Well I have to say I guessed it rather than solved it. I got TAKE and with everything else knew what it had to be. But even now I cannot back-solve to get it? I'm certainly missing something. But the cluing was fun and the idea was clever so now I'll just wait to see what the right way to do it was.
You did it all right, and you've actually done something like this before! Just apply the mechanism once more in the end: DAVID, HOPE, GLEE, and BRAVE all become new phrases with a suit. TAKE also does that once we apply HEART, a common 2-word, 9-letter phrase and good piece of advice!
And if someone decided to get cute, I did make TAKE SPADE an acceptable answer, haha.
After following all of the nudges I couldn't figure out how KATE SPADE could possibly refer to something one does when solving puzzles...
whimsy 🤓15:50 · 2023-04-20T19:56:21.907Z
Finally with all the nudges! Not sure if I can say I solved but my curiosity has been alleviated at least. I was overdoing it with the clubs -- trying to fit in Karaoke and Chess, and a couple of other possibilities. Even once I had TAKE, I tried Heart Take first - which gave me Heartache! (6D) Did you think of having it spell BURN instead of TAKE -- and changing the prompt: What you get when solving hard puzzles! :) Seriously, very nice job, Mikey!
MatthewL 13:02 · 2023-04-20T20:28:33.965Z
Well, all I can say is that without the nudges, would never have solved. Still, thanks for the puzzle, Mikey!
Chess club, Empress diamond, Heartache, and I kept looking for 2 more, but finally looked at the nudges to clear this one. Great idea, thanks for the fun!