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Woozy's drunken merry-go-round

◆◆ · By woozy · Published 2023-12-15T19:39:51.238Z

Meta Prompt
The meta is a musical theory term. (Be sure you look at the extra clues in the blurb below. They are essential to the meta but do not fit in the standard Across/Down clue categories)
Difficulty Rating: If you don't have a musical degree and you don't google--- impossible. If you google-- hmmm, I dunno.
Extra Clues to be entered into the grid but in neither across nor down:
A. Father of the New Deal, Franklin Roosevelt, spoke of Speech, Religion, Fear and Want in a 1941 State of the Union address. Herbert Hoover responded and added Economic to the list as this
B. Charles Mossman is the protagonist of an Andrew Gross novel about this-- a group dedicated to undermining from within
C. Goes into overdrive with this
D. "Down-down-and right here" was certainly not a hit song for this pop group originally named The Versatiles
E. And this protects us from self-incrimination
F: Ends the list after Earth, Water, Air, Fire with Quintessence (literally this)
G: Battle of egos will never resolve whether this title should go to Stu Sutcliffe or Brian Epstein
Checking for previous play data...

Leaderboard (updated hourly)

  • Hector solved 2023-12-16T01:18:09.223Z
  • SamKat9 solved 2023-12-16T02:29:10.646Z
  • LarsCaine solved 2023-12-16T16:53:48.194Z
  • Dave C solved 2023-12-16T20:58:53.584Z
  • KayW solved 2023-12-16T21:53:05.488Z
  • benchen71 solved 2023-12-16T23:10:54.830Z
  • whimsy solved 2023-12-17T00:31:28.242Z
  • Meg solved 2023-12-17T00:52:57.006Z
  • markhr solved 2023-12-17T01:40:14.366Z
  • Philip Chow solved 2023-12-17T06:31:24.742Z
  • Cindy Weatherman solved 2023-12-17T15:11:39.964Z
  • andeux solved 2023-12-17T17:22:52.168Z
  • Account solved 2023-12-20T15:22:31.179Z
  • kurtalert solved 2023-12-22T21:54:48.766Z
  • Laura M solved 2024-01-09T00:41:47.285Z
  • hoover solved 2024-01-10T17:18:32.646Z

