Well I'm back. You have had two lovely puzzles by alternate authors, and now you have to suffer through me again. I hope the shock is not too much
Given all that is happening, politically and climatically, it is no wonder we are all under a LOT of pressure. With any luck this puzzle will help relieve some of that as opposed to cause more. My tester (lbray) got it pretty quickly but said it was a good solid 2 to 3 level so this little kitty gets a rating of:
Kitten
֎Calico
֎Persian
Puma
Lion
Nudges scheduled for Friday but sooner if needed.
PM me if you need some nudging before that.
NUDGES:
Seems this is harder than I thought so I will unleash a few early nudges.
Nudge 1] Everyone saw my parade of wines no doubt, and of course that is where you start
Nudge 2] Nothing in the grid to help you? How about the clues?
Nudge 3] There is hidden meaning and then there is just hidden - the next step is indeed just hidden
Nudge 4] It is relatively easy to hide things in clues, especially oddly worded clues
Nudge 5] There HAVE to be clues you thought were kind of "goofy" (or goofier than usual); I mean do I really seem like a big "Joanie Loves Chachi" follower?
REVEAL:
Six wines were in the GRID. Each of those wines also appeared in a different clue:
MALBEC = 13A norMALBECkham = GOAL
BARBERA = 51D a BARBER At = RAZOR
PINOT = 30D eP IN OT = ANGST
MERLOT = 23D umMER LOTi = PEEL
CABERNET = 28A CABER NETwork = ERSE
CHIANTI = 58D chaCHI ANTI- = SLAM
Those letters in order spell the meta answer GRAPES
For a graphic depiction of the solve please go to: