Explanation: Per the title, we'll be looking for leftovers - more specifically, "left"s and "over"s! There are four words on the left part of the grid that can be preceded by LEFT to get another phrase: ALONE, OUT, FIELD, and TOWN. Similarly, five words on the upper part of the grid can be preceded by OVER (so you can imagine the "left"s and "over"s dotting the outside of the grid): LAP, PASS, CAST, ACT, and DUE. Play alternate entries with these new phrases (for instance, LEFT ALONE fits the clue for IGNORED, and so forth). The initial letters of these nine entries corresponding in clock-wise order from ALONE to DUE spell out I'M STUFFED, the fitting answer to this Thanksgiving meta (and I had to stuff a lot in this grid also!).
My first submission, with the apostrophe in I’m, was rejected. Since it had to be right, I tried again with no punctuation and it was accepted.
Fun puzzle! I got the down overs quickly and knew what it had to be, but more fun to find the full solution. Spent a while looking unsuccessfully for synonyms of over par and oversteer before finally letting that go and seeing the lefts.
Berto 🤓6:09 · 2023-11-26T14:01:29.163Z
Exactly what I went through!! Thought the “left” meant put “over” on the left (prefix).
Holidays will always supercede number connections, haha.
Berto 🤓6:09 · 2023-11-26T14:07:51.946Z
Very clever puzzle. I got the “U-F-F-E-D” and figured ‘I-gnored’ and ‘M-issing’ had to be used. I even looked up “overfield” hoping it was an archaic/obscure baseball position - Doh! Also couldn’t get “I’m” to be accepted but “im “ went through. Phew!
Thanks Mikey!
Well I guessed it but didn't solve it. Now I have to go back and see how to get there. I know it is going to be clever so I am awaiting the "OK, that's funny!" moment. Not going to peek just yet.
Well that was one of the most difficult backsolves. Turns out there are 9 words that could be paired with OVER, including OVER STEER and OVER PAR. Needelss to say trying to find the alternate answers was lengthy and futile. There is also at least one more LEFT (I admit LEFT did not dawn on me until I looked at the nudges) in that LEFT OFF could certainly be a possibility. Took me forever to get to the letters i needed and then I did not know to do it clockwise, but since I knew what the letters had to be that was of little consequence. Good job stuffing in all that content!
Yeah, it's usually a clue (and I think it is for most metas that go beyond 15-by-15 occasionally: MGWCC and Pete's come to mind - of course, Rick had that epic one last year!!) that a big grid is always necessitated by a reason for it. I usually try to make the puzzles as small as the entries will allow!
HeadinHome 🤓1:43 · 2023-11-27T20:46:34.275Z
Wow I found that challenging! The grid was both long and tough, and the meta took a while too. I saw multiple opportunities for OVER to be added: over.BRED, ASKED.over, over.PLAN, and over.ICE-POPS.over had two, and SHORTSTOP could have both words left.SHORT STOP.over. Finally saw the clustering around the perimeter (left side, and over top, of course!) and when I focused there I noticed the companion clues/words in the grid (LEFT TOWN was the first one that popped out, because it made me think of O Brother Where Art Thou (“she done R-U-N-N-O-F-T”) which was already in my head from the TOOK OFF entry. All in all, a fabulous feast of a meta!
Yes, I can see that the natural fill can propagate a lot of unintended connections, so I have to be careful with that! Almost like the "be not led astray" comment on the MGWCC - I definitely tried to put the geographical positions in there to help, but that's still pretty well-hidden in retrospect! Still happy for a decent feast of a puzzle!
Finally got it. This was an extremely Mikey puzzle -- very punny and clever. Thanks for the stuffing!
Laura M 🤓28:03 · 2023-11-29T08:51:36.621Z
Very nice! I was on a completely wrong track until the nudges; in retrospect it should have been obvious, but that's how these things go...
Tyrpmom 🤓9:42 · 2023-11-29T23:25:53.705Z
I really struggled with this one, but with nudges I finally got it.
KayW 🤓5:34 · 2023-11-29T23:29:25.188Z
Wow what a fantastic meta and puzzle - as always. Very elegant to put the LEFTs on the LEFT and the OVERs on TOP. I needed remedial nudges to see it- I must still be in a Thanksgiving food coma myself.
rjy 3s · 2023-11-30T15:26:11.464Z
In a prior life, worked in a restaurant where leftovers were referred to as LO’s - didn’t know if this was otherwise a common thing, but I fixated on it got nowhere. Especially with exactly 9 clues that had “lo” in them. Couldn’t be a coincidence, right??? I guess not… But quite fun, Mikey!
Finally got it after 9 nudges. Then I had to anagram, but that's because I had to use my fire tablet instead of my computer. Fun challenge!
SamKat9 19:07 · 2023-11-30T20:55:49.687Z
Clever puzzle, I hope you had a great Thanksgiving !
