"To-Go Orders" - May 6, 2022

[MamaE]

Looks like I’m gonna miss out on this one. Going to sleep in a chaise lounge up on the lido deck!

[Joe Ross]

[Joe Ross]

[Colin]

Totally overthought it.
Very nice and clean.

[escapeartist]

I got this, but thought about it differently.

Take ATOM, I saw as "find a word from "a - TO - m", like they were orders.

Same result, different perspective on the title.

Gimme that mug!

[ZooAnimalsOnWheels]

I'll be interested in all the chemistry rabbit holes this could take people down, especially with the clue for 17A mentioning numbers of electrons. With S__P among our letter pairs, I briefly thought the answer might depend on electron shells and orbitals. But I quickly decided that would be madness and then saw the corresponding four-letter answers before I could think of anything else ridiculous.

[Plymouthrock]

Swimming back to boat.

[Deb F]

This was one that could easily be overthought for me. Seeing all the “to”s in the long answers, I kept looking at the letters flanking them fora clue. Got me nowhere. Then started on the elements but couldn’t connect anything. Then saw that the to was embedded in 4-letter words and went from there. A fun one for me—because I got it!

Good luck, Muggles. Have a good week.

[Mister Squawk]

Kind of cool that the related pairs were in adjacent rows in the grid.

[Ergcat]

I'll be interested in all the chemistry rabbit holes this could take people down, especially with the clue for 17A mentioning numbers of electrons. With S__P among our letter pairs, I briefly thought the answer might depend on electron shells and orbitals. But I quickly decided that would be madness and then saw the corresponding four-letter answers before I could think of anything else ridiculous.

At one point, I added up the clue/grid numbers of the theme answers to see if I could arrive at an element’s atomic number. Got 150 and there is no element #150!

[jimbo1]

I'll be interested in all the chemistry rabbit holes this could take people down, especially with the clue for 17A mentioning numbers of electrons. With S__P among our letter pairs, I briefly thought the answer might depend on electron shells and orbitals. But I quickly decided that would be madness and then saw the corresponding four-letter answers before I could think of anything else ridiculous.

At one point, I added up the clue/grid numbers of the theme answers to see if I could arrive at an element’s atomic number. Got 150 and there is no element #150!

I did something similar.
The replacement letters for the 4 TO’s were
RU
BI
DI
UM,
All are symbols for elements so I thought about totaling their atomic numbers until I noticed what they spelled.

[femullen]

I'll be interested in all the chemistry rabbit holes this could take people down, especially with the clue for 17A mentioning numbers of electrons. With S__P among our letter pairs, I briefly thought the answer might depend on electron shells and orbitals. But I quickly decided that would be madness and then saw the corresponding four-letter answers before I could think of anything else ridiculous.

Might have been madness for you, but it was Aha! for me. I spent forever peering into S, P, D, and F orbitals, counting numerical orders of letters in the alphabet, and any other sort of numerological misdirection you can think of. I didn't take the title into account till late last night: "To-Go," I thought, "as in 'take out?'" Yeah, and as visual cross-correlation integrals identified TO as the common feature, I took that out. I won't say it was smooth sailing from there, but at least some wreckage floated ashore with me in it.

[ReB]

Very maddening this week. I saw the four "TO" in the theme words, expected some kind of substitution, even looked over the other four letter clues, but still didn't see the word frames. Another fumble on the 5-yard line. Sometimes it would feel better if I didn't have a clue, rather than come so close and just go blind at the critical juncture.

[Ferris E]

I'll be interested in all the chemistry rabbit holes this could take people down, especially with the clue for 17A mentioning numbers of electrons. With S__P among our letter pairs, I briefly thought the answer might depend on electron shells and orbitals. But I quickly decided that would be madness and then saw the corresponding four-letter answers before I could think of anything else ridiculous.

I spent some time poring over the chemical formula for Pepsi, and other scientific diagrams until I just saw it.

[31 Down]

Didn't care for the title since "Orders" didn't figure into the solution as far as I can figure. It did however lead to the rabbit hole of foods. Did anyone notice Ebola under Pepsi, which suggests substituting the b for a c?

Think something like Items To-Go would have been a better title.

[MikeM000]

Didn't care for the title since "Orders" didn't figure into the solution as far as I can figure. It did however lead to the rabbit hole of foods. Did anyone notice Ebola under Pepsi, which suggests substituting the b for a c?

Think something like Items To-Go would have been a better title.

Which leads to the question "was it significant that "Orders" is a 6-letter word and all of the key entries had a 6-letter word as the filler?" I'm not certain that it actively did, but it did make me think the answer was contained in those grid entries since the pattern was consistent among all 4 and the title.

Conversely, I learned about Oganesson's existence this weekend since the "o-G" in the title was in the same position as "TO" in the grid entries. I'm not a chemistry person but it was especially interesting that at least one elements list I consulted didn't include it.

[khecks]

MY FIRST EVER CONTEST SOLVE!! (Naturally, I didn't get a chance to submit my answer in time...but i got there!)

[escapeartist]

I got this, but thought about it differently.

Take ATOM, I saw as "find a word from "a - TO - m", like they were orders.

Same result, different perspective on the title.

Gimme that mug!

HOLY CARP I WON THE MUG THIS WEEK!

[Barney]

I got this, but thought about it differently.

Take ATOM, I saw as "find a word from "a - TO - m", like they were orders.

Same result, different perspective on the title.

Gimme that mug!

HOLY CARP I WON THE MUG THIS WEEK!

Awesome, my friend.

[yodarkrutch]

Thanks to the editors for the bump. My correct answer is rare, but also reflects my normal result for these puzzles of bursting into flame at room temperature.

We are vacating our perch in the Sierras to meet with family on the Gulf Coast. This means we'll be on the shore without taking the step of figuring the META out. And we also got to enjoy a white Mothers' Day!