All-You-Can-Eat Food Fight
◆◆ · By Flora Wynn · Published 2023-07-25T05:00:44.661Z
Meta Prompt
The meta answer is a 6-letter word often seen at restaurants.
Hint 1: There are 6 themed entries, which are easy to spot—they're all marked with parenthetical numbers. The longest across entry gives you a huge nudge as to what to do with them.
Hint 2: So what do the numbers in parentheses mean? They usually denote either word length or letter order. Note that there are 2 numbers per themed entry, which means that each entails 2 steps.
Hint 3: Notice how odd the themed grid answers are? That's always a big hint.…
Hint 4: .…They're all anagrams. The puzzle's theme should be obvious by now—it's food. They're all food anagrams.
Hint 5: Once you've solved the anagrams, think about what links them as a group, then use each anagram as a clue to derive another answer for each entry. The first parenthetical number indicates the word length specific to each clue (you can figure this out via process of elimination).
Hint 6: You've found the word each anagram hints at. Now what? Well, there's a second number, which is either the letter order for the meta answer, or tells you that you're looking for a second word. The only way to find out is to test it.
Hint 7: So you're looking for a second word. What could it be? Again, use that first word as a clue to obtaining the second final word. The second parenthetical number tells you the number of letters you're looking for specific to each clue.
Hint 8: Look back at the other clues if you're stuck.
Hint 8: The meta answer is also an anagram, albeit a very easy one.
Checking for previous play data...
1A
What the chef at station 1 did for lunch due to the long line? (4, 7)
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
Across
- 1AWhat the chef at station 1 did for lunch due to the long line? (4, 7)
- 8AGarden of culinary delights
- 14AJoker of a club?
- 15ASouth American rodent
- 16AWhat the chef at station 2 elicited when he brought out baklava? (4, 6)
- 18AEye in awe
- 19AIced tea verb, in the past?
- 20AWow
- 22ABigger than med.
- 23AQuick procedure
- 24AWhat the chef at station 3 did to her thieving bakery worker? (7, 8)
- 26AAddress without a ZIP
- 28AAuthor Calvino
- 29APut on
- 32ABrief shake-up
- 34ATax IDs
- 37AHow to appease the upset chefs (or what you must do to solve the meta)
- 41ASpring at, as a cat
- 42AFlinch
- 43AFilm site
- 44AHorse colors
- 47ACheckers of mental health (abbr.)
- 48AWhat the chef at station 4 does during a food fight? (8, 6)
- 51AOld Irish soc.
- 54AArkansas governor Hutchinson
- 55AIn ____ (undisturbed)
- 56AInfluential AI scientist Gebru
- 59ACamera parts
- 61AWhy the chef at station 5 keeps looking in the parking lot? (6, 4)
- 63AAmount
- 64AOlla ____ (Spanish stew)
- 65AArtery inserts
- 66AWhat the chef at station 6 uses to season grilled meat? (7, 5)
Down
- 1DMethods
- 2DDiarist Nin
- 3DAwkward, casually
- 4DTricks out
- 5DDies ____
- 6DPost-hex prince?
- 7DVietnamese president Le Duc
- 8DLong diamond (var.)
- 9DIdi Amin's land
- 10DDandy
- 11DTesla savings
- 12DFrench story
- 13DSolution strength
- 17DDisability payment, for short
- 21DTrifid cipher results
- 24DBurns rubber
- 25DRick's love
- 26D"Beauty is truth" speaker
- 27DSpanish monarch
- 29DUVA conference
- 30DAdverse
- 31DAdjust
- 33DQuebecois street
- 35DMiss-named?
- 36DFormer flier
- 38DGI offense
- 39DWindows boxes?
- 40DLetters after 4G
- 45DPostulate
- 46DSound effects
- 48DPartials
- 49DStart of a fitness motto
- 50DHockey great Robitaille
- 51DLifeless, old-school
- 52DDoor sign at a radio station
- 53DGandhi spoke it
- 56DShort pants?
- 57DCasting site
- 58D"Home Improvement" director Andrew
- 60DEarly riser?
- 62DIRS month