Explanation: So many black squares! Those squares, though, all solve a purpose in this one. Per the title, we need to look for something related to the phrase "three by three," and the easiest way to do this is three-by-three squares. There's typically a lot of those in a standard crossword in which all squares have letters, but the bizarre placement of the blocks means that only 9 three-by-three letter squares appear in this puzzle, perfectly symmetrical all the way around. In each of these nine squares, one letter appears exactly three times (so "C" in the CBS/DOC/CLOG square in top left, and so forth). These nine three-peats spell out CLOUD NINE, where I hope you are when you're finished! Note that 3 by (times) 3 is indeed 9 and that these nine squares have a grand total of 81 letters, perfect for meta #81!
I promise that it isn't always there! But that explains why I needed to have #79 (no tie-in) be the hard one, since #80 and #81 were already pre-planned, haha.
Uggh -- tried ON CLOUD NINE and was rejected, so thought I had the wrong idea. Took me a bit to figure out I didn't need the ON. Thanks for the puzzle, Mikey!
Wow, this just keeps getting better, 9 sets of nine squares for puzzle #81 - I was wondering if you did it again and you sure did. Amazing my friend, amazing
So, I just went back and read how I was SUPPOSED to do it, very slick and not the random (OK, chaotic) method I did use. I should have known there would be order in all of that. I guess I am better at guessing what might be going on in Mike's mind (no doubt a function of the scary things that happen in my own) than as a constructor or solver.
Got a bit messed up by all the Os and the different arrangement, but got INE last night and this AM had the AHA, CLOUD NINE (3 x 3) of course. Fun one Mikey.
HeadinHome 🤓3:31 · 2024-02-01T14:07:14.217Z
That was a thoroughly satisfying AHA!! I tried a variety of other theories, including at one point highlighting all the places where there were 3 same letters in a diagonal row (“that just seems like too many of those not to be involved,” says I)… and of course it WAS involved, but not the way I thought. Discovering the real solution got me all excited. That’s a good puzzle!
hoover 2s · 2024-02-01T17:01:28.418Z
I saw the 3x3 blocks right off the bat, but I went for the centers, which didn't spell anything. I didn't click to the fact that they each had 3 of a letter until this morning when I tried to anagram each block. I was stymied by the first block because it had hardly any vowels and it had 3 Cs ... hey wait a minute, 3 Cs... checking other 3x3 blocks... yeah!
Qmark 3s · 2024-02-03T16:23:18.835Z
Got to this one late, but no nudges needed...thanks Mikey! I always enjoy your math-themed ones...perfect nine squares of 9 for puzzle 81.
Wilson Hubbell 19:13 · 2024-02-04T15:56:03.833Z
really enjoyed solving this, but i am new to metas and didn't even think about it having a title or that the title would help. i just thought the answer would be another really bad/great pun but at a meta level, which is why i submitted "in the crosshares"