LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

672 solvers found the late PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN as last week’s meta answer. Three squares in the grid contained the rebus letters PSH, all clued with movie references:

17-A [“Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” actress, who later married Steven Spielberg] = KATE CA(PSH)AW, crossing RA(P SH)EET

31-D/38-A [1984 Jodie Foster/Rob Lowe movie] = THE HOTEL NEW HAM(PSH)IRE, crossing JUM(P SH)IP

60-A [Focus on the face, often] = CLOSE-U(P SHOT), crossing CO(P SH)OW

Which could only lead to the late Mr. Hoffman. I rewatched “The Talented Mr. Ripley” earlier this week, which gave this puzzle its title and in which Hoffman had a small but memorable role. It holds up well, and Hoffman is nice and hateable in it. RIP, PSH.

Golem says:

You’re doing a RIP pun with the title, I see.

Susan H had mixed feelings:

So sad – somehow a puzzle tribute this soon seems wrong

To which I refer solvers to this blog post.

And Magoo writes:

Pretty Sad, Huh?

Yup.

This week’s winner, whose name was chosen randomly from the 672 correct entries received, is Jeffrey Krasnick of Victoria, B.C. In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set, Jeffrey will also receive a 1-year subscription to Andrew Ries’ recently-revived bi-weekly Rows Garden puzzle.

But there are more, oh so many more prizes to give away:

MONTHLY PRIZES:

3 solvers submitted the correct contest answer to all five of January’s challenges (MASOCHIST, SKIING, OPRAH WINFREY, FRANZ KAFKA, MILLILITER). Those three winners will receive a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set:

Jeffrey Harris — Columbus, Ga.

Stephen Williams — Holbrook, Mass.

Congratulations to our three winners. Since we only had three monthly winners in January, February will have fifteen monthly prizes awarded.

SPECIAL PRIZES FOR MGWCC #296:

I had promised three extra stationery sets to atone for the one-day delay in publishing MGWCC #296. Since just four correct entries came in, I’ve decided to finish assuaging my too-tough meta guilt by choosing three solvers from that week who submitted an incorrect answer. These three lucky winners of a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set are:

William Bernhardt — Tulsa, Okla.

J.R. Skelton — Mountain View, Calif.

Congratulations to these three, who show that you can’t win if you don’t enter!

STREAKS PRIZES:

With a near-universal reset on Streaks last week, now is a good time to recognize five super-solvers who, beginning with the first puzzle on the new submissions system in September of 2012, rattled off an amazing 72 correct meta answers in a row:

Jeffrey Harris (JanglerNPL) — Columbus, Ga.

Stephen Williams (smwcross) — Holbrook, Mass.

I’ll be awarding these five a soon-to-be-determined Streaks prize, something along the lines of a MGWCC mini-tote bag or water bottle, that kind of thing. Congrats to these five meta-geniuses.

And I’ll be awarding more of those prizes at the end of the year: every MGWCC entrant with 48 or more correct entries in calendar year 2014 will win said prize. Doesn’t have to be consecutive, just 48+ right answers in 2014 on the Overall tab (which we’re not resetting, but we can still keep track of your 2014 total). Sorry to announce these in February, but I just got the idea and putting the number at 48 means that hardly anyone is already eliminated. So good luck and prepare to play hard for that tote bag/water bottle/whatever!

OLYMPIC FEAT:

My puzzle below is Sochi Olympics-themed, and so is this amusing mini-puzzle.

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 1-year subscription to the American Values Club Crossword, edited by Ben Tausig. Highly recommended if you’re not familiar with it; I’ve been giving out Crossword of the Month awards at my blog for five months now, and AVCX puzzles have won three of those months.

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

This week’s contest answer is a nine-letter, two-word phrase found in many reports on the Sochi Olympics. 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 (2,217 members now!) here. Or you can download the .puz file (you may have to right-click the link and save to your Downloads folder).

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