MEOW #59: Child's Play

[lbray53]

Cat is out of the bag! Got a late start today after being busy this morning and driving to the lake this afternoon. Hope to get a lot done on clearing the steep bank behind the house to open up the view of the lake from the house. Won't come close to finishing this weekend, but hope to make good progress.

At least 58D was easy for you!

[lbray53]

A tough grid fill for me. I loved the unusual entries and cryptic clues.

The cat jumped out if the bag once I completed the entries.

[Bird Lives]

A cat, maybe even one from this genre (there are at least a couple I can think of offhand), is out of the bag.

Usually when I see "fun" in the comments, I think it means, "I really felt good when I finally saw the mechanism." But here it's closer to the dictionary definition: "Characterized by amusing clues and entries."

[MamaE]

Out of the bag! Enjoyed the clueing and cryptics!

[SewYoung]

Cat is out of the bag! Got a late start today after being busy this morning and driving to the lake this afternoon. Hope to get a lot done on clearing the steep bank behind the house to open up the view of the lake from the house. Won't come close to finishing this weekend, but hope to make good progress.

Follow up on the bank clearing project: Apparently Sleeping Beauty is in the upstairs bedroom. I always thought that the menacing thorny vines in the picture book and movie were gross exaggerations, but I can tell you they are not. Those thorny vines are not just tenacious; they actively reach out to entangle and scratch you to death. You lop off small trees and branched and they just hang there caught up in the vines. I went out tonight and bought a machete. I will let y'all know if I have success with that.

[madhatter5]

Reminds me of The Giver

[DrTom]

Took me way longer than it should have to solve, but it was another one of those revelation things...you know the drill:
Thinking
Trying weird things/Googling
Thinking
Trying more weird things/asking the cats
THUNDERBOLT (oddly enough outside my favorite thinking room this time), head slap, self questioning intelligence....

Anyway, time to release the cats (who were apparently just as surprised as I was:

[CPJohnson]

Still waiting for the nudges, as usual.

[madhatter5]

Nudges come out on Saturday

[CPJohnson]

Nudges come out on Saturday

I know.....just trying to assure fellow strugglers that I am still struggling.

[madhatter5]

Nudge Saturday!

What do all the themers have in common? Can you come up with a common word that would also fit the pattern? (not anniversary, another one)

One two, here's a clue; three four, think some more!

I was originally thinking of titling this puzzle "Solving Inverse"

[CPJohnson]

Finally got it, thanks to Cinny's persistent prodding. Thanks for the puzzle!

[ReB]

Late start last evening, but found this to be a entertaining exercise - with a challenging grid - but as the last of the grid fell into place, the key to the meta fell right into my lap. Awaiting confirmation so that I won't need to be nudged.

I just have to locate proper food for the calico, as it's been weeks since I last worked on a MEOW.

[Dow Jones]

Finally, after 3 tries, the cat has gotten out of the bag (hopefully). This was not Child's Play for me ! But it was an enjoyable solve. Thanks, Josh.

[madhatter5]

Solution: NURSERY RHYMES

[Laura M]

Oops! I had an unconfident guess on this one, decided to hold off submitting and revisit it later and maybe wait for the Saturday nudges, but... completely forgot. (And my guess wasn't even close!)