If we can't figure the theme to this meta let's table it for the time being
◆ · By woozy · Published 2023-11-05T17:06:18.115Z
Meta Prompt
The answer is a key adjective for the theme of this and many other metas
CAVEAT WARNING: so for better or worse CrossHare doesn't allow you to save drafts of puzzles so to construct a new puzzle you must either complete and publish or abandon and delete you old draft. As a result one might find oneself 90% done with a puzzle and deciding it's not publish-worthy but you've gone too far to just throw it away. I came back to constructing after months to find this one in my cache. For various reasons, I don't think it's worthwhile but .... SHEESH.... I had done so much months ago.... so here it is.
This was conceived in response to a WSJ meta contest where I thought the mechanism could be taken just a little further. Unfortunately it is otherwise the exact same mechanism (I think, it was so long ago I might have forgotten). Also unfortunately it is one of those one where when you construct the key half dozen or so key entries it seems obvious but when you have to add the 58 or so extra entries it'll wash out to invisibility. (Hint: find the "weird clues" ... which become less weird as I scramble to add the 50+ clues that have nothing to do with the meta....)
Anyway I've made no really proofing since the goal of publishing is to get this out so I can make the next. On the other hand, like all my children ... it pains me to dismiss or cut it.
Checking for previous play data...
1A
Supply sustenance
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Across
- 1ASupply sustenance
- 5AAnimal tracks
- 10AHigher degrees ... but out of curiosity, what are the crude ones?
- 14AMount Whitney's county
- 15AHo, Ho, Ho expresser (not the Jolly Green Giant)
- 16AOverhang under which you may hear things not meant for you
- 17ASherlock Holmes proclamation. Sherlock Holmes was a great solver of puzzles
- 19AHe was the first murder victim according to the Bible
- 20AWild creatures
- 21A"Tell me, Oh Octopus, I begs, Is those things arms, or is they legs?" writer's first name
- 23AF is this position among the order of sharps of a scale.
- 25ASI (Sports Illustrated) covers college sports. So does this television channel spin-off
- 27APropel oneself forward at a rapid pace
- 29AMusical genre which finds itself in crosswords sometimes without the constructor even noticing
- 30ATurkey's neighbor with the capital Damascus
- 32ABobby for whom feeling good was good enough
- 34AI guess I should wear one on Aug. 28th. That's the national day to observe this neckware
- 36AVicious of the Sex Pistols
- 38A---- we forget
- 39AFundamental building block (and an unintentional hint to the meta)
- 41AAlfred Hitchcock movie supposed shot with one long cut (to be honest it isn't all that impressive)
- 43ABe out of breath
- 46AHorrie, the ---dog was the mascot of the 2/1st Machine Gun Battalion while the Fairy ---Dog was the messenger of the great dog spirit of the East, Queen Dripslobber
- 48ABeethoven's 3rd
- 52ASchoolyard taunt reply (cliched clue again)
- 54ABetter than worst
- 56AHead gesture indicating agreement
- 57ASet the sails
- 58APrecedes "....a stinker" in a few Bugs Bunny cartoons.
- 60AImportant necessity to puzzle solving
- 62AWarning signal
- 64AChoose not to go through with it
- 66AIn honorem poems
- 67APublic infrastructures that may be used to finally see the light
- 71A---- upon a time
- 72AInterior sentinels for Tibetan monasteries. The dearly departed "Little Dog" was one of these breeds. (Run well, Little Dog. You were loved... and I'm sorry we never really gave you a good name.)
- 73AAs cold as ----; lifeless and corpse-like
- 74AGreek cheese
- 75AMayor of Los Angeles from 1961 through 1973
- 76AMadder than wet these
Down
- 1DFairy-tale giant's word
- 2DPhoto blowup: Abbr.
- 3DOften raised skeptically
- 4DBuckminster Fuller was really into these
- 5DTax identifiers
- 6DJargon
- 7D"Aristotle contemplating the Home of Buster" (Photo caption when this guy was considering purchasing the of silent film star Keaton)
- 8DTransportation via highway (Abbr.) [or how to take drinks with ice]
- 9DSilklike synthetic fiber
- 10DFermented honey drink
- 11DExpensive egg
- 12DChannels for pursuing desired objects
- 13DChlorure de sodium
- 18DFails spectacularly
- 22DToothless chew and gnaw
- 23DShortest month made shorter
- 24DInternet abbreviation to indicate subjectivity
- 26DCouple
- 28DButterfly catcher
- 31DWord said when stepping barefoot upon Legos
- 33DGeppetto's goldfish
- 35DMakes lace
- 37DFemale deers
- 40DCut (the way grass might have done to it)
- 42DAbility to see things things before they occur but apparently inability to fully state words of four syllables
- 43DStandard score
- 44DProvider of sword and thread
- 45DFail to pay proper attention to
- 47DAlternative to make love, I suppose
- 49DNon-functional
- 50DCedar Rapids private college
- 51DAnnoyance for free apps
- 53DRowboat propeller
- 55DMost mature fruit
- 59DExpress indirectly
- 61D"----- for the Cure" (t-shirt slogan from web comic "Skin Horse")
- 63DLost feeling everyone here has experienced sometime
- 65DCafeteria carrier
- 66DWord said upon having the wind knocked out from you
- 68DChortling cry upon discovering simple palindrome
- 69DNewsman Rather
- 70DTechnique, for short