"Food Group" July 28, 2023

[whimsy]

Show of hands who had to backsolve SLOE.

[Dennis]

Got it, but did spend extra time trying to find another "E." In trying to reverse engineer I was sure the meta answer was going to be "SWEEE-T" and thought Matt was giving a clue with 39 D, "Deee-lish." Finally gave up searching and went with the answer.

On another theme, after all the references to Paul Dooley, what should pop up on my YouTube menu last night but "Breaking Away" and free....with ads! Wonderful movie! I was a member of one of the fraternities mentioned during the race but not at Indiana. A good end to a Sunday! Fun!

[KscX]

I'm expecting some people to complain that this was too easy and 58-A was unnecessary.

It was absolutely necessary. Not to make it easier but the puzzle just plain wouldn't make any sense without it. Why would you look for fruit? Why would you delete fruit? A puzzle may be harder if you leave it to the solver to just arbitrarily try any possible trick they can think of for no reason but that make a puzzle more pointless in my opinion.

Although if they had just to entry fruitless without an mention of a meta that'd be fair. It'd make the puzzle harder but it would be debatable whether for fun and enjoyment it would be less aesthetic.

I think it wasn’t a gimme by adding the clue. It was a really good one- not super obvious or bleh and you still had to sleuth your way through even after you caught on. A good one!!

[LadyBird]

On another theme, after all the references to Paul Dooley, what should pop up on my YouTube menu last night but "Breaking Away" and free....with ads! Wonderful movie! I was a member of one of the fraternities mentioned during the race but not at Indiana. A good end to a Sunday! Fun!

My dad went to IU and competed in the Little 500. Ended up needing surgery to repair some broken bones when somebody walked in front of his bike! Surgeon was an IU grad so no charge (from him at least).

[ZooAnimalsOnWheels]

"Well, sloe gin fizz works mighty fast/
When you drink it by the pitcher and not by the glass/
Uh-huh!"
- Loretta Lynn

[hoover]

I keep checking my email. Maybe the mug notification bounced?

[mheberlingx100]

Not in my spam filter. Boo hoo!

[JerryF]

Mike Miller.....Calling Mike Miller! Anybody seen Mike Miller?

[Deb F]

Mike Miller.....Calling Mike Miller! Anybody seen Mike Miller?

He must be verifying the spelling of my last name!!!

[Joe Ross]

I submit my home address & mobile number with the answer. Nobody has called, sent a text message, nor knocked on my door with a large cardboard replica of the mug.

[CromsFury]

I submit my home address & mobile number with the answer. Nobody has called, sent a text message, nor knocked on my door with a large cardboard replica of the mug.

All of us (who have not yet won a mug) until we hear from Mr. Miller:

[MikeMillerwsj]

The contest answer is SWEET. As hinted at by 58-Across, find a fruit in the letters of the five theme answers: COAST RANGES, RED STATES, MEALTIMES, SAM MALONE, COME AND GO. The leftover letters spell words that begin a clue: Casts (13-D), Rests (25-D), Meats (34-A), Amman (67-A), Coed (69-A). The first letters of the answers to those clues (SHOWS, WEARY, EGGS, EID, TENNIS) spell the contest answer.

Sorry for the delay this week! We had a very large and successful turnout: 2665 entries, 93% correctly shouting SWEET at the end of this contest. Other exclamations included EUREKA (13), WELL DONE (6), I GOT IT (3) and PEACHY (3).

And congrats to this week's winner, Ryan Bernstein! On to the next contest, just around the corner....

[JerryF]

Congrats, Ryan!

[Aragorn]

Show of hands who had to backsolve SLOE. Not in my list of fruits brain databank until this puzzle.

Count me as part of that group but for different reasons than what I'm reading here. For all the other answers you take away a fruit to leave four letters, so in this case I was looking for a 5-letter fruit to leave a 4-letter clue.

The final answer was obvious so it was easy to backsolve (I think there was only like two "E" answers in the puzzle), but not quite as elegant a structure having one that doesn't match the others.