Day Trip

◆ · By DrTom · Published 2024-05-15T11:30:32.899Z

Meta Prompt

The 8 letter meta answer is what some people do to prepare for a trip

Who doesn't enjoy an outing? This may end up being a trip down memory lane, and hopefully not the trip from hell. You won't find the answer in a Rick Steeves guidebook, that's for sure.

I'd say this was a solid Persian.

Kitten

Calico

PERSIAN

Puma

Lion

My testers on this were a fine group; Al Sisti, heidi and rjy, all of who probably felt they needed a day trip after to relax.

Nudges will be Friday of course and I am always available by PM before that.

Nudge Friday:

Nudge 1] Did 6D give you the feeling I was getting at something? Because I was.

Nudge 2] ...a word is too long" what does that usually mean in the meta world?

Nudge 3] Knowing that most constructors try to have their theme answers in a symmetric pattern does that help you any?

Nudge 4] 36A is more than a cultural hero from my ill-spent days as a college student in the 60's. He is not just an icon, he's an Easter Egg.

Full Blown Shove] Many people say their "intro" to the path home was the Vail clue.

One last BIG nudge:

With 6D in mind "Gauge (like whether a word is too long)" look at, for example, 1A and 30A. Does the wording of those clues (and 6 others) give you any ideas of how you might employ 6D with the answer?

The Reveal:

There were 8 clues with words that, like hinted at in 6D, were too long. Each clue was worded in a way to bring the shorter word to mind. For example 1A: Award for the best dish in a Food Network Challenge - MEDAL, but take away the D and you get MEAL. Similar things could be done for 16, 21, 30, 41, 50, 59 and 65A. Along with 1A if you took the "dropped" letters from them you got D R O P A C I D. Perhaps that is why the counterculture icon Dr. Timothy Leary, famous for his Tune In, Turn On, Drop Out book and his famous infatuation with LSD was smack dab in the middle.

For a graphic representation of the solve please go to:

https://www.xword-muggles.com/viewtopic.php?p=167301#p167301

Checking for previous play data...

Leaderboard (updated hourly)

markhr solved 2024-05-15T05:20:25.105Z
benchen71 solved 2024-05-15T07:28:24.774Z
hoover solved 2024-05-15T11:41:17.558Z
Pair O Ducks solved 2024-05-15T12:25:59.317Z
BMW solved 2024-05-15T13:14:58.748Z
Turtle solved 2024-05-15T13:20:14.390Z
Meg solved 2024-05-15T13:38:01.729Z
boharr solved 2024-05-15T13:52:21.429Z
An Ephemeral Collation solved 2024-05-15T14:05:39.054Z
Cindy Weatherman solved 2024-05-15T14:13:24.147Z
Darth solved 2024-05-15T15:14:44.638Z
woozy solved 2024-05-15T15:17:11.447Z
Ergcat solved 2024-05-15T16:08:57.589Z
kurtalert solved 2024-05-15T16:35:59.994Z
Hector solved 2024-05-15T17:05:55.141Z
Philip Chow solved 2024-05-15T17:18:42.676Z
andeux solved 2024-05-15T17:51:46.465Z
MatthewL solved 2024-05-15T18:10:48.537Z
HeadinHome solved 2024-05-15T18:30:48.802Z
rjy solved 2024-05-15T18:52:47.139Z
Berto solved 2024-05-15T19:35:57.354Z
LarsCaine solved 2024-05-15T21:24:30.711Z
DCBilly solved 2024-05-15T23:32:50.360Z
I K Snamhcok solved 2024-05-16T01:34:49.969Z
whimsy solved 2024-05-16T02:07:54.238Z
lbray53 solved 2024-05-16T02:52:39.276Z
Mwoychick solved 2024-05-16T12:25:51.342Z
Mr Tex solved 2024-05-16T14:54:34.531Z
Tyrpmom solved 2024-05-16T16:55:00.632Z
Steve M solved 2024-05-16T17:24:23.892Z
DIS solved 2024-05-16T19:32:54.167Z
Laura M solved 2024-05-16T19:40:18.002Z
JM solved 2024-05-16T20:22:34.560Z
KayW solved 2024-05-17T13:22:21.921Z
ajk solved 2024-05-17T15:46:09.148Z
Dave C solved 2024-05-17T15:59:45.152Z
THC solved 2024-05-17T17:04:27.163Z
Johnny Luau solved 2024-05-17T21:14:37.905Z
Larry Edelstein solved 2024-05-17T22:15:50.302Z
CPJohnson solved 2024-05-18T00:03:20.029Z
Carolyn solved 2024-05-18T00:07:46.501Z
Cindy Heisler solved 2024-05-18T00:38:00.852Z
Bird Lives solved 2024-05-18T02:55:21.720Z
Capn Rick solved 2024-05-18T13:42:35.006Z
omnilynx solved 2024-05-18T16:04:09.125Z
Jaclyn solved 2024-05-18T16:11:24.410Z
Danny K Bernstein solved 2024-05-20T21:22:04.542Z
atsiricajr111191 solved 2024-05-21T06:35:13.604Z

