From Wikipedia: "Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions is a satirical novella by the English schoolmaster Edwin Abbott Abbott, first published in 1884 by Seeley & Co. of London. Written pseudonymously by "A Square", the book used the fictional two-dimensional world of Flatland to comment on the hierarchy of Victorian culture, but the novella's more enduring contribution is its examination of dimensions." The answer to the meta is a noun. Answer and explanation: https://www.xword-muggles.com/viewtopic.php?p=90157#p90157
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!
Is the mechanism to follow the solids: tetrahedron's base looks like a square, which can be viewed as a cube, which could also be looked at as a cylinder, which can also be seen as a circle, which can also be viewed as a sphere?
Or is it actually spelled out and I'm just a Really Good Guesser?
It's spelled out. I readily admit that the entry and clue for SEAM is not very helpful. Perhaps LINE would have been better...
woozy 17:41 · 2022-04-12T21:10:50.399Z
Oh .... for god's sake......
dot 🤓13:07 · 2022-04-13T00:38:46.956Z
Had to look up 9D & 11D. Nice meta, though!
Tyrpmom 2s · 2022-04-13T21:07:10.831Z
That was a lot of counting edges of shapes and getting nowhere. Finally discussed it with my husband that just blurts out random answers and is usually no help whatsoever. After blurting out some random answers he suggested folding my paper in half. Well, a look right down the middle and there it is. Thanks.
AH! THAT TOTALLY MAKES SENSE NOW!!!! Like MAD magazine.
Dow Jones 3s · 2022-04-15T01:46:33.289Z
After highlighting the 6 shapes in the grid, the "sphere"was evident. Good meta, Ben !
DIS 🤓6:56 · 2022-04-15T15:56:11.542Z
This was great -- I love Flatland.
Bbaack 26:29 · 2022-04-15T16:26:25.814Z
Nice one. Naturally I made it too hard, but the first hint made all the difference. Thanks for a great puzzle and the fond memories I have of the book!
Laura M 🤓10:41 · 2022-04-15T18:05:18.670Z
Nice one! But I needed the hints. Now I'm embarrassed at how much I struggled with it...
whimsy 17:14 · 2022-04-15T20:24:09.309Z
Oh, yes! Way over complicated before reading first nudge; counting planes, counting edges, trying to envision what the shapes would have looked like "edge on." (Um -- lines!)
Carolyn 4s · 2022-04-16T19:23:21.854Z
I made this way more difficult that need be, but reviewed some math in the process! Thanks for the puzzle.
Feature of the cover of Pink Floyd's "The Dark Side of the Moon"
9A
Someone who tries to persuade through untruths, only somewhat politely
13A
Processed dairy substance (US specific, too) that usually comes individually wrapped and often accompanies 44 across in a sandwich
16A
Artificial waterway
17A
Calendar item for picking up some bargains
18A
Star of "8 Mile"
20A
Type of financial scheme to avoid (unless, of course, you get in early enough!)
21A
Travis song, the video of which involves a massive food fight (including, most memorably, a whole octopus flying the length of the table in slow motion)
22A
A hard ___ follow
24A
Four-sided die shape
29A
Christmas decorations prop, often
31A
Useful cooking additive, stock ___
32A
Tear jerker when diced?
35A
Satirical Christian news site, Babylon ___
36A
More common name for the music genre tender-punk
37A
German masculine indefinite article
39A
Likely product of a 9 across
40A
Platonic standard
42A
Area unit, mostly used of land
43A
Christmas movie starring Will Ferrell
44A
Lettuce, rocket, spinach, etc
48A
Homophone of the astrological sign associated with bull worship, also known as a donut
49A
Slurpee alternative
52A
"Look at the size of that thing!"
56A
British slang for a contemptible or despicable person
58A
One of 6 in a V6
60A
Grass used for making baskets in Mexico
61A
Sensual areas of the body
63A
"Late Night with ___ Myers"
64A
Irk
65A
Suffix for pot-, sil-, and rec-
Verticali
1D
"Off to the ___" (let's get meta solving!)
2D
Savory taste
3D
Romantic comedy-drama television series starring Anne Heche
4D
Heap
5D
Pepsi competitor, __ Cola
6D
___ in "iodine"
7D
Significant moment at the end of "The Avengers: Infinity War", but how it would appear in a library catalogue, perhaps
8D
Lana Michele Moorer's rap name
9D
Saint Bede, as his Vatican friends called him, ___ Venerabilis
10D
Line where two things join, like two pieces of cloth (or perhaps a two dimensional plane seen edge on, a hint for solving the meta)
11D
Israeli model, actress, and television host, ___ Ginzburg
12D
Oboe necessity
14D
Line of mountains
15D
First Christmas baddie, ___ the Great
19D
One of the craters of the Ambrym volcano, Vanuatu (available on Google Street View!)
23D
Baja resort, for short
25D
Immune system agent
26D
"Nashville" actress nominated for an Academy Award, ___ Blakley
27D
Opposite of off
28D
Frasier's brother
29D
Clarice Starling's org. in "Silence of the Lambs"
30D
Iraq War danger, for short
33D
Petroleum product
34D
Extravagant table ornament made of precious metals in the shape of a ship (shipshape, if you will!)