Peak Performance
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Peak Performance

· By rickybillingsgate

Meta Prompt
The meta answer is a six-letter name.
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Leaderboard (updated hourly)

  • Tane solved 2023-12-22T04:44:11.677Z
  • kurtalert solved 2023-12-22T22:28:17.702Z
  • Hector solved 2023-12-22T23:28:44.347Z
  • Abide solved 2023-12-26T15:55:22.196Z
  • Mr Tex solved 2023-12-27T02:54:26.268Z
  • benchen71 solved 2023-12-27T07:05:42.567Z

Comments

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  • Tane 🤓5:20 · 2023-12-22T04:45:27.213Z
    Um...not gonna lie, got this one thinking about potential mountain names with six letters, and got it on my second shot. Let me go back and figure out the proper method...
    • Hector 🤓6:05 · 2023-12-23T02:07:34.411Z
      Well I got it on my first wild-assed guess. Even back-solving looks too hard for me. My best hunch is that there are names of mountains immersed in or altered in grid entries. The problem is that there are so many mountains that almost any string of letters is, or is close to, a mountain name.
      • rickybillingsgate constructor · 2023-12-24T16:33:23.659Z
        anyone have any luck backsolving? I knew this one would be hard
      • Abide 36s · 2023-12-26T15:57:11.749Z
        I guessed DENALI based on frequency of those letters. I came close to a trail of those letters moving up the grid.
        • rickybillingsgate constructor · 2023-12-27T03:09:25.750Z
          Good guess and in the general vicinity of the solution
        • benchen71 🤓5:35 · 2023-12-27T07:07:42.917Z
          Yes! The second hint helped. You can move entries into the black areas on the left and right of the puzzle: from the bottom upwards on the left: DOZENS, NODES, DONE -> DEN, and on the right: ALICIA, CILIA, LAIC -> ALI. It was only my lack of familiarity with US mountains that slowed me down!
          • rickybillingsgate constructor · 2023-12-30T19:31:57.937Z
            That's it exactly!
          1A
          They come between ifs and buts
          1
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          42
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          44
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          48
          49
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          51
          52
          53
          54
          55
          56
          57
          58
          59
          60
          Across
          1. 1A
            They come between ifs and buts
          2. 5A
            "___ what I said!"
          3. 10A
            Footnote abbr.
          4. 14A
            Of a church congregation
          5. 15A
            International Court of Justice location, with "The"
          6. 16A
            Fini
          7. 17A
            "LOL," escalated
          8. 18A
            SCOTUS name since 2010
          9. 19A
            Put down
          10. 20A
            Pretzel topper
          11. 21A
            Polite military denial
          12. 22A
            Goofs
          13. 23A
            "The Last OG" network
          14. 24A
            "NCIS" and "FBI" network
          15. 25A
            One of 100 in DC
          16. 27A
            Anonymous last name
          17. 28A
            Keys who once performed a 34-Across with Sara Bareilles
          18. 30A
            Quantities divisible by twelve
          19. 32A
            Kidney-related
          20. 33A
            Done a while ago?
          21. 34A
            Piece played in 176 keys?
          22. 40A
            Inuit-inspired outerwear
          23. 41A
            + end, usually
          24. 42A
            Taiwanese-born director Lee
          25. 43A
            Accomplishing a tough task, as might be necessary to solve the meta
          26. 55A
            Popular spyware and pop-up blocker
          27. 56A
            Parisian's "Oh my, yes!"
          28. 57A
            Pseudonym for Justin Vernon, who guested on Taylor Swift's "Folklore" and "Evermore"
          29. 58A
            Ball game subdivision
          30. 59A
            Extends, as a subscription
          31. 60A
            Junks
          Down
          1. 1D
            Top player
          2. 2D
            Unlike a doohickey or thingamajig
          3. 3D
            Takes part telephonically
          4. 4D
            Adam Smith, for one
          5. 5D
            Where Warriors battle Wizards
          6. 6D
            Hovering angel hats
          7. 7D
            A super long time
          8. 8D
            North African capital
          9. 9D
            Browned quickly, as tuna
          10. 10D
            Just sitting there
          11. 11D
            Got on the plane
          12. 12D
            Chained like an old-timey criminal
          13. 13D
            Hardest to penetrate
          14. 24D
            Paramecium hairs
          15. 26D
            Network points
          16. 29D
            Deerstalker, for one
          17. 31D
            Little skin woe
          18. 35D
            Comedian Fabrega of the unfairly cancelled "Los Espookys"
          19. 36D
            They're not even D-listers
          20. 37D
            Maine college town
          21. 38D
            "Shoot!"
          22. 39D
            Hawaiian instrument, briefly
          23. 43D
            "Fairies' midwife" described in "Romeo & Juliet"
          24. 44D
            Aroma
          25. 45D
            Wind direction indicator
          26. 46D
            "Victory! Haha!"
          27. 47D
            Church feature
          28. 48D
            Got larger
          29. 49D
            "One billionth" prefix
          30. 50D
            Cat food cans, e.g.
          31. 51D
            eBay disclaimer
          32. 52D
            Actress Skye of "La Brea"
          33. 53D
            Bong fuel, briefly
          34. 54D
            Certain sibling
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