LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:
seek the sixth sixth
If last week’s meta were a pitch, it’d be a knuckleball right over the plate: you might clock it 500 feet over the center-field wall, or it might drift confusingly right past your befuddled self.
The five theme entries were:
17-a [Oscar-winner for “Chicago”] = ZETA-JONES. Who here had the ZE and put in ZELLWEGER?
11-d [Folk duo who appeared in “Wordplay”] = INDIGO GIRLS
63-a [GM model, 2003-07] = SATURN ION
26-d [Old-school copy maker] = CARBON PAPER. Everyone under 35 is like, what?
39-a [Big beetle] = JUNE BUG
What’s the common thread? The first word of each is a sixth in their sequence: ZETA is the sixth letter of the Greek alphabet, INDIGO is the sixth color of the rainbow, SATURN is the sixth planet from the Sun, CARBON is the sixth element on the Periodic Table, and JUNE is the sixth month. Instructions asked for a U.S. president, so it had to be JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, number six on that list, found by 273 solvers.
DIS writes:
If I time this right, I can be sixth.
Close! He was eighth.
Jed says:
It’s my birthday, my dog is named Quincy, and I know the Greek alphabet well enough that I didn’t have to look it up.
filch au wonders:
The only letter not in the grid is Q, and John Quincy Adams is the only president with a “Q” in his name… coincidence?
Yes, coincidence. It’s not too unusual for Q to be the only letter keeping a 15×15 from pangramhood. Now if his name were John A. Adams…
This week’s winner, whose name was chosen at random from the 273 correct entries received, is Lenore Jones of Palo Alto, Calif. In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set, Lenore will also receive a signed copy of my new book Mental Floss Crosswords.
LEADERBOARD DETAILS:
I think Sullivan and I have gotten all the leaderboard issues ironed out, but one major point: spelling and even capitalization matter when entering your leaderboard nickname, so please be consistent each week. If you’re “jane smith” one week but “Jane Smith” the next week, our system will count you as two different accounts, which will naturally affect your status on the leaderboard/streaks/overall lists.
If you can’t remember exactly what nickname you’ve been using, just hit the little arrow to the left of “Results for MGWCC #…” on the submission form and it will take you back to previous weeks. Hit “Name” to alphabetize the list if you need to. As always, feel free to e-mail me at the usual address (crosswordcontest@gmail.com) if anything’s not clear.
THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:
This week’s contest answer is a literary genre. 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 (1,883 members now!) here.
Solve well, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive.