"One Thing Leads To Another" - February 4, 2022

[DrTom]

I am completely embarrassed to say how long I looked at, EARS>PARTS>OZONE>ODOR>LEAD>STAR>SEAL>ELITE>LOT>DEAL>NEW>EARS without seeing the path. I even resorted to an anagramming tool (that as it turns out gave me the answer when I went back and looked, I just didn't see it among well over a thousand possibilities). I was just about to use the nudge I was keeping in my pocket ("In case of insanity break glass") when I FINALLY saw POOL and went, "hey that is LOOP backwards and this could be a - son of a gun!"

[Barney]

My answer may as well be Endless Oops.

If I changed my screen name, that would be it.

This week among others.

We never got out of different rabbit holes.

[ReB]

There's gotta be a Tiki bar somewhere named "The Sandbar," wouldn't you think?

Yes, there is! The Sandbar. Fond memories. Great watering hole without a beach in sight.

Ah yes, the serene seaside in Kansas. Used to go there after skiing in Texas....

So then you're a survivor of the last Ice Age, I presume?

[Kas]

Wow what a fantastic puzzle construction!!
Well, I'll be hanging out at the ship's bar this week...I wish my brain had locked onto this one, that would have been the "Click!" heard 'round the world! Alas, "sometimes you're the windshield...but sometimes, you're the bug."

[MajordomoTom]

Yes, there is! The Sandbar. Fond memories. Great watering hole without a beach in sight.

Ah yes, the serene seaside in Kansas. Used to go there after skiing in Texas....

So then you're a survivor of the last Ice Age, I presume?

sorry, I just had to ... I spent too many of my formative years in that state.

[Dennis]

Did the "redacted" post have any effect on the number of Muggles making it to shore? What did it say? Just curious.

[Franklin.Bluth]

Didn't post last night, but I picked this up late Sunday due to a busy weekend and ended up making it ashore before time expired. The one that led me through was OZONE, which was such an unusual word that it caught my eye when it showed up again in the clue for 61D.

[ship4u]

Alas, "sometimes you're the windshield...but sometimes, you're the bug."

So true. And, one day you're the top dog, and the next day you're the fire hydrant. Been there.

[Flying_Burrito]

So who's willing to admit they figured out the theme and know the letters in the correct order and knew they just had to find the starting point so it spelled a two word phrase (and maybe they were thinking of mobius strips and ouroborous while they were looking because they knew they had and endless loop) and you had all that....... and it still took them over a minute to get it. Who's willing to admit that?

I'm not. But if it happened to anyone (and it totally didn't happen to me) it'd be interesting if they'd be willing to admit it.

The grid was easy and the connection between clues/answers jumped at me pretty quickly as I was filling out the grid. Once i put those words in a column the answer was quick even if had it backwards as many other people reported. I equate this and many other metas to those 3D pictures that were very popular in the late 80s: you may be able to see it right away but if you don't, the more you stare at it the more confused you get (and the latter more often than not is where I typically fall).Just my $0.02.

[KayW]

There's gotta be a Tiki bar somewhere named "The Sandbar," wouldn't you think?

Well, it's not a tiki bar But I should be 5 miles north of this one sometime tomorrow As good a reason as any to check it out...

[Wendy Walker]

Only a Muggle could understand why I snapped this photo at an Outdoors Expo on Saturday.

[Al Sisti]

There's gotta be a Tiki bar somewhere named "The Sandbar," wouldn't you think?

Well, it's not a tiki bar But I should be 5 miles north of this one sometime tomorrow As good a reason as any to check it out...

Well, sure... research and all.

[KayW]

There's gotta be a Tiki bar somewhere named "The Sandbar," wouldn't you think?

Well, it's not a tiki bar But I should be 5 miles north of this one sometime tomorrow As good a reason as any to check it out...

Well, sure... research and all.

The food booze and music don't hurt, either

[Joe Ross]

Did the "redacted" post have any effect on the number of Muggles making it to shore? What did it say? Just curious.

The redacted part mentioned having 11 letters & not being able to make sense of them until looked at backward.

I saw it early & removed the hard bump (i.e. much more than a 'nudge') before many could read it. It's a reminder to not post details of what works and what doesn't.

No harm was intended. It will happen, again.

[steveb]

Only a Muggle could understand why I snapped this photo at an Outdoors Expo on Saturday.

And that slogan is an ENDLESS LOOP, too!

[MikeMillerwsj]

The contest answer is ENDLESS LOOP. Eleven
Across answers are the last words in the clues for
other Across answers (like EARS at 1-Across, the
last word of “Wet behind the ears,” the clue for
NEW at 33-Across, which in turn is the last word of
the clue at 45-Across, “Word after square or New”).
Those 11 pairs form a continuous chain, with their
first letters spelling the appropriate contest answer.

Happy February! As noted inn your comments, this was a pretty breathtakingly ingenious construction by Mike. We had a great turnout--1423 entries, about 91% correct, well above our usual level around 75%. Incorrect answers included SEAL THE DEAL (4), A CHORUS LINE (2), ROCK AND ROLL (2), and sundry others.

Congrats to this week's winner, Ed Snyder of Pennington, NJ!

[ZooAnimalsOnWheels]

There's gotta be a Tiki bar somewhere named "The Sandbar," wouldn't you think?

Well, it's not a tiki bar But I should be 5 miles north of this one sometime tomorrow As good a reason as any to check it out...

I haven't been to Cunard's Sandbar, but I have been to that Tampico Meat Market just across the parking lot, and I can confirm that they have some great tacos, burritos, and tortas for take-away!

We have a Sandbar in Mission Beach in San Diego which unfortunately isn't a tiki bar, but is within stumbling distance of the beach. I've also been to The Sandbar in Virginia Beach, which seemed like the kind of place that lets sixteen year-old kids drink!

[BillGlasgow]

My 11-letter answer was “Irma La Douce”. The puzzle title was “one thing LEADs to another.” Elizabeth SEAL was the LEAD in the HIT MUSICAL “IRMA la Douce”. IRMA and SEAL are appear as two answers in the upper right corner, one atop (or leading to) the other. HITMUSICAL and LEAD are in the bottom right corner.

[Eric Porter]

While I had noticed that the puzzle breaks the rule not to reuse words, I'd also noticed that there's Navy SEAL and hidden in the puzzle is SEA, onAIR, and LANDs. SEAL is an abbreviation for those 3 words. 61A mentions PARTS for Ozone, so I thought that maybe 3 parts making up something was the mechanism. It took me a little while to figure out that it's not actually part of the puzzle.

At least when I went back to my first idea I wrote down the letters in the correct direction.

[MaineMarge]

I was glad Mike was up to his old tricks of linking clue words to grid words, since it’s always one of the first things I look for *in a Mike meta.
*Newbies take note.
I was hung up like many of you after a too short dip into that POOL, but the other half of Team Maine found it right away.

Coming up here yesterday to a choice in the endless loop of snowshoe trails in our woods