Comments

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  • Hector 🤓14:53 · 2023-12-16T01:18:33.730Z
    Cool concept; thanks!
    • Hector 🤓14:53 · 2023-12-16T05:03:59.658Z
      And just saw how your extra clues start with FCGDAEB :-)
      • woozy constructor · 2023-12-16T05:52:31.253Z
        As do their entries Freedom, column, etc.
    • SamKat9 21:23 · 2023-12-16T02:29:48.451Z
      Really cool puzzle! I'm glad I spent some time to solve it!
      • Dave C 4s · 2023-12-16T21:07:43.664Z
        clever clues - I enjoyed it.
        • KayW 🤓12:32 · 2023-12-16T22:10:53.733Z
          Very creative. The title is a fantastic euphemism for a circle of fifths. The extra clues certainly helped me get FIFTHS and I don't know HOW long it would take me to get without those ABCDEFG hints. But I kind of backed into the answer because I'd heard "circle of fifths" somewhere. Is it from the circular grid and the glut of five-letter entries, or is there some other musical reference I am missing.? I also see you sneaked "5th century" into the clues.
          Loved the weeping angels reference at 14A and the other clueing like 44A and the stream of consciousness flow to them. Thanks!
          • woozy constructor · 2023-12-17T03:43:33.677Z
            Nothing to do with five letter entries. From wikipedia:"In music theory, the circle of fifths is a way of organizing the 12 chromatic pitches as a sequence of perfect fifths. (This is strictly true in the standard 12-tone equal temperament system — using a different system requires one interval of diminished sixth to be treated as a fifth). If C is chosen as a starting point, the sequence is: C, G, D, A, E, B (=C♭), F♯ (=G♭), C♯ (=D♭), A♭, E♭, B♭, F. Continuing the pattern from F returns the sequence to its starting point of C. This order places the most closely related key signatures adjacent to one another. It is usually illustrated in the form of a circle."
            I took a bit of creative license in only using the unsharped unflat notes starting at F. The (half) circle of fifths there is FCGDAEB which (because... theory) is the order that sharps are added to key signatures. The mnemonic for that is the famous Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle which are the first words of the "Clockwise Clues" and correspond with the entries.
            • KayW 🤓12:32 · 2023-12-18T01:20:41.590Z
              Whoa!!!!! very impressive. I hadn't heard of that mnemonic. Excellent job weaving that into those clues!
          • whimsy 23:45 · 2023-12-17T00:38:06.737Z
            Wow -- so intricate, and interlacing, and I don't know what else! (and I probably missed half the sly references.) Thanks, woozy!
            • Meg 2s · 2023-12-17T01:01:02.859Z
              Just found the outer ring. Nice!
              • Philip Chow 15:04 · 2023-12-17T06:39:48.320Z
                what a fun puzzle thanks for sharing! i knew something was up when the answers at the edges were insanely weird and contrived. i don't know much about music theory but google certainly helped as did the shape of your grid :) your cluing angle is pretty funny i actually did get neurocrine from your hawaiian duck sandwich... fall on your niece, the elevator clue, and start and end of headache made me laugh too... so much fun all around!
                • Laura M 21:17 · 2024-01-09T00:44:52.728Z
                  Didn't see this one until today. Fun! Although I submitted 3 failed attempts before the right thing popped into my head :-)
                  • hoover 8s · 2024-01-10T17:23:56.003Z
                    Nice one! I saw COLUMN first as I was filling the grid, then FREEDOM and GEAR and DIMENSION and BEATLE and by that time I figured out we needed to do something with FIFTHs. I thought, let's try FIFTH first. Nope, well, gee that Beatle guy was a certainly a MINOR FIFTH but that's not a thing; you would have called it a tritone or Devil's interval. MAJOR FIFTH? Nah... Oh duh, they're in a circle! And oh, right, there were some other clues that I didn't seem to use. And now I see Hector's comment to see how clever this puzzle really was.
                    Play today's daily mini crossword
                    1A
                    O dis does cette star-spangled banner yet wave Sur le land of -- ---- and la home de le brave (...You know, just go with it)
                    1
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                    6
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                    12
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                    22
                    23
                    24
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                    26
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                    29
                    30
                    31
                    32
                    33
                    34
                    35
                    36
                    37
                    38
                    39
                    40
                    41
                    42
                    43
                    44
                    45
                    46
                    47
                    48
                    49
                    50
                    51
                    52
                    53
                    54
                    55
                    56
                    57
                    58
                    59
                    60
                    61
                    62
                    63
                    64
                    65
                    66
                    67
                    68
                    69
                    70
                    71
                    72
                    73
                    74
                    75
                    76
                    77
                    78
                    79
                    80
                    81
                    Across
                    1. 1A
                      O dis does cette star-spangled banner yet wave Sur le land of -- ---- and la home de le brave (...You know, just go with it)
                    2. 7A
                      The Story about Fuss and Bother
                    3. 11A
                      Sweeping sagas
                    4. 12A
                      Open courtyard
                    5. 14A
                      ----- and you'll miss it. (And the weeping angels will get you.)
                    6. 15A
                      Afterword
                    7. 16A
                      Agent that increases body tone. (In music theory a musical tone is enhanced with a return to the key note in the scale.... if you follow the cadences of these, I suppose, you could solve the meta. But that was entirely inadvertent when I made this entry)
                    8. 18A
                      Cornered (like a fox on a limb)
                    9. 19A
                      Get rid of
                    10. 21A
                      Mehitabel, the alley cat, in a former life
                    11. 23A
                      "Fall on your -----". (My sister's daughter always got irritated when I'd deliberately mis-sing O, Holy Night that way)
                    12. 24A
                      It keeps you safe at work
                    13. 25A
                      Mollusk produced gemstone
                    14. 26A
                      Printer's measures
                    15. 27A
                      Memorable time
                    16. 29A
                      River craft
                    17. 31A
                      Dravidian term for a place, as in Tamil ----, in Southern India
