Alien Abduction

Very nicely done. :)

Ah, a nice NAP to complete my REST!

Awesome, 'twas fun hunting down the connections :-)

OK, then!! That works!

The original answer(PROBE) did not pass the breakfast test.

I smiled as soon as I saw PATROL CARET and could see where this was heading. Ditto the other three and the Easter eggs. But I was using the uncorrected first edition and wound up with letters that led me to some creative though spurious answers like PALETH (Groweth faint). Finally got the corrected version and the answer.

Good one. PHONE HOME is a nice touch.

Okay..... Barker = Pooch and the fact that my notes had two columns and four rows and that Car (despite being the one ET was removed from) as in the other column from ma ab and rest, threw me for longer than it should have.

The original grid I printed out last night was different from the one I printed today making solving quite a challenge. It wasn't until I did the revised grid that it made sense. The SW corner was totally different. Fun puzzle!

I got it from PLA (+ET) but where does the N come from?

Well, I got the right answer, but not quite sure I see the full picture. I found some words that could be substituted for the themer words (once the ET was removed), and could see PLAN, and so took a stab and added ET. But did not find all the words. I did like the easter eggs at 1A and 69A, as well as 17A. Thanks for the puzzle Wendy and Peter!

This meta kicks asset! Nicely done.

That was fun! Thanks!

Vey fun...thanks Peter and Wendy!

Woosh! This one gave me a 2-day workout because I was using the earlier version of the grid.
I finally got to “planet”, but didn’t know where the “n” came from until I was able to read the comments here. I enjoyed it, though.

I have (I think?) the correct PDF but my trouble was too many matching words… a BARKER is a “doggie,” to PATROL is to “assist as a spotter,” and AREA could be “the A in A.M.” (Area Manager). So… 7 of 8 (never could find one for WORKOUT (maybe “Evaluate” as in work out the answer??). Kept thinking I’d get 8 of these and 2 would be ET to remove, leaving… PAALNA?? Finally got down to PANL (had them in themer order and WAGged PLANET (after I had wagged REESES, of course!). Perfectly nice puzzle, and it was all there in plain sight… just like ET’s face in a sea of stuffed animals.

Hope you both deservedly basket in your glory. Beget your forgiveness for the Wednesday MMM solve, just glad I didn't draw a blanket. 1A and 69A were so good, never even noticed asymmry. Thanks Wendy and Peter, really enjoyed it!

This was a straight-forward meta if I had used the revised puzzle. It wasn't until I looked at the nudges and realized that there was a possibility that I did not have the correct version that once updated was able to solve it easily without any of the nudges.

Went in a completely wrong direction! I thought the aliens abducted some letters: 3D -> ORBIT, 32A -> ALIEN, 40D -> COSMOS, 52A -> STAR. Oops

fell in the rabbit hole of hidden keyboard keys : ONE, TWO, STAR, CARET, ESC, TAB - and never really recovered back !

It's not you; it's me! Ugggghhh... I found the ETPHRASES on Monday, but there were only four of them and I was trying to find alternative answers for the whole phrase, not just the word that got an ET-ectomy. Just getting back to it and realized that it's okay to have only four and that I need only one word in each phrase.

Great meta, thanks. I liked 11D, 46A, 20A