"You're Surrounded" - September 25, 2020

[boharr]

Grid done, but spending night beering with Isaac. Ye god! Reingold Extra Dry nearly killed me from dehydration after a college orientation bash. So it was wonderful to find pitchers of smooth Genny Cream Ale for $1 in the campus Rathskeller. I drove the NYS Thruway out to interview one of the Matt brothers for an Economics paper I was writing. Professor loved it, so I made sure he was my senior thesis advisor. Ahh, Liberal Arts!

But here's another beer critic in a legendary NSFW video clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snhiofL2Rh4

Ah, somehow, college has changed.

[FrankH]

4 years ago you were the QUEEN of the Spoiler Police!! Which is surprising because you are such a sweetie. You’re like a meta cheerleader!

You are right, I used to be very quick to jump on people for spilling the beans. I must be mellowing in my old age or, dare I say it, gaining some perspective! Or at least I've realized that stifling others will not significantly improve my chances of winning a mug in even the best week.

When I first got hooked on these, I was a total spoiler-phobe. WSJ was the only one I did, so if it got spoiled for me, there was a whole long week til there'd be another.

As I started doing more and more, I mellowed a bit. Oh well, if this one is spoiled there'll be another in a day or two.

Now MGWCC's solo-solve category has me spoiler-phobic again - especially for those ones.

I remember that you brought to everyone's attention that they might be too quick on the draw for PAGEANT. I was also wondering whether I should say anything, but I was concerned that someone would say that was a big spoiler, so I only chimed in after you mentioned it.

[Tom Shea]

I have an answer. Not submitting as yet, worried about the Gaffney double triple reverse.

I'll add three more beers from my youth to the discussion list: Dinkelacker mini kegs (the original growler); Haffenreffer big boys with the rebus in the cap; And Red, White and Blue -- for when PBR was way too expensive.

All this beer talk (and mention of so many horrible old beers) is making me feel bloated. Isaac, give me another iced tea.

[MikeM000]

I have a theory and I'd love to ask some yes or no questions to someone who knows the answer to see if I'm on the path.

And the spoiler post may have been enough to focus me into seeing what I'm writing about here...

Thanks!

Update: all bunnies. No concrete...

[boharr]

PBR was expensive? I guess.

But let's add Schlitz and Nat Light.

[TPS]

So in my day in undergrad - we just thought it was cooler to drink Malt Liquor than shitty beer like Natty Light or Old Milwaukee. So we would sit on the porch and drink OE, Slitz, Colt 45, Mickey’s...I recently explained this to my GF who is significantly younger than me and she insisted that we go buy some malt liquor so she could try it - surprisingly she said she didn’t hate it. My college GF used to drink St. Ide’s Special Brew which was a Wine Cooler-esque flavor malt liquor.

[Meg]

On shore.

Meg - the cabana boy is young enough to be your grandson. You should be embarrassed.

Embarrassed?? I’m delighting in all the beauty I see at the beach! Birds, flowers, driftwood, slimy seaweed, horseshoe crabs. Many pretty things. But not sea gulls, who will grab food out of your hand. Rats with wings.

[EVJ]

Ashore! A little dark out here at this hour so I’ll come back tomorrow with umbrella, SPF, and the cooler.
Good luck to all!

[ImOnToo]

I have AN answer, but not that 100% slam dunk feeling. Think I’ll sleep on it.

[Laura M]

I overcomplicated it, but am finally on shore! Nice one!

[whimsy]

I see it! Something hoppy please.

Yeah, all this beer talk ---
Something hoppy, Larry? Here ya go -

Not gettin the meta; might as well watch bunny videos --

[Abide]

Took about 10 minutes for the answer to reveal. Pretty amazing construction.

[Roberta]

Ashore! New to doing metas and totally hooked. I need to find more of them. More of a wine person myself.

[NuYear68]

Another quick swim straight to shore this week. Mix up some Old Fashioneds, if you please.

Stay well!
Paul

[Bob cruise director]

On shore.

Meg - the cabana boy is young enough to be your grandson. You should be embarrassed.

Embarrassed?? I’m delighting in all the beauty I see at the beach! Birds, flowers, driftwood, slimy seaweed, horseshoe crabs. Many pretty things. But not sea gulls, who will grab food out of your hand. Rats with wings.

And that List includes speedos????

[Andrew Bradburn]

On shore! Very nice one from Mr. Gaffney.

[markhr]

On shore after a brief struggle. Definitely a solid click on this one.

Back in the day, my drink of choice was Olympia beer, brewed in Tumwater, WA.
Pretty bitter stuff, as I recall. But I thought it was cool at the time.

[BarbaraK]

Ashore! New to doing metas and totally hooked. I need to find more of them. More of a wine person myself.

Have you checked out the Other Meta Crossword Puzzles section of this site:

forums/viewforum.php?f=6

Lots more there.

[oldjudge]

If I had to pick a NY beer my first choice would be Genesee Cream Ale

Please, I just had supper.

Genny Cream Ale was in the category of Rheingold.

LOL, Rheingold was pretty bad, but the worst was Narragansett. Ballantine (The smooth refresher) wasn’t much better.

[Tripod]

Ashore. But paranoid of my ability to solve on day 1. But also confident in my 36-across knowledge.

Starting to understand how some folks can see the matrix (not a spoiler, just a movie reference) as it unfolds, and that finally happened to me. Almost the adrenaline rush Gaffney promised in Contest 101. Yay.

Fell in a few holes at first. Then I couldn't help it, It just popped in there (also a movie reference). [Some adult language: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KC3Kfkaysb0]

Ashore (still slightly paranoid). Vodka time.