GUEST CONSTRUCTOR MONTH:

It’s July, and that means it’s the 2nd Annual Guest Constructor Month here at MGWCC! For various reasons, Guest Constructor Month this year will consist of five puzzles even though July only has four Fridays. We’re going to poach the first Friday of August and then August will be a four-Friday month. Sorry for the weird rhythm lately; it will settle down after August.

LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

“Oh, Henry!” How many solvers have uttered that over the decades as they battled with last week’s constructor/meta answer, HENRY HOOK?

Solvers were tasked with discovering the identity of last week’s anonymous crossword writer. 570 entrants IMDb-ed it from the three long theme entries, clued simply as “WHO AM I?” and which spelled out:

PRIVATE PLAYED BY / JAMES BOOTH IN THE / MCMLXIV FILM “ZULU”

Head here and you’ll see this:

Making the greatest crossword constructor of all time (if you ask me) last week’s meta answer.

e.a. writes:

legend!!!

Steve T knew it all along:

Twas my guess even before starting.

wobbith says:

One of my favorite films of all time and one of my favorite constructors, some fun! Thanks HH!

gpagano asks:

Cool, wasn’t Henry Hook one of the people that inspired these meta contests in the first place? If so, nice grab for guest constructor month.

Indeed he was — his “Hooked on Puzzles” book series contained the first metas I ever solved.

clarsach quips:

If the movie was long enough, maybe he’d have been promoted to Captain Hook.

And finally, Rincon writes:

cool to get him involved!

It really was. Thanks for leading off Guest Constructor Month with a bang, Henry!

This week’s winner, whose name was chosen randomly from the 570 correct entries received, is Bevin Bullock of Glendale, N.Y. In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set, J.L. will also receive a copy of my new book Bite-Size Crosswords. Weekly winners for the rest of July will receive the same.

THIS WEEK’S GUEST CONSTRUCTOR:

Tough act to follow, but Alex Vratsanos is up to the task! Alex is a 20-year-old Allentown, Pennsylvania native who graduated from high school on the same day his first New York Times crossword was published. He’s since had four more there, including this clever idea (spoiler alert; it’s from 11/11/11 if you want to go back and solve it).

Alex studied chemical engineering at the University of Delaware for two years, where the above picture of him was taken. In the medium term he hopes to study professional writing at Kutztown University, and in the long term, as he puts it, “I would really, really love to have crosswords as a career.” I’d say he’s off to a good start! And he makes a mean meta…

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

This week’s contest answer is an automaker that would be an excellent fifth theme entry. Submit your answer in the form on the left sidebar by Tuesday at noon ET. Note: the submissions form disappears from the site promptly at noon on Tuesday.

To print the puzzle out, click on the image below and hit “print” on your browser. To solve using Across Lite either solve on the applet below or download the free software here, then join the Google Group (2,065 members now!) here.

Solve well, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive.

GUEST CONSTRUCTOR MONTH:

It’s July, and that means it’s the 2nd Annual Guest Constructor Month here at MGWCC! For various reasons, Guest Constructor Month this year will consist of five puzzles even though July only has four Fridays. We’re going to poach the first Friday of August and then August will be a four-Friday month.

LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

425 solvers found the missing automaker in Alex Vratsanos’s week 2 meta. Theme entries were:

17-a [#1: Acting honor] = OSCAR NOMINATION

25-a [#2: Classic steam shovel owner] = MIKE MULLIGAN

44-a [#3: Dolphins use it] = ECHOLOCATION

56-a [#4: Opens, often] = GOLF TOURNAMENTS

Contest instructions asked for an automaker that would be an excellent fifth theme entry. What’s going on here? The first word of each theme entry is a letter in the phonetic alphabet, those cool words pilots use for absolute clarity when speaking to the control tower. Is there an automaker that starts with a letter from this alphabet? Why yes, Italy’s ALFA ROMEO.

But wait, there’s more! Notice that those four theme entries spell out OMEG, and that alfa there elegantly uses itself to complete the Greek letter OMEGA. And notice too that ALFA ROMEO is double-barrelled action, since alfa = A and romeo = R in the phonetic alphabet. Nice!

scoctopus says:

Bravo!

touchdown asks:

I’m starting to see a pattern this month – Zulu, Alfa, is Bravo next?

No, but you won’t be dissuaded from this theory when you see the preferred drink of this week’s guest constructor (or the byline on Week 4).

gbergvall opines:

Not only an excellent fifth entry, but an excellent car!

And finally, J.T. writes:

Lima Oscar Victor Echo Delta India Tango!

ERRATUM:

bschoner points out:

Loved the puzzle…but FYI, piranhas are freshwater fish, not marine.

That’s 1-a, where I missed that [Marine menace] doesn’t quite work for PIRANHA. Sorry about that!

This week’s winner, whose name was chosen randomly from the 425 correct entries received, is Rachel Park of Williamstown, Mass. In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set, Rachel will also receive a copy of my new book Bite-Size Crosswords. Weekly winners for the rest of July will receive the same.

NEW YORK CITY + PITTSBURGH:

Two tournaments to put on your summer radar:

1) LOLLAPUZZOOLA 6:

New York City, Saturday, August 10th. I will be there! Stop me and say hello if you’re around.

Info here; tournament directors are Patrick Blindauer and Brian Cimmet.

2) 4TH ANNUAL PITTSBURGH CROSSWORD TOURNAMENT:

Pittsburgh, Saturday, August 17th. I won’t be there in person but I wrote a metapuzzle for the tournament.

Info here; tournament director is Rachel Colangelo. Here’s Rachel’s appearance on the news discussing last year’s event, including a shout-out to yours truly.

THIS WEEK’S GUEST CONSTRUCTOR:

Week 3 of Guest Constructor Month is in the hands of Julian Lim, whose byline you may recognize from memorable themes like this and especially this. Those are the 4/21/11 New York Times and 3/24/11 Fireball puzzles, incidentally, if you’d like to go back and solve them instead of clicking.

I’ll let Julian introduce himself:

I’m 33 years old, from Singapore, went to college (Duke) and grad school (UPenn) in America studying psychology. Have been back since 2010 doing a post-doc in the National University of Singapore, and I hope to be a faculty member some day in the not-too-distant future. I’ve published around 50 puzzles since 2009, mostly in the Los Angeles Times and New York Times. Besides crosswords, a selection of other things I like includes: traveling, Quentin Tarantino, Bright Eyes, single malt whiskey, and corgis.

Now, limber up your minds for limitless challenge…

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

This week’s contest answer is a video game. Submit your answer in the form on the left sidebar by Tuesday at noon ET. Note: the submissions form disappears from the site promptly at noon on Tuesday.

To print the puzzle out, click on the image below and hit “print” on your browser. To solve using Across Lite either solve on the applet below or download the free software here, then join the Google Group (2,066 members now!) here.

Solve well, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive.

GUEST CONSTRUCTOR MONTH REMINDER:

This is the last Friday of July, but a reminder: for various reasons, Guest Constructor Month this year will consist of five puzzles even though July only has four Fridays. We’re going to poach the first Friday of August and then August will be a four-Friday month.

LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

349 solvers found the right video game last week for Julian Lim’s meta. The central across entry was the only overt hint in the grid, CONNECT FOUR clued as [Game whose TV ad featured the line "Pretty sneaky, sis"].

So what’s going on? You needed to locate six instances of a letter appearing in a diagonal line of four, as they might in Connect Four. As you can see from the diagram at right, those six diagonals of four spell out TETRIS, our meta answer.

Jon Delfin writes:

TETRIS, or, TTTTEEEETTTTRRRRIIIISSSS

Jay Giess asks:

Was TETR1S from the first 6 across clues a coincidence?

Yes! Wild.

DIS writes in Russian:

Хорошо!

Steve vets says:

A palindromic answer would be: Sir, Tetris.

