"Size Extremes" by ajk

Formerly known as the “Sunday Summer Substitute”, editor Cap'n Rick now takes the helm for 'Smooth Sailing Sundays'. As The Commodores sang about Sunday morning, the SSS will focus on easier metas. SSS will also support smaller grids and will mentor new constructors on request. Puzzles released each Sunday around 8am Eastern. Nudges released same day at Noon Eastern. New constructors are welcome.
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Cap'n Rick
Posts: 1601
Joined: Sun Aug 02, 2020 12:44 pm
Location: Nahant, MA

#21

Post by Cap'n Rick »

SSSolved! Very nicely done, Alan! Keep 'em coming!
Ahoy! Check out my meta puzzles here! Check out "Smooth Sailing Sundays" here!
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ReB
Posts: 678
Joined: Sun Mar 29, 2020 9:34 pm
Location: East Tennessee

#22

Post by ReB »

Sssolved after a premature jump. (The answer was clearly 65A to my first landing.) Nice job there.
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Darth
Posts: 766
Joined: Sat May 15, 2021 6:51 pm
Location: Champaign, IL

#23

Post by Darth »

Sssuper! Thanksss.
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HeadinHome
Posts: 1117
Joined: Sun Apr 26, 2020 9:06 am
Location: Charlotte, NC

#24

Post by HeadinHome »

How clever! Sssolved!
The other Wendy. :roll:
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Dow Jones
Posts: 481
Joined: Thu May 09, 2019 11:02 pm
Location: Yakima, WA

#25

Post by Dow Jones »

Sssolved. Fun one !!
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MaineMarge
Posts: 1643
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 9:57 pm

#26

Post by MaineMarge »

SSSolved! Good one!
IMG_0038.jpeg
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hcbirker
Posts: 2057
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 7:24 pm
Location: Studio City, CA

#27

Post by hcbirker »

Just got to this today. SSSolved and enjoyed it! Thanks Alan!
Heidi
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ajk
Posts: 989
Joined: Mon Dec 21, 2020 4:22 pm
Location: Colorado

#28

Post by ajk »

Monday solver update (let me know if I missed any):
24. hoover
25. BethA
26. MatthewL
27. Pair O Ducks
28. rjy
29. DrTom
30. CPJohnson
31. Capn Rick
32. ReB
33. michaelm
34. lbray53
35. Laura M
36. Darth
37. Bird Lives
38. DIS
39. andeux
40. HeadinHome
41. Dow Jones
42. Carolyn
43. MaineMarge
44. Cindy Heisler
45. heidi
46. Gutman
Check out this very cool project by many of your favorite muggles to raise money to fight cancer. You get a fun puzzle bundle and good causes get $. Win-win: Crosswords for Cancer
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Jeremy Smith
Posts: 1015
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 5:45 pm
Location: Tampa Bay area

#29

Post by Jeremy Smith »

Nice execution! Thanks, Alan! I regret that I never got to solve your MMM, as I was eating, drinking, and gambling that week! :lol: :lol:
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MikeyG
Posts: 1425
Joined: Wed Dec 30, 2020 2:52 pm
Location: Chicago
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#30

Post by MikeyG »

I sized this one up: no sighs at all, just a lot of fun! Clever meta-nism and a great puzzle all around!

Image
Less cross words, more crosswords.

Solve my latest "Pun of a Kind" Meta!: 93. Person of Letters
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jhseeman
Posts: 497
Joined: Sun Dec 13, 2020 3:33 pm
Location: Charleston, SC

#31

Post by jhseeman »

SSSolved.

Fun one, good puzzle (had company so just now getting to it).

Thanks for the puzzle Alan.
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Guffman
Posts: 196
Joined: Tue May 18, 2021 10:02 am
Location: Prairie Village, Kansas

#32

Post by Guffman »

Late to the party because I was putting the finishing touches on the Rabbit results.
Very nice. Solved without hints, thankfully. Particularly liked "(Anka's gift to constructors.)"
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ajk
Posts: 989
Joined: Mon Dec 21, 2020 4:22 pm
Location: Colorado

#33

Post by ajk »

Friday night update before tomorrow's reveal. As usual, happy to amend as needed.
47. kurtalert
48. Jeremy Smith
49. Mikey G
50. Jaclyn
51. jhseeman
52. ChrisCross
53. Katiedid
54. Guffman
55. Sharkicicles
56. AKS
57. Mr Tex
58. Tom Wilson
59. frostyjhammer
60. Max Chemtov
61. Account
62. Melodie Hardwick
63. K7
64. Jerry Miccolis
65. Sanne
Check out this very cool project by many of your favorite muggles to raise money to fight cancer. You get a fun puzzle bundle and good causes get $. Win-win: Crosswords for Cancer
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ajk
Posts: 989
Joined: Mon Dec 21, 2020 4:22 pm
Location: Colorado

#34

Post by ajk »

OK, looks like no more stragglers since last night.

The meta answer is SCALE.

There are five starred entries, each of which is a place. More specifically, each is a member of a specific set of places:
19A ALASKA is a US state
20A PACIFIC is an ocean
34A ASIA is a continent
63A RUSSIA is a country
65A SUPERIOR is a great lake

Guided by the title, we recognize that each of these is the largest member of the set. OK, that's promising. What's next? Well there were also a bunch of places in the clues. In fact, five of them start with another member of each set above, and again in keeping with the title, these are the *smallest* members:
7D "Ontario to Norfolk dir." = SSE (Ontario is the smallest great lake)
28A "Arctic conditions, metaphorically (and often literally)" = COLD (Arctic is the smallest ocean)
29D "Oceania is a good place to find one" = ATOLL (Oceania is the smallest continent)
37D "Vatican City was home to at least 13 of them" = LEOS (Vatican City is the smallest country)
71A "Rhode Island winter time" = EST (Rhode Island is the smallest state)

Last step: read the first letter of the grid entries for those new clues, in grid order, and we get SCALE, which is the meta answer.
size extremes reveal.png
Check out this very cool project by many of your favorite muggles to raise money to fight cancer. You get a fun puzzle bundle and good causes get $. Win-win: Crosswords for Cancer
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