Good afternoon, crossword fans — welcome to Week 218 of my contest. If you’re new to the contest and would like to enter, please see the site FAQ on the left sidebar for instructions.
LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:
Subtle meta from Erik Agard to wind up Guest Constructor Month: five long answers that look like theme entries, but aren’t (evil); unhelpful title, since it doesn’t make sense until you’ve gotten the meta anyway; and six chameleon squares concealing themselves with only the easiest-to-miss hints to suggest their presence.
The six chameleons were:
[JFK posting] = ETD/ETA, crossing [They may be chilling] = COLDS/COLAS
[Drone on, perhaps] = ORATE/GRATE, crossing [Easily shattered thing] EGO/EGG
[State of disorder]= MUSS/MESS, crossing [Icon of Wall Street] = BULL/BELL
[Barnes & Noble purchases] = BOOKS/NOOKS, crossing [Apple’s head?] = CRAB/CRAN
[Husband, e.g.] = MALE/MATE, crossing [Roast, often] = MEAL/MEAT.
[Platte River tribe] = OTOE/OTOS, crossing [Psychics’ supposed sights] AURAE/AURAS.
Line those chameleons up side-by side and you spell this week’s contest answer, DOUBLE AGENTS, which those six squares certainly are.
This week’s winner, whose name was chosen at random from the 62 correct entries received, is Justin Weinbaum of Minneapolis, Minn. Justin has selected as his prize an autographed copy of Gridlock.
MONTHLY PRIZES:
42 solvers submitted the correct contest answer to all four of July’s challenges (LEAD FOOT, HORSESHOES/H-O-R-S-E, CHARLES or AUGUST FEY, DOUBLE AGENTS). The following ten lucky and skillful winners, chosen randomly from that group, will receive a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set:
Abby Braunsdorf — Lafayette, Ind.
Jeremy Conner — Los Angeles, Calif.
Sean Effinger-Dean — Chicago, Ill.
Noam Elkies — Cambridge, Mass.
Sam Ezersky — Fairfax, Va.
Joe Fendel — Berkeley, Calif.
Peter Gordon — Great Neck, N.Y.
Robert Kern — Carlstadt, N.J.
Doug Peterson — Pasadena, Calif.
Scott Weiss — Walkersville, Md.
Congratulations to our ten winners, and to everyone who went 4-for-4 in July.
GUEST CONSTRUCTOR MONTH IS OVER, BUT WILL RETURN:
Solvers dug Guest Constructor Month a lot, so let’s make it a July tradition. Big thanks to Messrs. Pahk, Muller, Blindauer and Agard for making the 1st Annual Guest Constructor Month what it was, which was varied and very fun. We’ll do it again next year for certain.
LOLLAPUZZOOLA 5 IS TOMORROW:
Perhaps I’ll see you there!
THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:
This week’s contest answer is a geographical term. E-mail it to me at crosswordcontest@gmail.com by Tuesday at noon ET. Please put the contest answer in the subject line of your e-mail.
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 (1,830 members now!) here.
Solve well, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive.