LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

Who were the mysterious group of people skilled in language hidden in last week’s puzzle? Twelve languages concealed themselves one letter off in the six theme entries:

CHAI BISQUE –> THAI BASQUE

SATIN GREED –> LATIN GREEK

HIND’S FINFISH –> HINDI FINNISH

HERMAN REBREW –> GERMAN HEBREW

GARLIC MAYO –> GAELIC MAYA

BUTCH WELCH –> DUTCH WELSH

The twelve replacement letters spell out meta answer TALKING HEADS. I was referencing the TV pundits there, but many interpreted the answer to mean the great band, which works just as well. Or better, since many of those pundits don’t impress.

Norm Hurlbut chose the band, but also added:

And their great bassist (SPAR)TINA WEYMOUTH

While Maryland high school math teacher David Stein (9-down), writes:

You give me super-cred with my students. Ben Stein went to Blair!

(That’s the same high school where David teaches.)

This week’s winner, whose name was chosen at random from the 431 correct entries received, is Peggy Johnson of Granada Hills, Calif.

CROSSWORD RACE:

Alex Boisvert solves against 5-time ACPT champ Tyler Hinman. Tyler’s handicap? He has to solve the puzzle as a diagramless! I guessed who would win before watching, and got it wrong.

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

This week’s contest answer is a 17-letter word. 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 (2,032 members now!) here.

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