First Christmas (Meta)
◆ · By benchen71 · Published 2021-12-21T05:00:57.827Z
Meta Prompt
The answer to the meta is suggested by the grid
Wishing you a very merry Christmas! I've attempted some gentle myth-busting in this grid. If you're interested in reading more, check out https://www.psephizo.com/biblical-studies/jesus-was-not-born-in-a-stable-honest/ for a good presentation of the evidence; and I've also spoken about this in a recent YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afepVJpY4Xg. The answer to the meta is suggested by the grid. Answer and explanation: https://www.xword-muggles.com/viewtopic.php?t=1360&p=77405#p77267
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!
Checking for previous play data...
1A
Person involved in 36 across
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Across
- 1APerson involved in 36 across
- 5AWhere the star came to rest (with "the house")
- 10AActivity involving the imagination and dice (abbr.)
- 13AStart ___ (again)
- 14AImportant number in the book of Revelation (think seals, trumpets, and bowls)
- 15APokemon that eats iron to build up the steel armour that protects its body (and whose name seems to be formed from smooshing "armour" and "iron" together)
- 17A"Where ___ go wrong?"
- 18AFirst month in Spain
- 19ARegion
- 20ASurrounded by
- 22APerson definitely not involved in 36 across because they would have stayed with family (see 55 across)
- 24AFeed trough located in the place where 36 across occurred
- 26ABe in Germany
- 27ADoctor of Education (abbr.)
- 28AAnglo-Saxon labourers
- 30ALike van Gogh's night painting
- 32AAmy Winehouse's most successful single
- 35AAdministrative division (abbr.)
- 36AName for the event that took place the very first Christmas
- 40A"I've worked out the meta!"
- 41A"___ little silhouetto of a man" (Queen lyric)
- 42A31 down units
- 45AStarted
- 48AMensa stats
- 49AChannel with many out-of-this-world shows
- 52APerson involved in 36 across
- 55APlace that was full of relatives, so 36 across took place where the animals were kept at night
- 58ACubic meter
- 59A1003, on a cornerstone perhaps
- 60AActor ___ Elba
- 62AAnagram of a term of endearment which is itself found in the word "endearment"
- 63ARiver through Florence
- 64A"I disagree, homie"
- 65A"The Bookseller of Kabul" author ___ Seierstad
- 66ADusk, but in poetry
- 67AShort wavelength radiation
- 68APeople involved in 36 across
Down
- 1DStart of the palindrome that ends with "I'm Adam"
- 2DInner self, according to Jung
- 3DDecorated again
- 4DBombing ships in the Star Wars universe
- 5DEnzyme suffix
- 6DRiver through La Paz
- 7DBakery fixtures
- 8DAuthor whose works would be suitable for showing on 49 across, Jules ___
- 9DJapanese mushrooms
- 10DDestroy completely
- 11DStuff belonging to someone
- 12DEvaporated, as a salt lake
- 16DGeeklike
- 21DScience Fiction, for example
- 23DTreebeard, for example
- 25DSouth Welsh term for a drainage ditch
- 29DR&B group, known for the song "If I Ever Fall in Love"
- 31DGrouping of 42 across
- 33D@@@
- 34DSinger Justin, for short
- 36DRiver through Paris
- 37DChinese dynasty
- 38DMusic video programmer (but shortened in part)
- 39DOthello's answer to, "Who's wife is Emilia?"
- 40DObtain
- 42DGreek letter used in integrals
- 43DSuperlative suffix
- 44DFluid-filled cavity within the spinal cord
- 46DAdjective for a boiling kettle
- 47DPodcast "Conan O'Brien ___ Friend"
- 50DBig name in travel guides
- 51D___ Linda, California (and one letter changed from a famous Greek)
- 53DAussie slang for a car crash
- 54DWhat Luther supposedly said at the Diet of Worms, "___ stand, I can do no other"
- 56DJerusalem mount (var.)
- 57D"He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the ___ clay" (Ps. 40:2, KJV)
- 61D... --- ...