I didn't know this as a song. I do know it as an old joke but set in a bar. The bartender eventually threatens, "If you gome in here one time asking for grapes, I'm going to nail your bill to the bar." . . . "Got any nails?"
Very fun stuff, thanks. :) Had to stare for a bit before DUCK SOUP jumped out, and the rest fell quickly. Had some trouble filling the SE corner, since Disney/church/video games are all weak spots. Didn't help that I couldn't spell OEUVRE for a while (apparently my terrible spelling beat out my semi-decent French). But none of that is the puzzle's fault. :) Very jealous of the 41D clue! Just right for an SSS. Thanks again.
Drakes to the left of me
Mallards to the right
And here I am
Duck in the middle with you
Tyrpmom 2s · 2024-04-28T21:01:36.120Z
Cute. Thanks.
Bird Lives 🤓6:05 · 2024-04-28T21:53:21.879Z
Good teamwork. I knew only two of these, video games and Disney shows not being exactly in my wheelhouse, or even in my house.
An Ephemeral Collation 🤓2:38 · 2024-04-28T21:25:23.659Z
Very nice puzzle! Not sure if anything in the grid was directly hinting at the meta, but I'm glad I got it nonetheless. My only critique is that the clue for 47-A would benefit from the word 'series' added to the end of it as I don't believe that there is a game featuring that character which is eponymously titled, even though said character's name appears in many titles within that series. Looking forward to solving more of your work!
I knew somebody would call us out on the KIRBY clue! We settled for the compromise so it would also clue Duck HUNT, which unfortunately is not a Nintendo character, franchise, or series. Hope it didn't hold you back too much!
Thank you so much for solving and for your kind words :) Lydia and I discussed during the creation of our puzzle and we intentionally kept the clue vague on KIRBY due to the intended solve-path for the meta puzzle:
The title "Duck Out" hints at phrases where the word DUCK is removed... so we have DUCK SAUCE, DUCK HUNT, DUCK SOUP, DUCK TALES... then the next step is to figure out that there is a different entry in the puzzle whose clue may be used to get these four "duck" phrases... duck sauce, (a chinese takeout condiment) = WONTON, duck soup (an idiom for something that's easy) = OBVIOUS, duck tales (a Disney show) = RECESS, and duck hunt (an NES video game) = KIRBY... the first letters wonton, obvious, recess, and kirby spell out WORK... So you are correct in that there is no video game simply titled "Kirby" since Kirby refers to the character itself or the franchise. But we kind of cheated a little and had to force the cluing angle to make "duck hunt" work :)... hope this helps clears things up! and if you like meta puzzles, there is a whole super friendly and fun community here dedicated to solving them: https://www.xword-muggles.com/
Sharkicicles 2s · 2024-04-29T04:09:02.229Z
Funny story why Kirby is Kirby… he’s actually named after a Nintendo lawyer who helped them in a frivolous lawsuit against Universal, King Kong vs Donkey Kong.
Nice collaboration, why you could say it was just ducky! I searched for the Marx Brothers for a while since Duck Soup is a classic. However, since I could not find Marx or Rufus T. Firefly I went with the obvious....
As a former UTE I am always glad to see them in a puzzle (and with those vowels they often are). I'll even forego my rude joke about ELDERS, though since I heard it in SLC perhaps Mr. Woychick already knows it? Two UTES Mark? Sounds like a job for my cousin Vinny!
I look forward to more from Pair-O-Ducks/Schmidzy
Oh, and while we are making duck references (grape try!) here is a duck soup one:
"Ambassador Trentino: I didn't come here to be insulted!"
"Rufus T. Firefly: That's what you think!"
Eric Porter 4s · 2024-04-28T23:21:52.181Z
I wasn't aware of the alternate meaning of "duck soup". I would have had a harder time if I hadn't recently seen a similar puzzle. Thanks!
i was also unfamiliar with the idiom "DUCK SOUP" as well... it's not so OBVIOUS but glad to have learned something new... prior to publishing the puzzle, we made sure there were no potential/unintended red herrings with the Marx Brothers film so I scanned the Marx Brothers filmography to make sure no other title words were represented in the grid
Carolyn 2s · 2024-04-29T01:34:06.257Z
Cute!
Hidden in 3D 3s · 2024-04-29T14:54:17.859Z
Thanks Lydia and Phil! What a fun way to start my Monday morning!