"Food Group" July 28, 2023

[dpl11]

Ashore. Fit the puzzle in between concerts (Sheryl Crow last night, Dawes tonight, My Morning Jacket tomorrow!) Here’s to a great summer weekend in the NC mts, and a good puzzle.

Wow, great line up of shows. Hope MMJ do one of their 3-hour marathons.

[Fogway]

Ashore.

Busy weekend with our local Celtic Festival. Gaelic Storm, Socks in the Frying Pan, Drowsy Lads, etc.

Finally started on the puzzle tonight. Liked it.

[sjm]

Ashore… better late than not at all!

[Bob cruise director]

Good evening muggles

Our final count is 267 on the shore with the following making it since noon.

FloridaMan81
Colin
EmilyW
davis178
linsocalm
JRS51
jag
sjm
Fogway

This is our fourth biggest shore party behind Cover Band July 1, 2022 (290), You Don't Say January 21, 2022 (271) and Back and Forth February 18, 2022 (270)

[cheekumbaldy]

I made it to shore after several weeks of traveling. Glad to return on a cool puzzle like this one. Thanks for the in-puzzle nudge, Matt!

[LadyBird]

I’ve lived in Ohio 50 years but I only consider myself a Hoosier! Born there, schooled there and forever in my heart!

Been in Illinois for 40 years, but I'm still a Hoosier at heart as well!

[Jeremy Smith]

Been on shore since Thursday, but forgot to post.

[flyingMoose]

I’ve lived in Ohio 50 years but I only consider myself a Hoosier! Born there, schooled there and forever in my heart!

Been in Illinois for 40 years, but I'm still a Hoosier at heart as well!

Y'all are beginning to sound like Texans. :)

[hcbirker]

[OGuyDave]

Done Thursday, and done Friday. Like others, had to back solve to get the total gist. Nice puzzle, must have taken Matt a ton of research to get this to work.

TFTXWD

[ZooAnimalsOnWheels]

Anyone else remember the Popeye movie from 1980? Earworm of "food, food, food, everything is food" centered around this guy.



Stuck in my head all the way to shore.

That's Paul Dooley, a truly marvelous character actor who played Wimpy, the hamburger-eating cheapskate of the comic strip. I had the pleasure of having dinner with him years ago at a theater festival. I still fondly remember some of the stories he told. He played the dad in the movie "Breaking Away", one of my favorite films of all time.

And Claude Elsinore, who tried to take control of the Elsinore Brewery, in "Strange Brew"!

"Just because I don't know what it is doesn't mean I'm lying!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_noilU08ro

[hoover]

I’ve lived in Ohio 50 years but I only consider myself a Hoosier! Born there, schooled there and forever in my heart!

Been in Illinois for 40 years, but I'm still a Hoosier at heart as well!

Y'all are beginning to sound like Texans.

Not until they start decorating their houses with outlines of their state.

[Cindy N]

Anyone else remember the Popeye movie from 1980? Earworm of "food, food, food, everything is food" centered around this guy.

... ... ... ... ...

Stuck in my head all the way to shore.

That's Paul Dooley, a truly marvelous character actor who played Wimpy, the hamburger-eating cheapskate of the comic strip. I had the pleasure of having dinner with him years ago at a theater festival. I still fondly remember some of the stories he told. He played the dad in the movie "Breaking Away", one of my favorite films of all time.

And Claude Elsinore, who tried to take control of the Elsinore Brewery, in "Strange Brew"!

"Just because I don't know what it is doesn't mean I'm lying!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_noilU08ro

Strange Brew and Yellowbeard were the first two movies I watched when cable showed up in my neighborhood back in 1983.

[sharkicicles]

Been in Illinois for 40 years, but I'm still a Hoosier at heart as well!

Y'all are beginning to sound like Texans.

Not until they start decorating their houses with outlines of their state.

There are Indianan transplants here in the city that have Indiana outline t shirts

Show of hands who had to backsolve SLOE. Not in my list of fruits brain databank until this puzzle.

[debbierudy]

Ashore.

Busy weekend with our local Celtic Festival. Gaelic Storm, Socks in the Frying Pan, Drowsy Lads, etc.

Finally started on the puzzle tonight. Liked it.

I've never been to the Dayton Festival but hear it's good.
Dublin Irish Festival is next weekend - a busy one for us (my husband plays with the Kells and Yankee Celtic Consort).
Slainte!

[Ergcat]

Show of hands who had to backsolve SLOE. Not in my list of fruits brain databank until this puzzle.

Me!! I was trying to get MELON out of SAM MALONE!! But finally saw that it had to be SLOE

[Joe Ross]

Not until they start decorating their houses with outlines of their state.

It's a thing.

[LadyBird]

Sounds like a number of us had to backsolve for SLOE. Which surprised me, given how frequently it shows up in grids.

[boharr]

Sounds like a number of us had to backsolve for SLOE. Which surprised me, given how frequently it shows up in grids.

Oh, I thought that was ALOE always sowing up.

[mikeB]

Having worked the grid, the title FOOD GROUP gave an early tip-off, suggesting the mechanism and possibly the answer itself relate to food. Notice the title is singular (not FOOD GROUPS), which suggests a single food group is implicated. Further insight is offered by Clue & Entry 58A: The targeted single food group is fruits. Thus I scan the entries for fruit traces. That reveals a lot and fairly quickly. We see fruits in five entries (but not consecutive letters). The sixth candidate at 58A (FRUITLESSLY) is a bit tricky. Since 17A is a theme entry, traditional symmetry implies that 58A is one as well. However, there are no evident fruit traces in that entry; moreover, it differs from the other five, each of which is either a phrase or a compound word. Hmmm. Could it be that 58A is a theme entry that plays an entirely different role from the other five? Another look at Clue 58A resolves this snag: The constructor hopes our attempt at solving this particular meta is “fruitless”. That can be taken as “without fruit”, so I try removing the fruit from those other five entries. The remaining letters are quickly connected to clues that connect back to partner entries that yield the answer. One atypical element of this meta is the fact that one otherwise obvious theme answer is formatted distinctively and plays a different sort of solving role from the others. The clever involvement of this Clue/Entry is a highlight of this meta. It is also a reminder that many “traditional” features, although typical and expected, are not actually constraints on the constructor. Such freedom and unpredictability represent one of the most entertaining aspects of solving these marvelous gems. Hats off to Matt for a very entertaining puzzle.