"Missing in Action"

A weekly meta crossword created by members of the forum. Difficulty levels will vary. Hints are usually available starting Wednesday, and solutions are posted on Sunday.
User avatar
ReB
Posts: 667
Joined: Sun Mar 29, 2020 9:34 pm
Location: East Tennessee

#41

Post by ReB »

Okay, the third spoiler was a complete give away (and Google confirmed last night's hint). It turns out I was on the right track in terms of identifying the theme words and the mechanism except that I had no clue regarding the first theme word and erred on the last one, and thus was stuck with gibberish.
JeanneC
Posts: 616
Joined: Sat Apr 25, 2020 11:25 am
Location: Florida

#42

Post by JeanneC »

Believe I got this one correct. Didn’t look at spoilers before submitting. Like others, this puzzle made me feel like I had my mojo back. That turkey and trimmings will taste better tomorrow. I didn’t look forward to blankly nodding at others at the table while thinking about possible metas. 😉
“I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year’s fashions”. Lillian Hellman
User avatar
BarbaraK
Posts: 2592
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 2:37 pm
Location: Virginia

#43

Post by BarbaraK »

I'm off the couch. Not officially confirmed yet, but this one is so tight and clean that there's really no doubt.

Didn't look at the nudges; just late getting to it this week.
User avatar
hashbrown
Posts: 123
Joined: Sat Jul 11, 2020 9:25 am
Location: Scotland

#44

Post by hashbrown »

Also OTC without nudges, thanks for the puzzle Al!
-HB
User avatar
Al Sisti
Posts: 2037
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 1:28 pm
Location: Whitesboro NY

#45

Post by Al Sisti »

The answer to this meta was “D. B. Cooper,” the infamous air pirate who dropped out of sight on Nov 24, 1971, never to be heard from again. And although the authorities never found him, 42 of our intrepid Muggles did.

So what was the mechanism? We had 4 starred clues that seemed to be oddly written, as well as the center-row entry HIGHJACKED LETTERS. Astute solvers noticed that half of the starred clues yielded the grid entry, but the second part hinted at an answer that was two letters longer:

“8D character …” gave us GOLLUM, while “…"The Fly" pointed us to GOLDBLUM, which had the letters DB “highjacked.”
Similarly, “Loved…” gave us REVERED and “…well” was RECOVERED (losing CO)
“Lower-than-expected profits…” was GOT LESS, and “…lose your shirt” was GO TOPLESS (losing OP)
And “Unaffected…” – INTACT – was what resulted when “…talk with others” (INTERACT) had the letters ER highjacked. Put them all together, and you end up with D.B. COOPER, who did indeed highjack Northwest 305 (incidentally, North West – son of Kanye – was thrown in at 46A as my “reveal aha”) to take his place in history as one of the most famous people who went “Missing in Action.”

The random winner this week is DJB from Sydney Australia (!) who will receive either a) a Utica Club keepsake, or b) an unsullied copy of one of the books in Peter Gordon’s “____ingly Hard Crosswords” series, autographed by Peter himself. (DJB, pm me for your choice, and how I can get it to you).

(Errata: Once again, my goal to have an error-free meta fell short. As was pointed out to me: 1) Les Nessman did not say that classic turkey quote; rather it was his boss, Mr. Carlson; 2) My “raise a racket” clue for SERVE got a little less funny when DrTom informed me that it is a tennis racquet, not racket, and c) I spelled “humanids” as “humanoids.” Alas, the quest continues…

Finally, thanks to Brian MacDonald and Peter Abide for their great comments and suggestions as test solvers, and a nomination for the MMM Clue Hall of Fame goes to Peter for his clue for UROLOGISTS: “Experts in the field of streams?”
Picture3.jpg
User avatar
boharr
Moderator
Posts: 3184
Joined: Fri Sep 06, 2019 8:57 am
Location: Westchester, NY

#46

Post by boharr »

Thanks again, Al. It was great fun.
Schmeel
Posts: 1642
Joined: Sun Mar 29, 2020 2:38 pm

#47

Post by Schmeel »

Al Sisti wrote: Sun Nov 29, 2020 11:07 am (Errata: Once again, my goal to have an error-free meta fell short. As was pointed out to me: 1) Les Nessman did not say that classic turkey quote; rather it was his boss, Mr. Carlson; 2) My “raise a racket” clue for SERVE got a little less funny when DrTom informed me that it is a tennis racquet, not racket, and c) I spelled “humanids” as “humanoids.” Alas, the quest continues…
I'm unfamiliar with Les Nessman so I can't comment on the correctness of that, but according to Merriam-Webster both 'racket' and 'humanoid' seem to be fine.
Thanks again for the great puzzle!
User avatar
MikeM000
Posts: 579
Joined: Mon Aug 24, 2020 11:31 am
Location: Metro Detroit

#48

Post by MikeM000 »

Did any other Gen X kids immediately think PETERS when they saw 49 down? From reading posts here with cultural references I'm guessing R.E.M. skews a little young for this crowd. :)
Post Reply