Episode #242 Contest: "Follow the Directions"

Meta crosswords from Lollapuzzoola creator and host Brian Cimmet, offered from time to time through the Fill Me In podcast, which is hosted by Mr. Cimmet and Ryan Hecht. More information available here: https://bemoresmarter.com/
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DrTom
Posts: 3764
Joined: Sat Apr 20, 2019 6:46 pm
Location: Jacksonville, FL

#21

Post by DrTom »

BarbaraK wrote: Thu May 21, 2020 1:41 pm
DrTom wrote: Thu May 21, 2020 11:20 am Follow Directions.jpg
Boy, I could not have been further off if I tried! I did not interpret the directions to mean that “what you had to do to a part of a crossing entry” also meant that the part was an anagram as well. So, I had the SHRED GRIND DICE CHOP, and almost every one crossed an entry that had something I could do with the action term, so:
SHRED SHEET
GRIND COFFEE
DICE DILL
CHOP ??

Ah but it says the contest answer is an anagram of an entry in the grid, and to complete my ACTION – OBJECT foursome I see that the crossing entry contains an ANAGRAM of TOMATO. That was my answer at least. I should have caught on that it was WAY too simple to be the right mechanism.

I never looked for an anagram in the other crossing entries (my bad), but even if I had I am not sure I would have seen the last big clue, the TOR TIL LA because I didn’t see anything that would refer to that, it wasn’t an ACTION/OBJECT PAIR. Congratulations to all who got this.
That grind/coffee was a nasty little red herring. And I looked at shred/sheet too.

The tortilla was the last piece I found. With the 4 ingredients, I thought of taco, and when I saw coat in the grid I felt pretty confident. But I held off submitting because those three starred clues at the bottom had to mean something. I had their answers written in a column, and they weren’t telling me anything that way. It wasn’t til I went back and highlighted them in the grid that I saw what they were hiding.
And there it is, starred clues!!! I almost blew the last MGWCC because I glanced over the entire clue for "Ghost ____ ...13 maned herein" Gosh, you'd think I'd be MUCH better at looking for subtle clues to the answer. I's still never have gotten it (KAS 4)
Homer DOH.jpg
because I was soooo locked in to the "easy" crosses and didn't say, even once, "why would they all of a sudden change it up and anagram the answer?" But now it is even a more impressive puzzle because I see I was given a path to solve it, I just ignored the path.
NUDGES!I am always willing to give nudges where needed; metas should be about fun, not frustration. Send me what you have done so far because often you are closer than you think!
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