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Apt Acronyms (Meta)

· By benchen71 · Published 2025-04-15T06:00:24.276Z

Meta Prompt
The answer to the meta is what acronyms do
Did the omega across clue/entry in last week's MOAT pique your curiosity? If it did, then jump straight in! If not, no matter: jump straight in anyway. ;-) The answer to the meta is what acronyms do. Answer & explanation: https://www.xword-muggles.com/viewtopic.php?p=202233#p202233
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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  • benchen71 constructor · 2025-04-15T06:00:24.276Z
    Every so often a tricky-to-clue unusual word/acronym/initialism finds its way into the fill of a grid I'm constructing. To make it as easy as possible for solvers I have often clued these as "Apt acronym for..." where the entry can be directly read off the first letters of the parts of the acronym. Last night, just before dropping off to sleep, I thought, "There's a meta idea in there somewhere." But that night I dreamt that this idea was the mechanism of someone else's meta puzzle, and I remember being disappointed that I wouldn't be able to use it. When I woke up I was very pleased to discover that it had all been a dream after all, so I was free to construct a meta along those lines, and this was the result. Hope you enjoyed it. :D
    • Darth 🤓12:53 · 2025-04-15T13:29:10.477Z
      Notable In Creative Expression. :D
      • benchen71 constructor · 2025-04-17T02:11:33.336Z
        That's Awesome!
      • imontoo 2s · 2025-04-15T13:53:27.797Z
        I enjoyed it, indeed! “An apt acronym for Full Up Nifty!”
        • benchen71 constructor · 2025-04-17T06:08:13.285Z
          That's Awesome!
        • kurtalert 🤓5:07 · 2025-04-15T14:35:40.712Z
          ROFL!
          • woozy 🤓17:36 · 2025-04-15T14:52:28.866Z
            Crossword Utilized Terrifically Entertaining
            • benchen71 constructor · 2025-04-17T06:07:57.997Z
              That's Awesome!
            • MatthewL 🤓6:01 · 2025-04-15T15:23:46.295Z
              Fun one, Ben! I think you exhausted just about every acronym out there. Thanks for the puzzle.
              • Carolyn 3s · 2025-04-15T16:42:29.697Z
                Excellent!
                • boharr 3s · 2025-04-15T14:05:11.178Z
                  I was confused because I was thinking that acronyms can be pronounced as words while abbreviations can’t. So the acronym NASA worked fine, and I thought there would be others like that. But then it became obvious I had to use abbreviations to solve. I do realize that an acronym is a type of abbreviation, but they are distinct.
                  • benchen71 constructor · 2025-04-17T04:02:31.360Z
                    I think I have been using the word inconsistently from the very start. 😊
                  • ajk 6:55 · 2025-04-15T20:39:26.286Z
                    Got sidetracked initially (npi) by all the non-relevant (and symmetric!) extra acronyms. But once I started with the fake ones rather than the other way around it got easier. Fun idea, thanks.
                    • Lance 1s · 2025-04-15T21:39:14.614Z
                      I see what you did there. 😁
                      • Hector 🤓7:36 · 2025-04-15T21:46:43.824Z
                        For a second I thought the O might come from OSU, which stands for THE Ohio State University
                        • Tyrpmom 16:14 · 2025-04-16T02:40:17.697Z
                          Very cool.
                          • whimsy 🤓12:46 · 2025-04-16T12:43:30.295Z
                            Never Ever Attempt To Overthink! Thanks, Ben!
                            • benchen71 constructor · 2025-04-17T06:08:27.256Z
                              That's Awesome!
                            • DrTom 4s · 2025-04-17T21:02:56.098Z
                              WOW, I was SOOOOOO far off! I was looking at WHITE/DISK/FLOOR as being able to be completed with SPACE, then THE (as in the french Tea) TIME and GOD TIME, then finally TIME and SPACE as each completing each other. The answer then was of course SAVE TIME AND SPACE. Imagine my surprise when Crosshare told me NO, and even greater surprise when Ben said, "You are not even on the right track". I have been going back and forth looking at both sets of acronyms, certain that the others CANNOT have been unintentional and Nudge 2 confirmed that. Then GOD and TGIF seemed to coalesce...hmmm? Oh my, ROFL and FLOOR, if there is a third I know it has to be the path...SPACE and NASA, well darn.
                              Very interesting Ben, but of course if you keep waking up to say "It has all been a dream" we are going to have to call you Dorothy or Bobby!
                              Thanks for the puzzle.
                              T
                              1A
                              Apt acronym for Without Hue In The Extreme?
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                              75
                              Across
                              1. 1A
                                Apt acronym for Without Hue In The Extreme?
