I actually find it much harder coming up with "easy" metas. You don't want to make it too obvious, but it really should be accessible to most people. Well, let's see how this one goes. The answer to the meta is a noun. Answer & explanation: https://www.xword-muggles.com/viewtopic.php?p=123212#p123212
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!
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Hector solved 2023-03-07T05:04:38.972Z
Darth solved 2023-03-07T05:32:39.809Z
Jeremy Smith solved 2023-03-07T06:44:59.715Z
Dow Jones solved 2023-03-07T07:13:43.190Z
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markhr solved 2023-03-07T09:21:37.184Z
Cindy Weatherman solved 2023-03-07T11:27:05.558Z
Cindy Heisler solved 2023-03-07T12:17:30.493Z
dplass solved 2023-03-07T12:18:34.511Z
HeadinHome solved 2023-03-07T12:21:05.078Z
Pair O Ducks solved 2023-03-07T12:24:07.674Z
rjy solved 2023-03-07T12:31:06.497Z
Meg solved 2023-03-07T13:07:12.755Z
lbray53 solved 2023-03-07T13:22:32.974Z
boharr solved 2023-03-07T13:28:13.094Z
Ergcat solved 2023-03-07T13:40:21.222Z
I K Snamhcok solved 2023-03-07T13:46:25.360Z
Tom Wilson solved 2023-03-07T14:12:22.379Z
imontoo solved 2023-03-07T14:12:25.883Z
whimsy solved 2023-03-07T15:14:05.599Z
MatthewL solved 2023-03-07T15:32:32.577Z
oldjudge solved 2023-03-07T15:37:29.195Z
DIS solved 2023-03-07T15:44:17.211Z
Jaclyn solved 2023-03-07T15:54:16.369Z
Mr Tex solved 2023-03-07T16:19:53.339Z
Carolyn solved 2023-03-07T16:32:29.546Z
Tyrpmom solved 2023-03-07T16:33:33.602Z
hoover solved 2023-03-07T16:34:27.251Z
Jim23809 solved 2023-03-07T17:01:13.224Z
Mg305 solved 2023-03-07T18:19:01.011Z
Sharkicicles solved 2023-03-07T18:47:50.710Z
ChrisCross solved 2023-03-07T19:00:09.061Z
JHSeeman solved 2023-03-07T20:26:10.349Z
KayW solved 2023-03-07T20:40:19.569Z
heidi solved 2023-03-07T20:50:13.154Z
Bbaack solved 2023-03-07T21:36:27.875Z
Gutman solved 2023-03-07T21:52:00.737Z
Bird Lives solved 2023-03-07T21:54:41.696Z
Laura M solved 2023-03-07T22:13:21.844Z
Deb W solved 2023-03-07T23:04:01.544Z
Capn Rick solved 2023-03-07T23:50:14.501Z
PuzNewbie solved 2023-03-08T00:38:01.002Z
jbird solved 2023-03-08T00:39:11.217Z
SeamusOL solved 2023-03-08T04:24:05.244Z
Qmark solved 2023-03-08T04:43:10.887Z
shalmanezer solved 2023-03-08T05:48:54.964Z
woozy solved 2023-03-08T06:26:24.578Z
clev solved 2023-03-08T07:40:04.463Z
Madhatter5 solved 2023-03-08T09:36:46.261Z
CPJohnson solved 2023-03-08T15:55:20.807Z
Spid4567 solved 2023-03-08T15:57:46.830Z
ajk solved 2023-03-08T17:45:00.208Z
troysail solved 2023-03-08T19:08:12.571Z
DrTom solved 2023-03-08T19:08:27.533Z
Abide solved 2023-03-10T13:15:27.201Z
Jim Dean solved 2023-03-10T20:10:03.949Z
Comments
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Dow Jones 3s · 2023-03-07T07:17:08.208Z
Just my speed !! It was fun trying to figure out your "theme" clues. Good grid.
Well, as Mick Lasalle in reviewing Star Trek V said, the actors are wearing bad looking toupees, they should just forego them and Baldly Go where no Star Trek actor has gone before.
HeadinHome 🤓4:24 · 2023-03-07T12:24:10.675Z
That first themer had me wondering … one of those you have to simply leave and assume all will be made clear eventually! (See, I can split an infinitive too…). ( :
Cindy Heisler 2s · 2023-03-07T12:18:27.222Z
Grid was a bit challenging, but fun meta! Thanks!
I K Snamhcok 1s · 2023-03-07T13:46:57.993Z
Ditto. Loved the themers, especially.
Ergcat 19:30 · 2023-03-07T13:41:20.286Z
Fun one Ben! Very clever with those long themers!
imontoo 3s · 2023-03-07T14:12:47.515Z
Fun one. Thanks!
Tom Wilson 7:44 · 2023-03-07T14:16:06.011Z
Very clever ... you make it look easy, but I truly appreciate the work that goes into our amusement. Well done!
MatthewL 🤓14:53 · 2023-03-07T15:33:49.529Z
Tough grid, but clear path to the meta. Even had time to sit and take a nap and still finish first ..... wait a minute.
While solving the meta, I worked my way down the themers, at first confusedly, and then about halfway through, smilingly. OK if I call it cute? :)
Thanks, Ben!
In this particular race there are no prizes for coming second. You know what they say: "You snooze, you lose!"
Bbaack 23:01 · 2023-03-07T21:43:14.056Z
Aah, a meta mechanism based on a Bible verse. Very clever; thanks for the fun!
Bird Lives 4s · 2023-03-07T21:58:36.543Z
Were you tempted to make the prompt and answer "A verse in the Bible"? Proud to say I still would have gotten it. Of course, there's Ecclesiastes 9:11 as well.
That might have been tricky since "The first shall be last and the last first" comes up in a few different places. But I definitely wanted to use that phrase as a meta mechanic and the easiest way to hint at it was to simply use a Bible ref. as the puzzle title.
Sharkicicles 3s · 2023-03-09T20:45:21.882Z
I had to look up the verse but once I did I thought it was a very clever way to title this one.
So Row Your Boat is a Rondeau, and The Borg is a reference to Star Trek, and Groom is a reference to the wedding dress designer Oleg Cassini, but I got nothing for Swing State. Does the bizarre use of Star Wars X/E wing in the clue instead of the more obvious reference to the family in Dallas a hint?
Too bad I can't simply spell out the swapped letters, but that'd spell out TROS|OTIE and that's not a word.... What can it be?......
It was fun and relatively easy to get that that the theme was to switch the first and last letters. But it was hard as heck to figure out what to do next.
The idea that simply taking the letters that are switched was obviously too simple. And if I did so they spell out either TROS or OTIE or TROSOTIE and that's not it so that wasn't worth pursuing.
"Row your Boat" being a Rondeau seemed the most worth pursuing but it failed for the other three themers. BORG for TO BOLDLY GO seemed strong but badly done, and GROOM for OLEG CASSINI was a week stretch.
Reading the letters, first last first last was... unnatural for me and took me a long time to consider it.
Well I didn't get there too fast, but then slow and steady wins the race it is said. I completely missed the HERR/HARE reference. I knew what I had to do almost immediately since I knew the passage. Like Woozy I would have thought that "Data on JR's evil deeds" would have been a natural for EWING STATS, they must not have shown that down under (and if they did was the ranch NORTHFORK?). Too bad you could not have made it spell DENAIRUS!