CROSSHARE
Print Puzzle
Download .puz File
Account / Settings
Construct a Puzzle
Profile

The end is just the beginning

◆ · By woozy · Published 2023-06-01T23:52:06.709Z

Meta Prompt
This meta crossword has an answer
So, I made a smart-assed prompt. But really the conventional prompt would be "The answer is a so-and-so many letter word" and what does it matter how many letters it has? It has 10 if that matters.
The mechanism is simple and I'd find it hard to believe if it hasn't been done before. Still the mechanics of actually doing it might be a little hard to actually do.
It is not an intuitive meta and is one where the answer is spelled out. A submitted wrong answer has been "riverrun". I like the way you think but, you have to do more than just that.
Heres a starter nudge: If the end is just the beginning, what is the penultimate? and a second: (try not to need this one)The last shall be first.... well, one of the last shall be first. The other last will just be last.
Checking for previous play data...

Leaderboard (updated hourly)

  • Hector solved 2023-06-03T18:19:43.760Z
  • Meg solved 2023-06-03T19:00:39.114Z
  • Laura M solved 2023-06-04T21:31:02.685Z
  • KayW solved 2023-06-06T21:58:38.870Z
  • Account solved 2023-06-07T21:47:14.707Z
  • Darrell solved 2023-06-21T17:51:37.445Z
  • Flora Wynn solved 2023-07-16T22:18:17.977Z

