79. All the Time

[woozy]

the fill is brutal in places, which would never be allowed for a non-meta...so clearly, there usually must be a reason for that! I think determining issues in fill that cause us to raise our eyebrows is often a good solving strategy!

1. There are an abnormal amount of As in this grid; that's really just a side effect of some other restrictions going on!

You know. I don't think I will *ever* notice those sorts of things.

[KayW]

the fill is brutal in places, which would never be allowed for a non-meta...so clearly, there usually must be a reason for that! I think determining issues in fill that cause us to raise our eyebrows is often a good solving strategy!

1. There are an abnormal amount of As in this grid; that's really just a side effect of some other restrictions going on!

You know. I don't think I will *ever* notice those sorts of things.

This helps me notice those sorts of things. And it's usually one of the first things I use when don't see anything right off the bat.

https://boisvert42.github.io/mechapuzzle/
It's an invaluable solving tool generously provided by Alex Boisvert, crossword constructor and Matt's webmaster. You just need to load a solved PUZ version of the puzzle.

[woozy]

the fill is brutal in places, which would never be allowed for a non-meta...so clearly, there usually must be a reason for that! I think determining issues in fill that cause us to raise our eyebrows is often a good solving strategy!

1. There are an abnormal amount of As in this grid; that's really just a side effect of some other restrictions going on!

You know. I don't think I will *ever* notice those sorts of things.

This helps me notice those sorts of things. And it's usually one of the first things I use when don't see anything right off the bat.

https://boisvert42.github.io/mechapuzzle/
It's an invaluable solving tool generously provided by Alex Boisvert, crossword constructor and Matt's webmaster. You just need to load a solved PUZ version of the puzzle.

Thanks again. Ben pointed that out to me long ago when I couldn't count what was directly in front of me.

It's not really helping me this time though. I see one thing off the bat but it's ... not really meaty. And nothing that the nudges so far could be alluding to.

[MikeyG]

And that first nudge was definitely incidental (i.e., something you might notice but isn't really part of the mechanism). Here's our next clue:

2. When I'm stuck, I have a few adages. One is, 'Always, always go back to the title.' It's very necessary here, specifically its last word.

[MatthewL]

Finally got it! Nudges didn't really help, because I didn't understand them (until after I solved, whereupon they made complete sense). Thanks for the puzzle, Mikey!

[MikeyG]

Forgot about today's nudge! Tutoring until midnight!!

3. I could have given a bigger hint in the title, perhaps, if I titled it 'All the TIME.' Those four specific letters are important! Recall this is a visual meta also!

[DCBilly]

This one was killing me for days. Nudge 3 opened my eyes.

[DrTom]

Limped home after the nudges told me to REALLY do what I started and abandoned because it was too unlikely. I've go to learn that there are no rules in Fight Club OR Metas...well I guess there IS one Fight Club rule, but for metas, well I am constantly talking about metas. Thanks Mike, some do not know the difficulty you must have had, but all of us constructors do - WOW!!!

"although I was not pecked to death by ducks, I WAS buried by squirrels whilst hiding nuts for the winter...!" DrTom

[lbray53]

I finally got it. It's about TIME I guess!

[hoover]

Woof!

[woozy]

Forgot about today's nudge! Tutoring until midnight!!

3. I could have given a bigger hint in the title, perhaps, if I titled it 'All the TIME.' Those four specific letters are important! Recall this is a visual meta also!

Ah, the first nudge that means anything/or not something I kind of assume.

Puzzle solved.

It's very interesting how other peoples and one's own minds work. And it's interesting how one thinks the way one's own mind works is easy and clear to all.

I think I can safely say, I will never solve this types of puzzles or look and see the key points of these mechanisms unless deliberatedly led by the nose. They simply are not things I ever notice.

[MikeyG]

Woof!

MEOW! (Oh, wait, that's another puzzle.)

[Cinny]

Cat is out of the bag. Needed a couple nudges. Very clever and I'm sure difficult to construct. Thanks!

I read the above comment. Saw MEOW and forgot where I was!!! Duh!

[MikeyG]

We're up to 38 solvers, making this a veritable Week 4 indeed. Final nudge/shove below, and best of luck on the WSJ and the MGWCC (and all the other metas released that I need to try to prevail over!):

4. The letters "T," "I," "M," and "E" all play a role in this grid (but the black squares do not!).

[Joe Ross]

Alls y'allses' are playin' for second place. I just submitted the definitive answer which ain't got no nothin' to do with no none of them letters, neither.

[MikeyG]

Alls y'allses' are playin' for second place. I just submitted the definitive answer which ain't got no nothin' to do with no none of them letters, neither.

I will contend Joe's answer, with corresponding graphic, is pretty epic.

[HeadinHome]

I want to know what that epic answer is! I didn’t get to this until late last night (again, work is completely spoiling my meta fun!!). This was so clever and well executed!

[MikeyG]

I want to know what that epic answer is! I didn’t get to this until late last night (again, work is completely spoiling my meta fun!!). This was so clever and well executed!

Oh, you'll see it, haha.

[Cap'n Rick]

Finally got it, but I needed every "spoiler" provided by @MikeyG and especially @KayW. Very nicely done!

[Eric Porter]

I only started on this today and needed through Nudge 3. Nice construction!