PCC#23 "Three-Course Meal"

Although the word already existed to mean a large trunk or suitcase, Lewis Carroll first coined the term "portmanteau" in the usage of blending words... in "Through the Looking-Glass," he writes, "You see it's like a portmanteau - there are two meaning packed up into one word"... happy birthday to Lewis Carroll 01/27/1832 "You're entirely bonkers. But I'll tell you a secret. All the best people are."

Answer explanation: using the hint from 36-A, take the two ingredients to make the foods outlined in the three courses... then use the hint from 69-A to recycle the leftovers... (1) JOIN + CELLO = JELLO = and leftover letters = COIN... (2) FLARE + COHEN = FLAN and leftover letters = COHERE... (3) SPHERE + WRINKLES = SPRINKLES and leftover letters = WHERE... using the trick one last time on the three new words, COIN + WHERE = COHERE and leftover letters is the meta answer = WIN... Something that DJ Khaled does is win (a reference to one of his hit songs with the lyrics "all I do is win win win no matter what") and is something I hope you do too!

Constructor notes: I took a semester of British Literature in high school and my teacher Mrs. Kelly McMahon assigned an extra credit assignment that was inspired by Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland"... It was a bunch of riddles/mini-puzzles all leading up to a meta puzzle! (Not crossword, more like a mystery hunt puzzle). Mrs. McMahon gave us a one-week deadline and planned to release hints throughout the week. I dove right in and finished it the day she assigned it. I found the meta but had to backsolve on one of the mini-puzzles which were a bunch of cryptic-style crossword clues (I was unfamiliar with cryptics at this time)... The next day I excitedly told Mrs. McMahon I finished and her first reaction was of shock, then suspicion "there's no way, did one of your friends who took my class before tell you the answer?" I was so sad she accused me of cheating and amused that she thought I had friends. I just responded with "No, I just really like puzzles"... the mechanism used in this puzzle is one of the mini-puzzles from this anecdote.

17D: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00WCEbKM_SE&t=1s (a very good moral if you happen to be an oyster)

Got it without the nudges. Very clever. Thanks for the puzzle, Phil!

Clever puzzle, and I loved the story of your literature teacher's puzzle hunt! She sounds like an absolute gem.

Um.... so a three course meal consisting of JELLO, FLAN, and SPRINKLES. No wonder you worry about HITting THE GYM.

I have to admit, I couldn't get nudge 6 on my own. Fun puzzle.

""You're entirely bonkers. But I'll tell you a secret. All the best people are.""
I've been seeing this quote attributed to Carroll a lot lately. I wonder who came up with it.

Got it. Fun one. Thanks.I too was once falsely accused of cheating by a high school English teacher because in a book review assignment (on Profiles in Courage ironically) I correctly constructed compound sentences. She asked to see the book's dust jacket, and when she found no plagiarism apologized. I like to think this incident played a role in by becoming an editor for more than 30 years.

Thanks for the fun puz, Phil! I saw most of what I needed. I was thinking REMIX was the answer cuz I just didn't see a "three-way" 36A coming! :P

Wow! I confess I peeked at the clues. A fun and clever meta, and love the back-story!

Solved, without recourse to the nudges. Fun!

Nope, I would have flunked Ms McMahon's class! :-) Needed the nudges, and was still dizzy putting it all together. Before I saw WIN, I saw COW (I know, it was not supposed to be the front end of two words!) Figured Phil would rather have us win than be cowed! And, old fogey confession, probably might have helped if I knew who the heck DJ Kahled was. :-)

Fun, thank you! Your hint was a bit too helpful… but thanks for the really helpful hints to walk me through my gaps in sussing the mechanism. And thanks for sharing your meta construction origin story!

got it with the first nudge, great puzzle Phil!

(FYI, tiny typo in 10D)

Well I got stuck at the last step, stupid me. I saw the portmanteau and knew it meant something, then with the finished product and two "ingredients" it was pretty quick. I mean JELLO and CELLO and SPRINKLE and WRINKLE in the same puzzle, well... However, with all that deductive reasoning you would think I would know to do it one last time. No I spent a LONG time looking for clues those words could be alternates for and using the first and last letters. Finally, in abject frustration, I looked at the clues and promptly did a head slap. Clever mechanism and nice story ( I have an English Teacher story as well, they must be the ones who spend the most time with their students in high school). Thank you Phil

Neat word tricks! FWIW, I didn't need the nudges.