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benchen71's Metas on a Tuesday (MOAT)

Can you storm the castle by getting across the MOAT? It's funny how many of my meta ideas come while trying to solve other people's metas! This one was definitely inspired that way. I trust you will find your way to the answer to the meta, which is an adjective.

PM me with your submissions or submit on Crosshare. Either way, I'll compile a list of those who successfully solve the meta.

Anomalies - Online Form
Anomalies - PUZ
Anomalies - PDF
Anomalies - spreadsheet

Nudges are here.
The solution is here.

Solved

I have crossed the MOAT! This week is starting to look up!

Huh. I came up with a clear mechanism, and it made... something that definitely looked like a word, but that I'd never heard of before. After 15-20 minutes of trying to confirm I hadn't screwed anything up, I figured I'd just submit my "word" and see what happened before I started chasing other rabbit holes. And, what happened is... well, surprisingly, I crossed the MOAT! Victory!

Somewhere back there was a moat.

Very cool, Ben! Thanks!

Confirmed on Crosshare, crossed the moat! Nice mechanism!

crossed the MOAT....I'm learning more about cricket than I'd ever thought I would've.

Made my way across the moat. Fun!

(and maybe this will give me meta mojo for MGWCC...)

Nice to wake up to lots of solvers, especially for a puzzle I had pegged as a "week 3":

Laura M
Cindy Weatherman
edestlin
Hector
Tyrpmom
DIS
LuckyGuest
kurtalert
ChrisKochmanski
Marijn
hoover
markhr
Andrew Bradburn
SJMcK
JHSeeman
Johnny Luau
Kay
woozy
dplass
boharr
hashbrown
Qmark

That's 22. Congrats to @Laura M - first solver once again!

Not a clue. Unfortunately that is NOT an anomaly for me this week. Three main metas with no clue as to where to start.

Moat crossed, castle stormed... really clever construction, Ben, enjoyed it!

I loved seeing the 38A clue! Moat crossed.

Just.Not.seeing.it.yet. Thought I had something but not working…. May wait for nudges!

Here's a solver update for you:

BrennerTJ
rjy
ChemBrewer
Meg
hbxwords
Sharkicicles
BarbaraK
Bbaack
asgehring
Chaddog
Anita and Steve

That's 33. Nudges in a couple of days...

Only two solvers to add to the list:

Zack Johnson
bereolos

And because I have a busy day tomorrow, I'm going to release the nudges early...

Nudges, in order of increasing blatancy:

1. There are two hints in the grid.

2. 40 across mentions irregularities, and 60 across indicates that rotational symmetry is involved.

3. Use 7 across inspection to find the 71 across black squares.

4. The 71 across black squares are symmetrically opposite the letters that will form the meta answer.

Just got around to working on this, Ben. Great idea for a puzzle!

Whew! I was feeling like the black sheep outside the castle walls until I was finally able to get across (with all the hints.) Thanks for the puzzle workout, Ben!

A few more solvers, bringing us up to 40:

lbray53
Capn Rick
Carolyn
whimsy
Wendy S HeadinHome

Since the MGWCC is delayed for a couple of days, and the WSJ was (dare I say it) easy, perhaps it's time to give the MOAT another try!

Took a motorcade to escort me over the moat this week, though some of my difficulties were self-inflicted. And yes, although I was too busy this week to do the weekday puzzles, the "easy' WSJ and delayed MGWCC gave me room today to go back to the weekday metas.