Comments

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

  • Meg 4s · 2023-06-03T19:01:44.017Z
    "Almost sure" is also an anagram. Fun mechanism!
    • woozy constructor · 2023-06-04T22:11:09.880Z
      I love that! Not sure how I can incorporate that. But I love that.
    • Laura M 🤓20:37 · 2023-06-04T21:32:41.318Z
      Love this metanism! I don't know why it helped, but I needed the hint that the answer was 10 letters. I don't do well with vague prompts :-)
      • woozy constructor · 2023-06-04T22:11:58.820Z
        I have to wonder if anyone has done this metanism before. It seems an obvious idea but ... I don't remember seeing it before.
        • Laura M 🤓20:37 · 2023-06-06T22:39:42.486Z
          I haven't seen it before, and I've done a lot of metas! Though only in the past 6 years or so.
      • KayW 🤓10:53 · 2023-06-06T21:59:49.492Z
        I can't take credit for this. I read the step by step explanation. VERY clever metanism and elegant construction. I wish I had been up to the gymnastics required! Thanks woozy
        • KayW 🤓10:53 · 2023-06-06T22:40:54.023Z
          Woozy - I'm curious how you came up with this metanism and if you've ever read Finnegan's wake? Or if any other muggles here have done so? Now that I've looked more into it in the process of trying to solve this meta, I think I can say with confidence that I will never read it myself. But it does sound quite intriguing.
          But as maybe the next best thing, look what I found: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8V9USPiXXK8 I think I might be able to manage this. Unfortunately, the quality isn't great, and It doesn't seem to be available on DVD.
          • woozy constructor · 2023-06-07T15:51:08.308Z
            I came up with the idea when I was going down a rabbit hole of another meta. It seemed that surely someone had to have come up with it before. I've never read Finnegans Wake but I've read about it. [Nobody has read Finnegans Wake-- not even Joyce has read Finnegans Wake.] Joyce had ended Ulysses with what he thought was the strongest word in the language (yes) and he ended Finnegans Wake in the weakest (the). Also Fineggans Wake had the device that the "the" can be the beginning of the opening of the book (-riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend: of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to: Howth Castle and Environs [Hmmm... now that I think about it Douglas Hoffstadter tried to do the same thing with his "Godel, Escher, Bach" but nowhere near as gracefully) If figured if the very first clue was referring to the beginning and the last clue was referring to the end and if the last clue was an odd weak word it should be clear what was going on. So I need a word that be began with S and ended with LT and hopefully about going round and round. So I came up with Somersault. Actually coming up with the string of words was much harder than I thought it would be.
          • Account 🤓49:11 · 2023-06-07T21:52:39.878Z
            Very clever meta! Was it harder getting a grid that works or a list of clues that pointed correctly?
            Oddly enough, the way I broke into the meta ended up not being a part of the solution path. 59D connecting to 56A was just a fun Easter egg, I guess.
            Play today's daily mini crossword
            1A
            The place to begin
            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
            66
            67
            68
            69
            70
            71
            72
            73
            Across
            1. 1A
              The place to begin
            2. 6A
              Jeweled head ornament
            3. 11A
              "Be on lookout for awful peanut butter that is loose in the city"
            4. 14A
              Animal with a prehensile nose
            5. 15A
              Needed to plug a battery operated device into a wall
            6. 17A
              Yeah, it's bit like that-ish
            7. 18A
              18th century Italian painter of "The Stonemason's Yard"
            8. 19A
              Aid and maintain support
            9. 21A
              Stationary; unmoving. What noble used to be.
            10. 22A
              Where he met Feleena in Rosa's Cantina
            11. 25A
              Practice, as a trade
            12. 27A
              US Government agency dedicated to medical research
            13. 28A
              Dirt; earth
            14. 29A
              Liquor whose flavor derives from juniper berries
            15. 32A
              Belonging to Bea Arthur 's TV role
            16. 34A
              Soak up
            17. 35A
              Hebrew sacred texts
            18. 37A
              Start a business (such as a restaurant)
            19. 39A
              Same here
            20. 40A
              "---- M for Murder" (seems familiar)
            21. 44A
              San Francisco Chronicle journalist Nanette. Her uncle Isaac developed the Laws of Robotics
            22. 46A
              Organization that published a venerated style manual
            23. 47A
              Innermost section of the ionosphere
            24. 50A
              "What's the difference between --- and gross?" "--- is what you catch the fish in. Gross is what they'll be if you stand around asking stupid questions instead of putting them in the ice chest"
            25. 52A
              Laudatory poems
            26. 53A
              Service and assistance
            27. 54A
              Tigger ate his malt extract
            28. 56A
              That's for sure
            29. 58A
              Command to paste
            30. 60A
              Wheelchair-accessible
            31. 63A
              Stopping a boat by trimming the sails in opposition
            32. 65A
              Move to a new house, or wedding, or birthday part or any momentous occurrence
            33. 69A
              Where the relationships between states and between states and the Federal Government are spelled out
            34. 70A
              Someone's in the kitchen with her (is that why she blew her horn?)
            35. 71A
              What the movie might have been called if Roger Thornhill had ended up in Puerto Rico instead of Mt. Rushmore
            36. 72A
              Is there anyone with the name other than Lauder?
            37. 73A
              Space or opportunity for unhampered motion, activity, or thought
            Down
            1. 1D
              In NYC (and nowhere else in the world) Ave.s routinely cross them
            2. 2D
              "The --- is Silent" by Raymond Smullyan
            3. 3D
              Tax mth.
            4. 4D
              Event with formal and traditional significance
            5. 5D
              Ensnares
            6. 6D
              Tuesday treat, sure, but is it a sandwich? (Curse you, Internet. Curse you and your stupid memes)
            7. 7D
              Suffix indicating having a quality
            8. 8D
              Now defunct, but at one time it was the largest U.S. grocery outlet
            9. 9D
              How much you should probably do each day
            10. 10D
              Here first film role was in "Romeo must die" (2000) and her last film role was in "Queen of the Damned" (2002).
            11. 11D
              Show up
            12. 12D
              Role for Mary Tyler Moore. Laura ------
            13. 13D
              This soup stocks
            14. 16D
              It's mightier than the sword, they say
            15. 20D
              Hoard and refuse to share
            16. 22D
              Sign seen frequently on the Trans-Canada
            17. 23D
              Circular route
            18. 24D
              What the Rene Magritte painting wasn't
            19. 26D
              What you are probably imagining me doing about the smart-alec prompt of this meta
            20. 30D
              A thing
            21. 31D
              Ain't happening
            22. 33D
              Currency of the British Virgin Islands
            23. 36D
              Gad about
            24. 38D
              Nix on that
            25. 39D
              20th century Spanish painter of "The Tilled Field" and "Harlequin's Carnival"
            26. 41D
              A good place to try the answers to 32A, 10D, 12D and even 71A
            27. 42D
              Away from the wind
            28. 43D
              Uphold and endure
            29. 45D
              Ritual held in church every Sunday
            30. 47D
              Russian country houses
            31. 48D
              Metric volumes (in America)
            32. 49D
              Current price for a commercial
            33. 51D
              Piece of advice
            34. 52D
              Venerable London Theatre
            35. 55D
              <poop> -- --- off the pot
            36. 57D
              Carbonated water was invented in this West Yorkshire town
            37. 59D
              Roman numeral for the entry "I'll bet".... How cool would it have been if I could have finagled the to be the roman numeral for this entry? Oh, well maybe I'll try that some other meta
            38. 61D
              "What's that hanging around your neck?" "This? This is - ---"
            39. 62D
              Open a new NextDoor account, perhaps
            40. 64D
              Program that lends out books in braille and on audio
            41. 66D
              "Music for Airports" musician
            42. 67D
              Short sleep
            43. 68D
              Last word of Finnegans Wake
            Loading...