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Ten! ... Nine! ...

◆ · By Cory Calhoun · Published 2024-12-05T04:43:03.029Z

Meta Prompt
Hint: Find an 8-letter noun.
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Leaderboard (updated hourly)

  • Pair O Ducks solved 2024-12-05T05:02:14.664Z
  • benchen71 solved 2024-12-05T09:38:50.099Z
  • FrankieHeck solved 2024-12-05T18:06:36.567Z
  • Meg solved 2024-12-05T18:25:15.917Z
  • Cindy Heisler solved 2024-12-06T13:38:40.975Z
  • DIS solved 2024-12-06T17:36:10.409Z
  • rjy solved 2024-12-11T20:30:19.731Z
  • DrTom solved 2024-12-13T19:10:38.249Z

Comments

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  • benchen71 7:29 · 2024-12-05T09:39:11.797Z
    Fun! So many puzzles to catch up on!
    • Cory Calhoun constructor · 2024-12-05T04:43:42.411Z
      The meta answer is HANGOVER (Hint: Find an 8-letter noun.) The 8 theme answers, all with bracketed clues, were some form of cocktail or alcoholic beverage or spirit (that one might conceivably enjoy on New Year's Eve!) From top to bottom, they were VERMOUTH, TEQUILA, RUMPUNCH, GLOGG, BIJOU, NAVYGROG, BELLINI, and RIESLING.
      The New Year's Event countdown-themed title, "Ten! ... Nine! ..." hints that the meta answer can be found by "completing" the countdown, starting with eight and ending with one.
      Thus, the countdown is completed by starting with letter #8 of the first theme answer--the H in VERMOUTH--and moving on to letter #7 of the next theme answer, then letter #6 of the next theme answer, and so on, until you reach letter #1 of the last them answer, the R in RIESLING. In order, they spell HANGOVER, an 8-letter noun that's associated for many with the New-Year's-Day morning after a New Year's Eve celebration (ha!) that satisfies the puzzle's hint.
      • Meg 1s · 2024-12-05T18:26:02.656Z
        Excellent use of the title. That was fun!
        • Cory Calhoun constructor · 2024-12-05T21:34:56.581Z
          Thanks! Might be the best use of a meta title I've done so far (the bar's been set! Ha!)
        • Cindy Heisler 2s · 2024-12-06T13:41:06.847Z
          Fun and I learned something new. I had never heard of Glogg. I still have several more of your metas printed up and ready to do. Thanks!
          • Cory Calhoun constructor · 2024-12-06T16:49:48.295Z
            Thanks Cindy! I think I've just about posted all of my backlog of metas... then you'll probably see one once every two months (to match of the timing of when they're published in the Comet). Cheers!
          • rjy 18:20 · 2024-12-11T20:34:18.932Z
            Nice one, Cory. Working my way thru your metas, just 3 remain for now. Impressed with how different they all are - kudos!
            • Cory Calhoun constructor · 2024-12-12T00:29:24.974Z
              I aim for variety... appreciate it!
            • DrTom 7s · 2024-12-13T19:20:10.038Z
              VERY nice! I thought at first that the alcohols would be 10 letters, nine letters, etc. Then I went to the clues and counted starting with 10 and got WINCE IE and my mind went into overdrive.."something like a wince", a shrug, a shrub drink, a gin shrub = 8 letters noun...NAH too many steps and assumptions. I finally went back and thought, well it cant be the drinks themselves because they are not 10 letters long, longest I have is 8 letters, HEY wait a minute Ten!...Nine!...EIGHT!!!! by the time I got to HANG I had a headache. Nice fill and good clues. You've got style Cory!
              • Cory Calhoun constructor · 2024-12-14T01:50:20.314Z
                Dang, thanks! This might be the most connected a meta title of mine has been to the mechanic you need to use to solve it (though how obvious that connection is is another matter.) Thanks again for the kind words and the feedback!
              Play today's daily mini crossword
              1A
              Agreement
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              Across
              1. 1A
                Agreement
              2. 5A
                "___ darn tootin'!"
              3. 8A
                Pre-photocopier copies
              4. 14A
                Digging
              5. 15A
                Kitchenware brand that looks like a losing Tic-Tac-Toe row
              6. 16A
                "Thank U, Next" singer Grande
              7. 17A
                [Fortified wine used in martinis]
              8. 19A
                Name in luxury hotels
              9. 20A
                Olive with a red top?
              10. 21A
                Runner-up in a fabled race
