crossword 4:27
meta DNF 

hi there and welcome to episode #739 of matt gaffney’s weekly crossword contest, “My Cup Runneth Over”. for week 5 of visitor constructor month at mgwcc, we have now a puzzle from will nediger, who challenges us to seek out a beverage. all proper. what are the theme solutions? i don’t know. it’s a curious grid, with no lengthy throughout solutions (a few 8s) however a handful of lengthy downs in stacks (an 8-9-10 stack in every of two corners), plus a few different 8s. the grid can also be 16-wide, which is noteworthy however not unparalleled.

the title suggests (to me, anyway) phrases that may run over the perimeters of the grid that flip into cups or ingesting vessels or beverage names. in that gentle, i did discover that the consecutive entries AT SEA on the appropriate fringe of the grid and AESTHETE on the left fringe of the following row include the shared string TSEA, forwards on the finish of AT SEA and in reverse at the beginning of AESTHETE. that was attention-grabbing to me, however i don’t fairly know what to do with it.

will’s homeland CANADA is within the grid, clued as {“Come from Away” nation}. it’s additionally on the fringe of the grid, and that made me consider the ginger ale model CANADA DRY. i don’t know what to do with that, both.

oh, that is attention-grabbing—i’ve simply observed that the grid incorporates no cases of the letter I. that’s fairly uncommon and feels prefer it shouldn’t simply occur by chance. wait, there are not any L’s, both—just a little bit much less shocking, however nonetheless shocking. each different letter will get used at the least as soon as, together with uncommon letters like JQVWXZ, as soon as every.

okay, it in all probability issues that {Ruptures} BURSTS is within the grid and {Constructions affected by bursitis} is a clue (for SACS), since BURSTS and BURSITIS differ solely by the insertion of two I’s. are there different issues like this? sure, there’s {Bus funds} FARES and {Queen of the fairies} MAB. i ought to discover extra of those although i don’t perceive what’s happening but. there may be another pair with two I’s and some with I and L:

• {X} TEN and {Tie-in, typically} TOY.
• {Programs which will have grades} ROADS (nice, tough clue there) and {Recommenders of relaxation or Rolaids} MDS. “rolaids” does stand out just a little right here—it positively doesn’t should be there for the clue to operate in a daily crossword sense.
• {-speak} ESE and {Elsie ___ Cow} THE. i did assume whereas fixing that was a strikingly particular approach to clue THE, nevertheless it may have simply been whimsy.
• {Sq. of butter} PAT and {A part of a plait} TRESS.

all proper, what are we doing with these six pairs? trying on the grid, i discover that the phrases that may have I’s and L’s inserted are all throughout entries in three stacked pairs: BURSTS on prime of PAT, TEN atop ESE, and FARES atop ROADS. drawing within the I’s and L’s alongside the border strains between the squares sort of suggests a cup round two letters in every pair. i assume that’s why I and L have been chosen for this explicit train. however what now?

studying off the letters within the “cups” provides TAESRA, which … shouldn’t be a beverage. trying on the letters simply above every cup (as a result of they “runneth over”) provides MRG, which … remains to be not a beverage. i do be aware that the decrease proper cup has the letters ORANG main down into it, from the top of TUSCARORA and the beginning of NGRAM. orange juice (or orange soda, orange crush) is a drink. i don’t know what’s occurring with the others, although. DRUM TABS i assume has RUM over the cup, but when there’s one thing i’m presupposed to be seeing in TRESS / BERESFORD, i’m lacking it.

i really feel like i’m fairly shut, however there’s positively (at the least) another step i’m not seeing, and my time is up, sadly. what’d i miss?