"In A Comprehensive Manner" September 22, 2023

[Deb F]

It's Sunday morning here in the Cotswolds and I am up early sitting in the great hall of an old abbey:

abbots-great-hall-daytime.jpg

https://www.abbotsgrange.com/

Breakfast is not until 9 am so I have time to read and reflect before other guests rise. It is a beautiful part of the world!

Beautiful. Certainly appears to befit your stature! Enjoy it.

[Colin]

Only grid so far,
Lonely - with Isaac in bar!
Gonna be late one.

[Franky_T]

Got it thanks to the Zoom call.

[Kwyjibo]

I was going to join the zoom call but then saw 16 pages of solvers and thought I'm way over thinking this. Took off my thinking cap and a few minutes later got it.

[Bob cruise director]

Good evening muggles

Our final count is 3 on the ship and 258 on the shore. Good luck winning the mug and we will see you next week.

[whimsy]

(Ooops -- Sneaking in.)
Ashore.

(Word has it that it was a success.)

[KscX]

Ashore- fun and nicely wrapped

[ReB]

Looks like I forgot to post my Thursday beach arrival. I suspect I found the less common route ashore, which made for an enjoyable and uneventful passage.

[escapeartist]

After a late start, I am hauling ice for our friend Isaac once again on the cruiser.

Noticing some things, but not able to put it all together quite yet.

Eh, hauling ice for Isaac isn't so bad on this dreamboat.

Took another look this afternoon and was able to connect the dots - yay!

Man, this has been a tough meta year.

[hcbirker]

[Colin]

One last drink, Isaac?
Spent too much time,
On shove ha’penny and wine,
To see the common track.

[FrancesY]

My first guess was Amazon because it’s logo has an arrow going from A to Z, it’s comprehensive, and it seemed like more of a “brand.”

[ky-mike]

My first guess was Amazon because it’s logo has an arrow going from A to Z, it’s comprehensive, and it seemed like more of a “brand.”

In my haste, that was my submission. I’ll bet I’m not alone in that thinking.

[hoover]

I didn't use 74A's clue; instead I used the entries 1A and 74A and DID (a thing) TO EIGHT (things).

[woozy]

I thought maybe 74 was meant to be misleading as the clue is for a phrase (maybe a slogan for the brand) but not the brand itself so I figured that there was utterly no reason whatsoever to assume the brand had eight letters.

But 74A did clue me into what the heck I was supposed to do with all the obvious Z's floating about (I hadn't noticed the A's-- just the Z's). That "From A to Z" meant comprehensive was a lead cincher for me so I was certain that metanism was to take the letters between the As and the Zs (although that there were eight such letters was very disconcerting to me) and that spelled.... Webster's and that a dictionary would go from A-to-Z made me feel that this a 98.25%er. The 1.75% was only off because I'd never in a million years use the cloying neologism "classic brand" to describe a dictionary.

I liked this one. I like how all the splinters fit together but only make sense as a complete whole.

[Relic]

I thought maybe 74 was meant to be misleading as the clue is for a phrase (maybe a slogan for the brand) but not the brand itself so I figured that there was utterly no reason whatsoever to assume the brand had eight letters.

But 74A did clue me into what the heck I was supposed to do with all the obvious Z's floating about (I hadn't noticed the A's-- just the Z's). That "From A to Z" meant comprehensive was a lead cincher for me so I was certain that metanism was to take the letters between the As and the Zs (although that there were eight such letters was very disconcerting to me) and that spelled.... Webster's and that a dictionary would go from A-to-Z made me feel that this a 98.25%er. The 1.75% was only off because I'd never in a million years use the cloying neologism "classic brand" to describe a dictionary.

I liked this one. I like how all the splinters fit together but only make sense as a complete whole.

" I like how all the splinters fit together but only make sense as a complete whole."

So well put! Exactly how I felt, but coudn't find the words.

[Flamel616]

Very unlikely I'd have found this one even putting more time into it. "From A to Z" was nowhere in my head.

[pjc]

First clue to me were all the Zs. Second was the number of words I'd never seen in a crossword before. Then 'A to Z' came up because of the title. I didn't get the 74-across connection until the solve was complete.

[Ergcat]

When I first saw all the Z’s and thought what brand uses Z’s in its slogan?? NyQuil because it “ helps you get your Z’s”! Luckily, I then went to think on 74a and came up with “from A to Z”! That put me on the right path. The hyphen in “comprehen-sive” puzzled me at first but ( after the solve) then I realized it was another hint because A-Z was a common way to express “A to Z”.

[KayW]

I just assUme-d the hyphens were due to a glitch in the puzzle generation, because there is a line-break at that point in both clues in the PDF version. But I like those interpretations.