And finally, Squonk points out:

Very nice fill given the constraints on the puzzle!

I agree. Well done and thanks, Julian!

This week’s winner, whose name was chosen randomly from the 349 correct entries received, is C.H. In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set, C.H. will also receive a copy of my new book Bite-Size Crosswords. Weekly winners for the rest of GCM will receive the same.

THIS WEEK’S GUEST CONSTRUCTOR:

By day, Victor Barocas is a Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Minnesota with interest in the structural mechanics of soft tissues. Outside of work he’s a National Puzzlers’ League member (nom: Scarab), has been constructing crosswords for the past few years (notably this and this), and in 2013 helped organize the puzzles for the Minnesota Crossword Tournament in St. Paul.

Can you emerge victorious this week? Read on to find out…

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

This week’s contest answer is a famous athlete whose first name, if it were in the grid, would complete this puzzle’s theme. Submit your answer in the form on the left sidebar by Tuesday at noon ET. Note: the submissions form disappears from the site promptly at noon on Tuesday.

To print the puzzle out, click on the image below and hit “print” on your browser. To solve using Across Lite either solve on the applet below or download the free software here, then join the Google Group (2,073 members now!) here.

Solve well, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive.

GUEST CONSTRUCTOR MONTH FINALE:

A reminder that today’s puzzle counts as Week 5 of Guest Constructor Month, not the first week of August. We’re treating August as a four-Friday month that will begin next week.

IMPORTANT NOTE, 8/2/13, 12:55 PM: I posted incorrect instructions to Dave’s puzzle today. Please see below for the correct instructions, and my apologies to solvers and to Dave.

LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

152 solvers went with the flow last week, discovering the four hidden rivers in Victor Barocas’ lovely meta.

The three obvious theme entries appeared to be FLORENCE, SAINT PETERSBURG (Russia, not Florida), and ZARAGOZA, but it wasn’t entirely clear since there were other eight-letter (and longer) entries running around. Eagle-eyed meta-mavens noticed the short but symmetrically placed cities of YORK (England, not Pennsylvania) and CAEN in the corners as well and surmised that they might be theme, too.

Which they were: the meta’s key was realizing that four of those five European cities cross their own rivers in the grid (damn, I wish I had thought of this idea myself!).

Check it out:

The ARNO crosses FLORENCE
The OUSE crosses YORK
The NEVA crosses SAINT PETERSBURG
The ORNE crosses CAEN

The odd one out is ZARAGOZA, which lies on the EBRO, but that common crossword entry can’t be found anywhere in the grid. Meta instructions asked for a famous athlete whose first name, if it were in the grid, would complete this puzzle’s theme. That means we need a famous sports(wo)man whose first name fits the letter pattern ?EBRO?. Must be some obscure guy named LEBRON JAMES, whose first name, had it crossed ZARAGOZA in the grid, would complete the pattern of the first four theme entries.

Howard B quips:

Not to be Cavalier about it, but you turned up the Heat on this one. Tricky!

In eight words, Dan Katz encapsulates my ideal for a solver’s late-month meta experience:

Totally mystifying, and then beautiful once it clicked.

Crossword Beast says:

Definitely not Doc Rivers

JustinW got it, but wasn’t happy:

Being a Clevelander, I’d prefer not to capitalize his name…

Adam Thompson noted that:

Crosswordese helped.

Right! One of the many aspects of this meta I dig is that the five rivers are common guests in crossword grids.

Joshua Kosman found a wicked (and unintentional) red herring:

Could it be a coincidence that PETER and ZARA, the two children of Princess Anne, figure so prominently among the theme entries immediately after the birth of their first cousin once removed — a current event if ever there was one — has drawn everyone’s attention to the British line of succession? Well, yes, apparently it can be.

Sketch fill led Ertchin to the answer:

I knew ONEVAN was a pretty shady entry …

And finally, Rog thinks that this puzzle is:

A mODERn classic

I couldn’t agree more. Bravo, Victor!

This week’s winner, whose name was chosen randomly from the 152 correct entries received, is Maggie Wittlin of Brooklyn, N.Y. In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set, Maggie will also receive a copy of my new book Bite-Size Crosswords. Weekly winners for the rest of GCM will receive the same.

THIS WEEK’S GUEST CONSTRUCTOR:

I’m definitely picking up the tab next Friday when Dave Sullivan and I have a pre-Lollapuzzoola dinner in midtown Manhattan. By first suggesting, then implementing, and now maintaining the MGWCC submissions system, he’s saved me countless hours of logistical hassle over the past year and improved the overall feel of the site immeasurably.

As for writing puzzles: Dave “began constructing crosswords in 2004 at the age of 44,” as he puts it. He’s had five puzzles in the New York Times, plus wrote a beautiful and difficult meta for Fireball Crosswords in June (read my review of it here).

When not brainstorming puzzle themes, he’s outside working on his six acres of pasture and woods in bucolic Woodstock, Vermont, where he hopes to raise bees, chickens and goats in the near future.

And here’s his Week 5 meta…

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

This week’s contest answer is the two grid entries that, when combined, would make an excellent fifth theme entry. Submit your answer in the form on the left sidebar by Tuesday at noon ET. Note: the submissions form disappears from the site promptly at noon on Tuesday.

To print the puzzle out, click on the image below and hit “print” on your browser. To solve using Across Lite either solve on the applet below or download the free software here, then join the Google Group (2,078 members now!) here.

Solve well, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive.

GUEST CONSTRUCTOR MONTH:

It’s July, and that means it’s the 2nd Annual Guest Constructor Month here at MGWCC! For various reasons, Guest Constructor Month this year will consist of five puzzles even though July only has four Fridays. We’re going to poach the first Friday of August and then August will be a four-Friday month. Sorry for the weird rhythm lately; it will settle down after August.

LAST WEEK’S WINNER:

I forgot to give credit to last week’s weekly winner: it was Kyle Osborne of Hamilton, O.

LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

A riddle last week spelled out by the theme entries: WHAT PART OF / THE BODY IS / A PALINDROME BOTH / IN ENGLISH / AND SPANISH?

That’s the EYE of course, rendered as OJO in Spanish, as every crossword solver learns quickly. ¿Muy facil, no? 595 solvers found it, so it must’ve been!

Jared Dashoff says:

EYE believe that is the answer.

tberla writes:

EYE, Aka “ojo”… oho, aha!

And Howard B states palindromically:

Si, eye is.

This week’s winner, whose name was chosen randomly from the 595 correct entries received, is J.L. In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set, J.L. will also receive a copy of my new book Bite-Size Crosswords. Weekly winners for the rest of July will receive the same.

MONTHLY WINNERS:

47 solvers submitted the correct contest answer to all four of June’s challenges (5, TESTY, TONY SOPRANO, EYE/OJO). The following ten lucky and skillful winners, chosen randomly from that group, will receive a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set:

Erik Agard — College Park, Md.

Tony Antonakas — Hudson, O.

Joseph DeVincentis — Salem, Mass.

Bennett Engel — Willow Grove, Penna.

Brent Holman — San Francisco, Calif.

Jeremiahs Johnson — Lafayette, Calif.

Bob Klahn — Wilmington, Del.

Katie Miller — Houston, Tex.

Jason Shapiro — New York City, N.Y.

Stephen Williams — Holbrook, Mass.

Congratulations to our ten winners, and to everyone who went 4-for-4 in June.

PETER THE GREAT:

By a vote of 98-42, MGWCC solvers decided last week that Peter Gordon’s 35-letter pangrammatic set of DIEGO VELAZQUEZ, FOXY BROWN and JACK THOMPSON is a legitimate victor over my 36-letter set of JACQUES BARZUN, FELIX POTVIN and DWIGHT YOAKAM.