Bird Lives 3s · 2023-12-02T21:33:09.087Z
Fantastic meta. I got nudged to the answer, but even after I saw what answer the letters had to spell, it took me a while to realize how they were ordred.
i really enjoyed this one... it had so many layers! I got "UFFED" right off the bat and guessed that "i'm stuffed" had to be the answer but kept trying to attach OVER to all the words with no further progress... then reread the title and i was like what about LEFT? after realizing i had completely IGNORED that part, everything else fell into place. thank you for your puzzles! i am thankful for all the work you put into each and every one of them
Cable channel launched in 1994 as a sister station to Bravo
10A
Mark on a paper?
15A
72, frequently
16A
How a kid cries to his mother
17A
Like rags mentioned in the lyrics to "Rock Around the Clock"
19A
Transpire
20A
Fruity frozen treats (I'd still eat them in the winter!)
22A
These smell!
24A
Surfeits
25A
I'll ___ clear of my livestock puns (you've herd them already)
26A
Baseball position
29A
Hamlet's cousin?
30A
Gershwin who probably had a 401k
31A
Antidote
32A
Hot spot?
35A
"The Husband's Secret" author Moriarty
37A
She had Billboard's #1 song of 2011
39A
Late
41A
Dreyer's ice cream partner
42A
Ruled, in a way
44A
8-Down circles
46A
Sired
47A
Its modern orange flavor was first produced in Naples in 1955
48A
"He has 272 speeches, the most of any non-title character in a Shakespeare tragedy" (this "Jeopardy!" clue won Ken Jennings the title of Greatest of All-Time)
49A
Some bridge plays
50A
That's fair
52A
"Everything seemed perfect, and then..."
54A
If you want to eat the ones I've made, go at your own bisque
55A
Take, as questions
56A
___ Nite (presentation series whose slogan is "Be There and Be Square")
57A
Main impact
59A
California city whose name sounds like a lolcat greeting
60A
Washington : Dandridge :: Lincoln : ___
61A
A circle of cows is a ___ ring
62A
Furby or Tamagotchi (I had both)
65A
Michelangelo, e.g.
67A
Certain region of a Venn diagram
69A
Ham it up
71A
Call from home
72A
"I can't remember what that milky, iridescent gem is called!" "___ yourself together!"
74A
Season opener?
75A
Reacts to fireworks (or well-constructed crosswords)
76A
Mine might say "drink coffee, solve crosswords, make crosswords, repeat"
79A
Posed
80A
Like some gray skies
84A
"Ditto!"
85A
If my friend can't find the old TV at the flea market, I'll ___ him
87A
"The Great ___" (2018 Kristin Hannah novel)
88A
When I argued with my coworkers about our upcoming agenda, it was a clash in the ___
89A
Need an ___ built? I Noah guy!
90A
It has many keys, briefly
91A
Swan song's antithesis
92A
"Life of Pi" director Lee
93A
Jazz grp.?
94A
Pro
Down
1D
Missive
2D
Trivial tidbit
3D
Type of thoroughfare
4D
Omnia vincit ___ ("Love conquers all")
5D
You stand to lose it
6D
"Press Your Luck" option
7D
Did nothing with
8D
"So, in conclusion, always buy bouquets. And that's the ___ of the story"
9D
The ragtag group of fishermen was a ___ of characters
10D
Genre in which Elvis won his three Grammies
11D
Elvis's record label
12D
Do something!
13D
Fitting
14D
Hesitant sounds
18D
Offspring: Abbr.
21D
Brown alternative
23D
Small apartment
27D
Type of sleeping arrangement in a small apartment
28D
Get a lode of these!
32D
Cough or maple (I prefer the latter)
33D
Treat with Easter and Christmas varieties
34D
Does sum thing
36D
African antelope
37D
Picnic pest (other than me eating all the potato salad)
38D
Verve
40D
Or so
43D
Swing voter, for short
45D
This might go straight to your head
47D
Shakespeare, to his manuscript: "O ___, ___, wherefore art thou ___?"
48D
"___ be my pleasure!"
49D
Nast of publishing
50D
Name, derived from French (lit. "jewel"), of several old theaters (using five of the letters in "jubilation")
51D
Inclined, in England
53D
Pakistani language
54D
Orange ghost in Ms. Pac-Man
55D
Acronymic anxiety that everyone's having fun without you, in modern parlance (I kind of started solving WSJ metas this way!)
56D
Nation of vagabonds: ___ Land
58D
"Washington: A Life" and "Hamilton" biographer Chernow
60D
Run for fun, perhaps?
61D
Omitted
62D
Got out of Dodge
63D
48-Across's play
64D
"Okay, whatever you say, honey, I guess I'll stop solving metas now and tend to my responsibilities"
66D
"Hold your horses!"
68D
Marcus' partner
70D
"I sat on the roof / And kicked off the ___" ("Your Song" lyric)
73D
"Hey, let me know when you're riding the roller coaster" "Okay, I'll keep you in the ___"
77D
Refrain from singing (and you wish I would)
78D
Peruse
79D
Co-writer of the theme to Carson's "The Tonight Show"