SOLVED - The GL Collaborative Meta-Puzzle

[Suspence]

You're getting further away. That's not what you should be getting.
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[novice]

Hehe.

cloWser

CALL IN CLOSER

[Suspence]

Phew.

Anyhow, onto the next. I test-solved this one heavily, so hopefully it will go more smoothly.

It's Extra Complications by novice
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[MNOWAX]

[novice]

Haha, that's great! Everything else was just noise.

What was the mechanism for ordering the words correctly?

[Suspence]

Also, check post 15 and 16.

The mechanism was you and 3iff figuring it out.
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[Thok]

[Gomez]

Hmm, following from that, maybe 'Watch budget' should be 'Watch budge', which could be SHIFT? Can't get anywhere on the others. I suck at cryptics.

[Oscar]

I'm reasonably certain about most of these (to keep it short I've just listed the answers and the clue word containing the extra letter):

Across
1. SHIFT - budge(T)
4. SURPLUS - (G)listened
8. PRISM - prim(E)
9. TALKING - (C)lipping
10. ?
12. TWICE - cut(E)
13. NICE - (K)night
14. ? (possibly PEG - (V)indicator
15. ABBA - s(T)ingers
19. USING - re(C)order
21. REVERSE - (P)reserve
22. GET HURT - man(E)
24. EXTRA - (G)raced
26. SORTING - (D)eluded
27. ORDER - (A)symmetry

Down
1. SAP - (H)eat
2. IDIOTIC - (T)one
3. TEMPER - (G)anger
4. SIT - s(P)ite
5. RELATE - (E)at
6. LUIGI - (J)ousting
7. SEGREGATE - isolate(D)
10. LANGUAGES - (G)lance
11. ?
16. BERATED - s(T)aid
17. AGOUTI - (Q)at
18. OVIEDO - (V)air
20. INTER - nin(J)a
23. TAG - (G)ears
25. AIR - fl(A)y

The problem with the extra letters is there is no 'U' to go with the 'Q' so forming some sort of instructional phrase looks unlikely, unless we also include the first letters of the answers (We have 'USING' there)
There are also duplicate letters so using the extra letters to order the answer words also seems unlikely.

Whatever - it's a nicely constructed puzzle so far, novice!

[Oscar]

Ah! 10 across is 'LETTERS' - hi(N)t
and 11 down is 'SMEAR' - li(V)e

and reading 1,4,10,12,19,21,26 & 27 across we get
'Shift surplus letters twice using reverse sorting order'

Doing this yields:
'RECALCITRANCE BY FRENCH BETROTHED'

Solving this as a cryptic gives:
DEFIANCE (French for 'by' + Fiance)

Call in DEFIANCE

Brilliant, novice!

[Gomez]

Great puzzle, but damn that's some nice solving Oscar! I couldn't get anywhere with it.

[Oscar]

Thanks, Gomez. I look forward to having a crack at your one soon.

And I forgot to include in my previous post that 25 down was probably
AIR - (F)lay

[Suspence]

DEFIANCE is correct. Impressive work Oscar!

Next up is A King's Tale by Elethiomel
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[novice]

PEOPLE - Citizens in power rarely elope.
COUNT - International organization in bed with nobleman.
Uniform rat taking drugs.
Psychic assuming cheap title.
POWERS - Gives impetus to rambling prose about whiskey.
Magic hex code for gold: smart spending.
Shell sounds like a slave master.
Block mellow injury.
Nurses return shady deals.
Force every third season.
Strip income from exchange.
Yielded a stab and one dead insider.
Through a barn yard.
Rational but not real allegorical expression.
Theatrical performance by rocky projection driver.
Beautiful dancing bear that sits on the throne.
LOVE - Zero affection.
Hopeless grand border.
After a week, chicken signals imminent overflow.
Toppled horizontal rule separating public from private.
SIRE - Beget singular fury.
RANDOM - Inaccurate radon measurement first selected arbitrarily.
Program handle can design drug for dancing exhibition.
ABOVE - A bovine dropping in upstairs.
HORIZON - Slice of chorizo nearly bridging earth and sky.
Relative fitness is terminal infection.
Spanish domain points for flights.
Starting with bad form.
Ominous transgression disturbing rites.
Ice funnel generating power.
DEAD - Every second die-hard bought the farm.
SISTERS - Mental stress meets the eye, said the nuns.
CAR - Wild arc turning around two axes.
WITH - Including that hour after work.

[novice]

[Elethiomel]

That was a brilliant puzzle, Novice. Very well constructed. I only took a brief glance at it, and also noticed the surplus letter trick, but I severely doubt I could have solved it all as quickly as Oscar did. Those were some real tricky (but fair) clues.

