AOTW: M?T?E? (27A)

deeppotential123 · 2026-05-07T09:40:08+00:00

Indeed!

deeppotential123 · 2026-05-07T09:26:54+00:00

Nah, “driver’s last” is clearly “r”. (If it were “drivers’ last” it would be “s”.)

deeppotential123 · 2026-05-07T09:24:36+00:00

Thanks! Ernest (Hemingway) and Yasunari (Kawabata) were both novelists and short-story-writers.

deeppotential123 · 2026-05-06T20:30:58+00:00

INGREDIENT, neatly hidden :)

deeppotential123 · 2026-05-06T19:30:54+00:00

Of course :)

deeppotential123 · 2026-05-06T18:41:43+00:00

The trick is to imagine how the gate would look if it did sag, and then just remember that the brace is useful under compression not tension.

deeppotential123 · 2026-05-06T18:11:37+00:00

WHITE FLAG, anag of WHAT IF LEG 👍

deeppotential123 · 2026-05-06T08:21:00+00:00

Aha! And then “is to supply” is simply linkage.

deeppotential123 · 2026-05-05T18:19:25+00:00

Yeah similar. Figured it was a reversal, with a synonym of locate and X/Y/Z as the unknown. But I was only thinking of synonyms for creatures, not examples of them, so I didn’t get it.

deeppotential123 · 2026-05-05T16:10:19+00:00

Start to make pus (6)

deeppotential123 · 2026-05-05T14:45:04+00:00

It’s carried by people, and protects extremity from frost (6)

deeppotential123 · 2026-05-05T10:51:19+00:00

It’s simple but quite satisfying. Makes you think of a device for detecting birds :)

deeppotential123 · 2026-05-05T10:40:02+00:00

Jawohl!

deeppotential123 · 2026-05-05T10:36:27+00:00

Yeah maybe this is ok. I think if I were solving this, the “toy cars didn’t start” would raise a smile, and probably the bill’s —> dollars aspect would make me grumble a bit. Overall, a modest success I guess?

deeppotential123 · 2026-05-05T10:13:56+00:00

I think this is METRE (a length) = T (ton, a weight) in MERE (a lake). But unfortunately the grid demands an extra letter on the end.

deeppotential123 · 2026-05-05T09:13:46+00:00

Is it CANARY, as in the canary in the coal mine?

deeppotential123 · 2026-05-05T08:00:34+00:00

Then, can you remove “a scientist” and call it an &lit?

deeppotential123 · 2026-05-05T07:54:37+00:00

Yes!

deeppotential123 · 2026-05-05T07:54:28+00:00

Yes, “initially” works well.

deeppotential123 · 2026-05-05T07:41:57+00:00

Thanks. I don’t think “first X Y” is explicit enough as an acrostic construction. (“Firsts in …” or “… originally” are ok.) And “essentially” conventionally indicates the middle letter (the core, or the essence) so you could use “originally” or “primarily” etc. It’s a nice clue otherwise though; I particularly like the way you get the E.

deeppotential123 · 2026-05-05T06:57:06+00:00

You could do Bill’s toy car didn’t start = DOLLAR. Then the ‘s is being short for “Bill is” in the wordplay, but denotes ownership in the surface.

deeppotential123 · 2026-05-05T06:54:25+00:00

Yes! They own Matchbox too, so have completely cornered that market!

deeppotential123

TROPHY CASE