Peter thought his set should count, but I felt that 1) FOXY BROWN not being her real name opened up a can of worms on other names (DJ JAZZY JEFF wouldn’t help in this specific case, but you get the idea; would that one count?). Counterargument: FOXY BROWN isn’t a super-crazy name like DJ JAZZY JEFF, and a lot of entertainers don’t use their real name; for example, under that logic, ELTON JOHN or JOHN WAYNE wouldn’t be usable. But more importantly I felt that 2) scrub quarterback JACK THOMPSON isn’t famous enough for the list.

Solvers seemed to overrule me on that, but halfway through the week the point became moot when a solver pointed out to me Australian actor Jack Thompson, who looks easily famous enough to me for this. He’s had starring roles in big movies like “Breaker Morant” and “The Man from Snowy River,” and more recently a prominent role in “The Great Gatsby.” So Peter will indeed be receiving his MGWCC stationery set soon.

YOU’RE IN FOR A TWEET:

To my own surprise I’ve become an active Twittererer. Follow me at the big button in the upper left.

META ANALYSIS:

Three live crossword contests for your amusement:

David Steinberg (contest deadline is 11:59 PM Pacific Time on Saturday, July 6th)

Pete Muller (contest deadline is 11 PM Eastern Time on Sunday, July 7th)

Erik Agard (contest deadline is noon Eastern Time on Wednesday, July 10th)

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

Normally you’d get a photo and bio of this week’s Guest Constructor, but I can’t do that now because…this week’s contest answer is the author of this week’s puzzle. Submit your answer in the form on the left sidebar by Tuesday at noon ET. Note: the submissions form disappears from the site promptly at noon on Tuesday.

To print the puzzle out, click on the image below and hit “print” on your browser. To solve using Across Lite either solve on the applet below or download the free software here, then join the Google Group (2,062 members now!) here.

Solve well, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive.

GUEST CONSTRUCTOR MONTH:

It’s July, and that means it’s the 2nd Annual Guest Constructor Month here at MGWCC! For various reasons, Guest Constructor Month this year will consist of five puzzles even though July only has four Fridays. We’re going to poach the first Friday of August and then August will be a four-Friday month. Sorry for the weird rhythm lately; it will settle down after August.

LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

“Oh, Henry!” How many solvers have uttered that over the decades as they battled with last week’s constructor/meta answer, HENRY HOOK?

Solvers were tasked with discovering the identity of last week’s anonymous crossword writer. 570 entrants IMDb-ed it from the three long theme entries, clued simply as “WHO AM I?” and which spelled out:

PRIVATE PLAYED BY / JAMES BOOTH IN THE / MCMLXIV FILM “ZULU”

Head here and you’ll see this:

Making the greatest crossword constructor of all time (if you ask me) last week’s meta answer.

e.a. writes:

legend!!!

Steve T knew it all along:

Twas my guess even before starting.

wobbith says:

One of my favorite films of all time and one of my favorite constructors, some fun! Thanks HH!

gpagano asks:

Cool, wasn’t Henry Hook one of the people that inspired these meta contests in the first place? If so, nice grab for guest constructor month.

Indeed he was — his “Hooked on Puzzles” book series contained the first metas I ever solved.

clarsach quips:

If the movie was long enough, maybe he’d have been promoted to Captain Hook.

And finally, Rincon writes:

cool to get him involved!

It really was. Thanks for leading off Guest Constructor Month with a bang, Henry!

This week’s winner, whose name was chosen randomly from the 570 correct entries received, is Bevin Bullock of Glendale, N.Y. In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set, J.L. will also receive a copy of my new book Bite-Size Crosswords. Weekly winners for the rest of July will receive the same.

THIS WEEK’S GUEST CONSTRUCTOR:

Tough act to follow, but Alex Vratsanos is up to the task! Alex is a 20-year-old Allentown, Pennsylvania native who graduated from high school on the same day his first New York Times crossword was published. He’s since had four more there, including this clever idea (spoiler alert; it’s from 11/11/11 if you want to go back and solve it).

Alex studied chemical engineering at the University of Delaware for two years, where the above picture of him was taken. In the medium term he hopes to study professional writing at Kutztown University, and in the long term, as he puts it, “I would really, really love to have crosswords as a career.” I’d say he’s off to a good start! And he makes a mean meta…

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

This week’s contest answer is an automaker that would be an excellent fifth theme entry. Submit your answer in the form on the left sidebar by Tuesday at noon ET. Note: the submissions form disappears from the site promptly at noon on Tuesday.

To print the puzzle out, click on the image below and hit “print” on your browser. To solve using Across Lite either solve on the applet below or download the free software here, then join the Google Group (2,065 members now!) here.

Solve well, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive.

LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

Tricky Week 5 meta from Dave Sullivan last week, including an intentional red herring to weed out Those Who Hadn’t Fully Grokked.

The four obvious theme entries were:

18-a [Sleep, metaphorically] = LAND OF NOD

30-a [Cheated on or lied to] = SINNED AGAINST

47-a [Cubic zirconia, for one] = ARTIFICIAL GEM

61-a [Scout leader] = DEN MOTHER

First thing to notice is that each entry includes a word that reverses to a common first name: NOD = Don, SINNED = Dennis, GEM = Meg, and DEN = Ned.

Next thing to catch is that each of the theme entries crosses an entry whose clue includes the surname of a famous person with that first name. For example, we find Dennis Hopper’s surname in the clue to HARE [Fable hopper], which crosses SINNED AGAINST.

Similarly we have the clue for LAOS [Ho Chi Minh Trail locale] crossing LAND OF NOD, yielding Hawaiian fave Don Ho; the clue for O’NEAL [Ryan of "Love Story"] crossing ARTIFICIAL GEM, yielding actress Meg Ryan; and the clue for POEM ["In Flanders Fields," for one] crossing DEN MOTHER, yielding “Simpsons” neighbor Ned Flanders.

Instructions asked for the two grid entries that, when combined, would make an excellent fifth theme entry, and TAX LIEN at 11-across and 3-down does the trick, plucking a word from the suspiciously-awkward clue for TEN [It's a young age] to yield singer NEIL YOUNG (whom I also accepted as a correct entry, since I’d posted incorrect contest instructions at first last week, asking for the singer instead of the entries yielding them; sorry for the confusion on that).

The red herring was FAN MAIL, which looks promising since mail reverses to LIAM (Gallagher, Neeson, every male baby these days, etc.), but there’s no Neeson or Gallagher in the clues, so guessers there got blocked.

This week’s winner, whose name was chosen randomly from the 140 correct entries received, is Sophia McManus of Lafayette, Calif. In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set, Sophia will also receive a copy of my new book Bite-Size Crosswords.

THUS CONCLUDES GUEST CONSTRUCTOR MONTH:

Big thanks to Messrs. Hook, Vratsanos, Lim, Barocas and Sullivan for a memorable five weeks of metas! We’ll do it again next summer with another all-star lineup.

MONTHLY PRIZES:

79 solvers submitted the correct contest answer to all five of Guest Constructor Month’s challenges (HENRY HOOK, ALFA ROMEO, TETRIS, LEBRON JAMES, TAX LIEN). The following ten lucky and skillful winners, chosen randomly from that group, will receive a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set:

Dan Bowden — Sydney, Australia

Peter Broda — Regina, Sask.

Gideon Fostick — Herzliya, Israel

Wayne Mesard — Belmont, Mass.

Scott Rogoff — Mountain View, Calif.

Jason Taniguchi — Toronto, Ont.

Steve Tice — Great Falls, Va.

Peter Washington — Chico, Calif.

Mike Weepie — Cedar Rapids, Ia.

Scott Weiss — Walkersville, Md.

Congratulations to our ten winners, and to everyone who went 5-for-5 in Guest Constructor Month.

SPECIAL PRIZE THIS WEEK AND NEXT:

In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set, winners this week and next will also receive a signed copy of Doug Peterson‘s new book Easy as ABC Crosswords.