Comments

markhr 🤓16:27 · 2024-05-15T11:30:32.899Z
Funny trip, Dr. Tom. The guru in the middle of the grid is a nice touch.
- DrTom constructor · 2024-05-15T16:35:05.481Z
  I thought old Tim might help you "see the way"
  
  Thanks for solving Mark
benchen71 🤓9:02 · 2024-05-15T11:30:32.899Z
OK, so I "solved" it by guessing the answer from the prompt and 36 across. Now to work out the mechanism. ;-)
- DrTom constructor · 2024-05-15T16:36:05.956Z
  I suggest looking at 6 Down for a hint! But a solve is a solve is a solve!!!
hoover 3s · 2024-05-15T11:42:21.885Z
Same as Ben. 36A, title, and cover illustration. Going back to backsolve now.
- DrTom constructor · 2024-05-15T16:37:56.771Z
  So you got to the bus and didn't go any furthur?
  
  Thanks for taking the ride
boharr 10s · 2024-05-15T13:52:49.584Z
Thanks, DrTom
woozy 14:11 · 2024-05-15T15:18:35.263Z
Fun and easy. A little tough to find them all but apparent enough.
Darth 🤓19:57 · 2024-05-15T15:27:31.794Z
Wow! Awesome construction and not what I was expecting while on my vacay. But that reminds me of a short story I need to write about a day trip in D.C. when I tried to help this guy who was tripping at the National mall. What an experience that was! (P.S. I enjoyed seeing those Star Wars references, too.)
Ergcat 17:09 · 2024-05-15T16:11:51.435Z
Far out, DrTom! Don’t know the mechanism yet exactly… guessed from prompt and several clues. I think 6d might be a hint too. So I might need to assess and “drop” a letter from words that are too long??
- Ergcat 17:09 · 2024-05-15T17:26:21.726Z
  Yes, I see now 1a MEDAL — drop the “d” to get “MEAL” as referenced in the clue… then there’s “FLOAT” drop the O to get “Flat”…. “SKIP” drop P and get “SKI”… etc till last one “CADRE” drop the D to get “CARE”. 8 words symmetrically placed, the dropped letters spell “DROP ACID”!
- DrTom constructor · 2024-05-15T17:37:24.535Z
  There you go! I tried to stay on point!!
kurtalert 🤓5:20 · 2024-05-15T16:37:15.619Z
Hah! Total guess and got it on the first try. Now it's time to figure out what I was SUPPOSED to be seeing here... maybe it just hasn't kicked in yet...
Hector 9:25 · 2024-05-15T17:17:52.884Z
Good! But somewhat esoteric?

(see what I did there?)
- DrTom constructor · 2024-05-15T19:21:52.000Z
  ABSOLUTELY and I LOVE it. Come on all my chemically astute, aware, altered friends, Hector deserves a BIG thumbs up for that one.
MatthewL 🤓7:46 · 2024-05-15T18:13:57.591Z
Totally rad, dude. Didn't see it for a bit, but kept focusing on the several oddly long clues (I know how Tom likes to hide stuff in the clues), and eventually saw it. SKIPS to SKIS was my way in. Totally ignored 36A for some reason. Thanks for the puzzle, Tom!
HeadinHome 🤓1:18 · 2024-05-15T18:31:20.972Z
I thought you might be trippin, reading some of these clues! You ARE a trip, Dr. Tom!
- DrTom constructor · 2024-05-15T19:28:43.585Z
  Well hopefully not a bad trip...I hear those are not fun AT ALL!
  
