I will fully admit that the idea for this meta was blatantly stolen from another constructor (actually two). The meta answer is, of course, different but the mechanism is the same. It came together rather quickly and thankfully I had the expert help of ajk as a tester and he really helped improve it.
So, quietly so you do not disturb the monster, see if you can dust off the cover and reveal the name of this work.
Kitten
CALICO
PERSIAN
Puma
Lion
Nudges Friday (I will try to remember to put them everywhere this time I promise!)
NUDGES!!!
Nudge 1] The 6 theme answers are very obvious because they are environmentally associated (particularly after I changed one to include the word environment)
Nudge 2] Symmetry is your friend...
Nudge 3] Do you think there is a reason I clued 27A to be so "Boston"? I mean there are a lot of clues for that word that don't include bean town.
Nudge 4] Say all 6 theme answers alound, what do they have in common?
Nudge 5] This mechanism usually comes up around Christmas, albeit with a different word, but the Mx is the same
DANG IT!!! I know I asked the program for symmetry, and during the editing process (trying to find a fill that did not include the name of dogs of 13th century pamphlet authors) I must have moved a themer and messed it up. Therefore Nudge #2 is incorrect; symmetry may be your friend, but not in this meta. Thanks to HeadinHome for pointing out this glaring mistake in my nudges.
The theme answers are "almost" symmetric, but they DO have the same qualifier that should let you know who they are.
BIG nudge 1] All of the theme clues have the word environment (in some form) in them.
BIG nudge 2] If I said "You knew what the dumb answer could be" I've used the mechanism five times.
REVEAL:
There were 6 clues with the word environment (or some form of that word) in them. Those six clues yielded the following words:
AISLE - with a silent S
CORPS - with a silent P
PARKS - with a silent R (when pronounced ala Boston)
FRUIT - with a silent I
HYMNS - with a silent N
LIGHT - with a silent G
That spells out SPRING with silent letters, or SILENT SPRING, the book by Rachel Carson about the environmental disaster that DDT was causing.
I realize that there were some problems with this meta, which are too long to go into here so
For a complete explanation and graphic solve go to: