161. Down for the Count

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Hello hello! The Cubs have done nothing yet on the offseason, by and large, so we'll see what happens. More importantly, I'm hoping all of you had a very merry Christmas and are enjoying the beauty and wonder of the season.

There will be a double-post tomorrow with MGWCC, so here we are to kick off the 3rd annual Winter Solvestice. Here's the same graphic we bring out from storage each year:

Gorgeous. This means we'll have a puzzle each week until the second week in March. Let's go!

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1. Puzzle #159a answer: BOOED OFF

Correct entries: 48

Shortest explanation: A bit tricky! Eight clues end in a word that rhymes with one of Santa's reindeer. Order these in standard order, then take the nth letter of each entry (1st of Dasher's, 2nd of Dancer's, 3rd of Prancer's, etc.). You'll get BOOED OFF, which rhymes with Rudolph, and is the answer to the meta. (Note that we avoided the ambiguity of the Dancer/Prancer rhyme order by having both the 2nd and 3rd letters of each entry be an "O" - thrilling, I know!!).

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2. It's not going to be a guarantee, but I'm going to try my utmost to keep the skill levels increase incrementally during the months. This one ends December, so who knows. I'm thinking Level 3.

Good luck, and may all your solves be beautiful!

Mikey G

The answer to the meta is a place.