"In Formation, Please" - December 9, 2022

[hoover]

Wasn't going to get this one. I got distracted by the three formations I saw: VEE, WING, WEDGE. And then by the clue for 32A: FORMAl allegaTIONS, which sent me looking for other clues containing FORMATION.

[KayW]

This has been my ear worm most of the weekend

[hcbirker]

That term was unfamiliar to me, so I almost submitted “runways” as a third step. But then reconsidered. Glad I did.

[Relic]

Maybe I'm wrong but I took 8D Cartesian plane divider - axis as a nudge from Mike to consider the letters between the V points. Without that I might have not known what to do with the three formations.

[DebbieC]

Don't think I've seen anyone mention the following:
In additon to 64A THREE and 33D VEE, I took 1A CARET as a clue as to what to do with the VEES. In proofreading, text (or punctuation) that is to be inserted is indicated by a CARET. So the text in the VEEs in the puzzle are the text we are looking for.

[ZooAnimalsOnWheels]

This took me too long because I filled the grid from upper left to lower right, and when I did 64A as the final clue, I said "Oh, and here's the reference to 'formation'." I had totally missed the 'formation' in 33D! So I spent a lot of time trying to figure out exactly what formation I was looking for.

At one point, I decided that 'in formation' meant they wanted me to form new words by using the word IN. TWA, RIC, and RON, can become TWAIN, RICIN, and RONIN by adding -IN, so it was only when I went scanning the clues for some sort of tie to those words that I saw 33D, and then it all fell into place.

[Mister Squawk]

In addition to the presence of three instances of 'IN' and the three small V arrangements, didja happen to notice that the names of three now-closed AIR BASES appear in the grid?

AppPEASE, MOORE, and avermENTs.

[MatthewB]

I never thought to look for"geese". What a great meta....

[Gman]

Hey all, apologies for posting a spoiler. I flew P-3s in the Navy and was so excited to see a term that reminded me of those days that I didn't think much about what I was posting with my ashore message. Thank you Joe and Bob for keeping watch and just taking care of it. As I've said before, this forum is a great source of connection for me away from work, and I definitely don't mean to break its norms.

Too bad Navy lost this weekend, but it was an exciting game to watch. Fly Navy! Beat Army.

[Streroto]

The deep rabbit hole I went down was dug by CARET, VEE and WEDGE. Turns out there are groups of three letters in the grid in all three of these shapes. I could get FEE SITE out of it and fortunately came to my senses yesterday and did not submit that. Saw these later in the day.

[Fogway]

Maybe 7D BILGE (the V-shape formed by a ship's hull) pointed to 33D VEE. I couldn't see the relevance of its clue (Twaddle) to that answer, but then I didn't consult the OED for its take.

[Bird Lives]

I went down pretty much the same rabbit hole as Steroto. I know that the last and first Across clues and entries are often part of the meta, as are the centrally located ones. The last Across told us that to look for three formations. The first Across entry was CARET. The central Down entry was VEE. These are similar, except that a caret points up while a vee points down. I looked for a third and found WEDGE, which points horizontally.

I speant a long time scanning the diagonals word-search style looking for words in these three shapes but oriented up, down, and sideways.
I found GEESE soon enough, but where were the wedge and caret? Nowhere. Eventually, I found the other two geese and what they were carrying inside their vee-formations.

I thought it especially fitting that CARET turned out to be what you found in a rabbit hole.

[Dplass]

Diagonals...why'd it have to be diagonals..

[FatJack]

Chased Wedge and Caret too, never saw those damn geese right on the front lawn.

Got to say though, even if I had spotted the birds, "flight strips" is kind of obscure. Air strip, yes, but the only use of flight strip Google could find was an obscure air traffic controller term.

[Colin]

Didn’t think of looking for GEESE-type VEEs. Spent too long on the three small VEEs formed by three Is, Es and As and the letters (T,D and L) contained within. Tried to force fit but could only come up with Touchdown Locations which also took me down footballing terms, but it all seemed too far-fetched. Then I noticed two more 3-letter vees (Ss and Ts) pointing horizontally, so that broke the guidance of 64A. After a short but fruitless search for other formation shapes, I carefully folded the crossword into a combo of THREE VEES and gracefully glided my beautiful, yet incomplete, flying crossword into its final landing place. If it had landed with a noisy and somewhat inelegant splash on water, the link to GEESE might have ignited my dulled brain. But alas, it just fell gracefully, narrowly missing my Sunday nightcap glass by an inch, indicating it was time to throw in the towel.
Well done solvers and good luck with the mug!

[John77]

Chased Wedge and Caret too, never saw those damn geese right on the front lawn.

Got to say though, even if I had spotted the birds, "flight strips" is kind of obscure. Air strip, yes, but the only use of flight strip Google could find was an obscure air traffic controller term.

You are quite correct.

Flight strips were printed slips of paper that air traffic controllers used to keep track of their assigned aircraft. Paper flight strips are being converted to electronic versions (see https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/technology/tfdm/efs ). Either way, I don't think I'd want to land an airplane there.

[BarbaraK]

Yeah, that's my quibble. These are flight strips:

I did see some dictionaries show the other meaning for flight strip, so I guess someone some time must have used it that way.

But not in the real world. Airplanes land at airports, airstrips, airfields, aerodromes. I've never heard flight strip as anything other than the little strips of paper used by air traffic controllers.

Still a fun and clever puzzle.

[Hidden in 3D]

Chased Wedge and Caret too, never saw those damn geese right on the front lawn.

Got to say though, even if I had spotted the birds, "flight strips" is kind of obscure. Air strip, yes, but the only use of flight strip Google could find was an obscure air traffic controller term.

You are quite correct.

Flight strips were printed slips of paper that air traffic controllers used to keep track of their assigned aircraft. Paper flight strips are being converted to electronic versions (see https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/technology/tfdm/efs ). Either way, I don't think I'd want to land an airplane there.

My husband (retired USN pilot) happened to be sitting beside me when I found the metanism and asked him if he had ever heard of a flight strip. He referred to the air traffic control meaning and then went on to talk about how emergency air strips can be found alongside highways in Europe. By that time I had found this as the first definition for flight strip in the Merriam-Webster dictionary: "an auxiliary or emergency landing field alongside a highway".

[Ergcat]

To check if “flight strips” was “a thing”,
I consulted Mr Google. This came up:: Merriam-Webster says. ”flight strip
noun: an auxiliary or emergency landing field “.

I found the three “GEE” right away but didn’t see the rest of the word to form a “vee” for quite a while. Thought it was a rabbit hole because why would Mike give such a literal hint “geese in a vee formation” in 33d?? So I was looking for other words in formation. Finally came back to the “GEE” on diagonals and spotted the “SE” to complete a vee! But still took a bit to figure which letters “IN formation” made a word for landings!

[mheberlingx100]

I focused on Three and Vee from the start, but I was looking for same- letter Vees formed in the grid. Thought they might spell out something, but what could be spelled out in only three letters? Then I saw the first geese and knew I was on the right track.