No it is not déjà vu nor is it the Oresteia, but it is a Greek Trilogy! This is the third puzzle, the first being Wendy Walker on 4/29/24 “It’s All Greek to Me” , 10/9/24 “Greek To Me” by ]Joe Ross[/smention (with some help from me) and this one which Wendy’s puzzle inspired because I thought this would be her Mx but it was not. I am hoping this will be an epic tale and not a tragedy. I am going to put it in Persian/Puma territory because I was pretty sneaky AND I had an immense amount of help from Al Sisti who came up with the PERFECT prompt and meta answer, which is also a little sneaky. Besides Al I had a lot of people test run this and give me VERY valuable input: Capn Rick, Bird lives and Meg. I hope that I have followed all of their advice on cleaning this up so that it is both solvable and enjoyable. Al’s input should provide a very special AHA moment, I’m looking forward to comments on this one. If I have forgotten any testers, please forgive me and remind me so I can award praise where it is due. These are often so far from their creation date that I lose track.
Kitten
Calico
≽^•⩊•^≼ Persian
≽^•⩊•^≼ Puma
Lion
Friday Nudges and probably an early reveal (since I am leaving Tuesday AM to go to relative’s for Thanksgiving). Solve well and keep an eye out for Trojan horses.
NUDGES:
"SOUNDS" Greek to me
Nudge 1] The title should tip you off to the need to look for things that "sound" Greek.
Nudge 2] Homonyms are things that sound like another, like the industrial thief who would only steal steel.
Nudge 3] Some Greek letters sound like other things.
Nudge 4] Assuming you can find those, now what? Nothing in the grid...my, my, wherever else should I look???
Nudge 5] There are a finite number of things you can do when you have identified the theme answers and the other "things" (clues, answers, numbers, etc.) that corresponds to them.
Nudge 6] Got an answer but it doesn't seem right? Well, remember the prompt and the fact that we are dealing with sound-alikes here!
THE REVEAL:
There were 7 answers that "sound" like Greek letters, and each had a corresponding "Trojan Horse" clue that actually carried the real Greek letter, and the first letter of the answer to that clue spelled out the meta answer.
ROW - RHO - RHONE - TAVEL
NEW - NU - NUDE - RAW
MOO - MU - MUSICAL - INBARS
PIE - PI - PINE - PITCH
TAO - TAU - TAUT - ONEDGE
FIE - PHI - PHILE - LOVER
KAI - CHI - CHILD - IMP
T-R-I-P-O-L-I
TRIPOLI - but Tom (1) how does that relate to shoes (2) isn't that in Lebanon?
(1) - remember this was a "Sounds Greek" and doesn't TRIPLE E (a very wide shoe) sound like TRIPOLI?
(2) - there is one in Lebanon...and in Greece and Libya, and Turkey, Jamaica and Honduras and Iowa, and Wisconsin and New York and Pennsylvania - who knew it was so popular!!
For a graphic depiction of this solve, please go to: