MEOW #18: A Chat with the Cheshire Cat

A weekly meta crossword on the forum started by member Josh (aka madhatter5). These puzzles are often very creative with solving mechanisms out of the norm and skewing towards the more challenging. Puzzles are posted every Wednesday, and the solution appears the following Tuesday.
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Bird Lives
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#21

Post by Bird Lives »

Damn. With only a slight change in what I was looking for, it would have been an unassisted solve. As soon as I saw that first spoiler, the penny dropped, leaving the bag decatted.

Delightful puzzle. No matter how many times I read through the poem -- and it was many -- searching for a key, I continued to enjoy it.
Jay
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CPJohnson
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#22

Post by CPJohnson »

I am still stuck.
Cynthia
FKelly
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#23

Post by FKelly »

Bought a pig in a poke
and found a cat.
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ReB
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#24

Post by ReB »

Before checking the spoilers, I'm afraid that while I would hope this will be the outcome

https://youtu.be/D7Ax5jr6mDM

This looks to be more likely [Sorry, Shorty Alice]

https://youtu.be/9s7OpTfhfAc
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DrTom
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#25

Post by DrTom »

Hopelessly in the bag.......
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!
madhatter5
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#26

Post by madhatter5 »

Hi guys,

My poor wording on nudge #2 has led a few of you astray. I have reworded the second nudge to be more clear.
https://pandorasblocks.org/crosswords-for-cancer
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CPJohnson
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#27

Post by CPJohnson »

madhatter5 wrote: Mon Apr 05, 2021 1:44 am Hi guys,

My poor wording on nudge #2 has led a few of you astray. I have reworded the second nudge to be more clear.
Thanks; I will take another look.
Cynthia
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DrTom
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#28

Post by DrTom »

I think, with the help of the nudges, I have arrived at the end of Wonderland and Alice will keep her head. I am awaiting confirmation. I found this quite challenging, but the rhyme, well that was straight out of Carroll's playbook.
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!
madhatter5
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#29

Post by madhatter5 »

Solution:


As suggested by the title (as well as by several lines of the rhyme) step #1 was to create portmanteau words from the five theme entries:

HUNTING SNARK -> HARK

MAD HATTER -> MATTER

RABBIT HOLES -> ROLES

MARCH HARE -> MARE

LOOKING GLASS -> LASS


Step #2 to find the lines of the rhyme that correspond to each of these words:


HARK -> Listen -> L

MATTER -> Energy interconverted -> E

ROLES -> What a good actor might get -> W

MARE -> Innocent horse with a nest -> I

LASS -> Small, like a girl who is young -> S



The answer is therefore LEWIS.


As DrTom pointed out to me, my third nudge could also have been worded better since it's not exactly synonyms to get the second step, but rather finding apt descriptions. Hopefully anyone who got step #1 was able to land the plane despite my inability to speak English. If not you get a full refund.
https://pandorasblocks.org/crosswords-for-cancer
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cbarbee002
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#30

Post by cbarbee002 »

Brilliant
Laura M
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#31

Post by Laura M »

That's awesome! I was actually on the right track but didn't quite see where I was going.
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