just realized I can take people on and off the leader board by retro-actively removing a solution. So there is a "pageant" solution. For the first day, I was accepting it with a warning to try for the "real" solution. Then I changed it so only the "real" solution would be accept. Now the pageant solution is [not] accepted. But after tomorrow? Who knows.
Anyway.... Nudges:
The five themers are marked with asterisks. Knowing that they are themers will lead to the pageant answer very quickly.
But why are they themers, and what is the real answer?
How many basic tastes are there?
Five basic tastes and five themers. Can't be a coincidence.
Okay, are there any where else in the puzzle that seem to be related to the five themers/five basic tastes?
As always, is there anything weirdly stately? Awkward worded clues, for example. They are there for a reason.
Don't anagram. Use the order of the themers.
Hmm. I conceived of this months ago. I just realized this mechanism is very similar to my recent [url="https://crosshare.org/crosswords/8CfDF4nE2KFognuEECf2/" ] Works for me[/url]. It's a mechanism I seem to like more than others do
Checking for previous play data...

Leaderboard (updated hourly)

  • Larry Edelstein solved 2023-01-20T02:28:39.811Z
  • kurtalert solved 2023-01-20T20:51:22.189Z
  • Mr Tex solved 2023-01-21T14:12:02.156Z

Comments

Sign in with google to leave a comment of your own:

