Oscar Wilde's last words were, "Either that wallpaper goes, or I do." Apparently, the wallpaper won out, although it was changed soon afterwards. Of course Groucho Marx couldn't resist one last quip either: "This is no way to live!" he is reputed to have said. And, if you do it right, you'll find the famous last words encoded in this meta puzzle: an apt two-word phrase. Answer & explanation: https://www.xword-muggles.com/viewtopic.php?p=142976#p142976
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!
Ha! I was thinking it might be “watch this!” The giveaway was 19A (which I knew immediately, I might proudly add!) — that plus the title words and 6D so close by make this a great puzzle to hand to a rookie as a smooth, gettable meta (though Enid Blyton is brand new to me at least… needed a google). Thanks Ben!
1D is a reference to "Frozen", not "The Book of Mormon"!
DIS 🤓6:03 · 2023-09-21T14:37:21.919Z
Oh, right. I forgot he was in that too. Thanks.
Berto 2:58 · 2023-09-20T10:29:54.567Z
Lol! Tried a wild guess, then went back to basics and AHA!!! Famous Amos is a thing, and a brand of cookies - oh where did I see that earlier…. ding!
Fun one!
Ben, that was absolutely DEVIOUS to have the ends of the themers be "almost" the same as the prompt. It took me FOREVER and a course correction to stop looking at the last words as if they were copies of the Title, but as words themselves. "Famous Amos...hey wait, sometimes a cookie is NOT an OREO and then it was off to the races. The FIVE was more difficult I'll admit, but luckily Google knew about them. You are to be severely punished for the endings and rabbit holes oyu sent me down (while I was trying to fix the tragedy of a "stepped on" mechanism for my own puzzle.
The similarity of three of the endings to the title was entirely unintentional, I assure you! I've already posted here about the inspiration behind this puzzle. But I also very much enjoyed getting OREO in as meta-significant, not just fill!
Wow, aren't metas interesting. I swore that was the mechanism (and swore, and swore, and swore) for a very long time. It just seemed too juicy to be coincidental. But like you say, nice to have Oreo be somehting more than a sweet face!
Fun one, thanks. Needed the third nudge because even though I spotted Famous Amos pretty quickly I had somehow convinced myself that MOST was the last word in the second themer. Oops. :) Didn't know the Famous Five despite being very familiar with NODDY, so had to google that one, but easy enough.
Huh, never heard of ALMOST Famous or Famous FIVE, never would have got there without the nudges on this one. Of course I wondered about Famous Amos right away, but abandoned it when the others didn't work out. Learned some new things today :)
Fun one, Ben! No nudges needed - just needed time to devote to it. Well done!
ReB 3s · 2023-09-22T01:39:21.945Z
Needed the 2nd nudge to keep me from trying to utilize the two long multi-word down entries 3D and 32D (since I expected a longer phrase that four letters).
I expected that the last word of the phrase was key, but needed the 3rd nudge to add the missing link my (after which I knew the rest of the mechanism) - but I still needed to google to identify the cultural references for the last second and third themers, and then backsolved to prove the last letter. So no way this one was going to come to fruition without much help. Good effort on your part, though.
Ergcat 11:48 · 2023-09-23T14:18:16.154Z
Good one! Needed the nudges… I was trying to use the “last word” but not with “famous”!
Very clever ! Thanks, Ben!
"I'm so annoyed with you I won't even open my mouth!"
19A
Where you find this verse: "But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!"
22A
Best Original Screenplay Oscar winner
24A
Karate level
25A
Like Fran Drescher's voice
26A
(0,0) on a graph
28A
Expel
30A
Close but no cigar
32A
It comes before Thur
35A
Yemeni port
36A
Gorilla or orangutan
37A
Folk singer, ___ Guthrie
38A
'80s video-game console
39A
TV show that launched the careers of Neve Campbell and Lacey Chabert
43A
Enid Blyton creation
44A
Leg-iron
45A
C. J. Dennis book, "The Songs of a Sentimental ___"
47A
Actress, ___ de Armas
48A
"To ___ is human"
49A
Dystopian work by Aldous Huxley
53A
Intense anger
54A
Suffix for techn- or plut-
55A
Lots and lots of time
58A
Earth sci.
59A
"___ a dream"
60A
Move in the breeze
61A
Julia Robert's character in "Ocean's Eleven"
62A
Lowdown
63A
90's sequel to 38 across
Verticali
1D
Voice of Olaf, Josh ___
2D
Type of beer brewed using a warm fermentation method that results in a sweet, full-bodied and fruity taste
3D
Extreme unction
4D
What Death wears on a necklace in Neil Gaiman's "The Sandman"
5D
Pull at, as a sleeve
6D
Cookie brand
7D
Sty sound
8D
Chemicals that your liver produces when it breaks down fats
9D
"I am agog! I am ___! Is Marius in love at last?" (lyrics from "Les Miserables")
10D
,
11D
"Fiddler on the Roof" star
12D
Erythropoietin-producing human hepatocellular receptors, for short
14D
___ boy, male attendant who serves guests on a beach
20D
Make revisions to
21D
Fiction's opposite
22D
"Crocodile Dundee" star, Paul ___
23D
Undermine, as confidence
27D
Tonic's partner (make mine a double!)
28D
E on a fuel gauge
29D
"Friends" spin-off series
31D
Cooking fat
32D
Reduce the nominal value of stock or goods
33D
Young eel
34D
"All the Light We Cannot See" author, Anthony ___
37D
Back on a boat
39D
Pig in a ___
40D
Tonsil's neighbour
41D
Widely known
42D
Phobia
43D
Long stories
45D
"See, what a scourge is laid upon your hate, That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love! And I, for winking at your discords too, Have lost a ___ of kinsmen." (The Prince in "Romeo and Juliet")
46D
Nigeria's largest city
47D
"With just ___ of my magic wand, Your troubles will soon be gone" (Fairy Godmother song in "Shrek 2")
49D
Jemaine's partner in the duo "Flight of the Conchords"
50D
What comes back to you when you call out in a canyon