Celebrity Hound

[Cap'n Rick]

Day 1 - Let's check the leaderboard:

Abide (TS)
Al Sisti (TS)
boharr (TS)
MarkWoychick (TS)
Dow Jones
benchen71
ky-mike
whimsy
lbray53
hcbirker
woozy
Hector
DIS
LindaPRmaven
ChrisKochmanski
Laura M
oldjudge
Philip Crow
Anita
Gutman
Cindy Weatherman
Meg
HeadinHome
Cindy
Andrew Bradburn
markhr
Wendy Walker
dplass
JeanneC
BarbaraK

An even 30 including the test solvers. That's a pretty good start! Please let me know if I missed anyone.

[woozy]

I just started working on the grid but a trivia question - where and under what circumstances did 19A originate (assuming that I got 19A correct).

I have to admit that I wasn't familiar with the origin, Bob, and I had to Google it.

What an interesting question. Let's see what St. Wikipedia says.... dum-tee-dum *GASP*... Okay, I'm floored.

[Cap'n Rick]

I just started working on the grid but a trivia question - where and under what circumstances did 19A originate (assuming that I got 19A correct).

Great information on the origin of 19A during this evening's ZOOM, @Bob cruise director. Maybe there's another meta idea there? (Or maybe not...)

[KayW]

liked this one a lot!

[Cap'n Rick]

Day 2 - two more Muggles have joined the leaderboard:

LesY
KayW


Time for the Wednesday Nudges:

The famous person is a male actor.

The grid and title combined provide 5 hints for the actor's first name and 5 hints for the actor's last name.

When I said in my intro that I hope this puzzle doesn't drive you crazy, that was also a hint.

The answer to 20-Down is an indirect hint (i.e. not part of the actor's name, but related to the subject matter).

Who makes all those car models on the left, and how do they relate to the entries on the right?

[DrTom]

Off the couch and I didn't even need the nudges! This one was simple once I stopped and actually looked at the grid, the answer almost literally jumped out at me. I was initially too busy trying to match the clue length to the column length of the answers containing a perfect square when their scrabble scores were totaled or those divisible by Pi...no wait that was the week7 MGWCC, sorry, got mixed up there.

[TeamDoubleTow]

Confirmed on Crosshare. Used all the nudges... Guess we can't stop at just one. Have to love a puzzle with "Hound" in the title even when we weren't on the scent at all.

[Cinny]

I was making it much harder than it was. Clever grid and meta! Thanks, Cap'n Rick!

[Ergcat]

Solved! (Confirmed on Crosshare!) I was making it way harder than it was! I was already using the info in the nudges… but the last nudge did the trick! Clever puzzle!
Thank you, Cap’n Rick!
-Elaine

[jhseeman]

Off the Couch confirmed on Crossshare. The clue you gave me at the end of the call did it for me, and I agree with woozy, was like what's the trigger...then boom when you see it, you see it.

Cool Meta.

[minimuggle]

Got a late start on this one after a long weekend in South Carolina. Just did the grid which was fun. I'll try and find my way off the couch but will probably dig into the nudges tomorrow.

[Cap'n Rick]

Off the Couch confirmed on Crossshare. The clue you gave me at the end of the call did it for me, and I agree with woozy, was like what's the trigger...then boom when you see it, you see it.

Cool Meta.

Yes, it's kinda like the answer is the trigger for this one. I like to call it "Cap'n's Razor".

[Schmeel]

I'm a bit short on time this week, so I solved the grid now quickly, saw some stuff in there that looked odd since I was looking for a celebrity, then looked at the nudges (especially #5) and figured it out.
Thanks for the puzzle - good one!

[minimuggle]

Off the couch with the help of the nudges. Really creative puzzle. Thanks

[edestlin]

Forehead slap. Off the couch with the nudges. I've gotta stop overthinking. Nice puzzle!

[Bird Lives]

Off the couch and without the nudges. Honest. Half the theme entries plus one other had me rooting for it to be a celeb of another era, when, some said, she ruled the earth.

[MaineMarge]

Cap’n Rick gives me permission to leave the couch.
So out for a walk with my own celebrity hound. She won the coveted William Wegman award with this get-up shortly after we got her from the shelter.

Labs rule!
Thanks Captain

[Cap'n Rick]

Day 3 - 19 more Muggles have reached the leaderboard bringing our total to 51:

DrTom
TeamDoubleTow
Cinny
Snood
MaineMarge
BrennerTJ
Ergcat
jhseeman
Johnny Luau
bhamren
Carolyn
Schmeel
CPJohnson
minimuggle
madhatter5
edestlin
Bird Lives
Bob cruise director
Bbaack

Now that's more like it!

[Naptown Kid]

Finally OTC thanks to all five nudges. My meta game has been in a severe slump of late though so I’ll gladly take it. Cap’n, thanks for the puzzle. A head-slapper once you see it.

[SewYoung]

I've been out of town and only had a chance to get to the puzzle this morning. Off the couch. Hope it's the start of a trend.