"Bottoms Up!"

[minimuggle]

OK, I think I am off the couch happily with some nudges and tugs. What a brilliant puzzle. The "aha" moment came to me last night as I was falling asleep so I waited to get off the couch until this morning.

Edit: I wasn't off the couch yet but was very close. Now I can confirm that I am definitely OTC. Happy Friday everyone

[Joe Ross]

I did notice that my Inbox was 100% full, so I deleted a few of the older messages.

FWIW to all muggles, this site offers a wide range of options on how to deal with "overflow" PMs, exporting them, creating new folders, and more:

• Rules, folders & settings

Also, @Abide is somewhat an expert at managing them.

[Al Sisti]

A few more to add to the leaderboard:

29 cbarbee002
30 rjy
31 FrankieHeck
32 spotter
33 Hidden in 3D
34 SewYoung
35 minimuggle
36 vandono
37 HeadinHome
38 CPJohnson

[Al Sisti]

The answer to this week’s puzzle is CHEERS.

The idea for the puzzle came from my favorite bartender, who led us all in a round of Jamesons’ shots, saying “Bottoms up!” as she lifted her shot. That led me to ask myself “Is there a set of words where each word spells a different word when you bring the bottom letter up to the top? And if so, can I make those letters spell something else out, say, a related word like Cheers or Salut or Slainte?” Well, it turns out that there are a few – quite a few, actually – but there were two problems. First, there are almost none that where those “new beginnings” spelled out, say “CHEERS” (interesting exercise: Can you think of a word, 1234C, where C1234 is also a word?). And secondly, people could have simply grabbed those bottom letters and got the answer from that; in other words, I would’ve wasted the time and effort to find valid bottom-to-top words. So I settled for a phrase that used the letters that most often both ended and started valid words; in this case, TEN DOWN, which clearly wasn’t going to be the final answer.

I also had the problem of how to highlight those words. I originally had enumerations after the seven to show what position in TEN DOWN each “new beginning” letter took… but again, that made it too easy to identify the seven words. So I settled on giving you all a check to ensure you had the right words, by introducing seven additional entries whose clues applied to both those entries and my seven words. Are you keeping track of the hole I’d dug myself? A) Seven entries that were valid bottom-to-top candidates… B)… whose “new beginnings” anagrammed to TEN DOWN…, C) seven more entries whose clues could satisfy two different entries each, and D) none of them could interfere with my entry at 10D… oh yeah, and the entry at 10D couldn’t (in my mind) be the meta answer. But what could that possibly be?

So that’s where a cryptic clue I’d written 35 years ago popped into my head, straight out of my subconscious. “Long series” (cryptically) hinted at the great comedy series starring Shelley Long, “Cheers.” Armed with that bit of serendipity, all I had to do was come up with a grid entry for “Long series” that would be instantly interpreted the way I wanted; i.e., I didn’t want anyone to think of Shelley Long the first time they saw the clue… so I picked the innocuous definition, STREAK.

Wel-l-l-l… little did I know that people would take that entry at 10D – STREAK -- and use that as the meta answer – but many did (back-rationalizing that some people streak on New Years Eve, or – brilliantly – that Streaking implied that one’s bottom is up! Other (great) wrong answers I got were Countdown and 10-9-8-7… etc., which, in both cases, is a “long series,” AND is something said on New Years Eve, AND is placed at 10 Down… as in the Countdown starts at TEN and goes DOWN. I never thought of that, and in fact, if I had, I might have used that as my answer… saving myself a lot of agony in having to tell people that their answers were wrong. The answer I wanted? No. But wrong? Well, there’s the rub, isn’t it?

Oh, and to add to the hole I dug myself? There was also a “reveal aha,” or more correctly in this case, a coincidental Easter Egg wherein the initial letters of the seven “alternative” entries anagrammed to GESTALT, which is a German word that roughly means "configuration," or the way things are put together to form a whole object.

Some liked the puzzle, some didn’t. C’est la vie, I guess. What can I say? I like writing challenging multi-level metas. Maybe I’ll start writing some week 1s instead.

Chosen at random from the 38 correct solvers, the winner of whatever she wants -- either a Blarney Rebel Band CD, or a Utica Club keepsake, or $15 donated to a charity of her choice -- is MamaE. Congrats!

[Dplass]

Wait, what's the mechanism?

[Al Sisti]

Wait, what's the mechanism?

In seven down entries, you could move the bottom letter to the top and form another valid word (CLAIRE --> ECLAIR, e.g.) and those "new beginning" letters were anagrammed to read TEN DOWN. The clue at 10D was "Long Series," which was "Cheers;" a synonym for "Bottoms Up," and something you might have said on New Year's Eve.

ABLEST - TABLES (also satisfied 21A, Restaurant furniture - SEATS)
CLAIRE - ECLAIR (also satisfied 36D, Bakery treat -TART)
EARN - NEAR (also satisfied 61A, Drawing close - ANIGH)
ANGLED - DANGLE (also satisfied 38D, Hang - LAG BEHIND)
RINGO - ORING (also satisfied 8A, Airtight seal between components - GASKET)
ANEW - WANE (also satisfied 64D, Decline - EBB)
AMEN - NAME (also satisfied 13D, Pick for a position - TAP)

[Dplass]

Wow, that's a never-was-gonna-happen from me. Thanks for explaining.

[TeamDoubleTow]

We just couldn't make that last step... Even with the fourth nudge. Fun one and thanks so much for creating and sharing.

[boharr]

@Al Sisti
"I like writing challenging multi-level metas."

You keep on keep'n on.

[JeanneC]

Was never going to happen for me. Missed one of the initial Bottoms Up clues and never recovered. Well done, Mr. Sisti!

[RPardoe]

First, there are almost none that where those “new beginnings” spelled out, say “CHEERS” (interesting exercise: Can you think of a word, 1234C, where C1234 is also a word?).

Yes .... ILIAC & CILIA

Excellent puzzle and love the write up about your thinking / creative process. Thanks.

[Al Sisti]

First, there are almost none that where those “new beginnings” spelled out, say “CHEERS” (interesting exercise: Can you think of a word, 1234C, where C1234 is also a word?).

Yes .... ILIAC & CILIA

Excellent puzzle and love the write up about your thinking / creative process. Thanks.

Aw, that is beautiful! Where were you two months ago??

[madhatter5]

CIVIC

Really wish I had time to do this one.


EDIT: Evidently I can't read instructions.

[Schmeel]

ANTIC ?
I really enjoyed the puzzle!

[vandono]

First, there are almost none that where those “new beginnings” spelled out, say “CHEERS” (interesting exercise: Can you think of a word, 1234C, where C1234 is also a word?).

Yes .... ILIAC & CILIA

Excellent puzzle and love the write up about your thinking / creative process. Thanks.

Agree - loved the puzzle and the description of the process. I often find myself wondering, "How'd they even come up with this?" It's at least somewhat comforting to know the puzzles don't spring forth fully-formed from someone's brow.

ANAGRAM -> MANAGRA ... which is the title of a novel based on Dr. Who and is kind of cheating because the title was designed as an anagram of anagram. It seems a bit lazy as far as anagrams go.

[auee89]

Very cool puzzle! Didn't solve - I was stuck looking up at the down answers, but didn't move a letter to the top. Ugh. Keep 'em coming!

[Al Sisti]

CIVIC

Really wish I had time to do this one.


EDIT: Evidently I can't read instructions.

I can't believe how many similarities there were between this one and your COUNTING DOWN meta... including TEN DOWN and BOTTOMS UP.