Wow, my string of easy meta solves after crossword slogs is over.  This was a really bad crossword slog (for me; the puzzle wasn’t to blame) followed by over two hours on the meta, and no real confidence in my final guessed answer. Luckily, I seem to have guessed right.

Total time was over 4 hours (plus some thinking time overnight, two nights) including an incredibly lame 110+ minutes on the crossword. I don’t know what was going on with that. I pretty much locked in every possible wrong alternative along the way.

Anyway, the brutal solving log is after the cut. The puzzle is here.

Log:

0:00:00

Starting on printed puzzle

0:00:20

guessing STARR for 20A

0:01:14

can’t cross it… moving on

0:01:45

ELAINE for 51D… maybe ELSES is 71A? sounds familiar [Locked in the wrong answer for 51D less than 2 minutes in… let’s see how long that lasts]

0:02:28

65D TEE although it could be LIE… [Wrong answer, but at least I noticed the alternative.]

0:03:36

jumping around.. 57A ALT

0:04:04

heh 42D’s E and K with my L gave me ONELOOK

0:05:20

70A EKED, 43D DIDTIME. 62A COIN, 67A ROME  [Another wrong answer locked in]

0:06:31

41A …. looks like it’s MODEM/MODERN… words that can be confused with kerning issues… not sure yet.

0:08:37

12D MANAGER maybe? but 16A looks like TINA. going with TINA

0:09:04

oh, 19A is TINA. putting MANAGER back

0:10:20

36A PEARS (and 22D SLEPT, to help verify)

0:11:38

18D finally got ORG

0:12:51

14A LODE and 1D CLASSIC, maybe…24A SIS

0:15:03

Not sure I’m going to finish this puzzle…

0:16:41

26D RELO but nothing else in that area

0:18:49

is 10A LAMP? then 13D PLAYERS and 23 BAY maybe?

0:19:27

16A ELAL and 11D ALIBABA. finally a corner is done

0:20:20

32A looks like EDNAFERBER

0:23:05

wow, 28A is OLDAGE, took me forever, even with .L.AGE

0:23:54

9D BESTOF

0:25:07

29D DREAMS… wow this is still slow going. lots of white space. 46A MARE looks clearcut at least.

0:29:03

if 61D is REDO, and 47D ends ED… 72A is ODDS

0:29:51

69A DEEM, and 49D is now EPONYMS (needed that M, just the E wasn’t enough, but it felt so close)

0:31:04

SEEP, RHO, GRAIN… 48D I can’t get with one letter missing. hmm. oh, REHIRED. I guess that makes my second of eight sections done.

0:37:04

if 5D is AMB, 5A could be ABOMB. sounds good

0:38:50

17A now looks like AUDIOBOOKS.

0:39:55

LOUTISH and CLAW… what is going on with ADDAS..?

0:45:10

30A ISLE? maybe SIS is wrong, could be SIB. then ADDABLE 3D. Yay. 34A looks like CHEN. 31D EN- … CASE? CAGE? something else?

0:47:46

21A finally… TATS

0:49:02

guessing proper names, 6D BAO and 8D MIKA… 15A could be MARIE, MAMIE, … but 7D is a stumper. O.OT.N.  [Is OROTUND a crossword word I just don’t know yet?]

0:51:08

33D AXIOMS? ADVICE? neither makes an crosses work.

0:53:17

40D can’t be ARTI. and 39A looks like BAJA, but SLEPT isn’t SLEPJ. hmmm

0:54:46

if 27D ends LY, maybe 44A is LEAR?

0:56:46

is IDYLLY a word? can’t get 27 down.

0:58:22

maybe 43D doesn’t start DID. trying 37A COOL and 31D ENCASE. stuck otherwise.

0:59:54

41D ends in ACRE. why can’t I get it? is that not right?

1:04:57

completely stuck.

1:06:24

trying GEORGE for 51D, 58A BOOT? doesn’t look good. [Ok, 65 minutes later trying GEORGE instead of ELAINE… when both are wrong.]

1:11:18

I bet 59D is Risk… maybe URAL is in there? and back to ELAINE for 51D

1:12:21

58A HAUL

1:16:59

oh, is 54A AHAS?

1:22:30

getting rid of AHAS. trying HOLD for 40D. puts 44A IAGO maybe.

1:23:32

33D ADAGES looks great.

1:24:24

maybe HOLD is wrong and 54A is ISEE, 55D EGO maybe

1:26:30

maybe 39A is ALTA? and 40D is LOSE? I don’t know about ALTA but it sounds vaguely right.

1:28:32

could 45D be ANIMALS with HAUL wrong? I guess… but I like xAUx for 58A, and xAUM less so.

