"Make the Connection" - May 20, 2022

[MaineMarge]

I got this, but not before spending a lot of time trying to use the 1st two and last two letters of each long themer, like some of you. The 3 worked ok, but all I could come up with for NOED was “I noed that wasn’t the right metanism”.
And if you ask a gardener “So, what’s up?”
You’ll get this for an answer

Epimedium and brilliant blue Roy Davidson pulmonaria, now.
Mother Nature is catching things up to schedule after a cold dry start to the growing season.

[Barney]

I saw the 2+2 fairly quickly (thanks, 75 across) but found the match-ups much trickier, eg, soup/OGPU.

41A desperately made me want the answer to be Alamo, and I tried to, but couldn’t, backsolve to that.

I got set right by my distant solving partner and therefore did not submit the indisputable perfection of Joint.

I will be surprised if there aren’t submissions of Alamo. “Do you remember me” screams for it.

[whimsy]

I got the mechanism pretty quickly but I made a stupid mistake of connecting the CAMPBELL clue with soup which gave me NNOIT to work with. Finally I realized that the soft food clue was the appropriate clue and J (ello) saved the day. Live and learn. Metas are almost always consistent. Very enjoyable puzzle.

Good thing I didn't see that!
Especially when just now I went back to check on which clue that referred to and came across 39A Savoring sounds - MMMS.

[Gman]

With those, it seemed obvious that JOINT was the meta answer and I had to look and re-look at the other two long answers and work backwards from the other two grid answers whose initial letters contributed to JOINT before it jumped out at me that we were dealing with the two letter words within the long answers.

I too backsolved into JOINT, and per 75A only in hindsight did I pick up on the 2 letter words in the theme entries. Hidden in plain sight, again!

[Gman]

With those, it seemed obvious that JOINT was the meta answer and I had to look and re-look at the other two long answers and work backwards from the other two grid answers whose initial letters contributed to JOINT before it jumped out at me that we were dealing with the two letter words within the long answers.

I too backsolved into JOINT, and per 75A only in hindsight did I pick up on the 2 letter words in the theme entries. Hidden in plain sight, again!

https://images.app.goo.gl/YRFtKcc44VpWjPwg7

[LadyBird]

I also got caught up in the using TEEPEE for DOME. Which then gives you JOT IN. Not really happy with that, so then I saw JOIN and was convinced that the answer should be JOINS. Could not find an S word that would fit the bill, but I finally noticed TRUSS and got to JOINT.

[pjc]

@pjc, I need an introduction to that sweet beagle in your avatar! What a cutie!

Oh, thanks so much @Hidden in 3D

That would be Dexter - the beagle/dachshund mix who has been with us since 2019!

[MikeMillerwsj]

The contest answer is JOINT. As suggested by 75-Across, join the two two-letter words in the theme answers to create four-letter words that satisfy other clues: GOOF = “Jokester” (IMP), NOON = “Common lunch hour” (ONE), DOME = “Architectural feature” (TRUSS), WEAN = “Do a mother cat’s job” (NURSE), SOUP = “Option for those not eating solid food” (JELL-O). In grid order, the first letters of those five answers spell the contest answer.

We thought this was a really tough one! But a flood of solvers disagreed: We had 1,470 entries and a way-above-average 91% were correct.

Incorrect answers included POINT (14, seems like these entries cracked the code but missed one word), CLICK (3), LINKS (2), TRUSS (2), and many other odds and ends.

Congrats to this week's winners: Michael and Laura Driussi of Albany, Calif.!

[ship4u]

We thought this was a really tough one!

Now there's some consolation fellow muggles!

And, Thursday is only 3 days away......

[Janet]

I made partial connections! I could not get noon to match with one. Oh well. I can hope for next Thursday.

[Ben B]

Love that the winners were a team. I dream of the day we win a mug and my son can take it to his college dorm room.

[Barney]

The contest answer is JOINT. As suggested by 75-Across, join the two two-letter words in the theme answers to create four-letter words that satisfy other clues: GOOF = “Jokester” (IMP), NOON = “Common lunch hour” (ONE), DOME = “Architectural feature” (TRUSS), WEAN = “Do a mother cat’s job” (NURSE), SOUP = “Option for those not eating solid food” (JELL-O). In grid order, the first letters of those five answers spell the contest answer.

We thought this was a really tough one! But a flood of solvers disagreed: We had 1,470 entries and a way-above-average 91% were correct.

Incorrect answers included POINT (14, seems like these entries cracked the code but missed one word), CLICK (3), LINKS (2), TRUSS (2), and many other odds and ends.

Congrats to this week's winners: Michael and Laura Driussi of Albany, Calif.!

Boy did I ever lose my bet that some people would submit Alamo.

Maybe no one remembers it anymore.

[Collegetowngirl]

Wow I am just completely thrilled and amazed and astonished to report that my husband and I are the mug winners this week! It's my birthday, too! Incredible! Thanks Ben B for the below!

Love that the winners were a team. I dream of the day we win a mug and my son can take it to his college dorm room.

[hcbirker]

Wow I am just completely thrilled and amazed and astonished to report that my husband and I are the mug winners this week! It's my birthday, too! Incredible! Thanks Ben B for the below!

Love that the winners were a team. I dream of the day we win a mug and my son can take it to his college dorm room.

Congrats and happy birthday!

[yodarkrutch]

Soup to Paella to Peas.
Goof to Imp
Dome to Movable shelter to Teepee
Noon to One
Wean to Nurse.

Answer: Piton

I have to maintain my reputation as a bottom-feeder after all, but it's hard hauling this dome around.

[femullen]

We thought this was a really tough one!

Won't get an argument from me. Took me forever to finally get what 75A was saying. Even then it wasn't from careful analysis but rather from a random thought bubble. I got GOOF, DOME, and SOUP quickly, but was utterly baffled by how to apply the pattern to 24 and 53A. Stared and stared and quit and quit repeatedly until late Sunday afternoon when--Duh!--finally put Two and Two together.

Part of what makes meta puzzles addictive is that I always feel like I'm just barely hanging on: no matter how many I solve--and I'm still batting way below .500--the next puzzle is just as hard. It's almost as if I'm a perpetual noob. It may be frustrating 60% of the time, but it's never old hat.

[P1h3r1e3d13]

Huh! I got DOME -> Portable shelter -> TEPEE, but that doesn't change the result.

[mheberlingx100]

I never beg, plead, entreat, or grovel to win a mug on the current Contest board. So now, a new approach. I'll do it in the previous week's postings, maybe that won't be as overtly needed but give me the needed luck --

Oh, please, please, please! I've never won anything in my life! Please let me win the coveted mug. I have to win my first one before my sister-in-law wins her second.