IMPORTANT NOTE: As of January 2015 MGWCC is a subscribers-only crossword. The cost is $26 per year, and you can subscribe (or get a free trial month first) here:
www.mgwcc.com
LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:
Instructions last week were: This week’s contest answer is a 12-letter, two-word phrase that completes this puzzle’s theme pattern. The second word of the phrase is an entry in the grid’s fill.
Theme entries seemed to be (and were):
17-A [Winner of three World Cup finals] = WEST GERMANY. Also losers of three World Cup finals.
29-A [1990 Goldie Hawn/Mel Gibson comedy] = BIRD ON A WIRE. Both Oscar winners.
43-A [Big 12 Conference team] = BAYLOR BEARS.
56-A [Underperformer of 1948] = THOMAS DEWEY. Dewey Defeats Truman! Not.
And then a hidden mini-nudge at the central Across entry: [Org. with many prominent members enshrined in Springfield, Mass.] = NBA. But that probably didn’t appear to be a hint until you already saw what was going on.
Which was: the first word of each theme entry is an NBA Hall of Famer: Jerry WEST, Larry BIRD, Elgin BAYLOR, and Isiah THOMAS.
What pattern do those form? Look to the title: their jersey numbers, in order, are 44, 33, 22, and 11. So we need an NBA Hall of Famer with a 00 jersey number, and whose first name combines with a grid entry to make a 12-letter phrase. That would be Robert Parish, whose surname combines with 46-Down to make meta answer PARISH PRIEST, found by 250 solvers.
You’ve never heard of Robert Parish, and certainly didn’t know his jersey number? Well, you could’ve Googled it — or you could’ve remembered it from the writeup of MGWCC #360 earlier this month:
Evan says:
A nice puzzle to help me lick my wounds from my favorite NBA team getting eliminated yesterday.
For a sports nut, it took Tyler Hinman way too long:
Pretty sure I just set a new record for most time between when I should have solved the #MGWCC and when I actually did.
— Tyler Hinman (@thatpuzzleguy) May 18, 2015
sps says:
Old 00!! I’m not sure what my favorite memory is of him–punching Laimbeer out (finally), or maybe the graphic on the front page of the Globe in 97 showing that we had had as much snow as RP was tall…Great player on a great team. And funny that you righted the wrong by giving his one R name its due.
And Gwinns hit a milestone recently:
I totally missed the week that I went over 100 correct metas overall! Very late hooray!
This week’s winner, whose name was chosen randomly from the 250 correct entries received, is Jackie from Jacksonville, Fla. In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set, Jackie will also receive a signed copy of my book Pocket Posh Easy Crosswords.
THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:
This week’s contest answer is the two grid entries that would make a good fifth theme entry.
IMPORTANT NOTE: As of January 2015 MGWCC is a subscribers-only crossword. The cost is $26 per year, and you can subscribe (or get a free trial month first) here:
www.mgwcc.com
Solve well, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive.