Fill In The Blanks
◆ · By DrTom · Published 2024-07-17T11:30:17.577Z
Meta Prompt
The answer involves filling in the blanks
This puzzle came to me some time ago and then it languished. I had a tough time filling it and it needed several rounds of corrections, assisted by the expert help of Al Sisti. But I think I have it in a useable, and solvable, format now.
I would give it a Calico/Persian rating, but finally there is one of mine that the answer is NOT inferred. You will be able to find the meta spelled out.
Kitten
CALICO
PERSIAN
Puma
Lion
What may be different this week is the keeping of the "scoreboard" and the reveal. I will be going away on the Sunday (21st) so I may not be as responsive on the forum (I am not a "phone" person) and the reveal for this one, and the posting of next week's may be late Wednesday evening unless I find I can do that another way.
At any rate, I hope you all like this one. We are approaching 200 MEOW's, but I have not done all 200 of them of course so there will be a while before I can claim any big numbers.
NUDGES:
Nudge 1] Do you see anything in the puzzle that could be interpreted as a "blank".
Nudge 2] They may be part of a more than one word entry
Nudge 3] I try to be symmetric if I can.
Nudge 4] What might "fill" those blanks.
Nudge 5] I am anal enough that I would want them filled COMPLETELY.
Nudge 6] Now what? Well you've got new terms now, what is the usual thing to do?
Nudge 7] You have to find 4 letters.
REVEAL
REVEAL
So, the official reveal will come later but:Four entries had a two word fill, the first of which was a word that had a “blank” connotation, ex. EMPTY lots, SPACE race. Filling those blanks with other words of EXACTLY the same length (so, in the examples above WHOLE and ALIEN) yielded new phrases which could be satisfied by other words (TONS and ETS) if you do that for all four you get the meta answer TEST.
Checking for previous play data...
Fun puzzle; Thanks DrTom!
Fun stuff, thanks.1A
I.O.U., for example
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Across
- 1AI.O.U., for example
- 5AAscribe an age to
- 9APoker hand that beats two pair
- 14ATube at the firehouse
- 15AVessel blocker
- 16AC3PO or R2D2
- 17AVacant parcels of land
- 19ANovelist Calvino
- 20AThe newest Skywalker
- 21ASomething many want to grind
- 22AJunk
- 23APolloi preceder
- 24AFact, like a batting average or median income
- 27A"A-one and ___": Welk
- 30AThe competition that kept the USA starry eyed in the 50's and 60's
- 35APopular Manhattan or London area
- 36AWhat I have none of when making puns
- 37AAstronaut Bean or Shepard
- 38ASitting on
- 39ASoviet co-op
- 40APlace to store a missile or grain
- 41ADeb's dance
- 42AOrphan girl saved by Don Juan in the Byron epic
- 43ARoom at the big house
- 44ABus the table after dinner
- 46ASanta ___ (winds)
- 47ANot incl.
- 48ARange of sizes, briefly
- 50AFling the bed cover?
- 54AInhabitant of a bonnet?
- 55AConfused utterance
- 58AGive up a right
- 59ACommon event in real estate
- 62ABeasts of burden
- 63A___ Beaumont, hero of King's "The Dark Half"
- 64AIntroduction to Romeo?
- 65ADead tired
- 66AA very large amount
- 67ASated
Down
- 1DSinger who lost her Sonny disposition
- 2DRoaming site for buffalo we are told
- 3D"___ with my little eye..."
- 4DHoliday in Hanoi
- 5DV more and this would be a hell of a number to use
- 6DBotanical soother
- 7DSmall child
- 8DVisitors from another planet
- 9DIt's sad to say this in France, Spain or Italy
- 10DCampus org. for commanding individuals
- 11DLetter shaped bridge beam
- 12DVamp Negri of "Forbidden Paradise" and "Passion"
- 13DWord on an octagon
- 18DFormer Huston Rocket and now Chinese politician Ming
- 23DBig to-do
- 24DSpace related
- 25DIn a gentle manner
- 26DHigh-speed Amtrack East Coast train
- 27D"Easy ___"
- 28DVitamin packed cereal that advertised itself as the ___ difference
- 29DComplete
- 30DClever and cunning
- 31DMischievous one
- 32DSupposed Roswell autopsy victim
- 33DKind of lily
- 34DOrganic compounds popular in cleaning and crosswords
- 36DDish that is often tossed to the side
- 45DLeast cooked
- 48DConveys
- 49DSo-so
- 50D"___ the night before ..."
- 51DChest fastener
- 52DWhat cream and hot air have a tendency to do
- 53DPlace to put your dough
- 54DChicago reflective landmark
- 55DWhere to watch "The Handmaiden's Tale
- 56D80's gridiron grp that failed but has been resurrected with Stallions and Maulers
- 57DGet better
- 59DBaseball's Mel
- 60DSoup so often pronounced incorrectly
- 61DClumsy sort