MaineMarge wrote: ↑Thu Sep 07, 2023 2:10 pm @Bird Lives’ favorite pink dahlia, Zingaro. I’ve lost the name of the white- I just call her Fluffy. With a reblooming delphinium and phlox in the background.
I’m starstruck at all the little garden nooks and crannies every day.
Ad Astra
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Bird Lives
- Posts: 2691
- Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 6:43 pm
- Location: NYC
- Contact:
Jay
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Cap'n Rick
- Posts: 1558
- Joined: Sun Aug 02, 2020 12:44 pm
- Location: Nahant, MA
Leaderboard Update
Three more solvers bring our total to 64:
michaelm
CPJohnson
Jerry Miccolis
Three more solvers bring our total to 64:
michaelm
CPJohnson
Jerry Miccolis
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Alvibu67
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Cap'n Rick
- Posts: 1558
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Leaderboard Update
Nine more solvers are safely onboard bringing our total to 73:
michaelm
CPJohnson
Jerry Miccolis
david
bhamren
MikeyG
Alvibu67
Tane
frostyjhammer
Reveal tomorrow!
Nine more solvers are safely onboard bringing our total to 73:
michaelm
CPJohnson
Jerry Miccolis
david
bhamren
MikeyG
Alvibu67
Tane
frostyjhammer
Reveal tomorrow!
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Katiedid
- Posts: 346
- Joined: Mon Aug 30, 2021 8:53 pm
I was lost in SPACE for so long!! I'm glad to have finally solved. Loved all the easter eggs.
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Cap'n Rick
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Final Leaderboard
Katiedid brings our final solver total to 74!
Thanks for solving, everyone! Reveal coming up soon!
Katiedid brings our final solver total to 74!
Thanks for solving, everyone! Reveal coming up soon!
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Cap'n Rick
- Posts: 1558
- Joined: Sun Aug 02, 2020 12:44 pm
- Location: Nahant, MA
Ahoy Muggles!
The meta answer is "TREKKIE" - a fan of the sci-fi TV program Star Trek and someone who may very well have enjoyed this meta. Star Trek's "Original Series", which premiered in the US on September 8, 1966, aired for three seasons on NBC and has been a cult phenomenon for decades. To solve, puzzlers first needed to figure out the hint at 51D "Celestial bodies that are kinda cool (and in this puzzle n=7)". The answer "NSTARS" fit with the title "Ad Astra" ("To the stars") and indicated that solvers needed to find seven symmetrically-placed grid entries that could form other words/phrases with "STAR". Those seven entries included 48A BOARD, 49D DOG, 59A GAZER, 40D SUPER, 40A SIGNS, 41D SEA, and 52A ANISE.
Note that "STAR" needed to be prepended to the Across entries and appended to the Down entries resulting in a linkage of STARS "trekking" across the grid, or as @KayW noted - resembling the shape of the Starship Enterprise.
The next step involved searching for other clues that fit the new STAR words/phrases. The first letters of the original answers to these alternate clues, in grid order, spelled the meta answer.
As promised, there was an assortment of Star Trek and space-related Easter eggs in this one:
- Star Trek: SPACE, FINAL FRONTIER, PHASER, ENTERPRISE
- Alien/Sci-Fi: ETCREW, CRASHSITES, IONGUNS, EMPIRE (Hi @Darth!)
- Planetary: EARTHMEN, "Worship of VENUS", "NEPTUNE'S spear", "Many MOONS AGO"
- Miscellaneous: Apollo SPLASH downs, ETOILE (French for "star"), ELROY Jetson, and Arthur "DENT" of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" (courtesy of @woozy)
Live long and prosper!
Cap'n Rick
Last edited by Cap'n Rick on Fri Sep 15, 2023 11:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
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BarbaraK
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If this fun puzzle has you looking for more Star Trek Day festivities, there’s a video on Paramount
https://www.paramountplus.com/shows/vid ... R3DBG7f9E/
(Subscription may be required. If so, there’s a free trial period.)
https://www.paramountplus.com/shows/vid ... R3DBG7f9E/
(Subscription may be required. If so, there’s a free trial period.)
If you want help with a meta, feel free to PM me. The more specific you are about what you have and what you want, the more likely I can help without spoiling.
(And if I help you win a mug, I’ll be especially delighted.)
(And if I help you win a mug, I’ll be especially delighted.)
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woozy
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Ah the shape of the star entries is truely inspired.
I got thrown by the clue "(A STEP) in the right direction" as being the clue for (star)board yield TREAKIE. It was clear it had to do with TREK(k)IE but I pigheadedly couldn't see my misspelling.
I felt bad that I haven't updated my signature in a long time and I was still promoting my relevant meta at during this. But as noone ever does my metas I guess I wasn't giving anything away.
I got thrown by the clue "(A STEP) in the right direction" as being the clue for (star)board yield TREAKIE. It was clear it had to do with TREK(k)IE but I pigheadedly couldn't see my misspelling.
I felt bad that I haven't updated my signature in a long time and I was still promoting my relevant meta at during this. But as noone ever does my metas I guess I wasn't giving anything away.
Funny story. I was all set to enter Par for the course for the CrossHare midi contest for April but I mistakenly thought midi meant 7x 7 and not 11 x 11. Oops. Well.... Here's a complex but **small** meta on the subject of golf.
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whimsy
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- Location: Hopkinton MA
woozy wrote: ↑Sat Sep 09, 2023 11:59 pm Ah the shape of the star entries is truely inspired.
I got thrown by the clue "(A STEP) in the right direction" as being the clue for (star)board yield TREAKIE. It was clear it had to do with TREK(k)IE but I pigheadedly couldn't see my misspelling.
I felt bad that I haven't updated my signature in a long time and I was still promoting my relevant meta at during this. But as noone ever does my metas I guess I wasn't giving anything away.
Nah, no worries, wooz.
I and some others do your puzzles, but, um, it was a while ago now, and I for one had forgotten the answer!
