#649 - "Look Both Ways"

[MikeM000]

In true-to-life fashion, I follow up a week 5 where everything makes immediate 1000% sense and takes 15 minutes to solve with a week 1 where there is nothing. If anyone wants to give a nudge, my inbox is open. Thanks!

EDIT:Got a nudge; consider me beamed! Thanks!

[spotter]

WOW! I can't believe it took me so long to get this one. At long last, beam me up!

[DrTom]

This one came really easy for me, but it was because of an initial error. I put UCLA in for the PAC-10 team. I am OCD so I usually do the first A clues and then go back and do the first D clues. When I went back and added the down DUCK (hmm down duck, should I have put in Eider?) I thought "ha Daffy Duck", but by the point where I got to having to put in UTES, and being a proud graduate of the University of Utah, I looked back at UCLA and sure enough it was incorrect and only UTAH would do. I of course finished the rest of the puzzle all the way (refer back to OCD comment) but I knew I had the mechanism and the common letter for each just made sense.

[spotter]

I got hung up on double letters for waaaaay too long. I thought I counted 10 double letter instances for quite a while, and then I realized I had missed one and there were actually 11 so I finally abandoned that path.

[Abide]

Quick for me too: My first entry was UTES, and when I went with UTAH over UCLA I thought "Matt should have cross-referenced those two". My next area was DAFFY/DUCK and the gimmick was clear.

That middle area is pretty amazing, even with ALEXW. This might be one of the best Week 1s ever.

[OGuyDave]

First week one puzzle that I've dnf'ed on since I joined MGWCC. I did note that there were 10 five-letter words, but obviously couldn't make a ten-letter phrase out of them. That is, unless "DUCLAAWEMH" has a special meaning I'm unaware of.

Aside: I had to wait for the solution to see the second letter of 32A/last letter of 12D. I'm probably one of few people who have never stepped foot inside a Starbucks. Aside aside: I have a friend whose last name is Starbuck. Sometimes he uses *$ as a signature.

The dry spell continues. Will have to wait until Friday to see if the week two is really a week one difficulty, like Matt suggests on Crossword fiend.

[FrankieHeck]

I got hung up on double letters for waaaaay too long. I thought I counted 10 double letter instances for quite a while, and then I realized I had missed one and there were actually 11 so I finally abandoned that path.

I first thought it would be the words that read the same forward and backward, and when I looked at those, I got 10 letters. Had to finally abandon that path, too.

[DrTom]

First week one puzzle that I've dnf'ed on since I joined MGWCC. I did note that there were 10 five-letter words, but obviously couldn't make a ten-letter phrase out of them. That is, unless "DUCLAAWEMH" has a special meaning I'm unaware of.

Aside: I had to wait for the solution to see the second letter of 32A/last letter of 12D. I'm probably one of few people who have never stepped foot inside a Starbucks. Aside aside: I have a friend whose last name is Starbuck. Sometimes he uses *$ as a signature.

The dry spell continues. Will have to wait until Friday to see if the week two is really a week one difficulty, like Matt suggests on Crossword fiend.

Well I knew what a PSL was ONLY because I had one once and the horror is burned into my brain! I do not drink flavored coffees of any sort (well perhaps flavored with Irish Whiskey) but a Pumpkin Spice Latte, to me, was enough to make me buy a fresh cup of black coffee to try to get the taste out of my mouth. One man's ceiling is another man's floor as they say.

[OGuyDave]

First week one puzzle that I've dnf'ed on since I joined MGWCC. I did note that there were 10 five-letter words, but obviously couldn't make a ten-letter phrase out of them. That is, unless "DUCLAAWEMH" has a special meaning I'm unaware of.

Aside: I had to wait for the solution to see the second letter of 32A/last letter of 12D. I'm probably one of few people who have never stepped foot inside a Starbucks. Aside aside: I have a friend whose last name is Starbuck. Sometimes he uses *$ as a signature.

The dry spell continues. Will have to wait until Friday to see if the week two is really a week one difficulty, like Matt suggests on Crossword fiend.

Well I knew what a PSL was ONLY because I had one once and the horror is burned into my brain! I do not drink flavored coffees of any sort (well perhaps flavored with Irish Whiskey) but a Pumpkin Spice Latte, to me, was enough to make me buy a fresh cup of black coffee to try to get the taste out of my mouth. One man's ceiling is another man's floor as they say.

And now I know what the "S" in "PSL" stands for. Thanks!

[Dplass]

First week one puzzle that I've dnf'ed on since I joined MGWCC. I did note that there were 10 five-letter words, but obviously couldn't make a ten-letter phrase out of them. That is, unless "DUCLAAWEMH" has a special meaning I'm unaware of.

Aside: I had to wait for the solution to see the second letter of 32A/last letter of 12D. I'm probably one of few people who have never stepped foot inside a Starbucks. Aside aside: I have a friend whose last name is Starbuck. Sometimes he uses *$ as a signature.

The dry spell continues. Will have to wait until Friday to see if the week two is really a week one difficulty, like Matt suggests on Crossword fiend.

Well I knew what a PSL was ONLY because I had one once and the horror is burned into my brain! I do not drink flavored coffees of any sort (well perhaps flavored with Irish Whiskey) but a Pumpkin Spice Latte, to me, was enough to make me buy a fresh cup of black coffee to try to get the taste out of my mouth. One man's ceiling is another man's floor as they say.

I only recognized PSL as that flavor because of the excellent parody video by the Holderness family: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFaweymwkow