Welcome to Phil's Crossword Corner (PCC)! Philip Chow (aka Phil) is an auditor at NYC Dept of Parks and Recreation who makes crossword puzzles for fun in his free time. A new meta puzzle posts every other Saturday weekend on Crosshare.
Phil’s metas will usually include immediate nudges, a great tool for new solvers. You can reach him at pchow13@gmail.com
Please see below for the latest puzzle PCC#21 - "Hit the Gym"
[Level 3] Meta prompt: The answer to the meta is where I spend most of my time (instead of going to the gym like I should)
Note: the level is the intended difficulty I had in mind when I designed the puzzle, but may play differently since every solver has their own area of expertise... what one person may find easy, another may find difficult.
Have fun and keep in mind if you're ever lost at sea, google is your best friend (actually, I don't know if you'd get internet service in the middle of the ocean)
-Phil
Edit: The clue for 19-Across should be plural (Scoundrels)... Note this does not affect the meta. Sorry for the oversight. Thanks to LCL for pointing it out on Crosshare.
Nudges below:
Hint #1: Planet Fitness isn't in the grid but see if you can find some other well-known gyms (if you live outside the US or in a small town, some Googling will be needed)
Hint #2: There are a few clues that start with the exact same word
Hint #3: Take the title literally... 5 times
Hint #4: The letters of interest are where the gyms and the entries with the "Hit" clues intersect
Hint #5: The gyms are Equinox, Crunch, Blink, Curves, and Gold's
Solution below - SPOILER ALERT:
Answer explanation: There are five gyms in the grid: Equinox, Crunch, Blink, Curves, and Gold's (18A, 22A, 35A, 52A, 59A)... there are five clues that start with "Hit" (15D, 13D, 38D, 49D, 54D)... take the five entries with the clues that start with "Hit" and find where it "hits" the gym... LIBEL crosses EQUINOX at the "I"... POUND crosses CRUNCH at the "N"... BOP crosses BLINK at the "B"... BELUGA crosses CURVES at the "E"... and NUDGE crosses "GOLDS" at the D... this spells out the meta answer of "IN BED"... which is where you can usually find me despite having the same New Year's resolution for the past however many years of exercising more
Constructor notes: I tried to include gyms that are more well-known but I figured you can always rely on Google for the more obscure ones. This puzzle went through several iterations - my first intent was to have ALL the gym crossing words be a synonym of "Hit" and not use the word "Hit" in the clue at all... I had SMITE, POUND, BOP, BEATUP, NUDGE.. but I wasn't really happy with the ugly surrounding fill with these entries, so eased the constraint with words that were easier to work with and reworked the cluing... I think repeating "Hit" in the clues brings down the difficulty level a bit
Thank you for solving my puzzles and may you all have a Happy New Year!
Last edited by pchow13 on Sun Jan 07, 2024 6:28 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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Solved with nudges! Great puzzle, and Happy New Year!
Shannon PS: If you want help with a meta, PM what you have so I can help without spoiling too much. I've received lots of help in the beginning and I love to pay it forward!
Solved with the first nudge, then slapped my head to display my own dismay. Nicely done.
T
NUDGES!I am always willing to give nudges where needed; metas should be about fun, not frustration. Send me what you have done so far because often you are closer than you think!
Wow - great construction! Needed just the second nudge, but still got a pretty good AHA out of it… looking forward to seeing what else you have up your sleeve!
I had to chuckle at your anecdote for 8D:
Waffle ___ (kitchen appliance that my mom used a total of two times and now just sits in the garage collecting dust because it's too annoying to clean)
Too funny!
Needed the first nudge Gyms have names? And people recognize them?.
Fun puzzle.
Funny story. I was all set to enter Par for the course for the CrossHare midi contest for April but I mistakenly thought midi meant 7x 7 and not 11 x 11. Oops. Well.... Here's a complex but **small** meta on the subject of golf.
Pretty Clever Construction - thanks!
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