MEOW #179 Are the Stars Out Tonight

[DrTom]

Final solvers:

36 An Ephemeral Collation
37 Anonymous Crossharer 
38 DaveG
39 Elana

Unfortunately I do not know A Nony Mouse so cannot thank them and as for the Ephemeral Collation they did not hang around long enough, but Dave G and Elana - thanks. A total of 39 is not bad for this one, given that it a real departure from my usual methods. I promise tomorrow's will be better. It is a dual effort with @Cap'n Rick so you know his hand in the mix will make it a superlative puzzle.

[DrTom]

REVEAL!!!

Well, Are the Stars Out Tonight proved to be a much bigger challenge than I thought. I think it was the very odd mechanism (I only remember seeing this once before) that involved recognizing a constellation made out of carefully placed “stars”. I tried to make sure the “stars” were obvious by including that fact in all the clues for them.

Then they had to be connected to form what I hoped would be a recognizable, or at least a “Googleable” constellation. I had a few hint clues; 40A mentions Ode to the Night Sky which extolls the beauty of all the stars in that sky and one of the last Down clues (62D) mentions the Ewer in a constellation.

Even if you were not good at recognizing constellations, how many A-Listers have nicknames that could be described by one? Oh sure I suppose Tom Cruise could be “Little Dipper” and Faye Dunaway might be “The Crab” but Leo has such a crossword puzzle history, how could I not choose it (had there been an Oreo or Epée constellation I’d have gone with that).

There were other hints too, after all the rating difficulty said: PERSIAN+ (though I think lots of you will see this as a Lion)...Leo the Lion.

I apologize for throwing everyone a curve ball, but after I got the idea I just could not let it go. Then after what proved to be a VERY difficult time formatting and filling the grid, it was coming out no matter what. This week's will be clearer because it is a co-effort with Cap’n Rick and he is a much more understanding constructor than I am.

I thank the 39 solvers who stayed with Are the Stars Out Tonight long enough to solve it. If we put all those names as stars in the sky it would probably form a cat escaping from a bag.

[benchen71]

I quickly realised we were looking for a constellation. But for some reason I thought it was Scorpio, which had me thinking of Al Pacino. Google revealed no such connection, however. And then I realised I was thinking of the Pacino movie "Serpico"! Once I got that out of the way, a Google search of "constellations involving 9 stars" quickly got me over the line.

Fun puzzle, DrTom, one that was reminiscent of a very early MOAT.

[DrTom]

I quickly realised we were looking for a constellation. But for some reason I thought it was Scorpio, which had me thinking of Al Pacino. Google revealed no such connection, however. And then I realised I was thinking of the Pacino movie "Serpico"! Once I got that out of the way, a Google search of "constellations involving 9 stars" quickly got me over the line.

Fun puzzle, DrTom, one that was reminiscent of a very early MOAT.

Wow, I’ll say early, it was #10 on the MOAT parade and I missed it. There actually was another from I don’t know where that was the Big Dipper, not sure I got that one either. I try to learn from my mistakes and those more skilled than I, even if they are the other side of the world.