                              2. 6A
                                Pig-stealing son of the piper
                              3. 9A
                                Easy wins
                              4. 14A
                                Mechanical worker
                              5. 15A
                                Measure of consumer inflation produced by the UK's Office for National Statistics
                              6. 16A
                                Online sales
                              7. 17A
                                Skip a syllable
                              8. 18A
                                "When ya gettin' here?"
                              9. 19A
                                Franchise exerciser
                              10. 20A
                                Astronaut's insignia
                              11. 21A
                                4th letter
                              12. 22A
                                "I'm impressed!"
                              13. 23A
                                Billy Blank's ___ Bo
                              14. 25A
                                Apt acronym for Diameter Impacts Spherical Key?
                              15. 27A
                                Humanities degs.
                              16. 30A
                                Spanner in the shape of a specific letter used seven times in this clue
                              17. 34A
                                Left on a map
                              18. 36A
                                Apt acronym for This Here Exists?
                              19. 37A
                                Tennis champ Osaka
                              20. 39A
                                Blues from the Mississippi
                              21. 40A
                                Reader, she married Rochester
                              22. 42A
                                Apt acronym for Foot Level Of One's Room?
                              23. 44A
                                Combust
                              24. 45A
                                ___ Holmes (sleuthing role for Millie Bobby Brown)
                              25. 47A
                                Ten cent pieces (in the US, that is)
                              26. 49A
                                Apt acronym for Greatness Of Divinity?
                              27. 50A
                                Glance, so to speak
                              28. 52A
                                "I caught a ___! No, wait - it's at least a C+!" (Animal Crossing joke)
                              29. 54A
                                Certain woman in a personal ad, briefly
                              30. 55A
                                Apt acronym for Temporality's Inexorable March Eternally?
                              31. 57A
                                Initials at the start of a memo
                              32. 58A
                                Sprinted
                              33. 59A
                                Monthly woe for some (abbr.)
                              34. 61A
                                "Yay for the weekend!"
                              35. 65A
                                Left-leaning political party
                              36. 68A
                                Haw's partner
                              37. 69A
                                Savoury taste
                              38. 70A
                                Make by hand
                              39. 71A
                                Narc's org.
                              40. 72A
                                Irreligious one
                              41. 73A
                                Arthur Conan ___ (who had absolutely nothing to do with 45 across)
                              42. 74A
                                High-speed connection, for short
                              43. 75A
                                Apt acronym for Starry Place Around Cosmic Earth?
                              Down
                              1. 1D
                                Little songbird
                              2. 2D
                                Spanish greeting
                              3. 3D
                                Nile wader
                              4. 4D
                                Thus far
                              5. 5D
                                Parisian summer
                              6. 6D
                                Genealogical chart
                              7. 7D
                                Made a choice
                              8. 8D
                                "___ in M.I.A.M.I." (song by Bruce Hornsby & the Noisemakers)
                              9. 9D
                                Annulled, as a driver's license
                              10. 10D
                                Texter's "conversely"
                              11. 11D
                                "Welcome" site
                              12. 12D
                                Food at the footy, perhaps
                              13. 13D
                                35mm camera type
                              14. 21D
                                Coffee with all the fun removed
                              15. 22D
                                Columbus sch.
                              16. 24D
                                ___ Arbor, MI
                              17. 26D
                                Hits the books and rings a bell, for two
                              18. 27D
                                Caviar source
                              19. 28D
                                Houston baseballers
                              20. 29D
                                Gets up
                              21. 30D
                                Hardens
                              22. 31D
                                "I'm busy! Can't you come back later?"
                              23. 32D
                                Replace the thatch, for example
                              24. 33D
                                "Texas" poker variety
                              25. 35D
                                Spider's creation
                              26. 38D
                                "Pretentious? ___?" (Fawlty Towers line)
                              27. 41D
                                Bugling beast
                              28. 43D
                                Coral formations
                              29. 46D
                                Phoenician fertility goddess that Easter is very definitely not named after
                              30. 48D
                                Put into words
                              31. 51D
                                German article
                              32. 53D
                                Computer graphic format
                              33. 56D
                                Olympic blades
                              34. 58D
                                "Hilare!"
                              35. 60D
                                Lunch or dinner
                              36. 62D
                                Lady who wanted to write a bad romance with you
                              37. 63D
                                Colourful Apple
                              38. 64D
                                Monetary penalty
                              39. 65D
                                Digital watch display (abbr.)
                              40. 66D
                                Not interested in relationships, for short
                              41. 67D
                                Sheltered water
                              42. 68D
                                Long-term computer storage (abbr.)
                              43. 69D
                                FedEx alternative
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