MGWCC #803 — “Keep Your Puzzle Buzz”

[Bird Lives]

Was anybody else distracted by other wordy clues? Such as...

I wonder if these were camouflage for the relevant eight entries.

I always try to pay attention clunky clues - the ones where you wonder "Why did he clue it that way?" Often they are part of the meta. But here there were so many:

REEL as a "lakeside contraption,"
HIS as greetings rather than the possessive
"hop, skip, and jump" in the clue for FAR
"Like ladybugs" for RED.
and probably others

In company like this, "Controversial work, sometimes" for NOVEL blends in as just another off-center clue.

[woozy]

BAY in Biscayne is too short and obvious for me to see so I never did.

Instead the sUper bowl SHow whatEveR was clearly there although horribly ugly. ... and that led me on the wrong path for NINE hours!

Once I fixed that I got it readily.

[sharkicicles]

I really should have waited until 4:20 to submit. Thanks to the Zoom crew for the help on this one.

[schmidzy]

I was sure USHER hidden in its clue had to be important, but Google didn't seem to say he was particularly known for cannabis use. Was anyone else thrown off by "oPOsiTe of paleo-"? I figured if two clues had POT in the first word, surely it couldn't be the correct path.

[WabiSabi]

I really should have waited until 4:20 to submit. Thanks to the Zoom crew for the help on this one.

There's a Zoom Crew?

[HoldThatThought]

When I was in England I experimented with the MGWCC a time or two, and I didn’t like it. I didn’t inhale it, and never tried it again.

[boharr]

I was sure USHER hidden in its clue had to be important, but Google didn't seem to say he was particularly known for cannabis use. Was anyone else thrown off by "oPOsiTe of paleo-"? I figured if two clues had POT in the first word, surely it couldn't be the correct path.

I only looked in clues for five-letter grid entries.

[dlonoff]

I was one of the TAIGA submitters that Matt graciously accepted. I just had a vague inkling about it and then Google confirmed it was a strain of pot, and I didn't give it a second thought before submitting.

I think the last step would've been more elegant had there been a 5 letter entry that was contained in CANNABIS, though that's probably asking a lot. That's what I kept looking for. At that point in the solve I wasn't looking at the clues, and only noticed the double definition of ENNUI after I was marked wrong initially. Never saw the POT connection.

Still liked it overall!

[HunterX]

When I was in England I experimented with the MGWCC a time or two, and I didn’t like it. I didn’t inhale it, and never tried it again.

I suppose it depends on what the meaning of "was" was?

[HoldThatThought]

So what was was, essentially? It's as obvious as the nose on your face.

It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘was’ was. If the—if he—if ‘was’ means was and never has been, that was not—that was one thing. If was means there was none, that was a completely true statement.

Or was it?

[AaronT]

I got to the answer fairly quickly but via the wrong last step, which I still stubbornly prefer over the actual path.

This was mentioned in a comment on crosswordfiend, too, but it never occurred to me that the 8 theme entries' answers were fully contained in the first word of the clue. I got to CANNABIS then found all but one N of CANNABIS in the clue for 9D, taking the clue as a whole:

"produCtivity mAy be NegAtively affected By thIS"

I assumed (read: "hoped") that there was a minor error in the wording of that clue which could have been resolved by changing "may" to "can" (or adding "often", as was suggested on crosswordfiend) and submitted with a fair degree of confidence. Looking for a synonym of CANNABIS isn't something I'd considered and I'm not sure I would have even thought to try that if CANNABIS itself wasn't practically sitting right there.