Of Course!

Thank you for the very cool puzzle! Actually a tricky mechanism for someone who doesn't know much about golf, but my brain seemed to be coming up with good ideas today!

So glad I didn’t have to match the grid to a map of the course! Thanks, Mikey.

Fore! Got waylaid at Amen Corner but survived. Thanks Mikey.

I've learned to always refer to the puzzle number for a Mikey meta! This, in conjunction with 56A, got me onto the correct course. ;-)

OMG!!! I solved a sportsing meta!! LOL. This one is brilliant. Thanks Mikey

Quick solve--wonderful puzzle!

Did this the hard way, not getting the clever par indexing until after solving. Maybe it's that inn my experience those strange "par" numbers never seem to have any remote relevance to actual golfing.

LOVED THIS! Golf references I noticed (intentional or not): AUGUST (intentional I am sure), ARNIE, PYLE (ERNIE in clue made me think of ERNIE ELS, chip in the clue for BLOC, Green in Greenhorn clue. The last step was a little "ROUGH" but I managed to save par!

Answer: JUST GOING FOR A DRIVE

Explanation: Per the central entry of AUGUSTA, the repeated references to "course" (serendipitously ARNIE and ATEE also came up), and the fact we're looking for an 18-letter phrase, this is most definitely golf-related. But, more specifically, it's related to the Augusta golf course that has been the centerpiece of the Masters for nearly 100 years. Also, just as overtly, precisely 18 entries' clues start with PAR. Take the nth letter of each of these entries, where n is the par of each hole in Augusta (for the record, these 18 pars are 454343454443545344). For example, the first PAR clue is 1-A's SUBJ, and the 4th letter of the entry is "J." Complete this 18 times for the punningly fitting phrase JUST GOING FOR A DRIVE, the answer to the meta.

Lots of fun! Everything I know about golf, I've learned from crossword puzzles. But thanks to this one, I know a little more.

Another wonderful Pun of a Kind! Well, that’s par for the course. (How many have already used this pun? I didn’t read below. If I knew more golf lingo, maybe I could have been more original. Anyway … much fun! Thanks, Mikey!)

That was pretty genius!

Lol! This puzzle was fantastic! Awesome construction, Mikey!

Fantastic puzzle, Mikey! Solved the grid yesterday, but had no idea what to do, so it was looking a little rough. Took a mulligan today and decided to print out the puzzle, and then AUGUSTA jumped out at me, and then all the clues starting with PAR. Pretty clear what to do after that, and it became a tap in. A lot of fun. Thanks!

Got it!! Suddenly had a moment of clarity as I thought about “par” and remembered seeing “parsley” and “parlays” next to each other - and got excited when there were exactly 18 similar clues - followed by a sinking feeling as the first letters spelt out gibberish. But 98 dn came to the rescue! Couldn’t believe it as a phrase unfolded before my eyes! Very cool, Mikey!

I had to put this down several times and revisiting before figuring out what to do with all the PAR words… golf isn’t exactly my forte but googling is! So once I googled “Augusta golf”… that lead me to the Masters and everything came together… brilliant construction!!

i cant... i just... how... to come up with such an idea... and then to carry it out... just when i think its all been done, you geniuses continue to blow me away... sorry for being so lame, i don't have any words, so ill leave them to you superstars... i just... i dont... i cant even...

Wow...frigging awesome....I was wondering early on whether it would be par for augusta......took me a bit to see par. Incredible puzzle and meta. Loved it.

Loved it! I forgot to come back to this one for a few days, after I didn't solve the meta right away, but I'm glad I remembered!

Another fantastic puzzle and clever mechanism. I struggled a little with the fill, then chased "courses" (MAIN, CHEESE) and ATEE, ADROP for a while, then started looking for golf terms in the clues. I saw GREENhorn, MASTERcard, CHIP, COURSE and then saw PARabola! Of course I immediately saw PARody and thought, "well that can't be it" when I saw PARade, PARsley and some others. Quickly got to 18 so that had to be it, but stuttered with the letters that spelled nothing. "Hmm, why would he pick only one golf course, oh heck I know and also know why none of his theme answers are more than 5 letters!"

I'm not really a golfer (more of a ball drowner) but the way to the 19th hole became evident quickly. Thanks Mike, loved it!

Yeah. Never would have gotten this. Had no idea par refered to specific holes and that there were different pars for each hole. Should have seen the pars though and should have seen the golf references but I didn't. When I got nudge one, I figured the idea was the holes in the clues but there were only 14 fill in the blank clues. (They started spelling MAIL MIL... which was tempting for a while). So I had to go to nudge 2 and beyond. Nudge 4: Huh? there is? Okay. So each hole on a course has a specific name. Google... nothing. Nudge 5: That "term". huh? I thought he said there were 18 terms. Nudge 6: Okay, he's talking of "par" but what do par have to with the holes. Any we SAAB... etc. isn't it. Nudge 7 and 8, yeah, yeah, I have no idea that's why I'm looking. Nudge 9. Okay, still can't see anything about how Augusta differs from others. Nudge 10: What? They do? I had utterly no idea!

Haha, I actually knew the back nine holes by heart so I did them first before checking my less certain memory of the front nine.

Very cool! I only needed the first nudge. I think if I solved on paper, I might have noticed the 18 par clues earlier.

I saw the golf connection right away, but never figured out I had to look up the pars. What a puzzle!

Whew. I figured it was Augusta National. Then I Googled and saw that all the holes had names. Got lost and never came back. Thanks for the great puzzle AND for the hints, of which I needed most.

How appropriate that you picked a par 72 golf course for your #72 puzzle, Quite an intricate mechanism - I can see why you needed a larger grid. Remarkable that you could find 18 clues starting with PAR whose grid entries each had the correct letter at the correct location in the answer word, and fit them all in sequence.

I did see Augusta in the middle and knew if was a golf course, but needed nudging to keep me from looking for other "courses" and to focus my search. The 4th nudge started things moving and the 5th yielded me a wonderful AHA moment. At that point, I was ready to shoot a round on the course at even par (with the help of the Masters course map, complete with pictures, at https://www.masters.com/en_US/course/index.html).

Quite a thorough mechanism. I knew that Augusta was the name of a renowned golf course, but needed the nudges to keep me from looking for other kinds of "courses" and then to focus me more precisely. The 4th nudge started to dislodge me, and the 5th nudge broke things open in a wonderful AHA moment.

I then was ready without further ado to shoot a round at even par (with the help of the 2023 Masters course map complete with pictures at https://www.masters.com/en_US/course/index.html).

I can see why you needed a larger grid, Quite remarkable you could find 18 clues starting with PAR whose grid entries had the correct letters at the necessary locations.

Never noticed the PARs until the nudges! What I noticed was all the grid entries ending in O -- OSLO with SLO was near the top, and ELMO with MO was diametrically opposite. Was looking for letters in between such that I could come up with something like: "Let's see that in SLO-MO."

Awesome construction, Mikey! Augusta is my favorite course, but I never would've completed this round without the wedges er... nudges. You are definitely a meta "Master"!

Wow. What an excellent puzzle.

Hole-y guacamole. This was amazing. Needed the nudges, but still super fun to work through with those in hand!

Love the clues! Such a fun puzzle.