"Give me a meta long enough and a full day to solve and I will move the cat out of the bag..."
Drat, just as you feared, I'm back! I came up with today's puzzle after solving another meta I first tried to solve using the technique here. It did not work of course, "But it could", said I.
As stated in the prompt, the answer is what you might receive if you don't solve the meta, but I am sure most of you will. Though I'd put this as a solid Calico, maybe a Persian, I know some of you are going to see this immediately. I won't say who because that would probably tip it too much.
Still, it should be challenging enough that you raise a little sweat while you are trying for the prise (props to Mr. Gaffney for that lovely pun).
I want to thank Al Sisti and Whimsy for test solving and helping me clean this up. As is the norm, nudges Friday and reveal next Tuesday.
NUDGES:
Nudge 1] Puzzle creators LOVE to be topical and if their puzzle will be published on a day, or on a day before, an “event” they like to include it.
Nudge 2] If you look through the grid, aren’t there a lot of symmetric words that begin with the same two letters?
Nudge 3] The “dead center” clue/answer is soooo often important.
Nudge 4] If you combine Nudge 2 and Nudge 3 does that give you a clue to any numbers?
Nudge 5] If a puzzle creator gives you numbers, what do you do with them?
EXTRA STRONG NUDGE:
Nudge 6 THIS OUGHTA DO IT] You have probably found a common beginning IN six places. But if we used a different preposition and it was instead TO six places???
THE REVEAL:
A puzzle published one day before PI day.
A graphic that points to Archimedes the father of PI, acting out his famous quotation and trying to move, not the Earth, but a giant pie
Six words, symmetrically placed, in the grid that begin with the letters PI
A center clue that hints towards a decimal place
A realization that PI to six places gives a number: 3.141592
Plugging in the letter in the grid squares that match those numbers gives DEMERIT, the meta answer
For a more complete explanation and graphic depiction of the solve please go to: