Much better week puzzlers! It’s good to see most of the pitchforks have been set down for the time being. There were a couple perfect scores, though nobody gave me the bonus answer.
The theme of the puzzle was “Take it or leave it”. So all the answers either had the word “it” left in them, or were a word/phrase that had “it” taken out of them. To earn the bonus you had to send me a list of those words/phrases with the “it” put back in.
8A: One-armed Band(it)
15A: Electrical Perm(it)
19A: Bean Burr(it)o
21A: Babys(it)ting
6D: Hobb(it)s
14D: Microcircu(it)s
I’m pretty sure several of you knew this, but didn’t consider it a bonus. Bret came the closest by doing this with a few of them.
I allowed multiple alternatives to 14D Microcircus as so many fit. There were a couple alternates for 15A. I learned something new with “Electric Plaits”. I also allowed “Dog Biscuit” for 10A, though I don’t know that those of you who answered that way knew it was pejorative for hardtack.
Hope you enjoyed! The PDF with the answers is right below, as well as the standings for Pure & Power.
Week 3 Top Performers
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Matthew — 24
Brooks — 24
Andy — 23
Randy — 23
Bret — 22
Top 5 in Standings
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Matthew — 75
Brooks — 69
Andy — 67
Randy — 66
Bret — 61
Power Standings
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Bret Highum 94
Matt Novak 88
Kelly Wells 86
Brooks Maki 82
Andrew Haugen 79
Erik Dikken 64
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I knew there was a bonus somewhere. I wasn’t smart enough to get lots of the answers though. But the dog biscuit one, that I knew was pejorative for hardtack! Well, I learned that it was…
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Also, I kept thinking “bean burro is a really funny derivation of bean burrito.” It almost got me there. Maybe in a less crazy week.
Thanks for an awesome challenge. This one was a ton of fun.
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“Bean Burro” was the one that finally got me to figure out the “leave it” part of filling out the clues. I just wish I’d figured it out earlier than late Saturday.
It was a fun challenge. I love crosswords.
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Hey, I learned what pejorative meant this week!
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Good to know the bonus answer won’t always be explicitly labeled as such, even if the labeling is hidden. If I’d listed the answers instead of filling in an actual copy of the grid, I may have stumbled on the bonus too. But who knows.
Out of curiosity, was one of the alternate answers for 14D “Short Circus”? That was my original answer, but I was confused as to why you didn’t just go with something about the singers from the original Electric Company show in the clue.
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No, Short Circus was not. Any alternative answer, also had to fit in the grid with the other correct answers. The correct answer for 15A made the second letter for 14D an “i”. So alternate answers had to have that.
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Yeah, the fact that Short Circus didn’t fit with 15A is what made me change it to the correct answer. I just didn’t know if you made those kinds of allowances for non-complete grids.
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Would “Check Card” have worked for 2A?
Just wondering, casually playing along at home.-
Yes
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Did I get a point for Slide Guitar? I think you put those on your lap as well.
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Yes you did.
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As each of you drops out I pick up another spot on the leaderboard.
My real problem is not knowing any celebrities. Who is this “Abraham Lincoln” I was supposed to unscramble?
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I loved this one (and crosswords in general). As I already told Ryan, the abundance of unchecked letters made it a bitch and a half, but I figured out the theme quickly enough and that helped me along the way (to…20 points, I think?).
I was super excited when I nailed the Def Leppard answer. I worked forever on that one.
I’m disappointed in the people disappearing. Your game deserves better, Adobs. This is great fun, and I hope it’s not the last one.
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I had “It’s an Armband” for the Def Leppard clue before I figured out the theme. It took me forever to come up with that, so I was a little disappointed when I figured out it wasn’t the answer.
I also had “Electric Plait” before figuring out the theme. I am a little pissed I didn’t figure out “Hobbs” or the infant bee thing.
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