MEOW #69 Central Casting UPDATED

[MarkWoychick]

Thanks, @whimsy - great puzzle. Got it with the first nitty-gritty spoiler, even though I thought I’d tried that before. In any case, I have it now - thank you!

[Ergcat]

Cat escaped before I could solve!
I was out and about and I tried to solve on my phone. After finishing the grid I accidentally revealed the answer on Crosshare. I'm all thumbs.
So I figured out the mechanism after seeing the answer.
Thanks @whimsy !

I did the same thing ( accidentally hit “reveal” and saw the answer)…. but I still don’t see the mechanism ! I’m really dense, I guess!

Why dense? It took me some time too. Keep looking - you'll get it!
I found that solving on the phone made it more difficult - I like being able to see the whole thing at the same time.
Good luck!

Ok, I got it! I actually got the movie right from the start and was doing a Woozy method of guessing characters from that movie when I accidentally hit “reveal” ( doing this on my phone, of course! ) . So then I tried to backsolve and I hate to admit it, but I was very close to the actual mechanism…. Just not taking enough letters! Duh! Finally saw it after looking at nudges!
Clever puzzle! Thank you for the brain workout!!

[whimsy]

OUT OF TOWN/OFFLINE TILL LATE THIS AFTERNOON. (Saturday)

[Darth]

The cat finally creeped out of the bag...and then quickly hid under the couch!

[Darth]

I'm originally from 22D @whimsy and my mom and sisters still live there... We Alaskans have potent imaginations, and if you squint on a clear day, you can just see the outline of the Kremlin!

[MamaE]

Also needed one of those nitty-gritty nudges to finally free the cat! Had thought of the mechanism without it but got stumped by the symmetry.

Fun puzzle!

[whimsy]

In addition to the two previous lists of solvers, let's add Mama Ellen.

And now let's make osso buco again! (Reveal, of course.)

Meta answer = With "The," a character in a well-known movie.


Prompted by the six colors found symmetrically in the grid -- (as much as I could make of the Roy G. Biv colors translated into six letters in length) -- reinforced by RGBIVS at 46D, and directed by the OVER (the moon) at 67A, RAIN at 8D, and BOW at 62D, as well as "Central" in the title, solvers needed to take the two letters that appeared above the two central letters of each color of the rainbow.

Thanks, all, for following the Yellow Brick Road!

[vandono]

It was right there. So close. I felt sure it was related to Wizard of Oz - and I think I guessed that (reading comprehension fail) and then thought it might be Dorothy (missing the 'With "The"' hint). Live, have fun and learn.