(Inspired by MGWCC #863) - The meta answer is something we all might need to hear when the rabbit hole you thought for sure was relevant turns out to be nothing at all.
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Fun! When I saw this pattern in the original puzzle I simply couldn't accept it was a coincidence. And your puzzle has done the exact thing I spent so long looking for!
So wait, this was actually a thing in a puzzle and it WASN'T the mechanism - man that is hard to believe. Now I woudl never have seen it in Matt's puzzle so it doesn't matter but herrings do not get any redder than that!
Thanks for all the hand holding Lydia.
T
Mr Tex 🤓9:50 · 4 months ago
I spent a week waiting for this answer. PLEASE explain the metanism.
Sorry for your frustration! See below for the solution. By the way, I'm not sure if you're a user on xword-muggles.com, but I can be reached there anytime at the username "schmidzy" if you ever need help with a meta puzzle (mine or otherwise!). Cheers!
Mr Tex 🤓9:50 · 4 months ago
I still don't see a solution! I love this site & especially love the metas, but some constructors never give an explanation (others do). I don't kknow why anyone would work so hard to make a puzzle and then not show off their clever construction.
Hmm, I'm not sure why it's not showing up on your end! I posted the reveal yesterday; I know Crosshare sometimes takes a little bit to update. Let me know if you still can't see it.
MGWCC #863 featured this same title, "One or Two?", as well as the same set of 5 themers. Uncannily, all five themers included exactly two letters that appeared twice, with all other letters appearing only once. I say uncannily, because as it turned out, that fact was completely unintentional on Matt's part, and unrelated to the actual meta. So, I thought it would be a fun challenge for myself to turn that feature into its own puzzle.
This puzzle had two ways to get to the answer: using the "ones" OR the "twos."
Method "one":
From each of the five longest across entries, take the letters that appear only once. Those letters (rearranged) appear again as the first letters of the words in another clue in the grid: 45A, 66A, 41D, 30A, 11D. The first letters of those five entries, taken in grid order, spell the answer.
Method "two":
Now, take the two letters in each themer that appear twice. Those letters are each in turn combined with one other letter to form a 3-letter word found in the grid: H(I)E, (T)OP, TI(S), TH(O), (K)EA.
Thanks to those of you who stuck with this one! Trying to get this out in time for the MGWCC reveal meant this puzzle didn't go through my usual proofreading and testing process; I hope it still provided some amusement. Stay tuned for more Pair-o-Ducks puzzles coming soon... (and I promise, these will be more up to our usual standards!)