MEOW #126: Meaningless Words

[Dow Jones]

Cat is loose. Thanks for the puzzle, Josh

[KayW]

The cat is out at last. I saw absolutely NOTHING the first time I looked at this. Then got distracted by a busy week. Finally had a chance to take another look today, and the answer jumped out and bit me. Fun one. Thanks Josh!

[madhatter5]

Solution:

As hinted at by the central across entry, you needed to find the five squares whose corners were the letters M and T. The centers of those squares spelled out the answer, VAIPD.

I know, straightforward, but I hope still enjoyable.

[DrTom]

I never got there. I saw the squares but it was the one that did not conform that had me at STALEMATE. Should have just thrown it away since it was not like the others but....

[Bird Lives]

I never got there. I saw the squares but it was the one that did not conform that had me at STALEMATE. Should have just thrown it away since it was not like the others but....

Maybe you're already familiar with this site
https://boisvert42.github.io/mechapuzzle/
You upload a completed grid, and it gives a chart of letter frequencies -- this puzzle and the average puzzle, so you can see which letters are being used a lot. In this case, you see that there are a lot of Ms. Then you click on M and all the M square in the grid turn aqua colored. Then if you notice the Ts and you click on that, the same thing happens, and now you're looking at those five squares bordered by Ms and Ts.