                    18. 33A
                      Bring to existence; create
                    19. 35A
                      Flower support
                    20. 37A
                      32 oz, or 48 oz, or 64 oz. or any multiple of (more than one) 16 oz.
                    21. 39A
                      Tabitha Twitchit's clothing eschewing son
                    22. 40A
                      Literally, free sample
                    23. 41A
                      Cars with a reputation for being very dangerous when rear-ended
                    24. 44A
                      Type of song where it doesn't really matter what chords I play or words I say or time of day it is
                    25. 46A
                      Artist who works with stones
                    26. 48A
                      Actress Henner (from Grease, Taxi, etc.)
                    27. 49A
                      Programming language. It's an old standard but for shading graphics (hence the second letter in its name)
                    28. 50A
                      Comes before Neh. and after II Chron.
                    29. 51A
                      Security officer on Deep Space-9
                    30. 52A
                      Join up with; encounter
                    31. 53A
                      The beginning and end of a headache. giggle
                    32. 55A
                      Spat
                    33. 57A
                      Eastern
                    34. 59A
                      Kimono sash
                    35. 62A
                      Ovine expression that is probably more nuanced than we give it credit for
                    36. 63A
                      ----- of the Nine Hostages; 5th century High King of Ireland (sorry about the obscure reference but I refuse to do a clue about One Direction)
                    37. 65A
                      Look over quickly
                    38. 67A
                      Where Saul seeks a witch to summon the spirit of Samuel
                    39. 69A
                      The first one she married was Mahler Whose buddies all knew him as Gustav And each time he saw her he'd holler: "Ach, that is the fräulein I must have!" Their marriage, however, was murdah He'd scream to the heavens above: "I'm writing Das Lied von der ---- Und she only wants to make love!" -- 39A Lehrer lyric
                    40. 70A
                      Computers introduced in 1998 that came in many colors
                    41. 71A
                      You've really got - ---- on me
                    42. 72A
                      Award
                    43. 74A
                      The matter in question
                    44. 75A
                      SNL alum Cheri whom I only know from crosswords
                    45. 76A
                      Gratuitous junk food clue
                    46. 78A
                      Violent weather
                    47. 79A
                      A type of cell signaling similar to paracrine, but involving neurons (Maybe if you tried feeding a Euro Cry by ear to a Hawaiian goose and... oh, that just makes it worse)
                    48. 81A
                      Commune in the Haute-Marne department in north-eastern France. (I can't believe this is actually a word!)
                    Down
                    1. 1D
                      Absence
                    2. 2D
                      Chicago transports
                    3. 3D
                      Iron
                    4. 4D
                      Alternative to turkey or goose
                    5. 5D
                      Baby newt
                    6. 6D
                      What Gea is the Greek goddess of (why U MN chose her as its mascot I will never know)
                    7. 7D
                      Each
                    8. 8D
                      Dating app for kindling a romance
                    9. 9D
                      Heavy metal band spin-off of Black Sabbath
                    10. 10D
                      1/16 of a pint
                    11. 11D
                      Steamboat Robert which we've been waiting for since 1912
                    12. 13D
                      La Scala's city
                    13. 14D
                      Energetic; quick
                    14. 15D
                      Fishy sign
                    15. 17D
                      Unctuous preparation of wax and resin (confusedly bring to existence?)
                    16. 18D
                      Periodical for Nashville's st.
                    17. 19D
                      Make happen
                    18. 20D
                      Is able
                    19. 22D
                      "Should I pick strawberries in the new garden?" "No, pick apples in the --- -------"
                    20. 25D
                      Washington Post columnist Alexandra who owned the Twitter account "Emo Kylo Ren"
                    21. 26D
                      Hungarian word for a floor above the ground level (How lucky am I that that is actually a word? How unlucky are you that you are expected to know Hungarian?)
                    22. 28D
                      What obscure trivia do I know that I can use to make a clever clue for this Houston baseball team? .... Hmm, not any apparently
                    23. 30D
                      Second largest city in Portugal
                    24. 32D
                      When the school in the Twin Cities chose the Greek Earth goddess as a mascot it was this (...You know, just go with it)
                    25. 34D
                      Prefix referring to surface
                    26. 36D
                      Plaything
                    27. 38D
                      Cardinal letters
                    28. 42D
                      Wedding words
                    29. 43D
                      Rafael of tennis
                    30. 44D
                      Scottish denial
                    31. 45D
                      "Wha...? I don't understand this meta"
                    32. 47D
                      Company concerned with promotion and image
                    33. 48D
                      Impending danger
                    34. 52D
                      Cookie made from almonds or coconut
                    35. 54D
                      Town in southern Italy that is not to be confused with the viral fever nor with intestinal bacteria
                    36. 56D
                      Became less vivid
                    37. 58D
                      Dogma
                    38. 60D
                      What boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past do
                    39. 61D
                      "Should I put this out there?" "Um, no."
                    40. 64D
                      Strung along
                    41. 66D
                      Maritime province (not PEI nor NB)
                    42. 68D
                      Student housing
                    43. 70D
                      Pelvic bone
                    44. 73D
                      Have existence
                    45. 75D
                      Elevato... what, don't I even get a chance to finish the clue. Yeah, I know, it's been done many times.....
                    46. 77D
                      Singing syllable (repeat it seven times and you won't get the meta... So why am I teasing you by referring to the meta? I don't know... I guess I'm just mean that way.)
                    47. 78D
                      Hindu honorific
                    48. 80D
                      Denver st.
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