LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:
Which of New York City’s five boroughs served as the answer to last week’s meta? With theme entries of LARYNX JINX, PHALANX THANX, MANX QUINCUNX and SPHINX LYNX we’re evidently looking for -NX words, meaning it had to be THE BRONX. 593 solvers got it. Naturally I also accepted just “Bronx” — and also “Da Bronx,” which was submitted by four jokesters. Whaddyagonnado?
Paul Coulter writes:
I tried without directions, but there’s nothing that points in that direction!
I had suggested the old Week 1-toughening trick of solving sans instructions, and, while it didn’t keep anyone from getting the answer, how were people supposed to guess the Bronx? Well, the only other usable words were MINX, PHARYNX, SYRINX, MENINX and a few others, unsuitable for a Week 1 meta since they’re somewhat uncommon. Also, meta answers work best when they’re part of a clearly defined and familiar group, like “Boroughs of New York” or “Best Actress Winners” from last month. THE BRONX works for this, while the others don’t.
But Vraal points out:
OK, so the “NX” theme was relatively easy, but what I think made your “instructionless” idea fail (for me, not necessarily everyone) is that I didn’t see any other hook into you wanting a NYC borough. Everything else was two-word NX suffix phrases, my first thought was to try to find a common two-word -NX phrase, but these didn’t seem to exist. So downgrading to a single albeit common -NX word was not readily apparent to me. I guess, thinking about it, “BRONX” is the only common -NX word you did not use. But again I think it was the pairing of the others that threw me into “unsure” enough to read what you wanted.
Point taken. Not the best week for a suggestion of instructionslessness.
Dan Katz asks:
Would you have accepted Manhattanx?
No, but “Brooklynx” sounds so cool I would’ve had to think about it.
Lisa from Queens says:
I really wanted it to be Queens!
Hollie notes:
And the shapeware sold in this borough is: Bronx Spanx
And finally, Jason Shapiro got the right answer, but only after a Homer Simpson moment:
I took your suggestion and planned to guess what the meta answer would be without looking at the instructions. I printed out the puzzle and solved it on a Bronx-bound subway train. The conductor must have said “Bronx” 15 times. My best guess as I exited through the turnstile — Spanx. Doh!
This week’s winner, whose name was chosen randomly from the 593 correct entries received, is William Prevor of Holland, Penna. In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set, William will also receive a 1-year subscription to Puzzazz’s Year of Puzzles 2013.
MAY MULLER MONTHLY MUSIC META:
Solve it here; deadline is Sunday. I’m stumped so far but don’t plan to let my 3-for-3 streak in 2013 snap so easily.
THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:
This week’s contest answer is a familiar website. 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 (2,036 members now!) here.
Solve well, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive.