Dial M for Meta-- (A madhatter challenge to make a meta based on the theme of this director)

[woozy]

Dial M for Meta

https://crosshare.org/crosswords/JoJKp2 ... m-for-meta

Prompt:The answer to the meta is two movies. Name both. The first movie gives you instructions to solve the meta and how to find the second movie (and itself... sort of). As well the puzzle has eight other movies by the same director hidden as Easter Eggs


The answer to the meta is two movies. Name both. The first movie gives you instructions to solve the meta and how to find the second movie (and itself... sort of). As well the puzzle has eight other movies by the same director hidden as Easter Eggs. Good luck searching for those as well.

This was a challenge by Josh Rubin to make a meta based on this director. Here's my attempt. It's not the most elegant but I think it has some clever moments. Crosshare fought with me for the grid every step of the way but I ultimately subdued it.

[KayW]

I'm having a blast on the Easter Egg Hunt - I found somewhere between 3 and 5 of them (my confidence level varies), and they are quite clever.

I see a few other "things" in the puzzle, but no solid lead on the meta answers just yet. Thanks for a most intriguing meta!

[benchen71]

Ditto for me. Two Easter ends found, but nothing that leads to either of the meta Movies.

[whimsy]

A solid 3 Easter eggs (Omelets tomorrow?) a few other bits & bobs, but no meta solution so far.

[woozy]

Well, so far the solvers are: Hector, who claims he found 7 of the eight easter eggs.

Admittedly, imo the easter eggs are a lot more fun than the meta. Keep at it. I'm sure you will get them all.

Some nudges.

Nudges for the director:

Surely most of us remember what Josh said the Director was. But if not...
Any clues hint at a directors name?
The title of the meta hints at a movie he directed. This part wasn't meant to be that hard.

Nudges for the meta:

In the clues for the director, is there any other similarity in the clues?
The prompt says the first movie provides instructions. Is there another word for instructions?
That second nudge is a double nudge.

Nudges for the easter eggs:

All eggs are word play. Three are rebuses and five are reinterpretation of the entry.
If any entry doesn't really fit the clue there is probably more to it.
Eight easter eggs are a lot. It'd be hard for anyone to find them all if I just put them in willy-nilly.

Overall spoiler about clues:

You know. I try to avoid punchiness in the clues but filling in the clues is deceptively more difficult than it looks. I intended the easter eggs to have weird extras to the clues but by the time I got to completing all the non-meta, non-easter egg clues punchiness got in and washed out the chrome of the easter egg clues. But check whether the clues are accurate. And did I need the snarky commentary in all off them.

Good luck. You know. As the easter eggs are not part of the meta you can talk about them here if you want. Just put in spoiler tags to not ruin others' fun.

Oh.... and 58D is not reference to the easter eggs (nor the meta)

[woozy]

More nudges:

Easter Egg nudges:

One entry seems to be incomplete. What happened the the rest of it
One entry has too much. What are those extra letters doing there? Nothing really. They are unknown extras.
One entry is just plain wrong.
One entry seems to words that don't parse. What are those words example of?
One clue seems to have opinionated and extraneous extra commentary. What's another way to express the entry with regards to the commentary?
One clue seems to have opinionated and extraneous extra commentary. What's another way to express the entry with regards to the commentary?
There's a weird grid extra that ruins symmetry (and symmetry matters) and seems to no be necessary for all it's awkwardness. Why didn't I just make it a normal entry?
One easter egg was a real bear to put in the grid in just the right place. Every time I had to edit the grid the key elements changed.


That's eight nudges for eight easter eggs

Meta nudge:

You need to go up. But there are many ways to go up. You need to go up in a specific way.
Any movies that tell you to go up in a particular way?

[schmidzy]

All right, I've got seven of the eight Easter eggs. I know the one I'm missing involves 73A, but can't quite figure out what film that is. Now onto the meta!

[woozy]

..I know the one I'm missing involves 73A, but can't quite figure out what film that is. ...

That's turning out to be a tough one.
What kind of transport is BART?
What are those two extra O's doing there? They aren't part of BART?
Those O's on the BART sure are strange.

[schmidzy]

Got the last egg, and solved the puzzle! (With a little help from my fiancee, who is a big fan of [redacted]'s films!)

[rjy]

Got the solution and eggs nudgelessly* - very impressive for a quick construction, woozy! Amend that... impressive regardless!

