"[Re]-Key Ingredients"

A weekly meta crossword created by members of the forum. Difficulty levels will vary. Hints are usually available starting Wednesday, and solutions are posted on Sunday.
JeanneC
Posts: 616
Joined: Sat Apr 25, 2020 11:25 am
Location: Florida

#41

Post by JeanneC »

OTC. First time on this site. Loved the puzzle and meta! Elegant.
“I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year’s fashions”. Lillian Hellman
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TMart
Posts: 816
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 7:13 am
Location: Malvern, PA

#42

Post by TMart »

TMart wrote: Wed Oct 14, 2020 10:26 pm
TMart wrote: Tue Oct 13, 2020 10:38 am
TMart wrote: Mon Oct 12, 2020 6:46 pm Here's today's leaderboard so far:

1. FrankieHeck (who got it done so fast it makes me question her breakfast choices) :lol:
2. Dplass
3. Schmeel
4. Beth Tyrpin
5. BarbaraK
6. Tom Wilson
7. hazmat
8. Laura M
9. Richard B
10. Joe Ross
11. ChrisKochmanski
12. Dannyvee
13. spotter
14. boharr
15. Hector
16. m5rammy
17. Cindy
18. Meg
19. RPardoe
20. Sfull411
21. hcbirker
22. Bird Lives
23. SewYoung
24. MarkL
25. KayW
26. markhr

More updates tomorrow

Leaderboard, continued:


27. norrin2
28. FrankH
29. ReB
30. Anita
31. Cinny
32. Al Sisti
33. Abide
34. lbray53
35. Bob cruise director (for whom I now have a greater appreciation after compiling this leaderboard!)
Leaderboard update:

36. oldjudge
37. whimsy
38. Dow Jones
39. Cindy N
40. joequavis
More for the leaderboard:

41. michaelm
42. adamsimonlevine
43. Geoduck
44. JeanneC
45. hashbrown


Solution will be posted this afternoon.
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TMart
Posts: 816
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 7:13 am
Location: Malvern, PA

#43

Post by TMart »

It’s Sunday afternoon, so here’s the solution:


The title is [Re]-Key Ingredients, and solvers will notice that there are 14 down clues with [parentheticals], followed by a (number). The [parentheticals] are alternate clues, and the (numbers) are the order in which results should be arranged. These down grid entries, with the expected “re-key” for the new clue, in (number) order are as follows:

2D: RISER – re-keyed to [smarter] becomes WISER
9D: BATHES – re-keyed to [woodworking tools] becomes LATHES
14D: UHS – re-keyed to [300 to 3000 MHz range] becomes UHF
7D: ALF – re-keyed to [the Matterhorn] becomes ALP
54D: SACS - re-keyed to [moments] becomes SECS
26D: PATE – re-keyed to [step] becomes PACE
42D: OLDPANS – re-keyed to [quills] becomes OLDPENS
11D: DEER – re-keyed to [bad grades] becomes DEES
52D: ESSO – re-keyed to [1970s Bruin nickname] becomes ESPO (Phil Esposito’s nickname)
39D: EROS – re-keyed to [Seth’s son] becomes ENOS
28D: ONE – re-keyed to [expired when it gets there] becomes DOA (i.e., dead on arrival)
33D: AARP – re-keyed to [Wyatt at the OK Corral] becomes EARP
36D: RAIL – re-keyed to [wind-catcher] becomes SAIL
49D: FLIRT – re-keyed TWICE to [say suddenly] becomes BLURT – this one was a little tricky since it had two numbers – implying two alternate letters


So looking at all the letters that were re-keyed in we have WLFPECESPNAESBU, which means……..absolutely nothing. So what’s the next step?

Solvers should have noticed that re-keying all of these down entries also created valid new words at the corresponding across entries. And the clue to the last across answer gives a hint on what to do: “Goal reached after you GO ACROSS THE LINE in rugby (and sometimes, metas)”. The parenthetical numbers indicate the order the new across entries should take. Reading the resulting “re-keyed” across grid answers, again in the order indicated by the parenthetical numbers, results in the following:

1A: TWO
7A: ALL
19A: BEEF
18A: PATTIES
57A: SPECIAL
37A: SAUCE
59A: LETTUCE
22A: CHEESE
61A: PICKLES
42A: ONIONS
38A: ONA
32A: SESAME
36A: SEED
49A: BUN

Those of us who are of a certain age and nutritionally-challenged will recognize this as one of the most famous product jingles of all time – McDonald’s 1970’s ad campaign for the BIG MAC, a six-letter food made from some key ingredients, and our meta answer.


Here’s some nostalgia:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK2qBbDn5W0


And here’s what the completed grid looks like, with the changed down answers in gray, the changed letters in red, and the new across answers in yellow:

RKI Solution.jpg



This one was fun to make. With so much theme material packed in there, I was afraid it might get tedious, but everyone seemed to have fun with it. All told, we had 45 solvers - our Muggle Meta Monday audience seems to be growing each week, which is nice to see.


Thanks and see you again soon!

Tom
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whimsy
Posts: 2716
Joined: Sun Jun 21, 2020 9:51 am
Location: Hopkinton MA

#44

Post by whimsy »

Thank YOU, very much, Tom!
I'm glad you enjoyed working on this because it certainly appears that you took great pains -- lots and lots to fit in and it seems you even tried to get the ingredients in jingle order to the extent possible!
I was slow out of the gates because I was confusing this with Hold the Pickle, Hold the Lettuce! ("But Whopper has an H in it and it's seven letters!" I was bewailing in frustration.)
I'm sure purist aficiandos of each of the cuisines would be equally horrified that I could make such a mistake! :o Probably rolling over in their graves -- victims of early cholesterol disease!
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BrianMac
Site Admin
Posts: 787
Joined: Mon Apr 08, 2019 11:45 pm
Location: Connecticut

#45

Post by BrianMac »

Really great puzzle, Tom! Thanks for contributing it!
SewYoung
Posts: 726
Joined: Sun Apr 14, 2019 9:25 pm
Location: Meridian, MS

#46

Post by SewYoung »

whimsy wrote: Sun Oct 18, 2020 5:36 pm Thank YOU, very much, Tom!
I'm glad you enjoyed working on this because it certainly appears that you took great pains -- lots and lots to fit in and it seems you even tried to get the ingredients in jingle order to the extent possible!
I was slow out of the gates because I was confusing this with Hold the Pickle, Hold the Lettuce! ("But Whopper has an H in it and it's seven letters!" I was bewailing in frustration.)
I'm sure purist aficiandos of each of the cuisines would be equally horrified that I could make such a mistake! :o Probably rolling over in their graves -- victims of early cholesterol disease!
"Whopper" was my first thought, too, rejected it due to wrong numbers. Only took a minute to get the right one.
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