MGWCC #739 — “My Cup Runneth Over” by Will Nediger

[HoldThatThought]

I know this is short notice, but I will be happy to offer a decent nudge to anyone who PMs me before 11pm (eastern) this evening. After that, I'll be heading off to bed, so..

Fair warning, though - the mechanism is intricate. It's an impressive work of art, and an extremely challenging solve.

[MarkWoychick]

Beamed up with a lot of help. Enough of this one - on to new puzzles this week!

[HoldThatThought]

Well, not a lot of nudge-needing folks tonight. Best of luck to those still struggling!

[BobDylan]

Well, not a lot of nudge-needing folks tonight. Best of luck to those still struggling!

If you (or anyone else) sees this and is open to a nudge, I'll be so grateful, man. I'm 100% lost.

[BarbaraK]

I did manage to rematerialize after some brainstorming after Isaac’s Last Call Zoom on Sunday.

And this seems an appropriate place to say, RIP Nichelle Nichols.

[Joe Ross]

[Bird Lives]

I could never have gotten on the board without some strong nudges. Just to confirm my answer, I checked the OED.
.

[MMe]

This one was quite a journey. Great job, Mr. Nediger.

[MikeyG]

With apologies to Ed Ames

Sometimes in the morning when metas are sweet
I sit here beside them and think they're so neat
But if help is needed before I am done
My cup runneth over with rum

Sometimes in the evening I still do not see
I study the puzzle that mocks constantly
I drink like a pirate since I root for the Cubs
My cup runneth over with rum

And now it is over, the deadline has passed
Somehow I solved it, but it kicked my behind
And so I'm relieved when it is week one
My cup runneth over with rum

Congrats to Will on the construction and all those who solved it!!

[NoFeetMcGee]

Gah, I had noticed the BURSTS/BURSITIS but couldn't find anything else to accompany it. The funny thing is that I very nearly submitted RUM as a hail-mary answer just because I saw it in 6d and it was the only drink I could find anywhere in the puzzle, even though that obviously wasn't the right solution.

[Joe Ross]

It's possible that this was the best puzzle this average solver has solved solo.

It took me a day to find the sets of L I I I s, relating them to the clue wording, with BURSITUS & ROLAIDS leading the way. Long Island Iced Tea*, right? I don't know if I've ever solved a Will Nediger meta, but - by his stellar reputation - I was sure there had to be a clean mechanism to nail this down. Another day+ and several hours of staring later, the "CUP" aspect hit. One last look before begging mercy turned the trick.

Well done, Will. Thank you for the challenge!


*

[Al Sisti]

I really don't think I could have gotten any closer than I did:

[spotter]

That is tragic Al! wow

[ky-mike]

No "L" or "I" in the grid. Only six clues had "L" or "I" in the clue wording. Removing those letters from the clue words provided the next step. I noticed early on that the clue words with "I" removed, when forming new words sat atop the new words formed by removing "L" and "I" from clue words. It took quite a while to see the "cup" that was formed and then quite some more time to see what words ran over and out of the cups.

Also, the clue for the final word "MAX" was "And no more", signaling the end of the word chase.

Very well constructed meta by Will. Hope to see another of his metas in the future.

[MikeyG]

"So, how'd you spend your Saturday?"

[woozy]

I wish I had actually tried to do this one.

[Al Sisti]

"So, how'd you spend your Saturday?"

And how many people sent in correct answers seeing RUM spelled out, and over a "cup" at that. One of the things that threw me was TAWA... didn't need to be there (even just changing THAWS to THANE or THERE), and with TER being at the top of all the "cups," I kept trying to find "---WA/TER."

[Bob cruise director]

I first got hung up on 1) the show "I Do, I Do" which had the song that Ed Ames made famous and 2) the 23rd psalm both of which had the title in them.

Then I got a series of nudges/shoves and course corrections from @Wendy Walker which got me to TEA that was mentioned above.

When told @KayW that I was wrong, she made several course corrections/nudges/hits over the head to get me to the right answer. Definitely a week 5 and definitely not a solo solve!!

Congratulations to all who did a solo solve.

[Small Wave Dave]

I was stuck at the same place as Al for a long time. Finally noticed ARGUED while staring blankly.

Also distracted by BERES, RUM, TAB, ORAN_G right there in the "cup" columns. And the missing I and L, plus TEN clued as X, had me obsessing over Roman numerals for awhile.

Figured the 16-column grid had to be significant, like maybe Runneth Over implied spilling into the extra column. Anybody understand why it's there?

Amazing puzzle that I felt fortunate to crack.

[Bird Lives]

<snip>One of the things that threw me was TAWA... didn't need to be there (even just changing THAWS to THANE or THERE), and with TER being at the top of all the "cups," I kept trying to find "---WA/TER."

I think the rules Nediger set required that L and I be the only letters not in the grid. Every other letter is there at least once. TAWA/THAWS is the only W.