Painting by Numbers

[MaineMarge]

OTC with a great big smile. I like the way your brain works, Cap’n
No painting by numbers at this house- just the home maintenance variety.
And woe be unto Eric if he wants to wash up his paintbrushes in the utility sink during peony season.

Activities here overseen by my all-time favorite art work, Renoir’s Seated Girl.

[Qmark]

Off the couch. Wonderful construction, Cap'n Rick!

[Cap'n Rick]

Leaderboard

What a great first day - 49 solvers including test solvers!

Abide (TS)
Al Sisti (TS)
boharr (TS)
whimsy (TS)
MarkWoychick (TS)
Wendy Walker (TS)
Hector (TS)
BrennerTJ (TS)
Berto
SamKat9
Cindy Heisler
Cindy Weatherman
Meg
MaineMarge
MatthewL
lbray53
KayW
JM
Philip Chow
woozy
hcbirker
markhr
david
schmidzy
Sharkicicles
JHSeeman
Eric Porter
Katiedid
imontoo
Chris Kochmanski
BethA
michaelm
Anita
Laura M
DIS
Jaclyn
kurtalert
Darth
DrTom
andeux
Carolyn
frostyjhammer
Streroto
benchen71
dannyvee
HeadinHome
Qmark
JeanneC
Darrell

Please let me know if I've missed anyone, and please PM me if you'd like an early nudge.

Wednesday Nudges tomorrow!

[Schmeel]

Off the couch.
Needed a bit of assistance to see the full picture.
Thanks for the puzzle!

[minimuggle]

Got it, only after trying a very elementary process which yielded a very interesting result. Thanks for the puzzle Cap'n rick. I've been sick for three days and needed this

[HeadinHome]

Got it, only after trying a very elementary process which yielded a very interesting result. Thanks for the puzzle Cap'n rick. I've been sick for three days and needed this

Ditto on that! (The alternate elementary process and an interesting result… details on Crosshare board). This was a fun one!

[dsbened]

Hey Cap'n Rick: the clue for 20A still cracks me up. "Beast of Borden"! (This makes me want to listen to the Rolling Stones hit song!)

[Cap'n Rick]

Leaderboard Update

Seven more solvers bring the pre-nudge total to 56:

Schmeel
Bob cruise director
minimuggle
alelaleelo
LB800
Tyrpmom
Gutman

Please let me know if I've missed anyone.

[Cap'n Rick]

Wednesday Nudges

Hey everybody! What's "hanging"? How about some nudges to go with your morning coffee?

Did you notice that the grid is rectangular in shape - kinda like a painting? Well, hold that thought.

Did you also notice the superfluous wording of some of the clues - particularly the ones containing "numbers"?

What about those numbers? What could they be indicating about the painting in the grid?

Using your finest artist brush (or Avery Hi-Liter) lightly color in the grid entries that correspond to those numbers. Then take a step back, and admire your work!

49-Down is more than just framing material. It's also the artist's last name.

Please feel free to PM me if you're still stuck.

PS - Don't forget to check back this weekend to see @BrennerTJ's reveal graphic. It'll knock your socks off!

[Ergcat]

OTC! Finally put it all together! A masterpiece of a puzzle!

[ajk]

Got there via short circuit. The true path is pretty amazing. Thanks.

[ReB]

Remarkable mechanism.

[BarbaraK]

Nudged off the couch. I'd already done much of what they said, but too many other things too to pick out the correct path. Art is another in the long list of things I don't know much about, but I should have got this one.

[Cap'n Rick]

Leaderboard Update

Sixteen more solvers bring our total to 72:

DCBilly
Tom Wilson
Ergcat
bhamren
Johnny Luau
ajk
Snood
ReB
DebbieC
Bird Lives
CPJohnson
SeamusOL
ReB
BarbaraK
edestlin
Mr Tex

Please let me know if I've missed anyone.

[Cap'n Rick]

Leaderboard Update

Six more solvers bring us to 78:

rayyandroid
MajordomoTom
Elle
Steve M
MrTheHan
Dow Jones

Reveal tomorrow night! Don't miss it!

[rjy]

On vacation and late to it (and stymied by the new iPadOS 17 that made this nigh impossible), but really great, Cap’n! Clever concept and execution.

[Cap'n Rick]

Leaderboard Update

Another four brings us to 82:

Rufus T Firefly
SJ
rjy
Tane

Please let me know if I've missed you. The big reveal is later tonight!

[MikeyG]

What a fantastic puzzle. I had two guesses (I'm sure you can ascertain which two), and I went with the second one after a second look, and that was it. A lot of the confirmation trickled in afterward, and then I saw the comments on Crosshare and realized another brushstroke of genius. Color me impressed - this was a wonderful work of art, Rick!

[Cap'n Rick]

Ahoy Muggles!

The meta answer is "American Gothic", a classic 1930 painting by artist Grant Wood depicting a rural farmer (dentist Dr. Byron McKeeby) and his daughter (Wood's sister Nan Wood Graham) standing in front of their "Carpenter Gothic" style house. To solve, puzzlers first needed to identify the various elements of the "painting" referenced by the "numbers" appearing in the clues. (See below)

After highlighting those 9 elements, solvers then needed to take a step back and watch "American Gothic" come to life as @BrennerTJ's awesome graphic illustrates below. (Note: In addition to the 9 elements, you will also find GABLE in the upper middle section of the grid.)

Now I'm sure a few of you are saying "But wait, Cap'n Rick, where's the symmetry to balance SKY?" and "Where's the RAIL in the painting?" Well, there may not be perfect symmetry this time, but if you examine that upper right corner you'll notice that "American" PIE crosses POE - who is considered a giant of "Gothic" literature. And while a RAIL is barely, if at all, visible on that porch on the left, if you close your eyes and concentrate real hard, you can imagine a RAIL there with ELSIE the "Beast of Borden" next to it. I guess you could say I took a little "artistic" license with this puzzle.

Thanks for solving, everyone!

Until next time!
Cap'n Rick

[Cap'n Rick]

Oh, sorry, I forgot to mention the last two solvers who brought our final total to 84:

MikeyG
Bodegas

Thanks for solving, everyone!