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

This week’s contest answer is a famous crossword tournament. Submit your answer in the form on the left sidebar by Tuesday at noon ET. Note: the submissions form disappears from the site promptly at noon on Tuesday.

To print the puzzle out, click on the image below and hit “print” on your browser. To solve using Across Lite either solve on the applet below or download the free software here, then join the Google Group (2,081 members now!) here.

Solve well, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive.

LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

Did you make it to Lollapuzzoola 6 last weekend in New York City? I did, and it was a blast. Hard to imagine the circumstances that will keep me away from LPZ7 next summer!

In addition to being an extremely fun event, LPZ6 also served as last week’s meta answer. Contest instructions asked for a famous crossword tournament, and the six theme entries were:

17-a [Person who writes an online review for every single restaurant they dine at?] = YELP ZEALOT

21-a [Discipline that deals with questions like: "What is the sound of one dandruff flake falling?"] = SCALP ZEN

34-a [Home for young animals only?] = WHELP ZOO

45-a [Shavings scraped from seaweed?] = KELP ZEST

56-a [Chug down a clear alcoholic drink?] = GULP ZIMA

63-a [Standard, poorly-described character in apocalyptic novels?] = PULP ZOMBIE

What do these goofy phrases have in common? Each contains the trigram LPZ, shorthand for Lollapuzzoola. And there are six of them, suggesting meta answer LOLLAPUZZOOLA 6, found by 532 solvers. Naturally I also accepted LOLLAPUZZOOLA without the 6 (which is what the vast majority of solvers submitted).

DannyBoy writes:

hope I spelled that right

You did! But I didn’t penalize those who didn’t (it’s an easy one to mess up).

CraigK, similarly:

I predict the highest number of wrongly spelled entries ever.

Wasn’t too bad…

Same topic, LukeTheRunner:

I had to go to the HELP ZONE (Google) for the correct spelling.

Stribbs says:

This Manhattanite is out of town this weekend, and super sad to miss it!

You missed an incredible final round, where Al Sanders claimed his first major tournament win over fellow finalists Trip Payne and Francis Heaney. See Al feeling the love from the crowd here.

Tilly and Dave write:

We’ll be in the pairs division!

As you might guess, the greatest aspect of the tournament for me is meeting so many MGWCC solvers. Shaking hands with Tilly and Dave was especially memorable this year since I’d written a crossword for their wedding earlier this summer (commissioned by their friend, MGWCC regular Steve Smith).

Bob J suggests:

Perhaps the next tournament can be held at the Lincoln Park Zoo…

And finally, OSExpert proclaims:

I was there!

So was I! And I hope to see many more of you there next year.

This week’s winner, whose name was chosen randomly from the 532 correct entries received, is Lillian Tamburic of Vancouver, B.C. In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set, Lillian will also receive a copy of Doug Peterson’s new book, Easy as ABC Crosswords. Next week’s winner will receive the same.

STEEL YOURSELF:

The 4th Annual Pittsburgh Crossword Tournament is tomorrow! Click here for details. I wrote a meta for it!

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

This week’s contest answer is any country that could serve as a ninth theme entry in this puzzle (there are multiple correct answers). Submit your answer (one country only, please!) in the form on the left sidebar by Tuesday at noon ET. Note: the submissions form disappears from the site promptly at noon on Tuesday.

To print the puzzle out, click on the image below and hit “print” on your browser. To solve using Across Lite either solve on the applet below or download the free software here, then join the Google Group (2,084 members now!) here.

Solve well, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive.

LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

What did those eight countries in the grid last week have in common? They were SWITZERLAND, MONGOLIA, BOTSWANA, AFGHANISTAN, BHUTAN, LAOS, MALI and MALAWI, all clued only by the countries they border. And there’s the rub: they border only other countries, not oceans or seas, so all you needed to do solve the meta was send in another of the world’s 40-odd landlocked countries. 470 solvers figured it out.

And note that the countries themselves were “landlocked” in the grid, which is to say that none of the eight touches the edge of the grid. This was much tougher to pull off than I’d anticipated, especially since using the famously landlocked SWITZERLAND and AFGHANISTAN was non-negotiable.

I stupidly left another country in the grid — my own country, ironically — which I failed to pick up on a scan of the grid whose entire purpose was to make sure there were no stray countries hiding out. I spotted IRAN AIR at 9-d, which was luckily easy to change to THIN AIR, but missed USA at 59-d. D’oh! But it wasn’t clued as the eight theme entries were, so no real harm done.

Pete Mitchell writes:

We’ll forgive the slightly inelegant non-symmetry of MALAWI and BHUTAN.

Figures a fellow constructor would point this out! I agonized, and I mean agonized, over the asymmetry there. Spent more time than I’d care to say trying to realign MALAWI and BHUTAN, or change one of them to Serbia or Rwanda or Uganda or Zambia, but to no avail. Finally my wife and a couple of constructors I’d sent “How bad is this?” e-mails to told me to just let it go! But man — looking at the eight countries highlighted in the grid above, it rankles.

Why did you pick the landlocked land you did? Solvers explain:

Katiedid (Austria):

Since I’m practicing Mozart…

Squonk (Nepal):

Because it’s got a cool-looking flag

Yes it does; there it is on the right.

mrbreen (Vatican City):

I’m going with the only one on the list I’ve been to.

weepster (Armenia):

I didn’t want to just randomly pick a landlocked country, so I picked the one that can be spelled out in the grid Boggle-style.

Cool! I found it; can you?

VU-Prof (Paraguay):

On the only continent you don’t already have an example from — but that has one!

Delft (Paraguay):

Because it amuses me that its name ironically contains the word “agua.”

But “Uruguay” doesn’t, and it is on the water. Double-landlocked irony! Speaking of which…

Anne E (Uzbekistan):

Let’s go for the double!

She means this.

Mutman (Chad):

Trying for the shortest answer this week.

Abide (South Sudan):

Newest landlocked country

And finally, Maggie W. (Lesotho):

It borders…South Africa. I imagine it will be a popular choice. I hope, as with the favorite Greek deities, you list the most popular answers! I’m predicting lots of love for Paraguay.

Bingo, Maggie — here’s the full list of correct answers:

PARAGUAY – 61
CHAD – 49
BOLIVIA – 48
NEPAL – 35
HUNGARY – 28
AUSTRIA – 27
LESOTHO – 21
ANDORRA – 19
LIECHTENSTEIN – 17
UZBEKISTAN – 14
KYRGYZSTAN – 14
CZECH REPUBLIC – 11
VATICAN CITY – 11
LUXEMBOURG – 10
BURKINA FASO – 10
NIGER – 9
ARMENIA – 8
BELARUS – 8
SERBIA – 7
ETHIOPIA – 7
UGANDA – 6
KAZAKHSTAN – 5
ZIMBABWE – 4
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC – 4
MOLDOVA – 3
RWANDA – 3
BURUNDI – 3
TAJIKISTAN – 3
THE FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA – 2
ZAMBIA – 2
SOUTH SUDAN – 1
AZERBAIJAN – 1
BURKINA FASO – 1
KOSOVO – 1
SLOVAKIA – 1
TRANSNISTRIA – 1
SWAZILAND – 1
SAN MARINO – 1

This week’s winner, whose name was chosen randomly from the 470 correct entries received, is John Davenport of Richmond, R.I. In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set, John will also receive a copy of Doug Peterson’s new book Easy as ABC Crosswords.

TYLER’S STYLIN’:

Awesome AVCX puzzle from Tyler Hinman this week. I can’t link because it’s subscription only, but you can buy it for $1 here, or just subscribe to the AVCX here ($15 for one year, $25 for two).

You may think I’m crazy, but I predict that in 10 years the AVCX will have more subscribers than the NYT crossword’s electronic version; it’s that good. 50k to 1.5k right now, but 2023 will look radically different.

