Fun one, thank you! I think you might have overestimated difficulty given the generous nudges, but I'm not complaining.
Berto 2s · 2024-02-04T15:10:21.733Z
I solved on Puzzazz, like shading and circling feature, plus Crosshare a bit glitchy on my phone - but wondering why recommended for this puzzle?
Regardless - fun aha moment! Thanks Will!
AaronT 🤓10:53 · 2024-02-04T22:39:47.559Z
On Crosshare, 42D toggles back and forth between BLANK and SPACE after completing the grid, both of which work with the crossers. Very cool!
FrankieHeck 🤓8:09 · 2024-02-04T15:40:49.283Z
Fun puzzle!
Tyrpmom 2s · 2024-02-04T15:41:10.085Z
I like it!
Bbaack 🤓16:00 · 2024-02-04T16:23:53.200Z
That was a lot of fun, and clever use of a unique feature of Crosshare!
insanely clever construction - loved it!!... thanks for the prompt that it's a plural noun because I originally had EWOK for the space cadet... thinking hmmm chewie is furry and kind of fits the clue but not really so had VIDEO... thinking that there's a blank space music video ... backsolving on the S now...
VERY nice! Haha. I see why you recommend solving on crosshare - I NEVER noticed the alternate wordplay possible at 42 across until after I completed the grid and it started flashing at me.
hoover 🤓16:44 · 2024-02-04T19:42:34.205Z
Likewise here. I usually solve on AcrossLite but solved on Crosshare for this one.
Acyally, I wasn't familiar with the song -- that's how far from being a Swiftie I am -- and with just the entry SPACE, I thought it was going to be about one person in the relationship "wanting some space," as they say. But that's another song, one by Christine Lavin: "If you want space, go to Utah." Oh well, the puzzle had the perfect meshing of mechanism, title, and answer.
hoover 🤓16:44 · 2024-02-04T19:42:54.583Z
Not a Swiftie here either. I had to google the song.
Very nice indeed. Agree that it might be a bit easier than advertised, but then I always think that about the ones that I get right away, and it's not always true. Fun as always, thanks.
Yep - as Peter notes, both BLANK and SPACE are in the title of the song. And by replacing the BLANKs in the clues with the word SPACE, it leads you to the answer.
Yes, I knew that both words work for the song (actually both are required for the song). And I knew that "SPACE" completed the clues with empty slots. But I could not figure out what "BLANK" had to do with the metanism. (It didn't occur to me the empty slots are called ..... blanks.)
MatthewL 🤓7:24 · 2024-02-04T19:58:06.774Z
Very clever. Took me a bit to see it, but I aVOIDed disaster. Thanks for the puzzle!
My new daughter-in-law, a real Swiftie, was visiting this afternoon and asked me if I could name a Taylor Swift song. Thanks to this meta, I was able to stammer out "...Space! Blank Space!" So thank you for that
Didn't do on Crosshare, so I probably made it harder on myself. Space cadet is what started me on the right path.
lbray53 🤓4:26 · 2024-02-04T23:28:49.543Z
VERY fun puzzle. At the risk of giving you a meta idea, I noticed early that if I put an L between PICKETT and EWOK I could parse that line to get KETTLE / WOK. And kettle could fill in for a wok. I probably was on that path after seeing SUBS (fill-ins) in UNSUBSCRIBES while solving. I went back and solved on Crosshare and the flashing center entry got me on track. Great execution on this one.
I love how these little Easter eggs have a way of sneaking into puzzles with entirely unrelated themes. Thanks for the idea! I'll have to mull it over.
That was an interesting ride. We had SPACE for the center entry, which works just fine, but Crosshare didn't like it and said our filled-in grid was incorrect. Love how BLANK works just as well for all the down entries. We then assumed SPACE was the meta answer, forgetting we needed a plural noun. Took awhile to see what needed to be seen and get the right answer. Enjoyed this one!
Hmm... Crosshare should have accepted either BLANK or SPACE for the central entry. Might need to look into that... But glad you got it anyway! Thanks for solving!
Fun puzzle, and right in the difficulty sweet spot, too! So clever :).
MajordomoTom 🤓10:42 · 2024-02-05T00:47:33.110Z
now to backsolve the "S"
HeadinHome 🤓20:13 · 2024-02-05T01:11:06.247Z
Oh never mind… I did not know “space opera” was a thing.
And I had totally overlooked the ___ suit clue (didn’t scroll down far enough.). Got it now. This was brilliant, and fun!
HeadinHome 🤓20:13 · 2024-02-05T01:06:31.652Z
Okay - I guessed. I had V-O-?-?-S by putting SPACE into the blanks that worked (____ bar / Vee; ___ station/ Orbiter; ? ; ? , ___ cadet / Scatterbrain). How were the I and D supposed to be spotted? I see that the I and D are Indie (space…film?) and Diaper (space suit), but I would have thought all of the letters would be from filling in blanks (since it says “blank space”). I must be missing something obvious. ?
You had it! The I came from: [___ opera] --> SPACE OPERA --> [Genre for "Battle Beyond the Stars"] --> INDIE and the D came from [___ suit] --> SPACE SUIT --> [Astronaut's garb, at times] --> DIAPER. Note that the entries starting with SPACE matched other clues which then led to entries with notable first letters.
Sfull411 🤓9:53 · 2024-02-05T02:12:01.437Z
Great fun. Thanks!
Eric Porter 4:11 · 2024-02-05T17:27:49.441Z
I got VOID and given that it had to be a plural noun, it wasn't hard to complete.
What clue becomes SPACE CADET??? I don't know why I can't even backsolve that one.
Popping in to enter the answer and make an honest woman of myself, now that I've kicked Crosshare and my laptop to get them to cooperate again.
This was lots of fun -- Thanks, Will!
I bounced around a bit trying to add things to the long words, but ASTRONAUT and DIAPER just seemed so wrong. I mean I know they have MAGs (maximum absorbency garments) they wear during launches and space walks, but of all the parts of a space suit...hey wait a minute! So I did get it AND as an added bonus I found somehting I will steal for a later meta of my own (with a different mechanism). Fun puzzle Will.
Meta World Peace 🤓7:51 · 2024-02-10T13:52:02.955Z
What a week, Will--FILLED with meta levels... ironically
ReB 🤓27:21 · 2024-02-11T01:56:46.971Z
Got so caught up in rabbit holes that I missed the five BIG blank spaces - in the clues. After a late nudge to look there, the rest promptly fell into place.
And I had totally overlooked the ___ suit clue (didn’t scroll down far enough.). Got it now. This was brilliant, and fun!