Porcus

[hcbirker]

Thanks Jay!

[whimsy]

OTC

Some of what I came up with was a bit fuzzy (or maybe hairy or chewy?) but Crosshare was forgiving enough.

Thanks for the puzzle, Jay!

[Meg]

OTC. I have a few questions, but I loved the metanism!!

[Cap'n Rick]

OTC! Loved the metanism!

[Ergcat]

Off the couch! Thanks for a fun start to the week!

[PuzNewbie]

OTC! What a fun puzzle!!

[benchen71]

Off the couch, with some remedial coaching from the constructor. Tricky, but still fun!

[HeadinHome]

Off the couchus. Yes a tad bumpy, as advertised, but still very enjoyable!

[ReB]

Off the couch, with a few pillows along for the ride.

[Bird Lives]

Forty-one Muggles managed to overcome the ambiguities and outright mistakes in the construction. (Now I know why Matt, in last week’s WSJ, said that constructors need an unlisted number. Well, some constructors.)
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Corrections, clarifications, and nudges Wednesday.

[BarbaraK]

Sometimes when I’m close, I can see what I’m missing and backsolve the last bits. This time, I knew I was close but totally blank on what to do until Bird told me where I’d gone awry. Off the couch now with this very clever puzzle.

[Bird Lives]

Another six people have hacked their way through the imperfections of the puzzle and found the answer.

42. hhg
43. Eric Porter
44. BarbaraK
45. CPJohnson
46. Jaclyn
47. rvkal

For those who have still not solved, first look at the Update in the introductory pararagraph on this forum. Then try these nudges.

There are nine themers symmetrically located.

The common element of the themers has nothing to do with their meaning or even with their letters.Insted, they share a sound which makes them all possible “words” in a particular “language.”

The title of the puzzle is a strong hint as to what that language is..

Turn a word back to its original English, then search for a clue that could serve as a clue for that word.

The initial letters of the entries for those clues (with the seventh and eighth reversed) will spell out the answer.

[sharkicicles]

Imperfections aside, what an amazing idea for a meta and nice construction as well!

[JeanneC]

Off the couch. Came to me last night as I was turning over in bed. Confirmed today. Stayed away from the nudges so I could bask in my glory if correct. Correcto!
Great meta and construction!

[MaineMarge]

OTC, with lotsa help from @Bird Lives
Nice, Jay.
Now out to the garden with Lewis the cat, who wouldn’t get in the MEOW bag this week

Early Star peony. It’s not lying down with weight- many of the new hybrids just like to spread their arms out like this.

[Bird Lives]

Eight more solvers bring the total to fifty-five:

48. Naptown Kid
49. Sharkicicles
50. JeanneC
51. Snood
52. jbird
53. MaineMarge
54. frostyjhamme
55. somylai

The answer is TRANSLATE.

Porcus is Latin for “pig.” The theme entries were all Pig Latin versions of other words. So TRASH in Pig Latin becomes ASHTRAY. Each of the nine Pig Latin entries translated to English had a corresponding entry whose clue would also fit the English word. “Stuff in the system that you want to remove” could be the clue for TRASH. But in the puzzle, the entry for that clue was NOISE. The initial letters of those nine derivative entries spelled out the answer. (As previously noted, the seventh and eighth letters were in reverse order.)
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As many solvers noted, some of the Pig Latin-English pairs were, let us say, imperfect. TOUCHE is not really Pig Latin for SHOOT. But it’s close, isn’t it?

Thanks to everyone for the kind comments and tolerance for flaws.

[kamashdas]

Had 8 of 9, got thrown off with A<->T and was left searching for STEW = TOUCHE completion... I'll call it a draw

[MikeyG]

I knew alternate clues were in play, but somehow I only grokked 4 of 9 and couldn't find the word. One letter was off too, since I might have had a starting "S," which clearly is not the first letter (I made an "S" of myself).

I remember realizing when I was younger that TRASH "Pig Latins" itself to ASHTRAY which I thought was very fitting! So that told me what was up, and I thought it was impressive how many of those you were able to put in the grid! Nicely done!

[hoover]

Just got around to looking at this and probably wouldn't have made it even with the nudges. I knew what to do; just couldn't make it work.

Also, is it wrong that I first tried SPITOON for 43A?

[schmidzy]

Nice one, Jay! I didn't want to post any spoilers before the reveal, but given that another definition of translate is "move from one place to another," you could argue that the swapped letter order was just one more step to the meta