Meow #116 A Plus

[DrTom]

OK, 11 more submissions so this is looking like it will not be a TOTAL disaster. The nudges have helped it seems and there is another one for Friday coming in a few minutes. However, today's solvers:

11 rjy
12 benchen71
13 Cindy Heisler
14 MatthewL
15 Carolyn
16 ajk
17 Bbaack
18 whimsy
19 KayW
20 CPJohnson
21 Mr Tex

[DrTom]

Another, but not the last, nudge:

As a follow up to the Thursday Nudge, why would I specifically name Marie Kondo (71A) unless I am trying to indicate something important?

[Dow Jones]

Thank you for the nudges, DrTom. I really liked this grid and meta.

[Ergcat]

Cat is free! Needed the nudges and then some…

[lbray53]

This is an outstanding puzzle. Very clever. Unfortunately I was not. I figured out part of the mechanism but needed help to close the deal. The cat is happy to be out and about. I am admiring the construction.

[DrTom]

This is an outstanding puzzle. Very clever. Unfortunately I was not. I figured out part of the mechanism but needed help to close the deal. The cat is happy to be out and about. I am admiring the construction.

Thank you! It took some time to pull it all together, and I had LOTS of test solvers/helpers, but in the end it was worth it (even if it was harder than my usual!)

I appreciate all of my Muggle solvers/friends!!!!

Me during the creation process:

[Abide]

I needed all nudges and a heavy dose of the meta answer!

edit: the penultimate answer, that is

[MikeyG]

I give this meta its title!

[DrTom]

I give this meta its title!

Thank you Mike! Very strong praise coming from a fellow creator!! I do not always have the flashiest mechanisms, but every now and then.....

T

[ImOnToo]

Been looking at this one off and on since Wednesday. I had to verify something this afternoon with Dr. Tom before I could finally unravel everything.

Really well done!

[DrTom]

Friday night and solvers keep chiming in

22 Dow Jones
23 Ergcat
24 lbray53
25 jaclyn
26 Abide
27 markhr
28 Imontoo
29 Johnny Luau

There will be another nudge tomorrow and then two on Sunday for those still working on the drawstrings of that bag. Overall a pretty good showing!

[hoover]

Finally! I had the right idea early on but just didn't know where all the pieces were.

[DrTom]

With one more late last evening, the total is up to 30! Here is a little something to try to push it even higher.

The theme answers are symmetrically placed

[HeadinHome]

Finally got it this morning with some direct help from the mad constructor pictured above. I would say that cartoon above could be accurate for anyone else but the affable Dr. Tom. Just a little impish influencer, whom he listens to just enough to entertain us!

[BarbaraK]

Edit: Oops, posted on the wrong board.

[MarkWoychick]

Finally came back to this one and got it with the nudges - tough but good, thanks, Dr. Tom!

[DrTom]

Combination of late Friday and all day Saturday solvers:
30 hoover
31 Mwoychick

So it appears that the MGWCC has taken over and people are so busy banging their heads against that brick wall (as am I) that they don't have time for my MEOW. But 31 solvers is VERY respectable for my puzzles so I am happy about that at least. Last two nudges follow.

The Meta answer is 8 letters long

After you get all 7 of the theme answers, do what you've been doing one more time

[DrTom]

Sunday Solvers
32 Bird Lives
33 Darrell
34 SeamusOL

[DrTom]

Monday solver

35 Pair O Ducks

I'd bet this is probably the last of the A Plus solvers but I'll hold off the reveal until tomorrow in case anyone really wants to make a last ditch effort.

[DrTom]

Well time to put this one to bed. I think "A Plus" may be my most “professional” puzzle yet, with the tie in of the Title, prompt, and final step being the same mechanism. I got a lot of positive comments and believe me I appreciate them. I kind of wish more people had given it a try, but 35 is not a bad number. Maybe next time Matt is behind deadline he’ll give a shout to my puzzle and perhaps drive some interest (though in truth mine was not near as fun as Ben’s so I understand why he mentioned that one).

The final A appeared to be a speed bump for MANY people, no doubt because I have never done anything quite that intricate before. Only a third of you got it on the first try and I'd imagine if I had the ability to see what was the first try for many others it would be SLOEGIN. Hopefully it was a pleasant surprise and maybe I'll even have a last step in some upcoming ones, just to prove this one wasn't a fluke.

As good as it was (and I may be presumptuous in that “good” statement) it had a MAJOR wart. Completely unintended was WITS with a clue “Something you should try to keep around you”. I should have used "about you" because if one followed the mechanism and added an A you can make WAIST and people thought the “around” clued it as a secondary answer and therefore part of the mechanism. Worse yet, there was a symmetrical OLES near the bottom that people made into ALOES. There was nothing that was “second meaningful” there but the A mechanism and the symmetry pushed people to make the leap. That gave a W before SLOEGIN and an A after which led some solvers astray. Now WSLOEGINA may have a meaning in some Eastern European tongue (probably means goofy crossword constructor) but not in English. Believe me it was entirely unintended and screwed up what would otherwise have been a GREAT puzzle (again excuse my hubris). Still all in all everything seemed to work well and I guarantee you are going to like this one (in retrospect) probably much more than my next difficult one that should appear in March (unless I have one before that to fill a hole in an emergency).

Tom