"Start In Fear" October 28, 2022

[WSJosh]

Sadly, still at sea.

[dk letter]

Ashore! Like others, the very first idea I had was actually correct (which never happens to me!)

Sadly it took me three days to finally see that it worked! With less than two hours to spare, WHEW!

[Sleepy]

Another nudge to come ashore on page 11. Just under the wire. Thanks again @BarbaraK!

[whimsy]

Not just On the Ship,
but visiting the "Halloween Experience" Isaac has set up --

The Haunted Hold

[Beeth]

Definitely not something we could have solved without a nudge, thank you @arecibo
If we win the mug, we're sending it to him.

[Cindy N]

Just got back to the computer this evening, couldn't make last Zoom call and my outreaches were unsuccessful - another on the boat with me and my other tries have been offline. Recovering from a bout of the digestive flu and the brain is not fully engaged. Anyone who's online who would like to give me a small nudge towards the finish line would be greatly appreciated.

[arecibo]

Nudged, and nudging 'til midnight.

[Gman]

Dragged to shore. Coughing up sea water from the ultra long swim. Thank you Muggles!

[pookie]

10 pages of posts and I still have nothing. Well, I guess I can go back to the MGWCC, where I have... nothing. Anyone have a TV Guide puzzle?

I don't feel so bad now.
I don't know whether I'll be saying, "duh", or
"Wha?" after the reveal.
Stuck on one idea and it went nowhere, but I can't unsee it.

[Cindy N]

And just like that, with a simple little nudge, ashore in 5 minutes!!

[JeanneC]

Congrats to those who solved.
Awaiting the MMM.

[escapeartist]

Oof - stared at this thing all weekend and never would have arrived at the contest answer without at least a clue of some sort.

[mheberlingx100]

For me, the light came on with 39A. Spear fit in the grid, but the word that came immediately to mind was boomerang. And with the Meringue clue starred, that lead to my Aha moment.

By the way, the Bucharest (Boo-caressed) part of the meta knocked my socks off. Just so clever.

[KayW]

[ZooAnimalsOnWheels]

Yeah, 'boomerang' was my way in, as well. Like many others mentioned, it took me putting down the puzzle and going to do something else. Then I was just turning it over mentally, thinking about the long starred answers CARESSED and MERINGUE, and then saying to myself "Where does boomerang fit in?" which made me notice the similar sounds.

When I was first poking at it, I was considering adding something to the beginning of each starred clue, but my original idea was the letters in START itself, just because it had five letters. You could get STEAK from TEAK and AT EASE from TEASE, but it was clear that a single letter added to MERINGUE or CARESSED wasn't going to be helpful. Still, it got me going in the right direction and made the MERINGUE sticky, so to speak.

[woozy]

For me, the light came on with 39A. Spear fit in the grid, but the word that came immediately to mind was boomerang. And with the Meringue clue starred, that lead to my Aha moment.

well, I had the exact same thought but being a tactile dominate/visual secondary learner (with auditory all but useless). I thought that SPEAR should be BOOMERANG and that the starred clue was MERINGUE but I could not see (or feel) any possible connections or similarities between BOOMERANG and MERINGUE. To me they were completely different words with nothing in common.

[woozy]

Rabbit hole, of course, Baked Alaska Layer = Ice Cream = I Scream.

I bet I was not alone in that.

[benchen71]

Rabbit hole, of course, Baked Alaska Layer = Ice Cream = I Scream.

I bet I was not alone in that.

Yep, that was one of my rabbit holes.

[Miki]

I didn't want to make a big deal before the answer was posted, but I would like to pose a question:
...
If the clue is a 5 letter Halloween related word, and people who post that they solved it use 5- letter Halloween related words like trick or treat, ghost, ghoul, etc. Is that a spoiler or an anti-spoiler ( spoiler by elimination)?

[KayW]

Asea (for now), hoping for inspiration as I walk today.

I was at a local museum yesterday and probably START(ing) IN FEAR myself when the puzzle dropped. So far that has not helped me.

I sort of spoilered myself this week with the original version of this post. And I usually try to avoid elaborate LAS posts for exactly that reason.

I was at a Halloween event at the Museum of Science and Industry Thursday afternoon/evening and took this picture in front of a Lego Dinosaur. When I got home and saw the meta title START IN FEAR, I thought it would be the perfect picture to include with my post.

I took pains to avoid any five-letter words related to Halloween, so imagine my surprise when (as one of the moderators) I woke up to find someone reported my post as containing spoilers. I quickly scanned the post and the light bulb went off. I had included the name of the event:

“Boo Fest”

Which actually is a great description of this boo-tiful meta.

I hope no one else saw the original post and got unwillingly spoilered as a result