[*edited - now looked at the nudges and saw some errors in my answers. Will compare notes later, but @woozy: I assume Easter Egg nudges 5 and 6 are intentionally duplicated?]

[KayW]

Finally getting back to this after a LONG distraction with CCCC and MGWCC week 22...

I know I have one of the movies for sure, but still stumped on the second. (And apparently Crosshare wants you to enter both before it will tell you you are correct.) And think I have all 8 Easter Eggs.

[woozy]

Finally getting back to this after a LONG distraction with CCCC and MGWCC week 22...

I know I have one of the movies for sure, but still stumped on the second. (And apparently Crosshare wants you to enter both before it will tell you you are correct.) And think I have all 8 Easter Eggs.

Yes you do have the first movie... Now just apply it.

So final nudges for movies:

There are two clues which give you the director. But they have an extra word. So to find the meta you must go up. But up from where? Well, the bottom of course.... but in what direction do you up? Well, if up = north and right = east and ....You can figure it out. What does the first movie tell you to do Go up by up-left

Look through the grid to see the meta but you'll see it in the other direction. It's almost as if the grid is a ......

Now a general nudge for the easter eggs

The easter eggs are placed in the across entries symmetrically

And finally some final nudges for each and every easter egg.

Nudge 1: 4A The entry should be LADYBUG. But what happens to the LADY?

Nudge 2:7A So Elizabeth things Meghan will a problem for her grandson Harry. So Meghan is .... --- ------- ---- -----

Nudge 3: 21A So, I think Agatha Christie once joked about Christopher Robin and Christopher Wren both being Christophers. And there's something else obvious the two names have in common. By their last names these Christophers could by called .....

Nudge 4: 39ACan I first just say what a BEAR it was to manipulate Crosshare so that the entry with this number could fit this? Especially as I couldn't modify any of the squares that pertain to the meta. It was hard... Anyway, there are 135 Spanish Steps so if you don't consider the last 96 you are left with THE ......

Nudge 542 and 43 A Did I really need to separate an entry in two? It's obviously acceptable to have a two word answer in a single entry. It's almost as if I'm deliberately trying to rid the DRAPE

Nudge 661A If I think his winning streak on JEOPARDY was excessive than I think he's a know it all and too smart for his own good.

Nudge 773A So BART is the rail system for the San Francisco Bay Area. But what are those two O's doing on the BART? They seem strange to me

Nudge 874Wait a minute.... Joe Frazier won the Fight of the Century. Ali is the wrong answer.

[KayW]

Wowza! This is truly an award-worthy homage to an award-winning director. I am truly amazed that you could fit so much content - and fun! - into this grid.


THIS:

Well, if up = north and right = east and ....

of all things is what was tripping me up on that second movie

Thanks for a fabulous meta and all the remedial nudges for the directionally dyslexic among us.

[whimsy]

I was pecking away at this off and on over the last week, had about half of what was there, and was inspired to come back and wrap things up when I saw today's generous nudges.

Thanks for this work of art, woozy!

[ChrisKochmanski]

OMG, this is one of my favorite metas ever! I’m a lifelong devotee of this moviemaker, to the point that I’m currently in two Zoom groups that watch and discuss his movies, and I attend an annual conference dedicated to his work.

I got to the puzzle just this morning, and I noticed something almost instantly, but I impatiently looked into a few spoilers to really get going. Once in gear, I cruised. Though my last Easter egg movie eluded me for a bit.

So cool! Thanks, woozy!

[Beth Tyrpin]

If you’re having trouble with the Easter Eggs try looking for a different list. I found out the one I was using was not complete. So much easier when they are all there. I have twelve movies written on my crossword as I found an unintended one and the title of the puzzle surely counts.

[woozy]

If you’re having trouble with the Easter Eggs try looking for a different list. I found out the one I was using was not complete. So much easier when they are all there. I have twelve movies written on my crossword as I found an unintended one and the title of the puzzle surely counts.

I'm not surprised there might be an unintended twelfth one but I'm curious what it is. Of course, any goofy answer can be considered PSYCHO.

BTW if you are having trouble finding the eight easter eggs the are rotationly congruent. So if you found one, another will be in the same position on the other side of the grid.

[benchen71]

With all the nudges and a list of films I was able to get all movies and the easter eggs. This is a wonderfully complex and convoluted meta!

[Beth Tyrpin]

utopia could be The Pleasure Garden

This is the extra movie I thought I found.

[woozy]

utopia could be The Pleasure Garden

This is the extra movie I thought I found.

It certainly could