"I Almost Gave Away The Ending" December 2, 2022

[chriscross]

Now that the answer is out, I'm very curious how most people solved the meta. I think, with some evidence by what people were saying in the forums, that most people noticed the metanism of changing a letter in the clue while solving the grid. I wonder which clue is the one that got people to see the metanism.

For me it was IRAN/IRON.

[HunterX]

Do not make Wankel pun, do not make Wankel pun, do not....

Oh, give us a brake and go for it! You could floor us with your wit. You do always come through with a clutch pun after we've all exhausted ours. Have I ever steered your wrong on something like this?

And, take it away @DrTom...

Sorry, just got back to the forum...I was otherwise engaged gearing up for some other transmission. But I did not want to piston anybody off by thinking I had given this group the shaft or the boot. I didn't want anyone with a bee in their bonnet and certainly did not want to trunkate this conversation. So I looked though my bumper crop of car puns (which are matched only by my rap puns if I let my hair down) and even wondered if I could interchange them; alternating between the two. At any rate, I do have to make this short because I'm going ot have to get together some things to clean the car. Seems I hit a wild animal and though I did not kill it I did get a lot of fur up around the rear wheels...so I have got to go and trim the axel area hair....

Knew I could count on you, Doc! But where's the Wankle pun?

[HunterX]

Now that the answer is out, I'm very curious how most people solved the meta. I think, with some evidence by what people were saying in the forums, that most people noticed the metanism of changing a letter in the clue while solving the grid. I wonder which clue is the one that got people to see the metanism.

For me it was IRAN/IRON.

My kids and I always finish the entire grid before working on the meta. Then we have a little friendly competition to see who can solve the meta first. (Unless it's hard and we have to trade ideas.) Son saw this one while we did the grid and had the metanism immediately after we finished. Daughter caught on very shortly thereafter. I was the slowpoke who took awhile.

For me it was MIKE/MIME, partly because it's always spelled MIC.

[Limerick Savant]

No rabbit holes for me this week. I was pretty much locked in to the metanism with 14A and 17A and then 9A confirmed it. What still confuses me is the puzzle title. Maybe one of you veteran Muggles can explain how it relates.

So, with a nod to the Great British Bake Off, my wife’s favorite streaming TV show, I give you my recipe for what I would have titled

A Christmas Trifle

From actor to number you’ll range
And perform just a minor exchange
On a word in the clue
A mere letter will do
In the end it amounts to small change

[pjc]

Now that the answer is out, I'm very curious how most people solved the meta. I think, with some evidence by what people were saying in the forums, that most people noticed the metanism of changing a letter in the clue while solving the grid. I wonder which clue is the one that got people to see the metanism.

For me it was IRAN/IRON.

For me, it was CLEESE/CHEESE. Fast solve after seeing that.

The funny thing is that I didn't notice that it was the LAST word that was changing in each of the clues (no idea how I missed that); therefore, I had NO idea what the title of the puzzle had to do with anything!

[Secret Adversary]

Now that the answer is out, I'm very curious how most people solved the meta. I think, with some evidence by what people were saying in the forums, that most people noticed the metanism of changing a letter in the clue while solving the grid. I wonder which clue is the one that got people to see the metanism.

For me it was IRAN/IRON.

For me, it was CLEESE/CHEESE. Fast solve after seeing that.

The funny thing is that I didn't notice that it was the LAST word that was changing in each of the clues (no idea how I missed that); therefore, I had NO idea what the title of the puzzle had to do with anything!

It was IRAN/IRON for me too. And I didn't notice that it was the last word that was changing either. My most silly thing though was missing the first one (ACTOR/ASTOR), and ended up with MALL CHANGE, which didn't make sense at all!

[Ergcat]

No rabbit holes for me this week. I was pretty much locked in to the metanism with 14A and 17A and then 9A confirmed it. What still confuses me is the puzzle title. Maybe one of you veteran Muggles can explain how it relates.

So, with a nod to the Great British Bake Off, my wife’s favorite streaming TV show, I give you my recipe for what I would have titled

A Christmas Trifle

From actor to number you’ll range
And perform just a minor exchange
On a word in the clue
A mere letter will do
In the end it amounts to small change

@Limerick Savant i think your limerick is spot on to the relation between meta and title !

You made a SMALL CHANGE like in “tweak” the word that is ENDING the clue to get the grid answer.

[clonefitz]

Now that the answer is out, I'm very curious how most people solved the meta. I think, with some evidence by what people were saying in the forums, that most people noticed the metanism of changing a letter in the clue while solving the grid. I wonder which clue is the one that got people to see the metanism.

For me it was IRAN/IRON.

For me, it was CLEESE/CHEESE. Fast solve after seeing that.

The funny thing is that I didn't notice that it was the LAST word that was changing in each of the clues (no idea how I missed that); therefore, I had NO idea what the title of the puzzle had to do with anything!

CLEESE/CHEESE for me as well. I wonder how long it took to construct this puzzle, coming up with those clues/answers, fitting them in the grid in order while filling in the rest of the grid. Seems like there would not be much room for intentional rabbit holes, but I wouldn't want to underestimate Mr. Gaffney.

[clonefitz]

Now that the answer is out, I'm very curious how most people solved the meta. I think, with some evidence by what people were saying in the forums, that most people noticed the metanism of changing a letter in the clue while solving the grid. I wonder which clue is the one that got people to see the metanism.

For me it was IRAN/IRON.

For me, it was CLEESE/CHEESE. Fast solve after seeing that.

The funny thing is that I didn't notice that it was the LAST word that was changing in each of the clues (no idea how I missed that); therefore, I had NO idea what the title of the puzzle had to do with anything!

