"To Eat For Tea"

[MarkL]

Awaiting confirmation. Nudges were the agar to my aspic.

Cheers!

{EDIT} Affirmed De-couched! Well-played, good Dr.!!

[Geoduck]

It took a while to find all the pieces, but find them I did -- and even with a couple to spare.

[Abide]

Although I had the mechanism early on, I was tied up in knots (all cords) until I saw the nudges.

Most enjoyable Doc!

[KayW]

Off the couch after the nudges. I loved the humor in the clueing and a fun meta to solve, once I knew what to do.

Thanks for sharing your efforts, Dr Tom!

[whimsy]

DrTom, I feel like I "get" your jokes and puns with the best of them, but apparently not so your meta.
Even with hints, I'm still on the couch -- actually the porch lounge which isn't such a bad place.
I plan to keep at it since I'm still having fun and maybe I'll eventually catch a glimpse of the trail to blaze thru the woods out back.

[LaceyK]

After the 3 nudges and a few more shoves from Dr. Tom, I was finally ejected from the couch. Ouch!
The grid itself felt like an accomplishment with many tough but fun clues. Keep on creating metas Dr. Tom!

[C=64]

First nudge was of the "yeah, obviously" variety, but it took the third nudge to get me to actually expand my search. Nice!

[FKelly]

It took a while to find all the pieces, but find them I did -- and even with a couple to spare.

Finally got it after further clarification from Dr. Tom. One of those "spare" pieces caused me to abandon what turned out to be the actual mechanism.

[DrTom]

The answer was COLLARDS – that delightful, and probably acquired taste, Southern comfort food. Done correctly they will kick kale’s leafy bottom every time. The title was intended to give the mechanism, since EAT anagrams to TEA, and the important answers were placed symmetrically (shaded green of course in the grid above). Once anagrammed, taking the first letter of each word gives the answer.

CONTOUR > CROUTON
VIOLE > OLIVE (and wins wonkiest clue in the puzzle)
SMILE > LIMES
BOLSTER > LOBSTER
AUGURAL > ARUGULA
SORTA > ROAST
STEAD > DATES
RUSTLED > STRUDEL

It seems that there is definitely a "no anagrams please" slice of Muggledom, and to those solvers I apologize. It's that old adage about not being able to please everyone.

I must also apologize for all the extra possibilities for food anagrams (POTAGES, RAMP, SPREAD, ROE). None were intentional red herrings (which is why they are shown as pink in the grid!). They came about because trying to fill a grid with words that DON’T relate to your theme is harder than I thought (or in this case knew). I think I now know why Matt adds extra letters!

I learned a lot about Meta making (it is HARD) and about how clever people can be. I mean RAMP never even crossed my mind, though I must admit I am inclined to like them but will also take a leek (Oh COME ON, this is me, certainly someone expected that!).

One more anagram that was pointed out to me by an astute solver was that EQUALTO anagrams to LA TOQUE (in blue since I am sad I did not see it), and in words I wish I had used, “that would have topped it off!” (Thanks lbray53)

I do truly value all of my “Muggle” family and thank you for taking the time to work my Meta as well your kind words and honest suggestions. If I do one of these again (i.e. have a few months of spare time) I will take all of this under advisement, but in the meantime I’ll “see” you on the boards and in the Muggle Zooms.

[boharr]

Thanks DrTom

[Dplass]

Wow. Tons of anagrams. One thing that was tripping me up was that there were (at least?) 12 7 letter words, not all of which were theme related. Also I am poor at anagramming...

[whimsy]

Wow is right -- Thanks, DrTom.
I don't think I ever would have gotten this even with all your generous nudges.
In spite of the symmetry advice, I never was quite sure which were the key entries or exactly how many.
I kept myself busy looking for 2 instances of EAT in the grid and 4 for TEA, progressing to focus on brand names -- SE corner tantalizingly seemed to be offering TETLEY, a glop in the middle somewhere had all the letters of RED ROSE (remember that monkey jazz combo ad from the 50's!) the bird-brain priest town (personally my favorite clue!) led me to ASSAM in India instead of Italy. I did attempt anagrams per the hints since my head seems to go in that direction naturally, and tried my best to make cream and sugar out of ACERS and AUGURAL.
But the topper (along with possibilities for POUR, POT, SPOT and SPOUT) was that adorable little rectangular tea bag in the NW -- LIPTON! I eventually began to hallucinate a tiny string and paper tag dangling below those lines!
Shall I be Mother.....?

