As a student I always hated pop quizzes because I felt they were more punitive than instructive, and as an educator I felt the same way. However, as a crossword constructor, well that's a different story. The idea just popped into my mind, as so many do.
This one should play at about a Calico level, but if not I will accept all bribes and inducements for nudges...Oh, heck I am going to give Friday nudges anyway, save your money.
Kitten
CALICO
Persian
Puma
Lion
Thanks to my testers lbray53, BarbaraK, and KayW who suffered through several iterations of this little brainteaser.
My Pop Quiz Burst Nudges
Nudge 1] The title is important more for what happens in it than what it says
Nudge 2] There is no doubt about the theme clues since they all have asterisks.
Nudge 3] Could you do something with each word similar to what I did with the title?
Nudge 4] What is a more common way of saying "I'm going to CONK you on the head?"
My Pop Quiz Burst Crosshare Reveal
The Reveal:
There were 6 grid entries that, like the title, could have had a different entry for the XOP word (i.e. BURST and POP)
CONK = BOP
PRUNE = LOP
CAT = OOP (ALLEY CAT and ALLEY OOP were both 60's hits)
ACME = TOP
POLICE = COP
LEAP = HOP
The first letters give the META answer BLOTCH
For a graphic representation of the solve go to: