PCC#22 "Wandering in Hundred and One Acre Wood"
◆ · By Philip Chow · Published 2024-01-13T15:58:12.488Z
Meta Prompt
[Level 2.5] Meta prompt: The answer to the meta is a plural noun for who museums might employ for special exhibitions
Hint #1: The meta answer is 9 letters long (and there are exactly 9 clues with asterisks)
Hint #2: 62-Across hints at anagrams... "Wandering" in the puzzle's title is another anagram indicator
Hint #3: "Hundred and One Acre Wood?!" I thought Pooh and his friends lived in Hundred Acre Wood... why is there a +1?
Hint #4: EYESORE almost looks like EEYORE
Hint #5: The +1 means an extra letter... Anagram the entries with asterisked clues to get a Pooh character plus an extra letter
Hint #6: Example: EYESORE = EEYORE + S... the extra letters in grid order spell out the answer (no need for a final anagram)
Checking for previous play data...
1A
Say "Yes, I'll attend and I'm bringing a plus-one," for example
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Across
- 1ASay "Yes, I'll attend and I'm bringing a plus-one," for example
- 5AInitials of the civil rights leader who gave the "I have a dream" speech
- 8AResidents of Bangkok and Phuket
- 13ANext in line, perhaps
- 14ATwo of a kind
- 15ARuffles potato chip feature
- 16A*Creme-filled chocolate cookie
- 17A3D image, for short
- 18ANoun-forming suffix for "add" or "repos"
- 19A*Simple encryption algorithms (such as shift or substitution) that hackers can easily crack?
- 22AWhite-rumped Rockies roamers
- 24ABoutique buy
- 25ACesar who portrayed the Joker on "Batman" of 60's TV
- 26AConsider to be
- 27A"___ braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think"
- 28A*Something that prompts an involuntary recall of past trauma
- 31AGolfer nicknamed "The Big Easy"
- 32A"Oh boo-___" ("let me play a sad song for you on the world's smallest violin")
- 33A___ Lingus (carrier with a shamrock logo)
- 36A*More mottled and streaked with stripes like a certain cat?
- 40APomme de ___ (potato in French, literally translates to "apple of the earth")
- 42AMmes. : Paris :: ___ : Madrid
- 43AEntrance areas
- 44A*Name used by the Communist Party of Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge (it's one letter off from the Cambodian temple ___ Wat)
- 47AMini burgers
- 49ASweet nothings (it begins with something that Pooh loves)
- 51ADisappear gradually
- 52ADinghy propellers
- 53ANumbered musical work
- 57AUp and about and buzzing with activity
- 58AExam for MBA hopefuls
- 59ATear down, as an old building
- 60AHammer parts that resemble mushroom heads
- 61A"Now We Are ___" (A.A. Milne work featuring Winnie-the-Pooh illustrations)
- 62ARearrange, perhaps (and an indicator word used in cryptic crossword clues signaling that an anagram is at play!)
Down
- 1DLetter between pi and sigma
- 2DSpanish for "to be"
- 3DTry to win, with "for"
- 4D"Live long and ___" (phrase accompanying a Vulcan salute
) - 5DLanguage that the words "kiwi" and "mako" come from
- 6DHappy tunes
- 7DMcDonald's founder Ray (whose name sounds like a reptile)
- 8D*Nickname of Kazakshtani boxer Gennadiy Gennadyevich Golovkin
- 9DStruck a chord, perhaps
- 10D"Ta-ta for now!"
- 11DComposer Stravinsky, helicopter pioneer Sikorsky, and a noted lab assistant
- 12DHave a hunch
- 14D*Insta upload
- 20DEmploy
- 21D"___ your pardon / I never promised you a rose garden" (lyrics from Lynn Anderson's "Rose Garden")
- 22D*Fuzzy textile
- 23D"It's ___-see!" (rave review)
- 25DPastrami sandwich bread
- 26DDesigner Christian who said "Happiness is the secret to all beauty"
- 28DTerse online comment indicating strong agreement with a previous comment
- 29DUni, at a sushi bar, is often marketed as "sea urchin ___" because it sounds far more appetizing than "sea urchin gonads"
- 30DHarder to find
- 34DMakes a mistake
- 35DLow-___ graphics (fuzzy images)
- 37DWelcomed at the door
- 38DExcited donkeys, at times
- 39DThe ___ minimum (amount of effort quiet quitters put in at work)
- 40DSondheim's "Sweeney ___"
- 41D*Something that hurts to look at
- 43D"If at ___ you don't succeed,
try, try againjust peek at the hints (you know you want to
)" - 44D"It takes ___ o' livin' in a house t' make it home" (opening line of an Edgar Guest poem)
- 45DBranch of mythology with Valhalla and Valkyries
- 46DOpening piano key played in "Welcome to the Black Parade" by My Chemical Romance (which spawned numerous memes of emo kids bursting into tears)
- 47DTitle of respect for a Hindu religious teacher
- 48DDr. Seuss character who says "I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues," with "the"
- 50DShiba Inus and Chow Chows
- 54DCushion
- 55DWeapon in some "Call of Duty" games
- 56DGet firm, like Jell-O