I had this meta idea in my notes for a while now, so I don't recall what the seed was. It was a stretch to get all of the required pieces into the grid, but then I went and made it into a pangram! I hope I haven't made the grid too difficult as a result; I've tried to provide some additional help where it might be needed the most. The meta should not be too difficult, though. The answer to the meta is a book by 69 across. Answer & explanation: https://xword-muggles.com/viewtopic.php?p=154440#p154440
Check out "The MOAT Mini Pack of Marching Bands" here: https://www.ephesusscroll.com/about/interest4.html. US$5 gets you 7 Marching Bands which, hard enough on their own, now contain metas too. And once again there's a mega-meta!
A favorite book in our family. Both of our boys are living this book!
Adam Doctoroff 🤓4:22 · 2024-01-16T14:46:16.607Z
Thanks Ben!
MatthewL 🤓8:10 · 2024-01-16T15:14:18.125Z
Wonderful! Great cluing and a great metanism. Thanks for the puzzle, Ben!
KayW 🤓10:03 · 2024-01-16T15:55:25.821Z
Excellent! Of course I tried the first letters of entries/clues first, but a very clever use of "nominative geography". Fun to solve, thanks!
whimsy 16:21 · 2024-01-16T16:45:14.007Z
And to think that I saw it when I was considering Mulberry Street...
Worth the grid for the meta -- Thanks, Ben!
HeadinHome 🤓3:28 · 2024-01-16T17:05:47.453Z
Creative meta idea! The one that tipped it for me was PLASTER — even when doing the first part of the grid, I though “hmm… that would be even more apt if he’d used “plaster of Paris”! Curious as to why you didn’t just use “place” as the meta answer… am I missing some more Seussical content? Thanks for the fun!
I was trying to think of a few myself: Treaty of Ghent, Edict of Nantes, Colossus of Rhodes, Isle of Capri, Lady of Lourdes...bt there are not that many that people would recognize immediately. Ben would have had to been thinking on this for a while to get the right set up for letter combination. The vowels are probably the hardest.
Continued for a loooooong time, like news coverage when there really isn't anything new to say
15A
Bon Jovi song, "You Give Love A ___"
16A
Building material probably used in a lot of French architecture
17A
"Fast & Furious" franchise protagonist, Brian ___ (played by Paul Walker)
18A
Medical breakthrough
19A
Make a formal statement at a wedding
21A
Posed a question
23A
Castle pinnacle, a good perch for ravens that, according to superstition, protect the English Crown
24A
Lowest point
27A
Takes care of
31A
Ford in the 2005 movie adaptation of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"
34A
Director, Cecil B. De___
36A
Come down like ___ of bricks
37A
Passes, as time
39A
Where to borrow a book or scroll if you lived in Egypt in antiquity
42A
"Star Trek" navigator
43A
Protein-building acid
45A
Spar in a ring
46A
Inside info, that just might pay off down the track
49A
The Jetsons' dog
51A
It's blocked by a cream with an SPF
53A
Nightmare location of film, for short
57A
Egyptian flower left outside in a Prince movie?
62A
Duchess's husband who presents awards at the drop of a Scottish hat
63A
Immediately, or at the very least very quickly
64A
1987 Pet Shop Boys hit
66A
Combinations of two areas (the answer includes a letter that made this puzzle into a pangram, which has absolutely nothing to do with the meta!)
67A
Made like a horse, vocally
68A
Figaro, in a Rossini opera set in Spain
69A
Author of "Fox in Sox" and other classic children's books
Verticali
1D
Pet protection org.
2D
Not quite a B but still slightly better than average
3D
Subatomic particle (or a Ferengi in "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine"; actually, now that I think about it the sort of solvers who would know the latter clue would probably also know the first clue!)
4D
Invisible
5D
Acronym for all network-connected appliances everywhere
6D
Wished undone
7D
Infinitive form of the verb that conjugates "je suis, tu es, il/elle est ..."
8D
Long-tailed, colourful parrots
9D
Object of one's affection, perhaps?
10D
Where you can find the cochlea
11D
"Lift Every Voice" author, ___ Guinier (an anagram of NAIL, in case that helps)
12D
Chatted online
13D
Romulan played by Eric Bana in the 2009 reboot "Star Trek"
15D
Necktie made of string
20D
Key combination that every Windows user knows all too well: ___-ALT-DEL
22D
River blockages
25D
Kick the bucket
26D
Casablanca's Lund
28D
Shot in the dark
29D
Matador's opponent
30D
Black gemstone
31D
Fit together, like a well-functioning team
32D
Writer Ijeoma ___ (hidden backwards in COULOMB)
33D
Chemical compound consisting of an ionic assembly of positively charged cations and negatively charged anions
35D
Yalies
38D
Prearranged conspiracy
40D
Bank account earnings, for short
41D
"Don't ___ us, get to the chorus" (Berry Gordy, Jr. quote)
44D
Ham go-with in a bread scroll
47D
Hospital tube used to administer fluids, for short
48D
Have a bias toward
50D
Something not wasted on the young (but their time will come!)