[whimsy]

And I fear that if I'd attempted to back-solve, this would have been the furthest I would have gotten...

[Joe Ross]

And I fear that if I'd attempted to back-solve, this would have been the furthest I would have gotten...

Perfect reply to this guy: POLENTA.

[BarbaraK]

Great job Dr. Tom! Thanks.

I'm in the camp that's not crazy about (and not good at) anagrams. But as long as there's some indication that that's part of the meta - like say having them in the title:) - it's perfectly fair.

I did notice eat and tea right away and gave a cursory search for anagrams, but didn't find anything except IHOP (is that southern) for HOPI. No others, not even viole/olive - did I mention I'm really bad at anagrams:) So I kept that in mind, looking in parts of longer entries and such, while I went down other rabbit holes.

When your nudge #1 told me that anagrams really were the key, I did what I should have done in the first place and pulled up an anagram website and put in all the across entries and looked for foods. With that list, it seemed clear enough that collard was the right answer, and when I saw that those were symmetric entries, that totally clinched it.

[DrTom]

Wow is right -- Thanks, DrTom.
I don't think I ever would have gotten this even with all your generous nudges.
In spite of the symmetry advice, I never was quite sure which were the key entries or exactly how many.
I kept myself busy looking for 2 instances of EAT in the grid and 4 for TEA, progressing to focus on brand names -- SE corner tantalizingly seemed to be offering TETLEY, a glop in the middle somewhere had all the letters of RED ROSE (remember that monkey jazz combo ad from the 50's!) the bird-brain priest town (personally my favorite clue!) led me to ASSAM in India instead of Italy. I did attempt anagrams per the hints since my head seems to go in that direction naturally, and tried my best to make cream and sugar out of ACERS and AUGURAL.
But the topper (along with possibilities for POUR, POT, SPOT and SPOUT) was that adorable little rectangular tea bag in the NW -- LIPTON! I eventually began to hallucinate a tiny string and paper tag dangling below those lines!
Shall I be Mother.....?

It could have been worse, you might have gotten caught in a Typhoo! I did not even see all those tea references, and being a tea lover myself (I drink Lifeboat Tea because of its deep, hearty flavor) I'm surprised. LIPTON was ENTIRELY coincidental. I guess I am taking my lumps...

[BarbaraK]

Wow is right -- Thanks, DrTom.
I don't think I ever would have gotten this even with all your generous nudges.
In spite of the symmetry advice, I never was quite sure which were the key entries or exactly how many.
I kept myself busy looking for 2 instances of EAT in the grid and 4 for TEA, progressing to focus on brand names -- SE corner tantalizingly seemed to be offering TETLEY, a glop in the middle somewhere had all the letters of RED ROSE (remember that monkey jazz combo ad from the 50's!) the bird-brain priest town (personally my favorite clue!) led me to ASSAM in India instead of Italy. I did attempt anagrams per the hints since my head seems to go in that direction naturally, and tried my best to make cream and sugar out of ACERS and AUGURAL.
But the topper (along with possibilities for POUR, POT, SPOT and SPOUT) was that adorable little rectangular tea bag in the NW -- LIPTON! I eventually began to hallucinate a tiny string and paper tag dangling below those lines!
Shall I be Mother.....?

It could have been worse, you might have gotten caught in a Typhoo! I did not even see all those tea references, and being a tea lover myself (I drink Lifeboat Tea because of its deep, hearty flavor) I'm surprised. LIPTON was ENTIRELY coincidental. I guess I am taking my lumps...

Just something to remember next time you find yourself saying, "This doesn't seem to lead anywhere, but it can't possible be a coincidence..."

[Joe Ross]

I guess I am taking my lumps...

Now, you're milking it...

[Hector]

When your nudge #1 told me that anagrams really were the key, I did what I should have done in the first place and pulled up an anagram website and put in all the across entries and looked for foods. With that list, it seemed clear enough that collard was the right answer, and when I saw that those were symmetric entries, that totally clinched it.

Me too. Mine is https://www.ssynth.co.uk/~gay/anagram.html. That, google, wikipedia, and onelook are my main go-tos for puzzling.

[hcbirker]

Viole was my entry, then smile. Then Anagram solver for the rest.