Helpful Quotation (Meta)

The seed for this meta was a MEOW puzzle I released towards the end of 2022 (https://crosshare.org/crosswords/EP7g4mNZXgD6qfybofdq/first-responders-meta) in which I inadvertently used the clue "Madonna song, 'La ___ Bonita'" for ILSA. A number of solvers reported the error and I immediately fixed the mistake (to "Mrs. Lund of 'Casablanca'"). But thinking about it afterwards I realised something like that could actually be a meta mechanic. Of course I had to use that very same error, which led quite directly to the meta answer. I came up with the other mistakes which all ended up involving short words. Then, since the puzzle needed some long entries, I went looking for a suitable quotation. And I think you will agree that Samuel Smile's is absolutely perfect, referencing both mistakes and discovery. I love it when everything comes together so serendipitously!

I had a feeling that might have been the inspiration. That was lots of fun!

Quick and fun! Thanks! ;)

24A made me laugh aloud when I saw and I thought "I bet he's never going to make that mistake again!"

(It was funny because I think the mistake has been made more often than it wasn't made)

Fun, thanks!

TOTALLY fell for it. Saw ILSA and immediately assumed it was the same misspelling- but then COT? Hmmm. And lo and behold it was part of the MEAT lol

I’ve seen that ISLA ILSA thing a few times before, but I don’t remember which constructor. I’ve seen Arrival many times, and each time I see something new. What a great movie!

Great quote and nice theme.

I got 4 of the misspellings, I had to backsolve to even notice that ISLA was wrong

Fun one. I saw 24A and my first thought was "oooh, Ben's gonna get a scolding for making that mistake again." Glad to see it was all part of the game. Thanks for the puzzle!

ILSA Bonita!! ... but on purpose this time! loved the quote thanks for fun puzzle

was onto the method from my second entry (TIM), but still entertaining to uncover the exact word. I'm generally not a big fan of puzzles with screwed up entries because it makes filling the grid kind of a slog, but these were short enough that the number of unchecked squares was manageable (though the cluster of trivia I didn't know in the SW corner meant I needed some revealing there). Thanks for the breezy one on the heels of some tough metas from other corners. :)

I had entered OCT and TMI and ISLA, and after I filled in the across entries and was going back through to pick up the down entries that were left, I had to fix COT and TIM first. So when I got to ISLA/ILSA, I already knew what was going on, and that also reminded me of the inspiration from a few weeks ago.

Greta meat, Benchen!

Fun one, thanks Ben!

I agree…very nice how it all came together! Thanks, Ben!

LOAM! ;) Good one, Ben - thanks!

Thanks for an easy meta — it helps me stay motivated as I work to get my skills off the floor!

I had all of the mistakes except ilsa/isla. No matter how many times I read through the grid I kept reading it as Isla. Fun meta. Thanks, Ben!

another grate meta...thanks Ben!

Good mechanism. I kept trying, insuccessfully, to think of some way disguising it.

Nuf! (Uh, no....don't mean it that way! :-)) Thanks, Ben!

This was amazing, you finally made ILSA/ISLA into a mechanism, and a really fun one at that.

Funny story at the top of the grid, I originally had TMI until I discovered the mechanism, so for a while I had TAUPE instead of MAUVE and therefore TIM was TIT, which, well, actually, kinda works with the original clue if it wasn’t for singular/plural.