Like Clockwork
◆ · By Mikey G
Meta Prompt
[Level 1] The answer to the meta is a long-running TV show.
Checking for previous play data...
1A
Early exile
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Across
- 1AEarly exile
- 4AStick
- 6ARural utopia
- 8A"___ Life" (jazz standard written by Billy Strayhorn at age 18)
- 9AGlass can be found here, briefly
- 11ANYT rival (get ready for Acronym Fest, folks - not meta-related!!)
- 12ADC clock setting in winter
- 15A"So, that's how we solve the meta!"
- 17ALike some pilots' stunts
- 20AEast, in Essen or another German city starting with "E"
- 22A"___ the People" (documentary on the Constitution of Video Game Players, which I made up)
- 23AWhat hosts, five of whom are hidden in this grid, might do, or have done, on the answer to the meta (a rando center entry, but I couldn't get HOSTS to work!)
- 24AGoing rate?: Abbr.
- 25ASome HDTVs
- 26AQueen's servant?
- 28AQVC rival
- 30ACompass direction that isn't the one at 38-Down (sorry)
- 31AFirst word in the title of Dickens' last completed novel
- 32A8, often: Abbr.
- 34A45 and 78, e.g.
- 36AHave a drink in the afternoon, perhaps
- 39A"___ what do we do??"
- 40ASpanish chess piece
Down
- 1DMisers, colloquially
- 2DConnecting word
- 3DClose
- 4DCrosswords Really Sparkle, for short (we're trying here)
- 5DAchieving the name of this game earns 25 points
- 6D"If you don't know anything about cars, you ___!" (This is the only way I will clue this)
- 7DMLA alternative
- 8DFifth-largest Greek city, using all but one letter in the word "SALARIES"
- 10DEquilateral parallelogram
- 11DNash of Sixpence None the Richer
- 13D"You're the straw that ___ the drink!" (Kramer, to Jerry)
- 14DWheel, cap, or coupling, e.g.
- 16DIn accordance with
- 17D"How'd you do at the cobbling competition?" "I gave it my ___"
- 18DAfter the kleptomaniac performed in the orchestra, he took a ___
- 19DOpening in chess?
- 21DArticle seen hundreds of times in a newspaper
- 27DAnother name for the Italian heirloom tomato
- 29DBrazil, e.g.
- 33DIt might be ideal
- 35DPlace to park on Sunday
- 37DDMZ land
- 38DCompass direction that isn't the one at 30-Across (sorry)