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

This week’s contest answer is one of the 13 scoring rolls in Yahtzee (ignore the two bonuses). Submit your answer in the form on the left sidebar by Tuesday at noon ET. Note: the submissions form disappears from the site promptly at noon on Tuesday.

To print the puzzle out, click on the image below and hit “print” on your browser. To solve using Across Lite either solve on the applet below or download the free software here, then join the Google Group (2,085 members now!) here.

Solve well, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive.

LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

Week 3, but it played like a Week 4: just 117 solvers found THREES as the Yahtzee category that served as our meta answer.

“That’s Not a Word” read the puzzle’s title, and each of the six theme entries contained a three-letter word…that wasn’t just a word, but also an initialism:

17-a = SAT WELL WITH (SAT, Scholastic Aptitude Test)
26-a = WHO CARES (WHO, World Health Organization)
33-a = GIVE A RIP (R.I.P., Rest in Peace)
43-a = TUDOR ERA (ERA, Earned Run Average)
49-a = DOE, A DEER (DOE, Department of Energy)
60-a = UPS AND DOWNS (UPS, United Parcel Service)

One word from each of those initialisms lurked somewhere in the grid: TEST from SAT, HEALTH from WHO, REST from R.I.P., EARNED from ERA, ENERGY from DOE, and SERVICE from UPS. Those spell out, appropriately, the Yahtzee category THREES.

Peter Gordon writes:

SAT no longer stands for anything. Fictitious is misspelled in 21D. Fix for the book. –Peter (author of “Yahtzee Scratch & Play” and “Yahtzee Scratch & Play to Go!”)

Apologies for “ficticious” — I had “fictitious” and it looked ridiculous so I changed it.

This week’s winner, whose name was chosen randomly from the 117 correct entries received, is R.C. In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set, R.C. will also receive a copy of my new book Bite-Size Crosswords.

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

This week’s contest answer is a bygone, ten-letter place name. Submit your answer in the form on the left sidebar by WEDNESDAY at noon ET (Note extra day). Note: the submissions form disappears from the site promptly at noon on Wednesday.

To print the puzzle out, click on the image below and hit “print” on your browser. To solve using Across Lite either solve on the applet below or download the free software here, then join the Google Group (2,086 members now!) here.

Solve well, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive.

LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

A case of case-sensitivity: 10 letters in last week’s puzzle grid are exclusively written in uppercase letters:

ERA at 7-a (and its crossings of Emile, Rosa and Alt)
The TV of onTV at 10-a (and its crossings of Troon and Vesta)
The L of Lorena at 25-a (and its crossing Lowe)
The O of Ohioans at 26-a (and its crossing Otto)
The U in Utahans at 45-a (and its crossing Urdu)
The P and P in iPhone and iPads in the SW (and their crossings Peale and Perot)

Instructions asked for a bygone, 10-letter place name; anagram those 10 letters and you get the uppercase UPPER VOLTA.

What about those three long “theme entries”? They were actually anti-theme: mega-website craigslist, 1980s TV hit thirtysomething and poet e.e. cummings are each stylized in lowercase letters. Their presence was a backwards nudge for solvers towards the meta idea.

Tyler Hinman asks:

Do I get bonus points for submitting essentially the same answer twice in one month and having it be correct both times?

(He submitted BURKINA FASO for MGWCC #272, whose meta required solvers to submit any landlocked country.)

This week’s winner, whose name was chosen randomly from the 120 correct entries received, is Adam Thompson of Westville, Nova Scotia. In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set, Adam will also receive a copy of my new book Bite-Size Crosswords.

MONTHLY WINNERS:

76 solvers submitted the correct contest answer to all four of August’s challenges (LOLLAPUZZOOLA, ANY LANDLOCKED COUNTRY, THREES, UPPER VOLTA). The following ten lucky and skillful winners, chosen randomly from that group, will receive a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set:

Alex Bourzutschky

Anne Erdmann — Champaign, Ill.

Gideon Fostick — Givat Shmuel, Israel

Ben Jones — Stamford, Conn.

H.K.

Julian Lim — Singapore, Singapore

Rich Novo — Andover, Mass.

Adam Rosenfield — Cambridge, Mass.

Jason Taniguchi — Toronto, Ont.

James Williams — Elgin, Ill.

Congratulations to our ten winners, and to everyone who went 4-for-4 in August.

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

This week’s contest answer is a noted U.S. governor, past or present. Submit your answer in the form on the left sidebar by Tuesday at noon ET. Note: the submissions form disappears from the site promptly at noon on Tuesday.

To print the puzzle out, click on the image below and hit “print” on your browser. To solve using Across Lite either solve on the applet below or download the free software here, then join the Google Group (2,086 members now!) here.

Solve well, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive.

LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

Tough guy, eh? Tough puzzle, at least. Just 467 solvers found ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER as the famous U.S. governor, past or present in last week’s puzzle.

That’s low for Week 1, due to 1) the slight misdirect of the instructions, since it’s his movies that are referenced here, not his political career, and 2) the overlap between MGWCC solvers and Schwarzenegger fans is probably not 100%.

But there were indeed five of his one-word titles in the theme entries:

17-a [Potent cocktail made with vodka] = MIND ERASER
20-a [Creature at the top of its food chain, like a tiger or bald eagle] = APEX PREDATOR
36-a [Me and Whoopi Goldberg, for example] = BIRTHDAY TWINS
55-a [Special forces member's maneuver, like upon busting through a window] = COMMANDO ROLL
60-a [Linebacker in 12 Pro Bowls] = JUNIOR SEAU

So who else could it be but the former governor of “Kah-lee-FOR-nee-ah”?

JustinW says:

Hope I spelled that right…

You did, but I didn’t penalize those who didn’t. Also unpenalized were those jokesters who submitted AHNULD, THE GOVERNATOR, etc.

Jeff Louie says:

I cannot see the word “gubernatorial” without pronouncing it with a thick Austrian accent now.

Ale M has aged along with the movie star:

I’m feeling old because I saw all those movies in the theater upon release.

Jonesy writes:

I think Jesse Ventura will give a lot of people headaches/you wrong answers – he’s known as “the mind” – he was also in “predator” – his home state is home to the Minnesota “Twins” – he was a “commando” in Vietnam as part of the Navy, his wrestling career also jives with “roll” – and he was a NAVY SEAL (SEAU). Granted it’s not as clean as Arnold, but still eerie how many overlaps there are…

It is a bit eerie, and 10 solvers did submit Jesse “The Mind” Ventura as their answer.

MrRiccio was happy:

My long streak of wrong answers has just been TERMINATED.

Travis H. had no trouble with it:

As a University of California alum, I can proudly display his signature on my PhD in physics…

And finally, Jason Shapiro writes:

nice puzzle! i’ll be back.

This week’s winner, whose name was chosen randomly from the 467 correct entries received, is Dave Miller of Seattle, Wash. In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set, Dave will also receive a copy of my new book Bite-Size Crosswords.

SPECIAL PRIZE THIS WEEK AND NEXT:

In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set, winners this week and next will also receive a copy of Matt Jones‘ new puzzle series, “No Holds Barred Crosswords.” Check out Matt’s Kickstarter campaign here:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/166613892/no-holds-barred-crosswords

BAD WORD ALERT:

Out of theme necessity, this week’s contest crossword contains a vulgar word. If you’d prefer not to solve, you may skip this week’s puzzle without penalty towards streaks or monthly prize eligibility. Just submit “PREFER NOT TO SOLVE” as your answer under your regular username.

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

This week’s contest answer is a word meaning “of poor quality.” Submit your answer in the form on the left sidebar by Tuesday at noon ET. Note: the submissions form disappears from the site promptly at noon on Tuesday.

To print the puzzle out, click on the image below and hit “print” on your browser. To solve using Across Lite either solve on the applet below or download the free software here, then join the Google Group (2,086 members now!) here.