  Now wouldn't you know it, the FDA had approved a form of LSD for general anxiety disorder, ketamine has found lots of MH use and studies with MDMA and magic mushrooms (psilocybin) are ongoing. Heck it will be FAR too easy to be a hippie going forward.
woozy 14:11 · 2024-05-15T18:51:47.157Z
Got the matanism pretty easily and quickly (cutting in line in Vail simply doesn't make any sense otherwise) but completely missed 6D being a hint nor did I connect DROP with dropped letters
rjy 🤓10:29 · 2024-05-15T19:00:54.108Z
Test solver here, back in to read the comments. But tricky the second trip through too!
Philip Chow 10:16 · 2024-05-15T17:23:46.911Z
nice puzzle... some of them were more well hidden than others... skiing at vail was my way in... too gratuitous a clue - thank you dr tom... didn't realize the assess hint and the central easter egg until reading comments... also didn't help that i didn't know who timothy leary was
- DrTom constructor · 2024-05-15T20:14:41.290Z
  Oh dear, there is that generation thing again. Dr. Tim was universally known back in my day, "Turn on, Tune In, Drop Out"
  
  That's OK, I nver know who the TikTok ot Insta "influencers" are.
Berto 3s · 2024-05-15T20:52:43.022Z
Immediately saw ME(D)AL and CA(D)RE and figured you had to take the “D”=Day out, take a day out = go on a trip. But alas, only 2 more D’s… And couldn’t find alternative clues for MEAL nor CARE, but then saw them in the original clue. Cue head slap. Nice one DrTom!
DCBilly 3s · 2024-05-15T23:35:41.088Z
Groovy man
- DrTom constructor · 2024-05-16T20:58:21.161Z
  Right ON man, right on...now pass me the zig zags!
  
  Tom
whimsy 16:03 · 2024-05-16T02:45:30.840Z
I tried to complicate this. (Gee, who does that sound like?) I determined a lot of the "extra phrase in the clue" entries -- symmetry helped! But I was trying to match things up quite incorrectly and laughably. For MEDAL I went to TBS (Warner ownership links them?) for BEAST, when I couldn't find any A-1 sauce in the grid I paused at RATE, and for BRAIN and the unnecessary roughage (sounds like football) I headed straight to the COLON in COLONIAL! So, yeah man, some extra fun! Thanks, Tom!
Tyrpmom 2s · 2024-05-16T16:56:54.731Z
I’m surprised to see so many guessed the answer. That is a pitfall of crosshare.
- DrTom constructor · 2024-05-16T20:56:44.522Z
  Well yes people can guess, but it is more my fault if I made it that obvious. Matters not, a solve is a solve, particularly if you go back and discover WHY that worked!
  
  But thank you for doing it the old fashioned way (hmmm, old-fashioned, that sounds good!)
  
  Tom
Steve M 34:06 · 2024-05-16T17:31:29.673Z
36A gave me a hint as to what I might be looking for, but kept dismissing it because I didn’t see the mechanism. Then finally I wondered about SKI(P)S, and it all fell into place. Thanks for the very clever puzzle!
- DrTom constructor · 2024-05-16T20:54:48.238Z
  So glad you enjoyed it
Laura M 🤓10:45 · 2024-05-16T19:41:40.496Z
Enjoyable trip! I started out trying to do something with the L's, S's, and D's in the grid but I got there eventually :-)
- DrTom constructor · 2024-05-16T20:54:22.603Z
  Wow, L, S and D groovy mechanism dud(ette). never thought of that (though now of course it won't leave my mind!)
  
  Thanks for solving
JM 🤓10:04 · 2024-05-16T20:24:12.999Z
Far out dude! 6 D did it for me.
- DrTom constructor · 2024-05-16T21:08:40.824Z
  I wanted have a clue be Consider l5D and 15D would have been "Hippie" or something, but I could not bring it home. Note I used the l not the 1 for lS so that it looks like lSD. Maybe I'll try to make it a nudge.
  
  Thanks for solving
KayW 9:11 · 2024-05-17T13:25:39.775Z
Brilliant, Tom - thanks! As usual, in hindsight I can't believe I needed the nudges. Elegant construction and all the hints right there in plain sight. I had a strong hunch what the answer would entail from the central entry, but refused to submit WAGs til I found the metanism.
- DrTom constructor · 2024-05-17T16:04:34.075Z
  Well thank you for your perseverance on the long trip!
  
  Tom
Dave C 3s · 2024-05-17T16:00:41.568Z
It took all the nudges and the shove, but finally...
- DrTom constructor · 2024-05-17T19:33:58.817Z
  If it takes too many nudges then it is the constructor's fault, not the solvers, that the puzzle is too obtuse.
  
  Thanks for solving.
ajk 🤓8:30 · 2024-05-17T15:50:17.740Z
LOL was on the right wavelength in the sense that I instantly guessed the answer, but needed the shove to see the mechanism. Since ASSESS could be ASSES I got hung up on chopping a letter off the down entries, and there were many options for things that could be alt entries. The Vail clue struck me as odd, but not odd enough that it rang any bells until I was told that it was important. Got 6 of the 8 on the first pass then and lol'ed when I saw the answer was indeed what I had guessed at first. Backsolved the R in CURES and I in BRAIN to finish. Fun one, thanks.
- DrTom constructor · 2024-05-17T19:33:08.111Z
  Had not even thought about the fact that my "nudge clue" could be a herring. Thanks for sticking with it!
  