I notice now that in my current puzzle, one final clue has been cut off:

Regret brief primary color change.

[novice]

PEOPLE - Citizens in power rarely elope.
COUNT - International organization in bed with nobleman.
USING - Uniform rat taking drugs.
Psychic assuming cheap title.
POWERS - Gives impetus to rambling prose about whiskey.
EXHAUSTING - Magic hex code for gold: smart spending.
Shell sounds like a slave master.
Block mellow injury.
Nurses return shady deals.
Force every third season.
Strip income from exchange.
Yielded a stab and one dead insider.
BY - Through a barn yard.
LOGICAL - Rational but not real allegorical expression.
Theatrical performance by rocky projection driver.
BREATHTAKING - Beautiful dancing bear that sits on the throne.
LOVE - Zero affection.
GRIM - Hopeless grand border.
After a week, chicken signals imminent overflow.
Toppled horizontal rule separating public from private.
SIRE - Beget singular fury.
RANDOM - Inaccurate radon measurement first selected arbitrarily.
APPEARANCE - Program handle can design drug for dancing exhibition.
ABOVE - A bovine dropping in upstairs.
HORIZON - Slice of chorizo nearly bridging earth and sky.
SISTER - Relative fitness is terminal infection.
ESCAPES - Spanish domain points for flights.
FROM - Starting with bad form.
SINISTER - Ominous transgression disturbing rites.
INFLUENCE - Ice funnel generating power.
DEAD - Every second die-hard bought the farm.
SISTERS - Mental stress meets the eye, said the nuns.
CAR - Wild arc turning around two axes.
WITH - Including that hour after work.
Regret brief primary color change.

[Suspence]

[Suspence]

Piling on the compliments for novice, but I really loved test-solving that puzzle. It was truly top-notch, and I'm appreciative that he donated such a fine puzzle to the cause.
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I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[gpagano]

Hi guys, I've been following Grey Labyrinth for a while and I wanted to get in on this thread. Hope you don't mind if I join in.

Starting with bad form--FROM?
(anagram of form)

More will come soon.
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Puzzle mad.

[Suspence]

Welcome, gpagano. Glad to have you; feel free to jump in on any of the puzzles here.
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I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[novice]

Welcome gpagano. I added your result to my post - not trying to take credit, just collating results.

[Oscar]

Adding a few to keep it ticking over:

Uniform rat taking drugs - USING
Hopeless grand border - GRIM

[Oscar]

A few more:

Block mellow injury DAMAGE
Nurses return shady deals CRADLES
Force every third season FALL
Strip income from exchange BANDY
Yielded a stab and one dead insider ABANDONED
Theatrical performance by rocky projection driver OPERATOR

[novice]

Nice ones.

PEOPLE - Citizens in power rarely elope.
COUNT - International organization in bed with nobleman.
USING - Uniform rat taking drugs.
Psychic assuming cheap title.
POWERS - Gives impetus to rambling prose about whiskey.
EXHAUSTING - Magic hex code for gold: smart spending.
SURFACE - Shell sounds like a slave master.
DAMAGE - Block mellow injury.
CRADLES - Nurses return shady deals.
FALL - Force every third season.
BANDY - Strip income from exchange.
ABANDONED - Yielded a stab and one dead insider.
BY - Through a barn yard.
LOGICAL - Rational but not real allegorical expression.
OPERATOR - Theatrical performance by rocky projection driver.
BREATHTAKING - Beautiful dancing bear that sits on the throne.
LOVE - Zero affection.
GRIM - Hopeless grand border.
WHEN - After a week, chicken signals imminent overflow.
OVERTHROWN - Toppled horizontal rule separating public from private.
SIRE - Beget singular fury.
RANDOM - Inaccurate radon measurement first selected arbitrarily.
APPEARANCE - Program handle can design drug for dancing exhibition.
ABOVE - A bovine dropping in upstairs.
HORIZON - Slice of chorizo nearly bridging earth and sky.
SISTER - Relative fitness is terminal infection.
ESCAPES - Spanish domain points for flights.
FROM - Starting with bad form.
SINISTER - Ominous transgression disturbing rites.
INFLUENCE - Ice funnel generating power.
DEAD - Every second die-hard bought the farm.
SISTERS - Mental stress meets the eye, said the nuns.
CAR - Wild arc turning around two axes.
WITH - Including that hour after work.
GRIEF - Regret brief primary color change.

2nd level:
? - PEOPLE COUNT USING [Psychic assuming cheap title]
? - POWERS EXHAUSTING SURFACE DAMAGE CRADLES FALL
and - BANDY ABANDONED BY LOGICAL OPERATOR
overwhelming - BREATHTAKING LOVE GRIM WHEN OVERTHROWN
rise? - SIRE RANDOM APPEARANCE ABOVE HORIZON
in? - SISTER ESCAPES FROM SINISTER INFLUENCE (an "in" = influence?)
? - DEAD SISTERS CAR WITH GRIEF

[3iff]

novice: Well done for finishing off that first puzzle... Looks like I've missed out on a couple...I'll have to do some reading to catch up.

