Thief of Hearts (Meta)

Super smooth solve. Enjoyed it.

Elegant!

Nice one! Not the answer I expected, but it was a straightforward solve. Thanks, Peter.

Fun challenge, Peter... I assume the TAKE CORE was an intentional part of the path to the answer?

Extra credit if you noticed the first letters of the eight theme words

Fun but I need a hint from someone who does cryptic puzzles. Thanks, Peter.

I saw TAKE CORE and parsed that for far too long before the correct path revealed itself with the clarity of a cartoonish 2x4 to the brainpan. Such a fun challenge to greet the week!

Needed a bit of a nudge, as I don't do cryptics, but eventually saw TAKE CORE, which then led me to the answer. Thanks for the puzzle, Peter!

Was starting on a quest to use the middle THREE letters as the hearts.. LVI and MAI and RIO — several could easily have paired clues/entries! But ACK (Bill the Cat notwithstanding) did not work out, and OAS was not quite NATO, so it just occurred to me to only look at the heart of those hearts (THE central letter), and there it was. Fun one!

BTW I also saw TAKE CORE and wondered if that was just coincidence… duh. Good thinking Mr. Wilson.

Straightforward.

A bit of a loss as to how to even start but... try it and there it was.

No extra credit for me. After the first two themers, I noticed they were both weird combinations of ill-suited words in a 5+5 pattern, so I jumped straight to the heart and grabbed CASA...

Sweet!

Like Tom Wilson and HeadinHome I saw TAKE CORE and finally found my way to the answer. But what kept me busy earlier today? Why, it was the FUSIONS right down the middle; so I looked for 2 or more words in the grid that combined would fit (letter for letter) into each themer, but leaving one letter to contribute to a four letter noun. Didn't work. Thanks for a fun seasonal puzzle, Peter!

Thanks, Peter!

never saw TAKE / CORE (even after seeing here that I was supposed to find it lol), but eventually on the third or fourth look I thought to use only the central letters. Nicely done as always, thanks.

Doh! I pulled the two central letters of the 10-letter themers and saw CORE in a column. Incorrect. Epic fail. I think that is only half of extra credit with a serious demotion for rushing a guess. Got there eventually though.

In my defense, my vision was blurred by tears from laughing at some of these clues. Wonderful puzzle, Peter. Thanks.

Nice Edsel cluing, it’s good to see something new for a common crossword fill. Thanks Abide!

Aorta have solved that on my own, tickered me off to use a nudge. Blown away by the elite cluing, thanks!

First nudge was just enough to get me to write out the themers separately, looking for eight letters. Immediately thereafter I took another look at the title - and the AHA moment struck. Definitely a bit SAD of a meta, as I had been overthinking before then. Thanks for insisting I do your puzzle.

Never saw the TAKE CORE, the title was enough. Nice extra touch there!

late submission but wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed it...no nudges needed

This was super fun! Was particularly tickled by 32D.