I think I was in a slightly silly mood tonight. Hopefully, the end result of that is the occasional clue that trends towards the funner side of the spectrum and a few less common references in the clues, ranging across some perhaps lesser-known pop-culture references, history, and computer programming (1 across, but that's the only one I swear!) All fair game in what should prove to be a nice "week 3"-level challenge. The answer to the meta is a 4-word phrase. Answer & explanation: https://www.xword-muggles.com/viewtopic.php?p=186043#p186043
Check out "The MOAT Mini Pack of Marching Bands" here: https://www.ephesusscroll.com/about/interest4.html. US$5 gets you 7 Marching Bands which, hard enough on their own, now contain metas too. And once again there's a mega-meta!
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Comments
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Berto 2s · 5 months ago
I was starting to question my spelling! (And how we were going to get four words out of the grid!)
Nice one Ben!
I thought HARBRINGER was the correct spelling for ages growing up!
ELSavage 11:21 · 5 months ago
Not sure this counts as a solve, since I had to resort to a reveal to get one of the key letters (the various spellings of that word have always bothered me - so I can never tell the real ones from the typos), but I had already figured out the mechanism, so that counts for something.
Maybe it wasn't a good idea to try this so early in the morning when I should have been using my insomnia to tackle the real items on my to-do list.
That definitely counts as a solve in my book! I often have to reveal grid squares in other people's metas - and I only wish I could do it with the WSJ and Gaffney at times too. All is fair in love and metas!
I have trouble spelling easy words, but TGFG! :P Thanks, Ben.
Cindy Heisler 2s · 4 months ago
I would have had it on my first submission if I had remembered what the prompt said. Challenging grid with the extra letters. That had me doubting my answers! Thanks, Ben!
lbray53 2s · 4 months ago
Fun. I would say that the fill was a week three, but the difficulty of completing the grid led me straight to the mechanism. Once the grid was filled it became a week one. Nice aha moment but it came pretty quickly after the entries were all in.
hoover 3s · 4 months ago
17A had me shaking my head in disappointment. By the time I got to 25A I had figured out what was going on and forgave you.
Nice one, Ben! I agree with what lbray53 said re: difficulty of grid vs meta.
MatthewL 🤓11:42 · 4 months ago
Funny -- I guessed the answer before grokking the mechanism, and started googling cigar brands to see if some of the grid entries were close. Lord, but there are a lot of them. Then noticed the misspelling of HARBINGER and was on my way. Thanks for the puzzle, Ben!
But... shouldn't it be "cigar but no close". We have the cigar.
Clever and funny! I was thinking we probably needed to come up with reasons for the extra letters. Daicquiris and gingkgo really made filling in the grid difficult.
Hah, beautiful. I mess a few of these up all the time!
KayW 🤓4:10 · 4 months ago
Hahaha. You nearly got me, Ben. I thought to myself "huh, I didn't THINK there was a C in DAIQUIRI, maybe that's an Aussie spelling". I got suspicious with the others but HARBRINGER tipped me off for sure. Tho I still googled the spelling of each to make SURE I had them right. Very believable misspellings! Thanks.
Fun puzzle with some interesting fill. I spent a lot of time with GINGKO BILOBA trying to convince people it was NOT the new miracle drug and they should not flush their Rx meds in favor of it so that spelling caught my eye. Then HARBRINGER, and I said "TWO misspellings, this is Ben, unlikely!" From there is was just a rum, sugar and a vicious attack on some wheat and I was at the end enjoying my stogie.
HeadinHome 🤓1:26 · 4 months ago
Agree with lbray53 and capn — tough grid, easy meta. I too was wondering briefly if Aussies just had a different spelling for everything! But I knew DAICQUIRIES was wrong, so that helped with the other themers (not to sweat that my answer didn’t fit).
Qmark 3s · 4 months ago
fun one...thanks Ben! (no nudges needed)
omnilynx 🤓12:23 · 4 months ago
This is the rare meta where filling in the grid was the hardest part!