MEOW #128 Before And After

[Alvibu67]

I’ve solved the grid, and noticed something that might be relevant, but even with the nudges I’m afraid the cat is still on the boat — or whatever we say for these MEOW puzzles.

I’ll keep trying!

Allison

[boharr]

DrTom has nudged my cat off the couch.

[KayW]

The cat has been nudged out of the bag, and is now ransacking my freezer for dessert. Thanks for stepping in with a fun puzzle!

[Bob cruise director]

@DrTom - you miss the point of 59A - it is not how comfortable it is, but the compensation is the scenery.

[michaelm]

Glad I saw notice posted on WSJCC board. Good one DrTom. Thanks!
Oh, cat is debagged.

[DrTom]

@DrTom - you miss the point of 59A - it is not how comfortable it is, but the compensation is the scenery.

Oh YES! As a young lad (my Dad was on the Flagship homeported in Villefranche just 4 km down the coast) I used to marvel at how those French girls were getting gypped because they were only being sold half (well maybe 1/4) of a bathing suit!

[DrTom]

The cat has been nudged out of the bag, and is now ransacking my freezer for dessert. Thanks for stepping in with a fun puzzle!

Ours don't need their own, they just eat mine!

[DrTom]

I'm still not seeing anything in this one, even with all the nudges. I think @DrTom is getting his own back for my Strine puzzle!

No, it really wasn't an attempt to be dastardly...though you do deserve a bit of punishment for the "Strine" puzzle because even having guessed what to do early and following your nudges I still cannot "hear" the word.

[benchen71]

A private nudge got the cat out of the bag. Clever puzzle!

[DrTom]

Well the nudges helped!
7 hoover
8 Meg
9 Carolyn
10 ReB
11 Tom Wilson
12 MatthewL
13 DebbieC
14 Laura M
15 markhr
16 Slime Hudson
17 KayW
18 michaelm
19 BarbaraK
20 woozy
21 clev
22 Benchen71

Much better showing today, I'm so happy I am going to have a frozen dessert!

[DrTom]

Here are a few more desserters:

22 Benchen71
23 Hector
24 Jake A
25 andeux
26 Alvibu67

[DrTom]

AND a few more nudges

In a similar manner, have you ever been to or seen pictures of the beach in Nice, France? If you ever go, bring something to lay on.

The applicable clues are worded in a manner so as to try to force your mind to a certain answer while still answering the clue

The Meta related answers are not QUITE symmetric because I could not find words of the appropriate length to fit, but they are close and all follow the same exact convention

Depending on where you are, names can evoke a completely different response. If I am in Panama and say "Balboa" people picture the explorer who first laid eye on the Pacific Ocean. If I am in Philadelphia the response is COMPLETELY different

[DrTom]

Well only one more to add:
27 Mr Tex

All in all not bad for a late release, particularly since the MGWCC came out today so that will probably divert a lot of attention (haven't tried it yet but it took Jangler almost three hours! I figure Ill solve it about in time for the coronation of the next British King....). Couple of days left but I do not hold out hope of breaking any records.

[Cinny]

I didn't realize this was out there until this morning. I didn't need any nudges this time, but probably because I needed a nudge when test-solving. Still a fun one even the second time around. And with my memory test-solving doesn't always mean an easy second solve!! Thanks, Dr Tom. The cat has escaped!

[DrTom]

So, Monday night, the day before the reveal and 4 more to add:
28 rdavey1287
29 cinny
30 Mikey G
31 CPJohnson

Not a bad turnout after all. Thanks to all my solvers

[rjy]

Yikes! Just saw a reference to this in the WSJ discussions, had no idea a DrTom Meta was in the wild. Racing to solve before the reveal

[DrTom]

Yikes! Just saw a reference to this in the WSJ discussions, had no idea a DrTom Meta was in the wild. Racing to solve before the reveal

I'll hold off until this afternoon!

[rjy]

Just in under the wire! Needed a few of the nudges to orient my brain, but still stymied by some dead ends. Quite fun when the light bulb clicked!

[DrTom]

OK well a total of 33 solvers (rjy joined the list today) makes this a better than average puzzle for me. It had it's problems to be sure (lack of symmetry, some clunky cluing necessary) but people seemed to like it in general. The clunky cluing was to try to push solvers towards what I hoped would stand out:

Whenever I hear Squirrel I think Rocky and Abbey always evokes Road in my mind. Searching for others was also easy since unless you happen to be from Panama, the word Balboa evokes a picture of Sylvester Stallone. The toughest one was the Rocky beach in Nice, but I hoped the uncomfortable part would help. I probably could have left it at three Rocky Roads, but for some reason it had to be four - I'm a creature of habit. In fairness I should have included ROCKY ROAD ICE CREAM as an acceptable answer, and I saw one person who submitted that but was marked incorrect (I went back and fixed it). If there were more who tired that and eventually gave up I don't know because Crosshare only shows the number of tries, not the attempted answers. So if you did enter ROCKY ROAD ICE CREAM and got a "NOPE", let me know and I will amend the leaderboard.

Thanks as always to those who solved, and as luck would have it you are getting a dose of Tom tomorrow as well!