Solve well, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive.

LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

“SCRABBLE!@#$ING” at 40-across was defined last week as [Indelicate crossword biz term for when a constructor tries way too hard to fit an X, Q, Z or J into their grid]. There were six of those letters in this particular grid, where the following entries intersect:

***[Spanish city that gave sherry its name] = XERES and [Dry: Prefix] = XERO
***[WWII general and namesakes] = TOJOS and [Arabian plateau region] = NEJD
***[Four times a day, in an Rx] = QID and [O-T connectors] = PQRS
***[40′s boxer Tony] = ZALE and [Japanese sandal] = ZORI
***[George ___, German-American artist known for vitriolic caricature] = GROSZ and [Enough, to Etienne] = ASSEZ
***[Editor’s activity] EXING and [Asian evergreen] = OLAX

What to do next? Clean the grid up, as the title requests! Un-Scrabble-!@#$ those six with the far superior HERE’S + HERO, TOROS + NERD, AID + PARS, TALE + TORI, GROSS + ASSES and EYING + OLAY, and you’ll see you’ve used the letters emboldened above, which anagram to our meta answer: TRASHY! Which is indeed a word meaning “of poor quality,” found by 282 solvers.

Lest you think I made those twelve up, be advised that they’re all actual entries (and their clues, which I copied verbatim) from New York Times crosswords. And to show that I have a sense of irony, one of the twelve (XERO) was from an NYT puzzle that I wrote in 1995.

Gwinns asks:

Couldn’t you have gone up to 18×18 and made the theme entry “Scrabble Making Love?” So much more delicate.

Julian L writes:

This is nitpicking, but I disliked having TORUS right above the crossing that “should” be TALE/TORI. Yes, it’s not a real dupe, and TORI could be clued for the singer rather than the plural, but it was still bothersome somehow.

Ah, interesting point. My intended clue there was [Actress Spelling], and I didn’t even notice that using TORI semi-dupes TORUS. A (minor) blot indeed.

And finally, Hollie has a tactical request:

Can you give the “prefer not to solve” free pass on a Week 4 puzzle next time?

This week’s winner, whose name was chosen randomly from the 282 correct entries received, is John Kromer of Oxford, O. In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set, John will also receive a copy of Matt Jones’ new puzzle series, “No Holds Barred Crosswords.” Check out Matt’s Kickstarter campaign here:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/166613892/no-holds-barred-crosswords

WHERE IN THE WORLD ARE MGWCC SOLVERS?

MGWCC Superfan Jeff Gellner (he’s the guy who wrote my Wikipedia page) has a new project: tracking where folks are who solve my metas. The map below isn’t stocked with data yet since Jeff wants to make it an opt-in deal (so he doesn’t post anyone’s location against their wishes).

https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zcaIxHc1B2hU.k91ZSGz8GkfY

If you’d like to represent your city/state/province/country/continent, read Jeff’s instructions, italicized below, and e-mail him at the given address. Should be interesting!

If you would like your name and location included, please send the following to WITWrMGWCCsolvers@gmail.com (which stands for “Where in the World are MGWCC solvers?”):

MGWCC username (required – case sensitive, must match exactly)
City (required)
State (required if located in US)
Country (required if located outside US)
Location (optional, can be a ZIP code, Canadian Postal Code, or lat/long coordinates. This helps prevent overlapping points on the map if several solvers are from the same city. The coordinates can be obtained by going to https://maps.google.com, right clicking on the map and selecting “What’s here?”)

Thanks, Jeff! Looking forward to the results, which I’ll post here at a later date.

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

This week’s contest answer is someone with whom you may have a passing familiarity. Submit your answer in the form on the left sidebar by Tuesday at noon ET. Note: the submissions form disappears from the site promptly at noon on Tuesday.

To print the puzzle out, click on the image below and hit “print” on your browser. To solve using Across Lite either solve on the applet below or download the free software here, then join the Google Group (2,092 members now!) here.

Solve well, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive.

Dear Meta-solvers,

Due to various uninteresting reasons, MGWCC #282 won’t be posted until tomorrow (Saturday) at 3 PM Eastern time. If you don’t want to wait until then for the solution to last week’s meta, please see Joon Pahk’s review here.

Also, check out my recent interview with the hilarious Merl Reagle.

Big and sincere apologies for the delay. We’ll be back up and running tomorrow, though.

Until then,

–Matt

LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

Missing body parts was the link among last week’s six theme entries:

16-a [No fan of Pan] = CAPTAIN HOOK (missing a hand)
22-a [Man with a parrot] = LONG JOHN SILVER (missing a leg)
30-a [He died in a plane crash along with Will Rogers] = WILEY POST (missing an eye)
39-a [Egyptian attraction, casually] = THE SPHINX (missing its nose)
44-a ["Bedroom in Arles" painter] = VINCENT VAN GOGH (missing an ear)
56-a ["You never let a serious crisis go to waste" speaker] = RAHM EMANUEL (missing a finger)

What U.S. senator, past or present does this point to? There are several famous ones missing a limb, but take a look at the six starred clues:

10-a [*"Eeny, meeny, miny ___..."]
19-a [*"Glee" song by Jordin Sparks "No ___"]
26-a [*Foreign capital, to non-Qataris]
62-a [*Eosin, e.g.]
34-a [*Haydn musical genre -- not!]
45-a [*Auer the actor died in this country in 1967]

Some odd phrasings there, which may lead you to notice that the first word of each of these six clues anagrams, minus one letter, to one of the six missing body parts in the theme:

Eeny minus N = eye
Glee minus E = leg
Foreign minus O = finger
Eosin minus I = nose
Haydn minus Y = hand
Auer minus U = ear

Anagram those subtracted letters and you’ve got meta answer Daniel INOUYE, longtime senator from Hawaii, who lost an arm in Italy in the final months of World War II. And who went by “Dan,” important to wordplay fans because “Dan Inouye” is supervocalic (including the Y) in just nine letters.

Golem writes:

So I guess JOHNWAYNEBOBBITT is too long for the grid?

Peter Gordon asks:

Why is 21-Across plural?

The clue there was [Unpleasant bumps] for STYE. I originally had the clue as simply [Unpleasant bump] but after a (disgusting, do not attempt) Google Image search I convinced myself that a STYE consisted of multiple bumps, not just one. But for the sake of not being confusing I should have kept the clue in the singular.

Leo suggests an alternate theme entry:

Tycho Brahe was also missing his nose! Way more awesome than the Sphinx.

And finally, Gwinns quips:

A fine addition to your body of work.

This week’s winner, whose name was chosen randomly from the 253 correct entries received, is Victor Chubukov of San Francisco, Calif. In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set, Victor will also receive a copy of Matt Jones’ new puzzle series, “No Holds Barred Crosswords.” Check out Matt’s Kickstarter campaign here:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/166613892/no-holds-barred-crosswords

MAP UPDATE:

Jeff Gellner writes that his Where in the World Are MGWCC Solvers? map continues to grow:

We now have 162 entries from 35 different states (plus DC), 5 Canadian Provinces and 10 other foreign countries. (Australia, Austria, China, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, United Kingdom)

New York is the top state with 28 entries followed by California (19), Massachusetts (14), and Ohio (7).

If you’d like to rep your city/state/country/continent, send your info to Jeff (click on “Read Me First” at the link below for instructions):

https://mapsengine.google.com/map/viewer?mid=zcaIxHc1B2hU.k91ZSGz8GkfY

INTERVIEW WITH MERL REAGLE:

Check out my interview with one of my crossword idols, Merl Reagle. Among other things, Merl reveals that he sang in a psychedelic band in the 1970s, and we get audio of their best song!

http://gaffneyoncrosswords.com/?p=160

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

This week’s contest answer is the only one of the five in the grid. Submit your answer in the form on the left sidebar by Wednesday at 3PM ET (Note extra 27 hours to make up for the delay in posting). The submissions form disappears from the site promptly at 3 PM on Wednesday.