1:30:40

taking a break. stopping the clock. eating some food.

1:30:40

Back the next day… well-rested and well-fed. Let’s see if I can finish this crossword.

1:31:56

So, the only lettters I have cross in ELAINE are the E (which also works with GEORGE) and the A in HAUL… where the L in HAUL is conflicting with ANIMAL in 45D. maybe HAUL is wrong, at least, and I’ll try ANIMAL. see if that opens anything up.

1:33:04

really happy with URAL and ELSES in that section, keeping those.

1:33:22

Wow, just realized that -OETRY ending of 64A may not be a RETRY typo or “(SH)OE TRY”, but (P)OETRY. definitely leaving and coming back helped.

1:34:12

I had thought 66D “Pops” could be PAS, but never put it in. Trying that too.

1:37:02

xRAxPOETRY looks like ORAL… with LIE for 65D. but then 51D is xxxOxE.

1:38:07

Assuming it’s ELAINE or GEORGE… it needs to IRAxPOETRY or RRAxPOETRY (or URAL is wrong)

1:39:21

Ok, I’m going to assume that this is some bit of Seinfeld trivia I don’t know, because if ANIMALS and URAL are right, 58A xxUM looks like DRUM which fits nicely. going with that.  [Finally shook free of the wrong 51D. But 98 minutes later? Ugh]

1:40:07

xxROxE? was Jerry’s first name JEROME? probably. then 50A could end JONES which is a nice common name.

1:40:49

Wow, got all 5 letters of 68A before it became clear. Thought so much about that one and never got it.

1:41:52

with the IO ending 27D looks like ADAGIO. 37A could be CLOG since I like the C in 31D

1:43:36

could 41A be MODAL? then 38D starting LL could be LLOYD. Oh! then “Early bird” is REDEYE. ha!  [This and TATS… punny clues that I just didn’t pick up on for a long time]

1:44:44

if 50A is INIGO- then 51D becomes MIRACRE… let’s assume it’s MIRACLE, which I should have gotten earlier. I even knew LOME was a world capital, but somehow didn’t recall that yesterday.

1:45:47

now all that is left is 7D and its crosses at 15A 25A and 35A.

1:48:58

I give up. googling 15A first… MARIE which was what I assumed it was

1:49:35

OROTxNx… OROTINE? I don’t know. googling the rest.

1:51:14

OROTUND is a word I didn’t know. and I wouldn’t have gotten GRAU. So needed to google that last bit. ok, now the meta. AUDIO BOOKS and ORAL POETRY imply homophones or phonemes…

1:51:57

Verifying EDNA FERBER and INIGO JONES (just in case)…

1:52:36

Yep, look good. INIGO reminds me of “indigo” the color and Inigo Montoya… but we’ll see.

1:54:31

Going through every answer looking for homonym-ish things… some seem like letters. In addition to ABOMB and ISEE, there’s DEEM, SEEP.. sort of. will poke at this a bit but don’t love it.

2:00:32

something like ABOMB,ELAL,TINA,ISLE,IAGO, REDEYE, ISEE, makes AALTIEIIC… maybe that’s close. trying a slight change…

2:02:55

going with first sounds only… ALTIECIDE. not a thing. but kind of looks like one.

2:07:27

Looking at the two names now. Trying to figure out why those two were chosen.

2:08:39

well, FERBER and GOJO are consecutive rhyming syllables… first looking for other examples.

2:09:41

Well, actually JONES is the syllable. so doesn’t even work on that one.

2:11:46

Those 4 corner down words look like they might be… CLASSIC, MIRACLE, PLAYERS, EPONYMS… even LOUTISH, ONE LOOK, MANAGER, REHIRED.

2:13:54

That would explain INIGO JONES and EDNA FERBER, since they need to cross with those. But I’m not seeing it. Reminds me of the 1980 Hockey team. But that doesn’t feel like it goes anywhere.

2:14:11

Maybe Jones and Ferber have works that rhyme with each other, and with some other famous work. That would be cool. Checking.

2:15:53

I don’t see any with internal rhymes, or that rhyme with any on the other list. Googling both names together now.

2:16:59

Aha, this thread showed up http://boards.sonypictures.com/boards/showthread.php?p=847461 regarding a puzzle I’d heard about. ED->FE and IN->JO for the first two letters of first names and last names, with one letter shift.

2:18:38

That thread also mentions Adam Bede, a novel which has the same property. but is that the right answer? I’d like confirmation. This letter thing doesn’t use “Audio Books” or “Oral Poetry” at all other than that they go AB and OP. Is that okay?

2:20:38

Maybe there are two answers in the grid with that characteristic, that make a title? checking.

