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Expanding Brackets (Meta)

◆ · By benchen71 · Published 2021-08-31T06:00:42.690Z

Meta Prompt
The answer to the meta is an eight letter word
Here's my second meta crossword. No two letter words and it's fully interlocking this time! To avoid anyone going down rabbit holes, while the title of this meta is "Expanding brackets", please ignore all of the brackets in the clues. I just like writing fun clues and that often includes bracketed asides. They have nothing to do with the meta, I promise! Answer and explanation: https://www.xword-muggles.com/viewtopic.php?t=1164&p=67816#p66774
Check out "The MOAT MEOW Mashup Pack" here: https://www.ephesusscroll.com/about/interest4.html. US$10 gives you access to 14 metas that don't always abide by the "rules" of the game. You won't quite know what to expect: asymmetry, 2-letter words, uncrossed letters, sometimes all of those, and sometimes none! One thing is for sure, these are some of the more creative metas my brain has been able to come up with. And there's more: this time there's a mega-meta!
Checking for previous play data...

Leaderboard (updated hourly)

  • Mike D solved 2021-08-27T12:25:19.249Z
  • FrankieHeck solved 2021-08-31T13:07:55.680Z
  • RPardoe solved 2021-08-31T13:10:57.508Z
  • David Plass solved 2021-08-31T13:23:39.348Z
  • LuckyGuest solved 2021-08-31T13:44:26.902Z
  • boharr solved 2021-08-31T18:21:40.815Z
  • Hector solved 2021-08-31T18:53:56.420Z
  • Meg solved 2021-08-31T19:32:45.424Z
  • whimsy solved 2021-08-31T20:19:39.548Z
  • Laura M solved 2021-09-02T05:26:42.918Z
  • K7 solved 2021-09-02T18:39:58.275Z
  • Chaddog solved 2021-09-02T19:10:39.708Z
  • lbray53 solved 2021-09-02T20:42:19.755Z
  • Abide solved 2021-09-03T03:55:39.544Z
  • ThonTaddio solved 2021-09-08T16:05:15.752Z
  • Darth solved 2021-09-15T23:13:07.957Z
  • DIS solved 2022-01-28T20:32:08.438Z
  • Qmark solved 2022-08-02T13:56:17.031Z

