"Drawbacks" - October 2, 2020

[Hidden in 3D]

Way to go Wendy! So happy for you!

[Bird Lives]

Congrats, Wendy! I know that sending in the right answer is Step One, but then how did you figure out how to get the mug?

[Bob cruise director]

[Janet]

Congratulations, Wendy!

I never did solve this one, I figured pastels had to do with drawing and painting, all sorts of rabbits were chased. (including thinking that there were Air Force bases involved, like Offutt. Except tofutti has one F.)

[Meg]

Yay Wendy!! You soooooo deserve this. We’d like a picture of you in that Renaissance outfit, holding the mug full of mead or ale or butter beer.

[whimsy]

Hip HIp Hooray for Wendy!
And let's throw in a few Hazzahs too!

[whimsy]

What a quandary: My doctor is offering a seminar on "six steps you can take to help improve your memory and remain sharp as you get older — and tips on how to reduce your Alzheimer's risk by 50 percent." Trouble is, it's scheduled for 4 p.m. Thursday (and it doesn't look like they are recording it)! DON'T THEY KNOW WHO I AM?? What to do?

Now they'll know who you are!!

[Wendy Walker]

Thank you all SO MUCH! Though I am beyond thrilled to win the coveted Mug ("About time!" commented the nephew), what's an even greater treasure is the humor, support, friendly competition, and camaraderie that is so plentiful here on the Muggle Forum.

[PJM]

Congrats to Wendy! Glad to see the mug come here to the Greater Philly area.

After not finding anything for a good while, I landed on CRAYOLAS:

CRAY from "CARY" TIDS
and LAS from PASTOR "ALS"

Oh yes, you have to AD(D) AN "O" from ADANO

[Jacksull]

I never got close to this one, spending too much time on PASTORAL, PASTEL, ANDORRA, ADANO, etc. And then there were the other rabbit holes already mentioned. Still this was a very clever meta and I enjoyed the chase.

How about a shoutout to Mike? He crafted a very nice meta, but how about the grid itself. Fourteen seven-letter words, two nine-letter words, four eight-letter downs. Very few obscure names or crossword glue. And he had to get all those ELs into the grid in order.

Yay, Mike.

[SusieG]

This would have been a perfect grid to put into The Joe Ross Excel file. I was too lazy to get my laptop out, so instead I floundered until he explained it to me. I guessed that it would be some sort of “models” after seeing NUDE in the bottom left corner, and given the title. I also knew PASTELS was a clue, but was sure I needed to find the color names. Is GUAVA a pastel?

I was happy to have CARYATIDS in my back pocket. They have fascinated me for a long time (I had an archaeology obsession in middle school).

I actually found four references to color, it was down that rabbit hole for a very long time. Amarillo is Spanish for yellow, tangelo is orange, guava pink, and Congo red is a stain used in pathology. I had not thought of nude as a color, but I guess that’s right. I was looking for pastel colors however.

Yes, Amarillo was the only one I for sure felt was a color. I tried to use the fruits, as well. As for nude, I was referring to the models.

[cbarbee002]

Thank you all SO MUCH! Though I am beyond thrilled to win the coveted Mug ("About time!" commented the nephew), what's an even greater treasure is the humor, support, friendly competition, and camaraderie that is so plentiful here on the Muggle Forum.

Congrats!!!!

[RichA2]

Well done, Wendy!

Now you can start working to become a double mug winner.

[KayW]

Wendy got mugged - YAY!!!!


(wait, that doesn't sound right...)

[ricky]

Congrats!

I couldn't figure this one out for the life of me.

[Janet P]

Congratulations, Wendy!

[sanmilton]

Hearty congratulations, Wendy! It's gratifying and encouraging to see a Muggle win!

[jag]

Wow, I was nowhere close on this one!
I saw a broken "RAPHAEL" in the upper left, and then tried to figure out how to map tANGELO to MICHELANGELO somehow and bosWELL to (Norman) ROCKWELL.
Clearly that was not a fruitful track!
Congrats to those who solved this one.

[MaineMarge]

First of all congrats to Wendy, who shares my birthday (September 6). Way to go, girl!
Count me on team Raphael, backwards, Crayola.
Special kudus to those sharp eye spotting torso in upper NW and nude in far lower SW.
NUDES was going to be my Hail Mary til I waved the white flag to said birthday friend. They have their backs drawn (along with other body parts), as do all life models.
And isn’t a caryatid an example of a life model?
Thanks to Mike for including pastorals. It prompted me to listen to my favorite Beethoven symphony, the 6th, called The Pastoral.
Here’s an appropriate tribute to a famous nude

La Grand Odalisque
1814 by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
Hangs in the Louvre.

Also has hung in my house for 25 years.

[BrianMac]