"Pieces of Eight"

[boharr]

This was very clever. Too clever for the likes of me. But I hope you do more.

[Cindy]

Can you really wear out your welcome in this group of addicts? I doubt it.

[DrTom]

Tom, nice puzzle and, like others, I learned a lot. But I have to tell you I got "home" the wrong way. When I saw "Circle the Islands" the first thing I did was to start circling all the island names. I of course thought I was on the right track with all the "using atlases", "Googling a lot", etc.

So, my fill (above) shows how I found the TREASURE. Actually I had much of it filled in and thought PLEASURE, which people do find in the Islands, but given the title i knew it had to be TREASURE, and if you take the first letter of all of the "circled" islands you get an anagram of TREASURE! Now I'll admit I had to do some sttrreettching by ignoring the Island you provided (11D) - obviously used to throw me off - and grasping at Unicorn Island (I needed a U and it is real, even though I've never seen it)

Next time I see one of your puzzles I'll know that your mechanism is a LOT more elegant than I assumed. Trying to write one of these myself I KNOW how hard it is to fill a grid with constraints so - WOW. One additional observation, I pondered for quite some time on 7D because nothing indicated that what I was looking for was an abbreviation of Superior Mesenteric Artery Syndrome. I got it when I Googled 17A and 21A but if I hadn't heard about it before I wouldn't have known that was right

Anyway, and of course with a house full of felines I don't say this much, there was more than one way to skin a cat, Arr Matey!

[DrTom]

So that’s it. Thanks for all the feedback. The biggest observation/complaint in solver messages was the hard grid (which is a nice way of saying ”your fill was very ugly!”) and the obscurity/not perfect fit of Crim Rock. Otherwise, most people seemed to enjoy it, although the difficult grid probably made this one more fun to construct than to solve. TB - well not of you did it the right way as opposed to mine

I may be back in the future if I haven’t worn out my welcome with this one!
TB- Hardly, actually I am pretty sure you assured your welcome, and next time I'll try to be more conventional in my solve!

Tom

[LaceyK]

After my first round of attempts with the meta, I almost posted "still on the couch unable to find the treasure," with the caveat that if that was a spoiler, I was unaware. I wish I had remembered that thought the next day, as I might have been able to back solve to the mechanism. But perhaps I would have only found Dr.Tom's method because I was quite stuck on Easter Island and some of the others I could find.
After the foci nudge subconsciously worked its magic, I looked at the top of the grid and saw Tasmania. I have to say, the island names are fantastic. It's incredible that you hid them all in the grid Tom. Even with nudges, I was able to gleefully find treasure...those many steps of AHAs are what make the best metas. Keep making more puzzles!

[DrTom]

DOH - I didn't even see the FOCI hint, Tom this puzzle just gets better and better!!

[Wendy Walker]

Super puzzle -- thanks so much, Tom!