2:21:55

there’s STARR.. maybe there’s STARR TURN or something. (the book may be homophonic to the two pieces… which would explain AUDIO and ORAL…). still looking, this feels like it might be right.

2:23:16

ODDS and PEARS work… ODDS-PEARS… doesn’t seem like a book. but will think about it.

2:24:21

RHO SIB works too. ODDS-PEARS and RHO-SIB… still don’t see anything.

2:26:35

CHEN DIDTIME, same thing. hmmm

2:30:16

I think those are the only three I can find, CHEN/RHO/ODDS -> DIDTIME/SIB/PEARS

2:32:16

oh, ADDABLE and BEST OF.

2:33:10

maybe these are just a coincidence? Well, EDNA/FERBER and INIGO/JONES aren’t… but is connecting two entries the thing to do with this idea? maybe.

2:34:10

first letters go ACRO. that’s good, I guess.

2:39:42

Maybe all the two names are the for is to clue shifting one letter later in the alphabet… so maybe some answer in the puzzle, shifted one letter in the alphabet, makes a homophone of a literary work (the other two answers). I can scan through them all pretty quickly, hopefully.

2:43:06

RHO makes SIP. ODDS makes PEET.

2:46:42

oh btw ADAGIO also goes with BESTOF. makes that theory less likely. heh. and ADAGES.

2:49:47

ok, RHO->SIP and ODDS->PEET. I don’t see it.

2:50:26

skimming through the clues quickly, just in case.

2:53:35

Nope, nothing. hmmm. We have AUDIO BOOKS and ORAL POETRY. So sound matters.  [Sound doesn’t matter]

2:53:58

And we have EDna->FErber and INigo->JOnes, so letter shifts matter (as have Audio->Books and Oral->Poetry).

2:54:29

Maybe the answers with letters in them I tried earlier should be shifted one letter?

2:58:15

Nope, lots of Js, nothing promising.

2:59:08

So, I was thinking about how I googled to get the pattern. but then I realized EDNA FERBER and INIGO JONES start with EF and IJ… and the other two start with AB and OP… all vowels.  [Yay, I got the vowel thing. Only because of the recent MGWCC that was AEIO…? based]

2:59:54

So the missing one must be of the form UV. I trust Matt to keep that pattern.

3:00:34

Let’s see, it may even do the two letter thing. so UN- VO- would work.

3:02:44

maybe something VOCAL to go with AUDIO and ORAL? hmm. There must be more than picking U/V works. like UNCLE VANYA. I’d need some confirmation though. hmmm

3:06:31

Putting “un* vo*” into Onelook. UNDERWATER VOLCANO and UNREMARKABLE VOYAGE don’t seem right.

3:08:42

maybe the OROTUND ANIMALS down the middle is a clue? (grasping at straws)

3:09:50

a rotund animal could be an UNHEALTHY VOLE. Probably not it. [Should have been!]

3:17:52

CLASSIC and EPONYMS point to something like ADAM BEDE. But I really like the idea of UV answer (especially with “Light” in the title)

3:23:55

could be ULTRA VIOLET I guess… there’s a RED and INIGO in the puzzle… no others, though.

3:24:57

Doesn’t seem to be one in amazon anyway.

3:27:30

UNCLE VANYA is still my only candidate. But I can’t believe the whole meta is just “name the only literary work with U V initials”. There must be some confirmation, right?

3:33:50

Taking a break. still thinking, sort of.

3:39:05

Hmm, homophones maybe? (though the audio/oral parts may just be to fit the A-O thing)… LOAD, STAR, I’LL, LAD, PAIRS, ICY, ROW at least, going across. That seems like a lot, but maybe not.

3:43:39

I don’t see any in the down clues. hmmm. But I also don’t see anything interesting about those 7 words.

3:47:33

I’m stopping the clock now with UNCLE VANYA as my tentative answer. Not submitting yet. May come back to this tomorrow (which would be day three!)

3:47:56

Ok, it’s day three. Monday night. Need to submit an answer tonight. Without telling you guys, I googled the top 100 Novels list, and found UNDER THE VOLCANO, which even has the UN->VO thing… but it also has THE… and I’m not sure it’s well-known. Plus, I’m not convinced the first two letters are critical, since AUDIOBOOKS and ORALPOETRY don’t have it. ARGH. Doing more research on Edna, Inigo, and my two UV literary works…

3:58:24

Lots of googling about Uncle Vanya, Under The Volcano, the two people mentioned, and looking for patterns in the grid (all stuff you’ve already read about.)… now I just need to pick what to submit.

4:02:25

I’m over four hours. I’m going to guess Uncle Vanya. It’s a play so it’s read out loud, so that maybe sort of explains the Audio/Oral parts? ugh. I just need to go to bed.