"Crossword Breakfast Test"

[Cinny]

Off the couch. I didn't think I had the right answer, so I never submitted on Crosshare. I just kept trying to get a different answer. I think my brain was still trying to recover from MikeyG's week 5!!

[Abide]

Um... are you nudging the same puzzle that I did? If so, I missed something major!

I see you brute-forced the answer by guessing right on the fourth attempt. Over 40% submitted a wrong first answer.

If you want further clarification, I direct you to the Crosshare comments.

[cbarbee002]

Um... are you nudging the same puzzle that I did? If so, I missed something major!

I'm with you.

[KayW]

Um... are you nudging the same puzzle that I did? If so, I missed something major!

I see you brute-forced the answer by guessing right on the fourth attempt. Over 40% submitted a wrong first answer.

If you want further clarification. I direct you to the Crosshare comments.

Holy cow! I leap-frogged right past that. I guess this is one of those times it was better to be lucky than smart. Very nice touch!

[sharkicicles]

I’m actually now more intrigued by the nudges and responses… got the mechanism early from a certain clue but still haven’t actually worked it out.

[BarbaraK]

Another day, another 4 solvers vacating their couches

CPJohnson
Cindy Heisler
SeamusOL
SJMcK

And if we had a list for those who’d already got the answer but were nudged to the full mechanism, sounds like there’d be a few people added to that one too.

If anyone who’s stuck after the first step (or before) wants a private nudge, PM me.

[woozy]

Um... are you nudging the same puzzle that I did? If so, I missed something major!

I see you brute-forced the answer by guessing right on the fourth attempt. Over 40% submitted a wrong first answer.

If you want further clarification, I direct you to the Crosshare comments.

It wasn't brute force. It was one wrong idea, one right idea and two typos. I have a dead lock-cinch for how it works. But there are a few things I didn't understand. But I'll read the Crosshare comments.

[Eric Porter]

Off the couch with a little help from @BarbaraK . I didn't see the first step, which the nudges assume you got.

[woozy]

Okay. Now that I see how the meta worked I have to admit it reminds me of this

[BarbaraK]

@Eric Porter has a good point. So I’ll add

nudge #0

If you don’t see what the theme entries have in common, try saying the last parts out loud

[sharkicicles]

Got nothing even with the nudges.

(I edited this because looking back it seemed to be a bit flippant, which I didn't mean.)

[CPJohnson]

I really tried hard to make the answer much more complicated than it was. Thanks, @Abide and @BarbaraK! Hope you collaborate again!

[BarbaraK]

Today’s new solvers:

jbird
Eric Porter
DebbieC
Darth
cbarbee002
bhamren
JR
DavyGravy
maturin
OGuyDave
Matt A

Thanks everyone for solving! And there are a couple more days to go! Tell your friends!

[haydendog]

Finally got it after another look at the nudges.

[BarbaraK]

I’m delighted to see that people are still finding their way off the couch!

Four more solvers today:
BrennerTJ
Jimbo
BethA
Katiedid

@haydendog, I don’t see you on the list. Different screen name? Or crosshare update lag? Or submission lost in cyberspace?

[Annabelle]

Got this with a couple of nudges!

[BarbaraK]

A few more off the couch before the deadline:

Tane
Rufus T Firefly
Haydendog
Annabelle

The big reveal will be posted tomorrow.

[Abide]

How do you like your morning crossword, especially if solving with children? NYT Editor Margaret Farrar coined the term "Sunday Morning Breakfast Test", an unwritten rule that kept crosswords family-friendly and free of unpleasantness. This is why you rarely see HITLER, CANCER, or @#*! at 1-Across.

This puzzle had a basic Step 1 (homonyms of the last theme words) that sent you to a word (DIRTY) that could not reasonably fit the prompt. Looking at the clue and entry for 66-Across suggests the opposite. Implementing the alpha-numeric code A=1, B=2 yields CLEAN, a "not dirty" word.

TL; DR
@BrennerTJ explains it beautifully here:

Eighty-four solvers, with a few still entrenched at Step 1. Kudos to my collab partner @BarbaraK. Hope you enjoyed it!

[BarbaraK]

Thanks to everyone who solved or attempted this puzzle! It was great fun to make, and Peter @Abide is wonderful to work with. And lovely reveal graphic, @BrennerTJ.

One of the perennial questions in metas is, which order do we use? Theme entries or the other grid pieces? The crossword gods smiled on us in this case; it didn't matter because the letters of "dirty" are alphabetical.

[sharkicicles]

Great puzzle!