Comments

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  • Mike D 🤓8:12 · 2021-08-31T06:00:42.690Z
    Loved this puzzle - the meta mechanism is awesome!
    • FrankieHeck 🤓6:01 · 2021-08-31T13:08:59.815Z
      Nice meta!
      • David Plass 5:40 · 2021-08-31T13:24:01.221Z
        NICE! I loved this topic. Mrs. Gipp would be proud.
        • benchen71 constructor · 2021-08-31T21:13:47.760Z
          I'm guessing Mrs. Gipp was your maths teacher?
          • David Plass 5:40 · 2021-08-31T23:14:05.960Z
            Yes in the early 80s(!)
        • LuckyGuest 3s · 2021-08-31T13:45:12.939Z
          Well that brought me back a few years! Very clever...
          • boharr 4s · 2021-08-31T18:23:03.044Z
            Algebra! I needed Google. Thank You.
            • Meg 3s · 2021-08-31T19:34:53.185Z
              Well, that only took all day!! Got a nudge from Boharr, who got a nudge from Rich, but hey, that’s what Muggles do! I’m still trying to understand 19a. IRR is an abbreviation for what? Thanks for the fun!
              • benchen71 constructor · 2021-08-31T21:10:56.497Z
                IRREALIS. Glad you enjoyed it, even if it proved challenging!
              • Chaddog 25:43 · 2021-09-02T19:13:14.024Z
                Great puzzle! Tough grid in parts. Thanks for the puzzle!
                • Qmark 3s · 2022-08-02T13:57:24.310Z
                  Enjoyed this meta mechanism, very much...great job!
                  • benchen71 constructor · 2022-08-02T22:12:01.697Z
                    Thanks! Definitely one for the mathematically minded.
                  Play today's daily mini crossword
                  1A
                  Linguistic typology used by English
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                  Across
                  1. 1A
                    Linguistic typology used by English
                  2. 4A
                    How to refer to the time before Jesus, but the secular way
                  3. 7A
                    Ran in the wash
                  4. 11A
                    Russian pancakes that are absolutely delicious, especially with creamy mushrooms and bacon
                  5. 13A
                    Hawaiian island that often pops up in crosswords because of all those beautiful vowels
                  6. 14A
                    What you 66 across down
                  7. 15A
                    Whole number greater than one million?
                  8. 17A
                    What the slithy toves did in the wabe (with "and gimble")
                  9. 18A
                    ___ like a bg in a rg
                  10. 19A
                    Abbreviation for a grammatical mood indicating that a certain action is not known to have happened at that moment
                  11. 20A
                    Utensil used to cook lots of delicious Asian cuisine
                  12. 22A
                    Sound the weasel makes when the money goes
                  13. 23A
                    What Nahash wanted to do to the right eyes of everyone in Jabesh Gilead (with "them out")
                  14. 25A
                    Material made from doing things to wood pulp
                  15. 27A
                    Fictional relationship between two amounts?
                  16. 31A
                    ___, Joy of Man's Desiring
                  17. 34A
                    Poem by Langston Hughes (never read it, only ever seen it in crosswords)
                  18. 35A
                    "Bro, I've got a problem with you..."
                  19. 38A
                    It is common for couples to write their own these days
                  20. 39A
                    What many mins together make
                  21. 40A
                    "In addition..."
                  22. 41A
                    Santa's surname, apparently
                  23. 43A
                    Untouchable Eliot
                  24. 45A
                    Where a prisoner is kept
                  25. 46A
                    Imperial measurement involving chance?
                  26. 49A
                    ___ vortex
                  27. 50A
                    "This puzzle is too hard!" (var. but 26 down should be obvious, so we're good)
                  28. 53A
                    ROY G ___
                  29. 54A
                    Germans use this word when they are feeling good
                  30. 56A
                    Units for a song's tempo
                  31. 57A
                    The rating every company aspires to
                  32. 59A
                    Direction of sunrise
                  33. 61A
                    Change in danger levels?
                  34. 64A
                    Sumerian god of wisdom, mentioned in Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash (I didn't need to add that reference, but it's a brilliant book!)
                  35. 65A
                    Foie ___
                  36. 66A
                    Eat quickly
                  37. 67A
                    Helpful acronym for expanding brackets
                  38. 68A
                    ___ out a living
                  39. 69A
                    What you would hear lots of if you visited an ashram (or so I'm told)
                  Down
                  1. 1D
                    David used one to knock Goliath out (not a stone, the other thing)
                  2. 2D
                    Aragorn's portrayer
                  3. 3D
                    Demonic creature from Japanese mythology
                  4. 4D
                    Collective term for all of the things you shot and killed on a hunt
                  5. 5D
                    What you do with the fat
                  6. 6D
                    One of the four moons of Jupiter that Galileo saw after he invented the telescope
                  7. 7D
                    The ___, a book by Roald Dahl that includes fart jokes and the queen of England
                  8. 8D
                    Those who have not been ordained
                  9. 9D
                    "___, does not compute!"
                  10. 10D
                    Underground, but way down
                  11. 11D
                    Early networking software (really early)
                  12. 12D
                    First name of the Spaniard fixated on finding a six-fingered man
                  13. 13D
                    Poetic preposition
                  14. 16D
                    Fountain that features in Roman Holiday
                  15. 21D
                    I was sure this was how Inspector Clouseau's manservant's name was spelt, but I was wrong
                  16. 24D
                    Cruel and ___ punishment
                  17. 26D
                    Pokemon who moonlights as a detective
                  18. 28D
                    Prefix added to "musicology" and "centrism"
                  19. 29D
                    ___ ipsum dolor sit amet...
                  20. 30D
                    Portia de ___
                  21. 31D
                    Electronics company that comes in handy playing Scrabble (or constructing crosswords!)
                  22. 32D
                    Control character typed using the ENTER key
                  23. 33D
                    Austrian company known for its crystal jewelry
                  24. 36D
                    The American equivalent of Auslan
                  25. 37D
                    "I found that wryly amusing." (but in an SMS)
                  26. 42D
                    What we Australians call a sausage
                  27. 44D
                    "Quick, ___ pic before Bigfoot runs away!"
                  28. 47D
                    Someone forced to do dull, meaningless work
                  29. 48D
                    Pitches a tent
                  30. 49D
                    Instrument played by Bruce Hornsby (and lots of other people, but I like Bruce Hornsby)
                  31. 51D
                    ___ Masala, a spice from India
                  32. 52D
                    "The very ___ of your head are numbered"
                  33. 53D
                    English word derived from the French word for cooked cow
                  34. 55D
                    One of the gorillas from Disney's Tarzan (look, if I had to look it up, why shouldn't you!)
                  35. 56D
                    K-pop group, and gift to crossword creators everywhere
                  36. 58D
                    Sarcastic alien from an 80's sitcom
                  37. 60D
                    Up to, for short
                  38. 62D
                    A city on the north coast of Papua New Guinea
                  39. 63D
                    ___-tourism, which must be good for the planet
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