It was IRAN/IRON for me too. And I didn't notice that it was the last word that was changing either. My most silly thing though was missing the first one (ACTOR/ASTOR), and ended up with MALL CHANGE, which didn't make sense at all!

I did the same thing. M... MA.. MALLCH... MALLCHAN.... (This has to be the right mechanism, but what the heck is this going to spell?)

[mkmf]

Add me to the list of those not noticing that it was always the ending word in the clue that was changed. That made interpreting the title more difficult, but I explained it to myself as a confirmation of the answer, i.e., SMALL CHANGE is something that you give away.

[ron]

Now that the answer is out, I'm very curious how most people solved the meta. I think, with some evidence by what people were saying in the forums, that most people noticed the metanism of changing a letter in the clue while solving the grid. I wonder which clue is the one that got people to see the metanism.

For me it was IRAN/IRON.

For me, it was CLEESE/CHEESE. Fast solve after seeing that.

The funny thing is that I didn't notice that it was the LAST word that was changing in each of the clues (no idea how I missed that); therefore, I had NO idea what the title of the puzzle had to do with anything!

CLEESE/CHEESE for me as well. I wonder how long it took to construct this puzzle, coming up with those clues/answers, fitting them in the grid in order while filling in the rest of the grid. Seems like there would not be much room for intentional rabbit holes, but I wouldn't want to underestimate Mr. Gaffney.

BLUE/CLUE for me. (I suppose I should thank Steve.)

I just happened to be staring at that one while I was trying to figure out what "ending" meant, and bemoaning that there weren't enough long answers to do anything to produce 2 whole words.

[Barney]

Some puzzles I’m glad I bailed early.

This one I’m sorry I didn’t spot. Seems spottable! Of course everything is spottable after someone has shined a spotlight on it!

[femullen]

Coulda been a rabbit hole: I first noticed 37A, SHEEP/SLEEP, so I began by looking for other clues whose last word had a final rhyming syllable with the grid answer. Immediately found 39A BLUE/CLUE and 66A HOLD/GOLD. It was in looking for additional rhyming pairs that I noticed the one-letter changes in others, which led quickly to the solution. Pure luck that the three rhyming pairs were also theme answers, otherwise it could have been just another palm-to-forehead Monday.

[OGuyDave]

Done, Friday; and done, Sunday at 11:05pm ET. Not sure how it came to me, probably Cleese/Cheese, but, geesh, what a crazy meta.

On the subject of cars, I sold my 1994 Jeep Cherokee last Monday. Sad, because it probably was the last time I'll ever drive a manual transmission.

Nope, not "Oncoming."

TFTXWD

[Limerick Savant]

No rabbit holes for me this week. I was pretty much locked in to the metanism with 14A and 17A and then 9A confirmed it. What still confuses me is the puzzle title. Maybe one of you veteran Muggles can explain how it relates.

So, with a nod to the Great British Bake Off, my wife’s favorite streaming TV show, I give you my recipe for what I would have titled

A Christmas Trifle

From actor to number you’ll range
And perform just a minor exchange
On a word in the clue
A mere letter will do
In the end it amounts to small change

@Limerick Savant i think your limerick is spot on to the relation between meta and title !

You made a SMALL CHANGE like in “tweak” the word that is ENDING the clue to get the grid answer.

Oh wow! Just a happy accident. I totally missed that it was always the last word of the clues that was altered. Does that void my solution?
It certainly does explain the title and the odd syntax.

[Flying_Burrito]

The clue of this meta was 10 to 1 odds which reflects 11 occurrences (or words). So that gave me an idea of 11 words to look for. I chuckled at the Mall Change comments because that was the initial answer I scribbled down before counting tbe letters and then finding the actor/astor

[Deb F]

No rabbit holes for me this week. I was pretty much locked in to the metanism with 14A and 17A and then 9A confirmed it. What still confuses me is the puzzle title. Maybe one of you veteran Muggles can explain how it relates.

So, with a nod to the Great British Bake Off, my wife’s favorite streaming TV show, I give you my recipe for what I would have titled

A Christmas Trifle

From actor to number you’ll range
And perform just a minor exchange
On a word in the clue
A mere letter will do
In the end it amounts to small change

@Limerick Savant i think your limerick is spot on to the relation between meta and title !

You made a SMALL CHANGE like in “tweak” the word that is ENDING the clue to get the grid answer.

Oh wow! Just a happy accident. I totally missed that it was always the last word of the clues that was altered. Does that void my solution?
It certainly does explain the title and the odd syntax.

I sold my Audi TT a couple of years ago, last in a very long line of stick shifts. For the first time in my life, driving automatic. Sigh.

[Gman]

In addition to the "I"-word rabbit hole, there were several AL words in the grid (ALOT, ALONE, ALMANACS, ALE, ALTOS) plus a few words containing AL(WHALE, MALES) . I spent ages trying to think of substitute words for AL plus a grid entry to make it the MOST of something. I grew so myopic with this that I just couldn't pull up without a jet ski rescue.

[31 Down]

Whatever happened to the constructors saying, "We don't intentionally create rabbit holes."

Where did this come from - an article or Q&A? I have a very hard time swallowing that. Think it's very obvious that meta grids are master classes in misdirection.

[chriscross]

Whatever happened to the constructors saying, "We don't intentionally create rabbit holes."

Where did this come from - an article or Q&A? I have a very hard time swallowing that. Think it's very obvious that meta grids are master classes in misdirection.

It need not be intentional. If I told you the NYT crossword puzzle today was a meta (it's not), you would go to it and find 10 different rabbit holes. Coincidences abound, it's the nature of solving a puzzle that has no instrucions.