Legal Pursuits

Okay... so... I think going from corner to corner PLATES, to SAILBOAT, to TOWEL, to SHARES and that a trail of things that are prefaced by paper.

Is that it?

The verdict is in… this is a great meta. Loved it!

This puz looks familiar... Did I test solve it, or was another version of it on SSS? Anyway, it was still fun to do the second time around. :D

What a great puzzle. Loved the Paper Chase, which may have influenced my career choice (fortunately or unfortunately, depending on which client you ask). Thanks for the puzzle, Rick!

Just as fun the second time :) Thanks

I knew paper chase was key and paper plates to tv trays was the first link.

I kept looking for (pursuing) LEGAL or something in that vein. Not sure what was the head smacker, but it sure was a fun aha moment! Thanks Cap’n!!

I got TRI from the across entries, and nudged to look vertically, but then the trail went cold, so to speak. Didn’t think to put Paper in front of it - even though it was the oft-used repeating of the mechanism. I guess having PAPER in the grid put me off, especially after the WSJ this week!

I got a little boggled up since I thought you were intending rag paper to be a thing -- and that it can be made of flax which relates to retting. Or possibly newspaper rag. And the MMM symmetric with it could be 3M that makes post-it notes. When it all began to seem too convoluted, I went the alternative clues route... I mean trail. And besides, I really wanted to use SAILBOAT and LANTERNS because they made such pretty scenes in my mind. Nice, Cap'n! Thanks!

I suspected how to get the answer ab initio but could not find the words I KNEW had to be there. It was the center word, TOWELS, that made me look again and absque hoc I would have been lost. So caveat solver when doing these because sometimes symmetry is all horizontal...but non in omnibus and in futuro I'll remember that.

You do realize that you could have almost paired with today's MOAT for a pair of legal eagles (total of 4 under par, though both were FAR above par).

Thanks for a fun solving experience.

T

Terrific puzzle!

Very nice. I chased down a rabbit hole where 64D "Delivery possibility" had me looking for paper ROUTE and then the entry for that clue, SON, had me looking for a paper BOY making those deliveries. I finally got back on the trail. LANTERN was the last to fall because I don't think of them as being in the sky. Anyway, I saw the movie when it came out, and I think I may have read the book before that. I used to use a 7-second clip on the first day of my intro class -- the "skull full of mush" line. Of course, for "lawyer" I would substitute something more appropriate.