#90 I'd forget my head if it weren't attached

[woozy]

Well, here's an early nudge before the real nudges tomorrow

Every clue has one answer. Some of these answers are broken into two grid entries.

[DrTom]

Well, here's an early nudge before the real nudges tomorrow

Every clue has one answer. Some of these answers are broken into two grid entries.

Well that kinda confused me even more...if that is possible here. I THINK I know what I have to do, I just can't do it.

[Ergcat]

I’m with you @DrTom hoping the other nudges help!

[woozy]

Okay, some nudges

Obviously the clues with numbers in brackets are important. They are pretty much the only things that are important. I wouldn't worry what the numbers mean at this point so much as to use them to identify the themers.

Some of the themers are broken into two grid entries. Treat those two entries as though they were a single themer.

You now have eight themers.

What do you see when you look at the themers? Do they remind you of anything?

Try to identify concepts or things that are related or belong to a category.

Okay, now you should try to figure out what the bracket numbers mean.

Each themer will yield an item in a category and one other thing.

Eight themers, eight objects, eight letters. Nothing left but to figure out the order.

And if you weren't able to figure out all the nudges: What categories has eight members

Alternative titles: What a muddleCome down to earthWhat a muddle! I'm really spaced out. I'd forget my head.

[edestlin]

AHHHH click! I was soooo close and didn't see what I needed until one of the nudges blew it open for me. Thanks for the puzzle!

[MarkWoychick]

Thanks for the puzzle and the nudges, woozy - finally got it with the assist of the hints

[Ergcat]

Got it finally! The nudges helped! Very clever, Woozy! I’m just not clever!

[Dow Jones]

The cat has been nudged out of the bag. Thanks for the challenge, woozy.

[woozy]

The leaderboard is coming along nicely with 18 solves:

DJB
Hector
Darth
Meg
boharr
hoover
whimsy
Gutman
I K Snamhcok
lbray53
DIS
Cindy Heisler
CPJohnson
edestlin
Mwoychick
Ergcat
Laura M
Dow Jones

Good job all!

[HeadinHome]

Finally came back around to this one and boy am I glad I did. Once I figured out what was going on, I got on the right track, corrected course a few times as I realized MORE of what was going on, etc. All the nudging I needed was really the assurance of the first few (where to focus), and the theme/idea jumped out at me. So fun to see the solution word materialize. (“Ohhhhh… ! “)

[benchen71]

Cat's out, thanks to the nudges! Thanks, woozy.

[rjy]

Needed the nudges, but finally got this one. Cool concept, @woozy, and one of those that’s pretty amazing to reverse engineer to think consider how you came up with the concept and executed it. A challenge for you, a challenge for us!

[woozy]

Few more the leader board:


Wendy S HeadinHome
BrennerTJ
ReB solved
rjy

[benchen71]

Few more the leader board:


Wendy S HeadinHome
BrennerTJ
ReB solved
rjy

And me!

[woozy]

Few more the leader board:


Wendy S HeadinHome
BrennerTJ
ReB solved
rjy

And me!

And you. Did you submit on Crosshare?

[MikeyG]

I'm on fourth nudge in the Nudge Barrage earlier. I'm really curious about this one and will ruminate on that nudge a bit to see if I can crack it or if I need to go on some more!

Edit: Wait a minute...hmmm...I think I might have just seen something! Where are you, cat???

Cat is out! I don't know how in the world I saw what I needed to, but I did. A clever challenge!!

[benchen71]

Few more the leader board:


Wendy S HeadinHome
BrennerTJ
ReB solved
rjy

And me!

And you. Did you submit on Crosshare?

No. I messaged you here at XWord-Muggles.

[woozy]

Okay... I guess that explains why you didn't show up when I did the cut and past.

So we have:

benchen71 (we aren't listening them by any score)
Mikey G

23 submissions and 97 solves of which only 13 didn't need assists.

[woozy]

Reveal:

The clues:

• My liquor I offer for clemency
• Very sage advice for a vampire
• Elegant venue for entertainment
• Mother and other western madams
• Just a melee about a French skirt (or a Scottish tunic, or maybe about that SpaceX teeny dwelling rental)
• Sat around in the original language
• Upon the Micronesian nation you will find its capital-- Yaren-- and it's most populous city-- Denigomodu; pop. 2,827
• Needles may pierce a vein to allow bloodletting or IV feeding

The entries (and their significant letters):

• [1-5]MERCY RUM[1-3]
• [1-3]SUN NEVer[1-3]
• [2-7]tHEATRE
• [1-5]MARMS
• [1-4]JUPE RIOT[1-4]
• [1-7]UNTRANSlated
• [1-5]NAURU ISland[1-2]
• [2-9]vENEPUNCTure

The mechanism:

• MERCY RUM =>Mercury + M
• SUN NEV=>Venus + N
• HEATRE=>Earth + E
• MARMS=>Mars + M
• JUPE RIOT=>Jupiter + O
• UNTRANS=>Saturn + N
• NAURU IS=>Uranus + I
• ENEPUNCT=>Neptune + C

The solution:

MNEMONIC

as in "My Very Elegant Mother Just Sat Upon Needles" as a method to memorize the planets in order.

[hoover]

1. I never used a mnemonic to learn the planets (or SOHCAHTOA sine-cosine-tangent or PEDMAS/BODMAS order of operations, for that matter).
2. I have heard mnemonics for the planets, but not this one, so I didn't even notice it in the cluing.
3. Pluto is a planet, darn it!