MGWCC #758 - "Name That City"

[MikeM000]

I don't know if others who solved sans metanism fall into this boat, but I wonder if Matt "hiding" the prompt as he does sometimes in early weeks kept me from finding it...I downloaded the .puz. I presumed I needed a city from the title and the long entry clues; After filling in the grid I googled to make sure Napa was a city (as well as a valley) and that it had floods there. I then looked at the .pdf and saw the prompt for a 4-letter city and I submitted.

Whereas, if the prompt had been made visible I would have much more likely been thinking about "4-letter cities" when filling in the grid and probably would have noticed what was lurking inside the long answers...

[woozy]

"The theme questions give you a general idea of where the city is"

... a little more than just a general idea. Knowing it is four letters makes it a near cert. (well, it does if you are a Californian). I'm glad I'm not the only one who after submitting said "Wait, there was a mechanism?"

[DrTom]

A large part of the meaning can be explained in a clue given every week on The Prisoner, during the opening dialogue between #6 and the new #2, by a simple change of emphasis [do I need to put a spoiler tag on something that is over 50 years old?]:

Number Six: Who are you?
Number Two: The new Number Two.
Number Six: Who is Number One?
Number Two: You are Number Six.
Number Six: I am not a number; I AM A FREE MAN!
Number Two: [laughter]

Read it this way:

Number Six: Who is Number One?
Number Two: YOU ARE, Number Six.

and you have the genesis of the final episode. It was however, an over-the-top, crazy episode.

How fortunate that HoldThatThought got to visit Portmeirion! Must be spectacular.

I wonder if HoldThatTHought got there via a Rover? That would be a real danger man....(sorry could not resist a throwback reference to the original)

[HunterX]

A large part of the meaning can be explained in a clue given every week on The Prisoner, during the opening dialogue between #6 and the new #2, by a simple change of emphasis [do I need to put a spoiler tag on something that is over 50 years old?]:

[...]
Read it this way:

Number Six: Who is Number One?
Number Two: YOU ARE, Number Six.

I never picked up on that clue! I do remember the "It's you" elements revealed in the final episode. And there was also a strong theme of conformity and rebellion, or group-think and individuation. And I understand Patrick McGoohan stated that he regarded Number 1 as our alter ego, the “evil force…within ourselves, and we have constantly to fight it.”

I can only imagine what drugs were involved in the creation of that episode....

@DrTom, I never saw Danger Man. Didn't realize you could see the opening credits of The Prisoner as the start of a new chapter in the life of "Drake...John Drake." I guess I didn't Bond with the genre enough. Mi 6th sense wasn't working properly.

[woozy]

When I was a teenager, The Prisoner played endlessly on PBS they hosted *all* these theories and observations by local fans (whose fandom teeter and often stepped over the line of obsession) including one guy who had a a few pages of limericks for every episode.

And, yes, I heard one scene by scene explanation of the final episode. Dang if I'm going to be able to recall any of it. But, yes, the "You are, Number Six" and the Secret Agent Man (Danger Man???) tie-in was much discussed.

[KayW]

I am embarrassed to say that I needed help to find the metanism. What's REALLY embarrassing is that as I was filling out the grid, as soon as I started typing in RENOVATIONS I thought to myself "aha! A week 2, it's going to be RENO." But of course the theme clues directed us to NAPA. When I went back to try to find a supportng metanism, I found and hung onto those two lonely P's in the grid, and stubbornly kept trying to back-solve a way to use one of them. My teflon brain forgot all about RENO or looking for cities in the other them entries.

[DrTom]

A large part of the meaning can be explained in a clue given every week on The Prisoner, during the opening dialogue between #6 and the new #2, by a simple change of emphasis [do I need to put a spoiler tag on something that is over 50 years old?]:

[...]
Read it this way:

Number Six: Who is Number One?
Number Two: YOU ARE, Number Six.

I never picked up on that clue! I do remember the "It's you" elements revealed in the final episode. And there was also a strong theme of conformity and rebellion, or group-think and individuation. And I understand Patrick McGoohan stated that he regarded Number 1 as our alter ego, the “evil force…within ourselves, and we have constantly to fight it.”

I can only imagine what drugs were involved in the creation of that episode....

@DrTom, I never saw Danger Man. Didn't realize you could see the opening credits of The Prisoner as the start of a new chapter in the life of "Drake...John Drake." I guess I didn't Bond with the genre enough. Mi 6th sense wasn't working properly.

@Hunterx Well I might be wrong but I am sure that Danger Man was the precursor, unless you tell me Dr. No! Some Money for your thoughts, perhaps a Penny? I'll be back later, I have some Odd Jobs to do.