Mixed Drinks

Nice aha moment! I was confused by the numbers in brackets for a hot minute until I realised they were indicating how many words the mixed drinks were. And then it was a quick jump from GNAT to the answer.

The meta answer is TANG (Hint: Find a 4-letter name--in this case, a brand name.)

The puzzle's title, "Mixed Drinks," might have tipped you off that this meta involved anagrammed drink names--and you'd be right! But of course, with an added twist.

Clues for 4 of the puzzle's Across answers ended in either "(1)" or "(2)". This was a nudge that they were what you'd need to anagram, and how many words would appear in the phrases they anagram into. The answers to these clues were:

18A. TEENAGER

29A. PATCHING

52A. BATHES IN

64A. WINTER COAT

Those anagrammed into, respectively, things people drink: GREEN TEA, NIGHTCAP, ABSINTHE, and TONIC WATER.

So what of the hint? Well, from top to bottom, the first letter of each of those things people drink spells the word GNAT. It, like each of the 4 theme answers, is a regular word/phrase that anagrams into something that people drink. In this case, it's the orange-powder drink TANG, a 4-letter (brand) name that satisfies the puzzle's hint.

Nice! A couple of years ago I had a craving for Tang, and hunted it down at the grocery store. It just wasn't the same as I remembered from my childhood. Even vodka couldn't save it.

Fun! Thanks!

Gave up on the meta; I didn't catch what you were going for! Somehow this is linked to good news regarding my solve - that this is the first meta (I think) I've solved w/o hints / reveals! I'll just chock it up to me not knowing what to expect because I've never gotten to this point before... Other than that, it was quite fun to go through!

Excellent

Good puzzle, thanks for explaining the meta. I liked 9D, 60A

Luckily I know of ABSINTHE and there is no drink called PATCH GIN.

Darn near entered GNAT, but that bothered me (ha ha) and since one of the first drinks I looked for in TEENAGER was TANG and that widely brewed product, EEER, I figured it had to be a drink.