              11. 22A
                "___ live and breathe!"
              12. 23A
                [Mexican liquor used in margaritas]
              13. 25A
                "The God" Delusion author Richard Dawkins, for one
              14. 29A
                Note between "fa" and "la"
              15. 30A
                [Party drink with Bacardi and tropical fruit juices]
              16. 31A
                Top-row key
              17. 33A
                Jacob's Biblical twin
              18. 34A
                Dookie
              19. 35A
                [Yuletide mulled-wine drink]
              20. 37A
                Baseball Hall-of-Famer Mel
              21. 38A
                [Classic gin-based cocktail with a name that's French for "jewel"]
              22. 40A
                "You've got mail!" internet company
              23. 41A
                Common four-line rhyme scheme
              24. 43A
                1/48th of a cup: Abbr.
              25. 44A
                [Polynesian-inspired cocktail served in tiki bars]
              26. 46A
                Narc agcy.
              27. 48A
                Narrowest possible election margin
              28. 49A
                [Italian cocktail with Prosecco and peach nectar]
              29. 53A
                Brother to dwarves Dori and Nori in "The Hobbit"
              30. 54A
                James K. ___
              31. 55A
                The last word on French film?
              32. 56A
                Govt. securities
              33. 59A
                [Sweet, dry white wine from the Rhine region]
              34. 61A
                See-through cover?
              35. 62A
                Superlative suffix
              36. 63A
                Chevy subcompact renamed Sonic in 2011
              37. 64A
                Up to date
              38. 65A
                Zipper opening?
              39. 66A
                Compass point
              Down
              1. 1D
                Find a new angle
              2. 2D
                Words before and after "for"
              3. 3D
                Common keyboard shortcut to leave a program
              4. 4D
                Drum kit part
              5. 5D
                Deep South two-word pronoun
              6. 6D
                Newsies' cry
              7. 7D
                Architect Mies van der ___
              8. 8D
                Gandhi's honorific
              9. 9D
                It's packed every March 17th
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                Environment
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                Consume
              12. 12D
                Avant-garde musician Yoko ___
              13. 13D
                Japanese honorific
              14. 18D
                Its quarter says "Birthplace of Aviation Pioneers"
              15. 24D
                Ocean patrol/rescue org.
              16. 25D
                Down Under: Abbr.
              17. 26D
                Sporting sleepwear
              18. 27D
                Exclusive
              19. 28D
                Ten Franklins
              20. 30D
                Change a pricing label, say
              21. 31D
                Big name in online financing
              22. 32D
                What you're literally trying to do right now
              23. 35D
                Singer Gordon of the Violent Femmes
              24. 36D
                Legal directive to stay quiet
              25. 37D
                Instrument representing the duck in "Peter and the Wolf"
              26. 39D
                Term for right-leaning characters?: Abbr.
              27. 42D
                Crafty sort
              28. 45D
                Portrayer of Lily on "The Munsters," ___ De Carlo
              29. 46D
                Ax
              30. 47D
                ___ Club (American fraternal order)
              31. 49D
                Capital of the Gem State
              32. 50D
                "Sorry ___ offended you!"
              33. 51D
                Almost-perfect scores
              34. 52D
                Pricey bar?
              35. 54D
                54-Across, slangily
              36. 56D
                "31 Days of Oscar" network
              37. 57D
                Razz
              38. 58D
                Fort ___, former CA military base
              39. 60D
                Firm type
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