MEOW #139 Sound Advice

[MaineMarge]

Really really good meta Dr.Tom!
Cat is out of the bag and into a more comfortable position

It’s a rare day when I can finish making the bed.

[ajk]

Finally came back to this one post nudges. Needed all of them, but finally got there. Ironically this one was much more up my alley than I thought.

[ReB]

Finally back from my travels and catching up on pending metas. Needed the nudges to untie the bag, but the cat is out. Nice job of constructing and cluing.

[DrTom]

Really really good meta Dr.Tom!
Cat is out of the bag and into a more comfortable position

It’s a rare day when I can finish making the bed.

That picture could just have easily been taken at our house...I don't even try anymore because assuming I do get to make the bed, an enterprising kitty will soon unmake it.

[DrTom]

Ya Hoo!!

More for the MEOW

52 MaineMarge
53 ajk
54 ReB
55 Darrell

[MikeyG]

This one could go either way in terms of grokking it. I'm not sure what my in was, but I somehow saw it immediately (after the puzzle was complete, though not at all during it!).

Great, smooth puzzle! But I won't sound off about it. (Though if I'm on your dial, you could always turn the sound off.)

[DrTom]

With Mikey G we have a total of 56 people to whom I will say BRAVO!

OK, then the reveal:

The NATO Phonetic alphabet was developed to clarify communications. Voices with a bad connection or foreign voices sometimes would convey the wrong information if, for example, B sounded like D or Y like I, and so on. That of course could have disastrous consequences if you were trying to give coordinates for an artillery bombardment (My Lord honey, look at the size of that hail!!!) or landing instructions (Pardon me sir, but there appears to be a mountain on our runway!). Thus the famous ALFA, BRAVO, CHARLIE, etc. was born as a clearer way to get your message across.

Thank you to all the solvers, BRAVO, YANKEE, ECHO for now!

[dsbened]

Brilliant puzzle, DrTom! And to fit eight themers into the grid must have taken a lot of work. Kudos!

[DrTom]

Brilliant puzzle, DrTom! And to fit eight themers into the grid must have taken a lot of work. Kudos!

Thank you. Yes it took little squeezing, and unfortunately due to the differing lengths they were not able to be symmetric. It was not the hardest one I ever did though. I'm just happy people liked it. I appreciate the kind comments.