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Colorful Words (Kitten)

◆ · By DrTom · Published 2024-06-05T11:30:37.744Z

Meta Prompt
The meta answer is a colorful word people use when discussing the police
OK, last weeks was WAY easy I was told, and the only way it was a Calico was if you tried to do the grid blindfolded...
Fine, let's see if I can have something for everyone. This puzzle started simple and then there were a few changes for PC reasons and then there were some changes for clarity, then I made some changes to make it a little harder, then someone else thought, well you can make it harder still if you....
In the end I had KITTEN, PERSIAN, PUMA, LION...which one to pick. To heck with it, I'll do a smorgasbord. You will see that I have included one of each versions and you can choose which one you feel either comfortable or like wasting your time on. There are no pictures of the GRIDS because if I did that I would be giving away the puzzle I am afraid, but of course you are free to look at/solve them all, and that may help you if you get stuck. Because there are several versions and each step “down” reveals a little bit more (the KITTEN is a different grid and concept completely, but the answer and mechanism are pretty much the same) I probably will not post Friday nudges. But, as you all know you can PM me for assistance anytime.
Difficulty Level: Kitten to Lion of course
So go ahead and pick the one you think you’d like to try…and get ready for a litany of colorful words! Oh and when I post the solvers I will note which one was solved: KITTEN, PERSIAN, PUMA or LION.
Thanks to my diligent and long-suffering testers: Cinny, Bird Lives, pchow13, hcbirker
THE REVEAL
Six (6) entries become colors when the meta mechanism (add one letter to the word to spell a color) is applied. Once those letters were applied the parenthetical numbers gave the order they should be placed in
INK + P = PINK (3)
REAM + C = CREAM (1)
BONY + E = EBONY(5)
RANGE + O = ORANGE (2)
LUM + P = PLUM (4)
OSE + R = ROSE (6)
When arranged in order you get COPPER, a colorful word people use when discussing the police
For a graphic representation of the solve go to:
https://www.xword-muggles.com/viewtopic.php?t=2944
Checking for previous play data...

Leaderboard (updated hourly)

  • Darth solved 2024-06-05T04:57:49.435Z
  • benchen71 solved 2024-06-05T07:32:22.323Z
  • Tom Wilson solved 2024-06-05T09:03:01.296Z
  • DCBilly solved 2024-06-05T12:24:56.499Z
  • JM solved 2024-06-05T12:47:58.222Z
  • Mwoychick solved 2024-06-05T13:20:21.677Z
  • Alex Sisti solved 2024-06-05T13:22:21.711Z
  • MatthewL solved 2024-06-05T14:14:29.867Z
  • Danny K Bernstein solved 2024-06-05T15:53:01.465Z
  • woozy solved 2024-06-05T18:16:09.745Z
  • ajk solved 2024-06-05T19:50:20.289Z
  • Dave C solved 2024-06-05T20:07:30.510Z
  • Tim solved 2024-06-05T23:45:36.322Z
  • omnilynx solved 2024-06-05T23:59:55.864Z
  • Tyrpmom solved 2024-06-06T03:33:47.353Z
  • Steve M solved 2024-06-06T03:47:41.724Z
  • rjy solved 2024-06-06T16:10:47.555Z
  • Mr Tex solved 2024-06-06T17:53:05.065Z
  • Johnny Luau solved 2024-06-07T15:27:12.898Z
  • Ergcat solved 2024-06-07T19:20:46.593Z
  • whimsy solved 2024-06-08T02:17:32.525Z
  • CPJohnson solved 2024-06-08T20:30:06.012Z
  • frostyjhammer solved 2024-06-09T14:12:11.541Z
  • SJ solved 2024-06-13T12:43:57.360Z