Glad there's a few others joining in now.

[novice]

Three clues remaining:

Psychic assuming cheap title.
Toppled horizontal rule separating public from private.
Regret brief primary color change.

First one: Psychic containing cheap = title
Second one: Horizontal Rule can be the HR html tag. Private can be a soldier, a GI.
Third one: Primary color can be red, green, blue, magenta, cyan, yellow.

[Oscar]

Good work on 'breathtaking' novice.

Toppled horizontal rule separating public from private - OVERT(HR)OWN

And a possible sneaky interpretation of
'Regret brief primary color change' would give GRIEF
where 'Brief' has its first letter changed from B(lue) to G(reen)

[novice]

Elethiomel would totally be that sneaky.

2nd level:
? - PEOPLE COUNT USING [Psychic assuming cheap title]
? - POWERS EXHAUSTING SURFACE DAMAGE CRADLES FALL
and - BANDY ABANDONED BY LOGICAL OPERATOR
overwhelming - BREATHTAKING LOVE GRIM WHEN OVERTHROWN
rise? - SIRE RANDOM APPEARANCE ABOVE HORIZON
in? - SISTER ESCAPES FROM SINISTER INFLUENCE (an "in" = influence?)
? - DEAD SISTERS CAR WITH GRIEF

[Oscar]

I'm inclined to think that the first clue of the 2nd level is
PEOPLE COUNT USING [word meaning 'Psychic'] where POWERS may or may not be in this clue
giving 'MENTALLY'

Ah yes!
Psychic assuming cheap title is TELEPATHIC
so 'POWERS' is in the first clue of 2nd level.

[novice]

Good catch.

2nd level:
mentally - PEOPLE COUNT USING TELEPATHIC POWERS
? - EXHAUSTING SURFACE DAMAGE CRADLES FALL
and - BANDY ABANDONED BY LOGICAL OPERATOR
overwhelming - BREATHTAKING LOVE GRIM WHEN OVERTHROWN
rise? - SIRE RANDOM APPEARANCE ABOVE HORIZON
in? - SISTER ESCAPES FROM SINISTER INFLUENCE (an "in" = influence?)
? - DEAD SISTERS CAR WITH GRIEF

[novice]

CAR - Wild arc turning around two axes.

This one's actually CRAZY, giving a much better 2nd level surface reading.

[novice]

2nd level:
mentally - PEOPLE COUNT USING TELEPATHIC POWERS
draining - EXHAUSTING SURFACE DAMAGE CRADLES FALL
and - BANDY ABANDONED BY LOGICAL OPERATOR
overwhelming - BREATHTAKING LOVE GRIM WHEN OVERTHROWN
rise? - SIRE RANDOM APPEARANCE ABOVE HORIZON
in? - SISTER ESCAPES FROM SINISTER INFLUENCE (an "in" = influence?)
distress - DEAD SISTERS CRAZY WITH GRIEF

3rd level:
Mentally draining and overwhelming rise in distress.

[3iff]

I thought it might be draining but couldn't work out HOW it's draining...and I still can't. Am I being dense?

Can't get anything for the 3rd level...it doesn't look like a cryptic at the moment...

[novice]

Third level might be an &lit; cryptic clue. The cryptic part could be e.g. a "draining" anagram surrounding a "rise" anagram. Hard to believe that Elethiomel could cook up an &lit; for a random word provided by Suspence, but you never know.

Draining is explained by surface damage = ding surrounding fall = rain.

[3iff]

Not heard of ding in that context...which is why I didn't get it...thanks for the explanation.

Still working on the 3rd level...

Thinking about the title of the puzzle..."A King's Tale"...anything to do with author Stephen King? I don't know his stories/books very well.

Misery? There's also Insomnia and Desperation. All these would 'fit' the clue.

[Oscar]

You've got it 3iff!
MISERY is a great &lit clue!
An anagram of RISE within (M)entall(Y) drained!

Call in MISERY

[3iff]

I was just chucking words out...you (all of you) were making sense of them. Lucky I remembered to go back to the puzzle title.

[Oscar]

Now the question is: did Elethiomel come up with this pyramid to fit in with his given word, or did Suspence change his to fit in with the pyramid?

If the former then some *serious* kudos are due! (If the latter then just congratulations on a great puzzle, El!)

[Suspence]

MISERY is correct.

I simply provided MISERY as my desired solution, and El designed the pyramid around it.
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I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.