  Tom
THC 🤓1:17 · 2024-05-17T17:05:16.773Z
Thanks, Dr. Tom! In my opinion, this is a PUMA! Enjoyed it a lot!
- DrTom constructor · 2024-05-17T19:35:07.993Z
  Wait, does that mean its an UMA! Well you can Kill Bill, but not Tom OK!!!
  
  Thanks for solving
  - THC 🤓1:17 · 2024-05-19T00:39:00.287Z
Carolyn 3s · 2024-05-18T00:11:26.575Z
Finally got around to this. I can't figure it out so am giving it my wild guess based on 36A. Now to back solve with the nudges. I'm a child of the 60s but never did this! I prefer chardonnay.
- DrTom constructor · 2024-05-18T04:54:21.722Z
  Chardonnay is acidic...
  
  Thanks for solving Cindy.
Bird Lives 4s · 2024-05-18T02:59:11.884Z
Clever construction. My mistake was to focus on the other word in the title. I kept looking for days and wound up needing the nudges.
Capn Rick 🤓10:32 · 2024-05-18T13:44:13.663Z
Nice job, DrTom! LEARY in the center helped me find the answer sans nudges.

Play today's daily mini crossword

Award for the best dish on a Food Network Challenge

Across

1A
Award for the best dish on a Food Network Challenge
6A
Kuwaiti, e.g.
10A
Atlanta-based channel
13A
Chap's chip
14A
Fitting music performance for Ben or Han
15A
Diminished Asian sea
16A
"Chicken soup for a cold", and other suggestions
17A
Shot to the net or the face
18A
Coin in the historic Trevi Fountain
19A
Group for women who like to drive; Abbr.
20A
It's quite a stretch
21A
Bob on top of the water while laying on your back
22A
Mountains in Wyoming that are just grand
24A
Introduction for the proletariat
25A
The S in IOS
26A
Marks up a sheet of music
30A
Goes to the head of the lift-line at Vail
34A
America before 1776
35A
Row of theatre seats
36A
Counterculture guru Timothy
38A
Employee of the "Pink Panther" not the "Green Hornet"
39A
Princess Leia's home planet
41A
Beauty imprisoner who turns out to be an A-1 guy
42A
Team players?
43A
Title for a man using a charger
45A
That, in Oaxaca
46A
Berry farm near Disneyland
50A
Animal's calling card which can be delivered by the wind
53A
"Seven Sisters" college, ___ Mawr
55A
"I didn't expect to see you here!"
57A
Commonly associated with crafts
58A
Daily TV melodrama
59A
Body part that needs almonds and acai berries, not roughage
60A
What 38A was
61A
Not fancy at all
62A
Make a sound investment?
63A
Nobody will ever call these big shots
64A
"___ Tu", 1970's hit song
65A
Inner circle of people that have been chosen meticulously

Down

1D
Mid-13th century date
2D
Blow your stack
3D
Music that sounds dead
4D
"There are chairs for everyone, please take ___"
5D
What people listened to before CDs
6D
Gauge (like whether a word is too long)
7D
Chocolate and caramel candy in gold foil
8D
Mr. Turing
9D
Slangy real good song
10D
Snap, Crackle, Pop and Huey, Dewey, Louie for example
11D
Vampy silent star Theda
12D
Something in a home that may hold a bed
15D
Group formed for the mutual good
20D
Even just the slightest bit
21D
Snapshot, in adspeak
23D
C.I.A before the C.I.A. really was the C.I.A.
24D
Description for a surprising cow?
26D
Neither's common partner
27D
Administrator of IRA's, annuities and mutual funds for academia
28D
Takes a course at culinary school
29D
Hole in the schedule
30D
Night light
31D
About 2.2 pounds
32D
Dangerous roadside distractions; Abbr.
33D
Being more than you can be, knowingly
34D
Fire
36D
Julie Christie in a Pasternack inspired movie
37D
___ in elephant
40D
Everything that remains
41D
Dude!
43D
Video chats; old style
44D
Mary and Joseph's first choice
47D
Cake in Capri
48D
"___ be nice"
49D
More likely to retire
50D
Product that no longer drives the average Swedish consumer
51D
Baby jail
52D
Guesses about leaving; Abbr.
53D
Miss Piggy's pop
54D
Make a judgement
56D
Concerning words in a memo
58D
"Ain't ___ Sweet"
59D
Tampa Bay footballer, for short