MGWCC #790 — “To What Lengths Will You Go?”

[jhseeman]

Now featuring...Mike and the Birds!

Future Meta?

[Joe Ross]

Submitted.

Beamed.

226. Joe Ross 07/24 - 15:01

[ZooAnimalsOnWheels]

I'm awaiting beam up on this one. Fun, and I feel fortunate to have gotten there without much anguish.

[Streroto]

Well now that I am done staring at WSJCC a for hours with nothing to show for it I got a look at this and my consolation was getting a week 3. Clever.

Beamed.

Stay well all

[DrTom]

... that may not have already been responded to, and, of course, we have a few resident wits, who are always worth a read (okay, not always).

Hey, I resemble that remark!!!!

[Joe Ross]

[MikeyG]

Crossposting from Fiend:

I loved it and found it very clever and a solid Week 3.

My in was maybe not intended. I thought the clue for OREOS was absolutely hilarious, almost commentary on, “Well, we’ve been including OREOS in crosswords for decades; how ridiculous can I make this clue?” But then other weird rustlings seemed off in the puzzle, although I’m not sure what I was picking up on. Then I realized, “Oh wait a minute, I bet that OREOS clue was intentional.” And it fell from there.

I pulled it off in 11 minutes, though I’m still in awe at the big two, whose combined times still beat mine.

Bring on Week 4! (I say that now.)

[ajk]

I very quickly spotted the 15 clues, set off by a similar "that OREOS clue is fun...hey wait a minute" path. The YES and LEO clues also jumped out, and it was off to the races from there.

But then somehow I got hung up on the extraction mechanism, which in retrospect I don't understand (how I got stuck that is). Seems like the most natural thing in the world to then take the first letters of the entries, but I think I got hung up on numbers. So I was looking at those numbered boxes in the grid, positions in the alphabet, etc. Fortunately a kindly nudger pointed out the obvious alternative.

[ZooAnimalsOnWheels]

I thought Matt did a great job of camouflaging this. I assumed the long clues were either obfuscation (Columbia launcher), creative (Dichromatic delectables), or just jocularly using long words to clue a 3-letter answer (Mediterranean configuration). It was YES being in the center of the grid that caused me to take a second look at its clue, where affirmativeness may have been the most clunky word used in the meta, and count the letters.

[woozy]

Weird thing is I didn't really find the weird clues that weird. I actually found the clues for LIBERATED (more free than what?) and STEP ON to be weirder. But I thought the clue "K.G---" clues was kind of strange as Chesterton (as opposed to say H.G. Wells or D.H. Lawrence) just didn't strike me as a household enough name to be casually recognized by initials (although I did). I was kind of screaming for nudges and had to be told that a) yes, my idea about word lengths was a good one and b) for the fifth time, look for weird clues and c) Yeah, my observation about the CHESTERTON clue was valid and then I still had to bang my head against a wall until I noticed BE IN and GEOPOLITICAL ABBREVIATION.

Did anyone note MAKE MORE FREE fits the pattern but with three rather than two words?

[KayW]

Did anyone note MAKE MORE FREE fits the pattern but with three rather than two words?

I did. And assUme-d Matt threw in the awkward MORE to take that clue out of contention.

My distractions for DAYS were the 10 U's in the grid. Plus the 4, 5, or 6 YOU's in the clues (depending on whether or not you included "crush with YOUr cleats" or the Spanish "tu"). A veritable "U-MASS", so to speak. That led absolutely nowhere.

[woozy]

My distractions for DAYS were the 10 U's in the grid. Plus the 4, 5, or 6 YOU's in the clues (depending on whether or not you included "crush with YOUr cleats" or the Spanish "tu"). A veritable "U-MASS", so to speak. That led absolutely nowhere.

Oog! Don't remind me!

[MMe]

My distractions for DAYS were the 10 U's in the grid. Plus the 4, 5, or 6 YOU's in the clues (depending on whether or not you included "crush with YOUr cleats" or the Spanish "tu"). A veritable "U-MASS", so to speak. That led absolutely nowhere.

And the U's form an oval that looks obviously intentional.