Say Nothing
◆ · By DrTom · Published 2024-05-22T11:30:24.952Z
Meta Prompt
What most people feel the title means
Well you've had beers, celebrated Moms, and dropped acid so now it is time to sit back and say nothing. This was directly inspired by a past meta, not sure if it was a Gaffney, Shenk or Birnholz but I "borrowed" at least a part of the mechanism. That is only tacky if I don't say I did that, so now the only thing tacky is the puzzle itself.
This should be no more than a Calico for the vast majority of solvers therefore:
Kitten
CALICO
Persian
Puma
Lion
My testers were ajk, KayW and lbray53 who besides making sure this was not a flight of Tom fancy also gave me some valuable feedback on clues and possible pitfalls. They thankfully did not take the advice of the puzzle and all said something. Now I hope all of you will say something like "Cat's Out!"
Nudges Friday if necessary
FRIDAY NUDGES:
Nudge 1] Well for once the "Title" isn't everything. BUT the nudge clue 67A sure is!
Nudge 2] Did you notice that the long answers (presumably the themers) are all exactly 10 characters long?
Nudge 3] There are 4 of these "themers"
Nudge 4] The meta answer is 8 letters
B I G N U D G E] The answer is 8 letters long, there are 4 2 x 5 letter word answers, do what 67A tells you to
The Reveal:
There were 5 theme answers (the long ones) and each was composed of two, rather forced, 5 letter words.
Clue 67A said "Defendants who want to say nothing will often take the ___"
That obviously ties in with the Meta title, and gives a hint towards the solving mechanism.
Looking at the 5 theme answers and taking the fifth letter of each word:
CORG(I)CLAI(M)
BEIN(G)ELIH(U)
HAIT(I)CRAW(L)
ABBO(T)ALLE(Y)
I'M GUILTY - the meta answer
For a graphic representation of the solve go to:
Checking for previous play data...
Thanks, Tom!1A
"That movie was ___ it was good"
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Across
- 1A"That movie was ___ it was good"
- 6AAnother name for a dugout
- 10AExxon north of the border
- 14A"Yea me!"
- 15A___ Mater
- 16ABonus word, in ads
- 17A"The Queen herself thought us the world's best dogs"
- 19AMini stroke on the green
- 20AThe best end for def, and a good end for off
- 21AFuzzy alien
- 22AMAS*H actor Alan and his brother Robert
- 23APopular pain reliever
- 25ADecorative bit of floor tiling
- 27ABook by Charlie Kaufman about the founder of Yale, not John Malkovich
- 31AWhen I needed a senator from the Carolina's to play the guitar I said "___ Thurmond"
- 35AHow the French keep a secret, entre ___
- 36ASimba's girl
- 38AJust another Roman day
- 39ATook the exam again
- 40AGr. K-6
- 41ADigits on a jacket; Abbr.
- 42A___ Capital (company co-founded by Mitt Romney)
- 43AFamous van Gogh, "The Bedroom at ___"
- 44AHit all of the bars in Port-au-Prince, say
- 47ACast with a malicious intent
- 48AShows emotion
- 53ASir John at the piano
- 55ASushi tuna
- 57ADecision making fodder
- 58ASan Francisco's iconic monument to volunteer firefighters; ___ Tower
- 59ANarrow street where all the heads of monasteries reside
- 62AWoodworker's tool that doesn't do what it's name suggests
- 63AGroup that really did not like Yanks
- 64AMrs. Gorbachev
- 65AFishing equipment that might show up at a dance
- 66AMeals traditionally served at 4 PM London time
- 67ADefendants who want to say nothing will often take the ___
Down
- 1DCommand to a dog
- 2DTown where you can find "Black Bears" in Maine
- 3DWhat people say they don't want to do to my bubble, than inevitably do
- 4DRags to riches guy
- 5D"Agnus ___"
- 6DA pitch that is too wide
- 7DHome of a "Golden Girl"; St. ___
- 8DFriend of Francois
- 9DHighland topper
- 10DInformation source
- 11DPeriod that never lived up to its name
- 12DMex. miss
- 13DWhat most people buy from Quakers
- 18DSource of sugar
- 22D"Is that ___?"
- 24D"Big Blue", initially
- 25DNight lizard
- 26DCozy dwelling
- 28DThere is one egg ___ section of a carton
- 29DEmphatic denial
- 30DRole that brought Fonda the gold
- 31DStar Wars, for short
- 32DMrs. Addams, to Gomez
- 33DThrow back into the river
- 34DRItz-Carlton alternative
- 37DMornings, for short
- 39DSluggers' stats
- 43DA pint, maybe
- 45DBolivian export
- 46DLetter of the law?
- 49D1950's candidate Stevenson
- 50DGolden State (Abbr.)
- 51DMethod for checking a statistical hypothesis
- 52DFollow the doctor's orders
- 53DA Tesla, perhaps
- 54DBank deposit
- 55D"Chiquitita" quartet
- 56D"Bonanza" brother
- 59D"A jealous mistress": Emerson
- 60DWorker for 30D
- 61DKennel sound