XWord Muggles Forum

There's a light switch in my house that I need to get checked. It worked fine once, but now the light flickers erratically. Probably just a loose screw. But when a colleague at work recently told me I had a "screw loose," my mind immediately went to that bothersome light switch. However, she quickly added that I was "eccentric in the best possible way" and then praised my independent thinking and innovation. Okay, then I guess it can have a positive meaning.

Of course, none of my rambling here applies to this puzzle -- except that the puzzle is called "Loose Connections" -- but I am thankful for the creative outlet of crossword construction and for our "connection" on this Muggles Forum. I hope you'll enjoy solving this meta as much as I've enjoyed designing it. The answer is a two-word phrase that you'll find "appropriate" to the theme.

Special thanks go out to @DrTom for his advice and affirmation and to @Joe Ross for his technical help.

Loose Connections
Crosshare
PUZ
PDF
spreadsheet

The PUZ and PDF links don't work. Fixed!

Edit: And neither does my meta-solving brain after downloading the PUZ from Crosshare and completing the grid. The wait for nudges might be difficult!

OTC. Nice one, Darth.

Cats are free!

Cat's no longer connected to the bag… fun Darth, thx!

Cat got loose - Nice one, thanks!

Bag less cat!

Cat has been, well, loosed. Thanks for the puzzle, Darth!

Cat not connected. Thanks, Darth.

The cat is out of the bag and on the loose, though without connections.

Cat's out of the bag - thanks, Darth!

Gah! Don't let the red one touch the yellow one!! Cat's cover blown.
Thanks, Darth! Lots of fun!

Cat is off the couch, but both dogs are ON one. And their human is back to work, NOT on a couch

This solve took a quick mental-break nap at lunch hour… literally woke up and went “oh! I didn’t try _____” and that did it.

Cat is out. I finally made the proper connection. Thank you to @HeadinHome for inspiring me to look again and try one more thing.

Well done, Darth.

Cat is loose! Thanks, Darth!

A great start for the Day 1 Leader Board: 32 solvers so far.
Hector
markhr
rfj
LarsCaine
JM
hoover
rjy
FrankieHeck
KayW
Chris Kochmanski
MatthewL
boharr
LindaPRMaven
dannyvee
Cindy Weatherman
Meg
Bird Lives
Mwoychick
whimsy
HeadinHome
andeux
Gutman
dudeski
Ergcat
Laura M
Samwise
Archie
Tim
lbray53
heidi
DrTom
Berto

Well, this is the exact opposite of Ben's MOAT yesterday.

Freed the cat!

Time for a few nudges... to take one at a time and ruminate. ;) Nudge 1: Avoid overthinking. (I know, I know, overthinking is what we meta solvers do best!) Stick to basic solving strategy.

Nudge 2: Have you played that NYT's "Connections" puzzle where you group words by topic? I wonder if there is any "loose" connection to that type of game play?

Nudge 3: When there are no obvious themers, the center of the grid often plays a role. 37A hints that something might be "lost".

Nudge 4: 26D mentions "cut loose" but if seen as a directive, that might be misleading (sorry). It simply tells you what has been "cut" from a set of answers placed symmetrically in the grid.

Nudge 5: First letters of that group of words spell CECTLLT, which has no meaning, not even in Japanese! The "alternate answers" metanism doesn't seem to be at play... Where else can we look if not in the grid?

Nudge 6 is to return to Nudge 1! (I expect there will be plenty more solvers before the "reveal" next Tuesday.)