To print the puzzle out, click on the image below and hit “print” on your browser. To solve using Across Lite either solve on the applet below or download the free software here, then join the Google Group (2,109 members now!) here.

Solve well, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive.

LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

Last week’s instructions asked for “the only one of the five in the grid” (note mysterious emphasis on the last word). And then the five theme entries all shared the initials Z.C.:

17-a [Utah draw] = ZION CANYON

23-a [Intersection feature] = ZEBRA CROSSING

37-a [12345, e.g.] = ZIP CODE

45-a [Ban Jelacic Square is there] = ZAGREB, CROATIA

58-a [No possibility whatsoever] = ZERO CHANCE

Why all the unexplained Z.C.’s? Because the “five” you’re looking for are another Z.C.: Zener cards, those five cards magicians/mystics use to test for extrasensory perception.

Which of the five — circle, cross, waves, square and star — was in the grid? The CROSS, our meta answer, hidden in ZEBRA CROSSING. The other four’s presence in the clues explains the emphasis on “grid” in the instructions. The circle is found in the clue to 30-down, waves in 60-across, square in 45-across, and star in 33-down.

Unfortunately, and to my surprise, this meta landed with a thud for a non-trivial number of solvers because they weren’t familiar with Zener Cards (or not familiar enough to find the term in their mental database, even if they knew there were cards that looked like that and tested for ESP). I was surprised to hear this, since it never once crossed my mind until solvers began commenting at Crossword Fiend on Wednesday that Zener cards might be unfamiliar. But I had a set as a kid, so I might have overestimated their presence.

A meta shouldn’t be ungettable because it’s not familiar, so I wasn’t pleased to hear that so many solvers (including Fiend reviewer Joon Pahk) didn’t connect. It also didn’t help that a search of Z* C* at onelook.com doesn’t include ZENER CARDS in its “common words and phrases” set.

Anyway, Zener cards appear to be defensibly well-known enough for a Week 4 meta, but not by much, and I regret that they weren’t familiar to many solvers. Not the way I want to stump you, and I’ll keep an eye on this kind of thing in the future.

Julian Lim writes:

I too had these on my mind a few years ago:

http://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=12/7/2011

And Entropy sends along this famous scene from “Ghostbusters”:

This week’s winner, whose name was chosen randomly from the 52 correct entries received, is David Patrick of San Diego, Calif. In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set, David will also receive a copy of Matt Jones’ new puzzle series, “No Holds Barred Crosswords.” Check out Matt’s Kickstarter campaign here:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/166613892/no-holds-barred-crosswords

MONTHLY PRIZES:

44 solvers submitted the correct contest answer to all four of October’s challenges (CATS, GRAMMAR POLICE, DANIEL INOUYE, CROSS). The following ten lucky and skillful winners, chosen randomly from that group, will receive a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set:

Brynn Diehl — San Jose, Calif.

Tyler Hinman — San Francisco, Calif.

Bob Klahn — Wilmington, Del.

Brian Kulman — Los Gatos, Calif.

Lance Nathan — Arlington, Mass.

Y.R.

John Stant — Wilmington, Del.

Sean Trowbridge — Redmond, Wash.

Scott Weiss — Walkersville, Md.

David Wild — Washington, D.C.

Congratulations to our ten winners, and to everyone who went 4-for-4 in October.

SPECIAL PRIZE THIS WEEK AND NEXT:

In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set, contest winners this week and next will also receive an autographed copy of Merl Reagle’s new book Merl Reagle’s 100th Anniversary Crosswords.

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

This week’s contest answer is a two-word region of the United States. Submit your answer in the form on the left sidebar by Tuesday at noon ET. Note: the submissions form disappears from the site promptly at noon on Tuesday.

To print the puzzle out, click on the image below and hit “print” on your browser. To solve using Across Lite either solve on the applet below or download the free software here, then join the Google Group (2,108 members now!) here.

Solve well, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive.

LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

OU, OV, OW, OX and OY, began last week’s five theme entries. They were:

OUIJA BOARD
OVAL OFFICE
OWN GOAL
OX-EYE DAISY
OYSTER STEW

What two-word region of the United States logically follows? After that OU-OV-OW-OX-OY its first word must begin with OZ, which led 468 solvers to the OZARK MOUNTAINS.

The Collector writes:

My first thought was “Ozone hole.”

This week’s winner, whose name was chosen randomly from the 468 correct entries received, is Audrey Muratore of Houston, Tex. In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set, Audrey will also receive a copy of Merl Reagle’s 100th Anniversary Crosswords. Next week’s winner will receive the same.

MULLER MUSIC META IS UP:

Pete Muller‘s Monthly Music Meta is up for November. Deadline is Sunday, so get to it if you’re gonna. I’ll be blogging it at Crossword Fiend but haven’t had time to solve it yet, though I see now that this month’s meta answer is a Fleetwood Mac song. This makes me nervous, since the one MMMM I’ve missed this year, and it was painful, was another Fleetwood Mac song.

THREE WEEKS OF CHESS METAS:

The World Chess Championship begins tomorrow, so the next three weeks of metas will all be chess-related. I know you’re just as excited as I am about it, right? Right!

On that same subject: here’s an article I wrote for Slate this week arguing that there should be no World Chess Champion, and that chess should instead switch over to a “slams” system like they use in tennis and golf.

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

One of the six pieces in chess is missing from this puzzle’s theme. Which one is it? Submit your answer in the form on the left sidebar by Tuesday at noon ET. Note: the submissions form disappears from the site promptly at noon on Tuesday.

To print the puzzle out, click on the image below and hit “print” on your browser. To solve using Across Lite either solve on the applet below or download the free software here, then join the Google Group (2,112 members now!) here.

Solve well, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive.

LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

Week 1 of 3 chess metas, in honor of the World Chess Championship currently taking place in Chennai between champion Vishy Anand of India and challenger Magnus Carlsen of Norway.

And a true Week 1 it was, as 586 solvers found the ROOK as the missing one of the six chess pieces. Five theme entries were clued as [A CERTAIN CHESS PIECE...], and the answers were:

16-a = GOES ONLY FORWARD. That’s the lowly pawn, which can only make forward progress.

22-a = LEAPS OVER ANYONE. That’s the knight. Had to be a little careful with the phrasing there, since the king and/or rook leap over each other when a player castles. But only a knight can jump over anybody.

35-a = STAYS ON ONE COLOR. That’s the bishop, which never leaves whichever color square it starts the game on.

44-a = HAS THE MOST RANGE. That’s the queen, who can move any number of open spaces in any directions she wants, including diagonally. A queen is essentially a rook and bishop combined into one piece.

54-a = IS NEVER CAPTURED. That’s the king, who is only trapped (“checkmate”) but never actually captured in a classical game.

The only piece not described is the ROOK, making that our meta answer.

marpocky had a 15-letter suggestion for ROOK:

(STARTS IN A CORNER)

Leo asks:

Would you have accepted castle, elephant, or tower?

I certainly took “castle,” which is frowned upon by tournament players (it sounds funny) but is obviously a popular colloquial name for the piece. 41 solvers submitted it. Elephant (which is what the piece is called in Russian, slon) or tower (the piece’s name in German, Turm) I probably would’ve taken, too, had any prankster submitted them.

And finally, Jed Scott writes:

I thought you’d want to see this photo from my seven-year-old’s solve. When I told him the meta was chess-related, he immediately asked if he could solve it. With no guidance except to read the theme entries, here’s what he came up with. (he brainstormed the list and then crossed them off as I read entries out loud). Bishop was hardest for him to recognize in words, but even that only took thirty seconds or less.

Whole meta: about 3 minutes. GO OWEN!

(Of course, then he wanted to see the previous week’s meta – hence the writing to the right)

Too cool.