  • woozy constructor · 2023-01-18T20:48:29.069Z
    If you got ZESTY that is the PAGEANT answer. Now try to figure out the real answer.
    Here's you nudge. ZESTY would have been the answer if the themers weren't asterisked. Now you must figure out why they are themers (other than because they are marked as such) and how they might refer to other things that will give the correct answer.
    • benchen71 8:42 · 2023-01-18T22:24:43.457Z
      Sneaky! I love that you let the pageant answer be the "correct" one, only to give us this extra challenge!
      • woozy constructor · 2023-01-18T23:14:15.847Z
        Let me know if you get the real answer. (Entering the real answer would have gotten you to this comment section as well. It's a pity we can't tweak it so you can try entering a second time but... Crosshare gives us so much I can't complain)
        • benchen71 8:42 · 2023-01-27T07:48:56.805Z
          No, I had to give up and reveal. I never made all of those connections.
    • kurtalert 13:12 · 2023-01-20T20:54:31.414Z
      Hmmmmm. Not sure I fully get how the answer is the answer, aside from the fact that it's a taste descriptor that's not mentioned in the 5 themers... is it not actually considered a taste descriptor? Weird. Anyway, fun puzzle, thanks!
      • woozy constructor · 2023-01-21T04:43:01.318Z
        And... the solution:
        1A A good SOURce of this is oysters: Zinc-> (Lemon) 54D Lemmon film-- first word of the title: Some
        22A ProhiBIT TERm: Estop-> (Coffee) 5A Coughy irritant: Phlegm
        39A CauSALTY (no, that is not a typo-- According to the 1828 edition of Websters: "CAUSALTY, noun Among miners, the lighter, earthy parts of ore, carried off by washing."): Silts-> (Anchovy) 50D "Anne Jovi's third album: 'Flippery When Wet'" is this type of pun: Inane
        53A yUM, AM I allowed to eat these baked pastries? Tarts -> (Miso) "Me So horny" group: 2 Live ----: Crew
        65A It passes aS WE ETernally wait 8,760 hours? Year -> (Candy) 29D "Can Di Renjie serve as chancelor during the reign of Wu Zetian in the seventh century A.D? (It's a simple yes or no question): Yes
        So the Pageant answer is ZESTY and the actual answer is SPICY.
        Play today's daily mini crossword
        1A
        *A good source of this is oysters
        1
        2
        3
        4
        5
        6
        7
        8
        9
        10
        11
        12
        13
        14
        15
        16
        17
        18
        19
        20
        21
        22
        23
        24
        25
        26
        27
        28
        29
        30
        31
        32
        33
        34
        35
        36
        37
        38
        39
        40
        41
        42
        43
        44
        45
        46
        47
        48
        49
        50
        51
        52
        53
        54
        55
        56
        57
        58
        59
        60
        61
        62
        63
        64
        65
        Across
        1. 1A
          *A good source of this is oysters
        2. 5A
          Coughy irritant
        3. 11A
          Public health agcy.
        4. 14A
          Green vehicle (this is also a method of electrically removing arsenic from drinking water but I don't expect you to know that)
        5. 15A
          Sharp sword or wit
        6. 16A
          Sessanta minuti
        7. 17A
          Yearn for an evergreen tree
        8. 18A
          Brought forth a feeling
        9. 19A
          Negative conjunction (this is also the name the Cowardly Lion's wife in "The Wicked Years")
        10. 20A
          Desirable fate for a sword, as per Isaiah
        11. 22A
          *Prohibit term
        12. 24A
          Responses to bad puns
        13. 25A
          Gasp for breath
        14. 26A
          Propellant
        15. 27A
          Island country south of Florida
        16. 28A
          When people can't remember "Uluru" they call it "----- Rock" (but feel a bit embarrassed because they know they really should remember its original name)
        17. 30A
          "Hairspray" and "17 Again" actor Zac
        18. 33A
          Errand runner
        19. 35A
          --- clue unavailable at this time---
        20. 38A
          Beseeched
        21. 39A
          *Causalty (no, that is not a typo-- According to the 1828 edition of Websters: "CAUSALTY, noun Among miners, the lighter, earthy parts of ore, carried off by washing.")
        22. 40A
          Detach from a source of dependence
        23. 41A
          Apple need
        24. 42A
          Fracas
        25. 43A
          "My Heart Belongs to ------"
        26. 44A
          Singer-songwriter Marie, aka Lady T (also a comic strip created by Hilda Terry 1944- 1963). This is a fairly rare variant of a more common diminutive feminine name.
        27. 46A
          Diamond stats
        28. 48A
          Go by
        29. 49A
          Urge on
        30. 50A
          Equal prefix
        31. 53A
          *Yum, am I allowed to eat these baked pastries?
        32. 54A
          Begin again
        33. 56A
          Fair hiring initials
        34. 57A
          Considering the alternative, a good place to be on a boat
        35. 59A
          Raise the alarm
        36. 60A
          In the style of
        37. 61A
          Mature germ cell usually possessing a haploid chromosome set and capable of initiating formation of a new diploid individual by fusion with another of the opposite sex
        38. 62A
          Chip into the pot
        39. 63A
          Aegean Island (alternatively bout enders)
        40. 64A
          "Brideshead Revisited" author Waugh
        41. 65A
          *It passes as we eternally wait 8,760 hours
        Down
        1. 1D
          Marx Brother who has a patent for a watch that monitors cardiac activity
        2. 2D
          In a cold unfriendly manner
        3. 3D
          Small iPods (also a plateau in Slovenia, and also a former director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory; but I don't expect you to know those)
        4. 4D
          "Me So horny" group: 2 Live ----
        5. 5D
          Portmanteau word for the treatment of injuries by not getting them in the first place (also a band previously known as "The Bedspins")
        6. 6D
          Jewish folk tune "Let Us Rejoice" (or the Cuban lizard that dances to it?)
        7. 7D
          Plumbing valve named for a letter it does not resemble (it looks like it has three directions but actually only has two)
        8. 8D
          Marine geologist, Roberta, who stowed away on a research vessel in 1956 because they didn't allow women. (I assume her name comes from a village in Karmøy municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. You are allowed to Google)
        9. 9D
          Exclamation I made when I read the Wikipedia page for 8D. (My reactions from reading the page for 7D were more like 24A)
        10. 10D
          Possibly a snide nick-name for someone who passes responsibility to others? (Okay... this section of the grid really needed to tweaking to fit. This entry is the cost of that.)
        11. 11D
          When I lost the pageant I ------ the results. (Channeling my inner Mike G.)
        12. 12D
          Trickling saliva
        13. 13D
          Large freshwater fish (or grouse)
        14. 21D
          Emulated Arachne
        15. 23D
          Dirección de Seattle a San Francisco
        16. 27D
          Food fish. (when Marge Simpson described the Yum Yum fish as the most delicious fish in the ocean Bart asked if it was better than this [Whoa, Baby!])
        17. 28D
          Elite event post-event (or where one might find the parumbilical vein?)
        18. 29D
          Can Di Renjie serve as chancelor during the reign of Wu Zetian in the seventh century A.D? (It's a simple yes or no question)
        19. 30D
          Prefix meaning upon (it's also an island in Vanuatu but I don't expect you to know that)
        20. 31D
          Andy Capp's wife
        21. 32D
          Stops on a highway
        22. 34D
          You know, If you say LOL in Pig Latin you get this stadium cheer.... that is if you say LOL as if it were a word and not as if you spell it out...
        23. 36D
          Oh, this is not good
        24. 37D
          Take one, doesn't matter which one
        25. 39D
          Six-yr. term holder
        26. 40D
          ---- it a rat I saw?
        27. 42D
          The medium according to McLuhan
        28. 43D
          The low-down
        29. 45D
          After the first Sunday of November in New York
        30. 47D
          Onus
        31. 48D
          Rachel's philandering boyfriend in the first season of "Friends"
        32. 49D
          French woman of letters Anne Germaine de-----
        33. 50D
          "Anne Jovi's third album: 'Flippery When Wet'" is this type of pun
        34. 51D
          Mattress brand
        35. 52D
          Possessor
        36. 53D
          Furniture wood desirable for its weatherability
        37. 54D
          Lemmon film-- first word of the title
        38. 55D
          Not at home
        39. 58D
          Bicuspid Aortic Valve, abr. (Just take the gimme and don't overthink it)
        Loading...