"Make It An Even Dozen" May 3, 2024

[aaugusti]

Safely ashore thanks to the last minute call. We were on the right path at one point but all the other rabbit trails we followed took us off track.

[ron]

I sent in what I had on Friday. I'm 50-50 on it which is weird. It's usually either 100% or crickets. We shall see.

[avian]

Ashore with a nudge. Not sending my answer in since I needed help.

[ReB]

Ashore with an assist from the Last Call group.

[Damaged]

Ashore, though I pretty much washed in with the tide.

[Bob cruise director]

Good evening muggles

Our final count is 17 on the ship and 182 on the shore.

Good luck winning the mug

[jhseeman]

Sliding in right at the end... fun puzzle.
Just saying the body doesn't bounce back from playing 4 rounds of golf in three days like it used to

[Relic]

White flag raised.

Still having a cigar and cabernet. I know, ""People will talk." Let 'em!

[LadyBird]

We are now ashore thanks to a nudge from son and wife. It was a slight nudge, so we had the joy of the aha moment (unlike that darn hexadecimal one). No mug submission--not like the odds are ever in my favor! Clever metanism, as always.

[TheKater]

Another late start, but fortunately had a quick swim to shore. Already had my G&T-I think it helped with the solve!

[altosax]

I finally got the first step but could not figure out what to do with it. Pretty good for my level of ability.

[Mirage]

Just made it to shore in the nick of time!

[hcbirker]

[benchen71]

I have something for the @The XWord Rabbit. This was my rabbit hole that (with a little tweaking ) actually led to a solution!

[MajordomoTom]

I sadly submitted tuSCOn ARIzona

A match, just not of initial triples, and city #33 on the list

[steveb]

I sadly submitted tuSCOn ARIzona

A match, just not of initial triples, and city #33 on the list

Sorry, but it's Tucson, not Tuscon.

[GTIJohnny]

The airport code for Scottsdale, AZ is SCF not SCO.

[SHIWUTONG]

I answered SCOTTSDALE. It never asked for the State. By the way, there is only one city in the U.S. named Scottsdale, so it's not like you need to add ARIZONA to clarify.. Just sayin...

[ELSavage]

I did submit the correct answer, but did anyone else feel any 11D with their solution due to the presence of one of the "missing" pieces in 11D?
Not in the initial triplet, but the entry is long enough that I though there might be some downward theme answers.
So one of my rabbit holes was trying to somehow fit the last triplet into or replace something in 30D. Maybe if I'd been as creative as @benchen71 , I would have made something come out of that.

And then I noticed the same missing triplet crossing it at 22A (and in initial position!). In retrospect, was that supposed to be a hidden hint or brain tickler? If the answer for 52A had been ARID (referencing the erroneous folk etymology of the state name), maybe that would have been too obvious?

[femullen]

I came up with SCO and ARI quickly, then stared and stared. Only thing that came to mind was, pronounced together, they kinda sounded like Schoharie, a tiny village in New York, more like among the bottom 100 most-populous cities in America.

The Smarter Half, when I finally got her on the phone Saturday, looked at it and immediately said, "Scottsdale, Arizona," which is why she's TSH. Hope she wins the mug.