Comments

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  • benchen71 7:42 · 2024-06-05T11:30:37.744Z
    I went with kitten since metas have been whipping my butt recently! That was a nice aha though. :-)
    • DrTom constructor · 2024-06-05T13:33:36.934Z
      Glad you liked it. I know what you mean about metas, a certain Aussie master constructor has been running me in circles😁
    • MatthewL 8s · 2024-06-05T14:15:39.683Z
      What Ben said. Tried Persian, but quickly gave up. Now I see the mechanism on that one (sort of), but doubt I would've gotten it. Thanks for the puzzle, Dr. Tom!
      • woozy 🤓16:39 · 2024-06-05T18:20:01.721Z
        PUMA was easier than PERSIAN. I was able to get PUMA but I doubt I'd have gotten PERSIAN. PERSIAN points to PUMA so even if I had gotten the idea of PERSIAN I would still have to do the puma.
        • DrTom constructor · 2024-06-05T20:04:33.766Z
          Well PERSIAN had the first part of the "pair" asterisked. A couple of my solvers said that was easier than having the second half because knowing what to look for you could hunt down the word with the matching start. PUMA was just the reverse, it had the second part of the "colorful" word.
        • DrTom constructor · 2024-06-05T20:08:35.279Z
          As I mentioned to woozy, those two simply asterisked a different part of the theme. PERSIAN = *BOP, PUMA = *BOINK, you had to see that you "factored out" the two common letters to get PINK. However, that is why the KITTEN was there, it was a lot more straightforward.
          • woozy 🤓16:39 · 2024-06-06T14:53:50.767Z
            What I didn't realize was the last letter of the three letter word was the first letter of the color. Or in other words, what you replace the first two letter with.
            You should have a had a Calico version where you had six starred clues and six daggered clues.
        • woozy 🤓16:39 · 2024-06-05T18:16:40.901Z
          Kitten is cute.
          • Dave C 3s · 2024-06-05T20:08:46.728Z
            It was fun. I also went with Kitten, since I have been struggling lately.
            • Steve M 30:32 · 2024-06-06T03:51:38.250Z
              Did the kitten thing… needed a fun relaxing solve, which is what I got. Thanks!
              Play today's daily mini crossword
              1A
              "For Me and My ___"
              1
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              48
              49
              50
              51
              52
              53
              54
              55
              56
              57
              58
              59
              60
              61
              Across
              1. 1A
                "For Me and My ___"
              2. 4A
                Write with a pen (3)
              3. 7A
                Perry Mason's group; Abbr.
              4. 10A
                What more than half of Vassar grads will become
              5. 12A
                "O, gie me the ___ that has acres o' charms": Burns
              6. 14A
                One of four remaining in a contest
              7. 16A
                One teaching econ or psych at uni
              8. 17A
                Goes (for)
              9. 20A
                Clear, as a disk
              10. 23A
                To the eye this looks like a mess
              11. 24A
                "Awright!"
              12. 25A
                NATO's final word
              13. 26A
                Aardvark fare
              14. 28A
                Cantankerous
              15. 29A
                Paper measure (1)
              16. 30A
                "Fantasy Island" prop
              17. 31A
                Good, in the 'hood
              18. 32A
                Infomercials, e.g.
              19. 33A
                Sound machine that was shouldered by some
              20. 35A
                Bleat
              21. 38A
                Affirmative vote
              22. 39A
                Ashes holder
              23. 40A
                Cropped photos?
              24. 41A
                An appliance in the Rockies? (2)
              25. 44A
                Cut down
              26. 45A
                Like a teenager's gym locker
              27. 46A
                Assortment
              28. 47A
                The one where Rocky fights Mr.T
              29. 48A
                Early adopter of the two tablet prescription
              30. 49A
                Incriminating type of testimony
              31. 51A
                Storm stones
              32. 53A
                Descriptor of the year, 1976
              33. 57A
                1914 battle line river
              34. 58A
                Rationale for a seasonal quadrivalent vaccine each year
              35. 59A
                Offensive holiday in Viet Nam
              36. 60A
                Wordy verb suffix (6)
              37. 61A
                Tree that lost ground to the Dutch
              Down
              1. 1D
                Neon, e.g.
              2. 2D
                A pint, maybe
              3. 3D
                One-time payout
              4. 4D
                Data
              5. 5D
                Gullible one
              6. 6D
                Barbie's beau
              7. 7D
                Back street
              8. 8D
                When being punished by some, this precedes a switch
              9. 9D
                Determined the value
              10. 11D
                Bog
              11. 13D
                In the eye this looks like a zit
              12. 15D
                Song and dance, e.g.
              13. 18D
                Back muscle, for short
              14. 19D
                Wallflowerish
              15. 20D
                Pound of poetry
              16. 21D
                Felt bad about
              17. 22D
                "Ah, me!"
              18. 23D
                This will get you moving
              19. 26D
                This can make you balmy after a day in the sun...
              20. 27D
                "The Matrix" hero
              21. 28D
                Burden
              22. 31D
                Overly skinny (5)
              23. 33D
                "Ciao!"
              24. 34D
                The sports type manages the curves
              25. 35D
                Predisposition
              26. 36D
                Bad marks
              27. 37D
                Invites a comeback
              28. 38D
                One engaged in a struggle
              29. 40D
                One side of a bio-ethical debate
              30. 41D
                Pistol, slangily
              31. 42D
                Like
              32. 43D
                "Keep that out of our town!" acronym
              33. 44D
                Communicate silently
              34. 47D
                Dead to the world
              35. 48D
                Not the tablet used by 48A
              36. 50D
                Slurpee relative
              37. 51D
                Cluckers
              38. 52D
                Payment you can chip away at
              39. 54D
                Chinese "way"
              40. 55D
                Cheer competition
              41. 56D
                Awkwafina's real name: Nora ___ (4)
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