Back from Thanksgiving and slowly adapting to not eating every 10 minutes. This week will seem very tame compared to "Woozy's Doozy", I am so glad that everyone enjoyed it, new contributors (well new MEOW contributors) always shake things up a bit.
I'd say this one would rate a Calico on the scale, just because I imagine that some people, probably most people, will need Google for parts of it. That is not because of the difficulty of the mechanism, it is just that there are things that probably are not in the everyday lexicon.
Now, I've gotten spoiled between my last MEOW and my SSS, both getting over 50 solvers. I am sincerely hoping that is a trend and not an artifact of having more free time at Thanksgiving. My testers on this one were Cinny, Bird Lives and hcbirker and as per usual I owe them a great deal of thanks.
Kitten
֎Calico
Persian
Puma
Lion
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Nudges will be Friday, or sooner if needed, and I am always ready to help anyone who PMs me.
NUDGES:
Nudge 1] Everyone tires of hearing this, but look to the Title. Obviously there is going to be some tie-in to water in the meta.
Nudge 2] Although at times I cannot manage, in general I always try to be symmetrical with my theme answers.
Nudge 3] 39A is a rather obvious "nudge" clue - what might you add, or might have been added, if it is a crossword puzzle that contains a meta and you are looking to make an answer?
Nudge 4] Constructors often try to make the first clue be meta related. Given 39A can you see how it might be?
Nudge 5] Similarly, we often try to make the LAST clue meta, though in this case it might not be as familiar as 1A.]
Nudge 6] The meta answer is six letters long.
REVEAL:
The puzzle had symmetrically placed bodies of water, each with an extra letter. The intended solve involved noticing them (and being alerted to the possible mechanism by clue 39A) and then taking the extra letters to spell the answer.
FLAKE -> LAKE + F
AWASH -> WASH + A
POUND -> POND + U
CLICK -> LICK + C
POOLE -> POOL + E
STEEP -> SEEP + T
The extra letters spell out FAUCET, the meta answer
For a graphic representation of the solve please go to: