just the tonic (cryptic, meta)

◆ · By capybara · Published about 1 year ago

Meta Prompt

my first meta... i usually can't solve them, so not sure if i'm on the right track! you might need to google clue #1 if it doesn't ring any bells.

Checking for previous play data...

Nobody is on the leaderboard yet

capybara constructor · about 1 year ago
the meta uses the caesar cipher (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesar_cipher). if you take all the letters that appear as double letters (pairs) and apply a shift of three, you get an anagram of the answer

notice fashion consistency

Across

5A
a welsh girl from the east
9A
unclear relation to 5a
5Aa welsh girl from the east[-----]
10A
spouse arranged concerti, symphonies, etc
11A
king throws a bash at the castle
14A
put me back to bed before the dread oddly gets set in
15A
engineer sure loves us
16A
extremely scary, extremely high level of computerised sound
19A
writer strikes a pose in the mirror
20A
out for a strut in the man-made garden
23A
i'm obliged to wring my hanky out
25A
smile when european leaves empires to crumble
28A
ruler of many different areas (and clue #1)
29A
east new zealand getting into fried nuts
30A
scam jammers
31A
those who prefer not to cause a stir: stir, stir in - makes sense to the audience

Down