This week’s winner, whose name was chosen randomly from the 586 correct entries received, is Justin Rinehold of Bethlehem, Penna. In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set, Justin will also receive a signed copy of Merl Reagle’s 100th Anniversary Crosswords.

SPECIAL PRIZE THIS WEEK AND NEXT:

In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set, winners this week and next will also receive a signed copy of Ben Tausig‘s forthcoming book, The Curious History of the Crossword.

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

Week 2 of chess metas! All six chess pieces are in this grid, but one never made it to the eighth rank. Which one is it? Submit your answer in the form on the left sidebar by Tuesday at noon ET. Note: the submissions form disappears from the site promptly at noon on Tuesday. UPDATE, 11/15, 12:25 PM: in an earlier version of this puzzle the clue to 39-across read [Sweet slice]. It has since been corrected to read [First-year player]. Please make sure you have this clue while solving.

To print the puzzle out, click on the image below and hit “print” on your browser. To solve using Across Lite either solve on the applet below or download the free software here, then join the Google Group (2,118 members now!) here.

Solve well, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive.

LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

What happens to a pawn when it reaches the eighth rank in chess? It gets to promote to any of four other pieces: in order of how commonly it happens, a queen (vast majority of the time), knight (occasionally), rook (very rarely) or bishop (almost never). Sorry, can’t become a king!

In last week’s puzzle we had four pawns on the eighth rank, a.k.a. the middle row of a standard 15×15 crossword. They were pawns in one incarnation — moving up or down the board/grid — but promoted to those four pieces along the eighth rank. Those two way-answers were:

35-a ["Papillon" actor Steve] = MC(QUEEN); and at 37-down [Dealing with collateral, perhaps] = (PAWN)BROKING

38-a [Brian of R&B hits like "Back at One" and "Love Is"] = MC(KNIGHT); and at 7-down [Horribly behaved child, in slang] = SATAN’S S(PAWN)

39-a [First-year player] = (ROOK)IE; and at 39-d [Namesake of the town in which "Parks and Recreation" is set] = (PAWN)EE TRIBE (the town’s name in the show is Pawnee, Indiana)

40-a [___ Rome (pope's title)] = (BISHOP)OF; and at 12-d ["It wasn't my decision!"] = I’m JUST A (PAWN). About 30 solvers went astray here by submitting BISHOP as their contest answer, thinking the Pope’s title was King of Rome instead of the correct Bishop of Rome.

Contest instructions read: All six chess pieces are in this grid, but one never made it to the eighth rank. Which one is it? Well you’ve got four pawns reaching the eighth rank and then the queen, knight, rook and bishop. So the meta answer must be the KING, which 473 solvers found. And where in the grid is he? In (PAWN)BRO(KING) at 37-d, just chilling out on the side of the board like a good king. Pawn can’t promote to him anyway, so he might as well just relax.

Didn’t have anything to do with the meta, but a handful of solvers noticed that LANCERS at 1-a and ENCHAIN at 67-a anagram to CARLSEN and CHENNAI (where, 10 minutes before I’m typing these words, he became the new world chess champion). And I wasn’t worried about repeating MC twice along the middle row, since those are some important chess initials today.

MJMA writes:

As a resident of Tucson, AZ, I thank you for the PIMA/SAGUARO crossing.

This week’s winner, whose name was chosen randomly from the 473 correct entries received, is Eric LeVasseur of Seal Beach, Calif. In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set, Eric will also receive a signed copy of Ben Tausig’s new book The Curious History of the Crossword.

ON THE RADIO:

I was on our local NPR station yesterday (WMRA Harrisonburg) talking with Martha Woodroof about crosswords. Listen to it here (interview is about nine minutes long).

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

Last week of chess metas! As of this morning we have a new world chess champion, Norway’s Magnus Carlsen. This week’s contest answer is one of Carlsen’s predecessors. If you’re not up on your world chess champions, then use this handy list for reference. And champions under both “Classical” and “FIDE” at that link are legit for this meta. Submit your answer in the form on the left sidebar by Tuesday at noon ET. Note: the submissions form disappears from the site promptly at noon on Tuesday.

To print the puzzle out, click on the image below and hit “print” on your browser. To solve using Across Lite either solve on the applet below or download the free software here, then join the Google Group (2,122 members now!) here.

Solve well, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive.

LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

Week 4 played much tougher than I’d figured, yielding just 63 correct answers. Contest instructions asked for one of newly-crowned world chess champion Magnus Carlsen’s predecessors, and the five theme entries were starred:

17-a [Frequent guest on Johnny Carson's show*] = RICH LITTLE

39-a [Featuring much detail*] = GRAPHIC

57-a [They're kept on their toes*] = BALLERINAS

11-d [1842 short story with great influence on Russian literature*] = THE OVERCOAT

25-d [Perseus portrayer, 1981*] = HARRY HAMLIN

What’s the common thread? Each of the five theme answers suggests a five-letter term with a 1-2-1-2-3 letter pattern: “The Overcoat” was written by Nikolai Gogol; Harry Hamlin’s other big role besides Perseus was in “L.A. Law”; ballerinas wear tutus; Rich Little is an impersonator, a.k.a. a mimic, and a synonym for “graphic” is vivid.

Which world chess champ’s name belongs on this list? Carlsen’s immediate predecessor, the great Vishy ANAND, whose career has had the misfortune of overlapping those of the greatest chessplayer of all time (Kasparov) and the player who might well become the greatest of all time (Carlsen). But serving as a MGWCC meta answer will dull some of that pain for Vishy, a great champion in his own right.

rvkal writes:

Going to celebrate with some Hohos and cocoa.

NDE got it right, but wondered:

Or did I miss a former World Champion who was Tatar?

As I’d figured it would be for most solvers, Crossword Beast‘s entry point was Gogol:

The key for me was wondering why your THEOVERCOAT clue didn’t mention its author. That DIDIT!

And Andrew J. Ries suggests:

The prize for this week should have been a gift card to CiCi’s Pizza!

This week’s winner, whose name was chosen randomly from the 63 correct entries received, is Lance Nathan of Arlington, Mass. In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set, Lance will also receive a signed copy of Ben Tausig’s new book The Curious History of the Crossword.

WRONG SIDE OF A FINE LINE?

I do want to mention that not everyone dug this meta. A number of solvers found the connections between the theme entries and their five-letter 1-2-1-2-3′s to be more “tenuous” than my intended “subtle.” Long and interesting discussion on that here.

Although I am highly sensitive to complaints that a meta is unfair (because unfair is unfun), I generally did not agree with those claims here. GOGOL and L.A. LAW were very prominent terms with which to associate “The Overcoat” and “Harry Hamlin,” and, though MIMIC, VIVID and TUTUS were more hidden, a quick look at the list of world champions would have revealed ANAND as another 1-2-1-2-3. Since there were only about 20 names on that list, it couldn’t have been a coincidence, and so the other 1-2-1-2-3 terms could have been backsolved.

But still, a decent number of experienced meta-solvers did deem these connections to be a little too loose (perhaps not quite “unfair,” but very loose). This kind of thing will unfortunately happen from time to time, since the enjoyable part of tough metas is how subtle they are, and that line gets very fine late in the month.

But we’re all friends here so let’s move along to Week 5 (which I’ve toned down a bit from a normal Week 5, since last week’s was so brutal — and it’s a holiday weekend to boot).

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

This week’s contest answer is the three grid entries referenced in 58-across (please submit the entries themselves, not their clue numbers). Submit your answer in the form on the left sidebar by WEDNESDAY (note extra day) at noon ET. Note: the submissions form disappears from the site promptly at noon on Wednesday.

To print the puzzle out, click on the image below and hit “print” on your browser. To solve using Across Lite either solve on the applet below or download the free software here, then join the Google Group (2,126 members now!) here.

Solve well, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive.