XWord Muggles Forum

Hi everyone!

It's Phil from over at Phil's Crossword Corner (PCC) ... I'm happy to present this week's MEOW "Cover Story"... some light googling most likely needed...

Prompt: The answer to the meta is the name of a celebrity's pet

Kitten
Calico
*Persian*
Puma
Lion

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.

Many thanks to FrankieHeck and DrTom for test-solving and suggestions for improvement. Shout-out to Joe Ross as always for technical help.

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

Nudges will be posted on Friday. Solution shall be revealed Tuesday morning.

Cover Story
crosshare
PUZ
PDF
spreadsheet

Cat's out! Fun one!! Thanks, Phil!!!

Good one, Phil.

Bag’s empty, phun one, Phil!

Cat's free. Thanks, Phil.

Fun meta, Phil! Cat is out of the bag.

Cat has been debagged. Thanks Phil!

The bag is empty of cat!

Fun. Thanks, Phil!

Cat's out of the bag - thanks for the puzzle!

Before even opening the puzzle and looking at a single entry: What? we're supposed to be know the names of celebrities' pets now?

(Okay, Now that I've vented that out of my system, I actually have faith that this instance will turn out to be reasonable and valid but... I just have to say my reaction to reading the prompt was dang near a spit-take.)

Edit: And solved, submitted, and confirmed and ....

Cat's out. It was easier than a "Persian" for me...

Cat is free! Thanks, Philip!

Cat's free! Lots of Easter eggs in this one. Fun!

Cat is out of the bag. Thanks, Phil!

Got it in a second google session. Fun stuff, thanks.

Out of the bag, meow

I have steps one, two, and three, and now I'm furiously googling what I have found, and I'm coming up with way too much information. I found at least four pet names for the celebrity I thought everything was pointing to, but Crosshare didn't like any of those. I found another piece of information to give me some direction, but again, too many choices. Now looking at different celebrities...

Cat's out! Thanks, Phil. I did have to google.

Cat debagged!

All of the cats have been released. I really liked this. It was more like a “Whodunnit” mystery than a traditional meta. It was fun finding the clues.