"Alternate Version" - June 24, 2022

[MaineMarge]

Excellent meta!
Solving buddy and I share the credit equally for getting this fun one.
Wonder how long it took PB to KNOCKOFF this gem??

[Joe Ross]

Wait... How is that clue order if 32-D comes *after* 59A and 62A?

You do all of the across clues first, then all of the down clues. (Clues are listed ACROSS first, then DOWN, so same order.)

Not always. Sometimes the meta depends on strict grid order (row-major order of the first letter in the answer). At least I think so ..

Leave it to Patrick Berry to be more precise in the order. What a mind!

[Limerick Savant]

I’ve really no reason to scoff
I’m ashore with my favorite quaff
Exquisite concoction
I’d no other option
Solve the meta in time and knock off

Like many others here, I struggled with finding the correct alternative clues for some time but there’s nothing like calamity to help focus one’s attention and the fallen 3 foot wide branch at the back of the house became mine. Now off to find someone to take down that darn water oak!

[jrdad]

Some enlightenment, please. I figured out the (only likely) mechanism and first found KEEP and KEEN, so i thought i was on the right track. Then i figured to be sure, to find the pair with ARIES... Crickets. So i assumed i was missing something. ARIES to ONSET? I don't get it.

I struggled with the same problem, looking for synonyms for 'name' and 'Aries', with no luck. Then I realized it was alternative answers to the clues I was looking for, not synonyms.

[Mister Squawk]

Really enjoyed this one. Made me feel smart

[Mister Squawk]

I struggled with the same problem, looking for synonyms for 'name' and 'Aries', with no luck. Then I realized it was alternative answers to the clues I was looking for, not synonyms.

This is such a central idea in so many of these metas. There's no semantic connection between FIDO and NAME outside of the context provided by the clue.

[katnahat]

Some enlightenment, please. I figured out the (only likely) mechanism and first found KEEP and KEEN, so i thought i was on the right track. Then i figured to be sure, to find the pair with ARIES... Crickets. So i assumed i was missing something. ARIES to ONSET? I don't get it.

Aries is considered the FIRST SIGN of the Zodiac. ARIES the Ram. The clue for “onset” was “first sign” and that clue fits “Aries” as well.

I'm an Aries child, my parents' sixth child and first son. My elder, wicked (& wickedly clever) sisters told me that I was born under the first sign of the "scatological" calendar. Being 5 or 6, I took that as fact and repeated it to whomever would listen, until I told Mom. Dinner that night was a little frosty, but with shared grins and giggles amongst the Toil and Trouble Troupe.

Big sisters are the worst. I know; I am one.

[HunterX]

Well that was a fun solve. I got the beginning of it in the Scranton-Wilkes Barre airport....

Although the trip to Scranton was not really for "fun", we did go out to a very nice place to eat. I had forgotten about the charms of NE Pennsylvania, this was at the Ledges Hotel in Hawley PA at their "Glass Piano Bar and Grill" restaurant:

Based on your post, I checked out the Ledges Hotel online. Looks like a gorgeous setting by the water. And SO very "Poconos." As we now have a place in the Pocono Mountains, we may have to take a drive and enjoy a meal there! We're in the "lower" Poconos though, so it's a bit of a drive. But it's a pretty drive. Great for a sunny day with the windows and moonroof open. And we'd get to go by places with great names like Lake Wallenpaupack, and the Lackawaxen River. (Lackawaxen is Lenape for "Swift Waters," and Wallenpaupack is a Lenape name meaning "The Stream of Swift and Slow Water.")

Thanks for the tip!

[Kas]

Rats. I was within sight of the right rabbit hole, but I those pesky, tricksy little varmints camouflaged it with the
use of proper spelling. (It seems I didn't know how to spell stala[G/C]tite.)

So hello, Isaac! Yep...me again...

[katnahat]

I realized close to solving that, had I looked to the clues, I could have found the eight words and thus the letters a lot sooner. I had Aries paired with two different words that were totally wrong and wouldn't have seen the connection between ARIES and FIRST SIGN if I hadn't looked at the clues. I really enjoyed this meta.

[cbarbee002]

Treat = 12D Great Delight (Glee) in my solve for, oh, at least 2 days?

[regfish7]

So glad to hear I wasn’t the only one who fell temporarily into the “treat”/“glee” hole! For some reason my brain just refused to read “doctor” as a verb, even while filling out the grid! But thankfully I caught my mistake fairly quickly. I really had a lot of fun with this one and agree that it was a super impressive construction to use so much of the grid!!

[boharr]

Treat = 12D Great Delight (Glee) in my solve for, oh, at least 2 days?

Luckily, I dumped Glee after an hour.

[woozy]

I thought of TREAT = GREAT DELIGHT but I dropped it as soon as it didn't make an answer. I figured TREAT is a more tangible noun than DELIGHT which was more of an emotion that it just didn't sit well. The rest seemed to spell KNOcKOFF so I went through the puzzle entry by entry to find one that began with C. I *did* have to puzzle "huh?" for the better part of a minute.

[DBMiller]

I always have to remember from school days that the ones coming from the Ceiling are stalaCtites while.the one coming from the Ground are stalaGmites. C for ceiling, g for ground.

[katnahat]

English Roses by David Austin. The gift that keeps on giving!

Perfectly gorgeous! Thanks for sharing.

[woozy]

My problem was I misentered the non-existent STALACTITE and figured the Lotto Jackpot was TIL as in TILl all the money in the register. Does that make sense? Yeah.... like you've never rationalize a weird entry before. And the changeable parts of lamp could be a WICK. So I figured it was alternate entries but I assumed there was no letter substitution. But I couldn't find any that felt strong ("Squirrel away = GUARD??? Glittery Stuff= SAND??)

But frustratingly I kept coming across these clues that would fit if I replaced a letter (HOLED to HONED, BOARD to HOARD, ARIAS to both ARIES and ARIAL) but I knew because of FORE to TIL and BULBS to WICK we weren't supposed to change letters. And changing letters couldn't be a viable mechanism if we have no way of know which entries have a changed letter.

But there *so* many that worked with changed letter I figured I'd look and see.....

[Annabelle]

I was on the right track, but had my crossing words in the wrong order. And had other choices for some of the other clues: Aries: one, Name: who, and Chances: shots. Completely missed til and fore, but I guess they both mean before in one way or another.

[iggystan]

I have to confess that I knew the answer was “knockoff” based on finding some of the right words, such as keen, keep, odds, etc. But I struggled with finding all of the others. (Didn’t look at the clues, doh!) I submitted, but waited with dread for the solution. As Wordle says, “Phew!”

[mikeB]

I always have to remember from school days that the ones coming from the Ceiling are stalaCtites while.the one coming from the Ground are stalaGmites. C for ceiling, g for ground.

Around 60 years ago, we visited the Oregon Caves, where a docent explained how to remember which is which:

A stalactite has to hold on tight or it might become a stalagmite.
A stalagmite would have been a stalactite if it had held on a might tighter.