Good afternoon, crossword fans — welcome to Week 46 of this rahther silly contest. Should you be new to the contest and wish to enter, please see the site FAQ on the left sidebar for instructions.

LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

[Cue music: Gounod’s Funeral March of a Marionette]

Good eeeeevening. Mr. Gahffney is on vacation this week and has ahsked me to step in and give the results of his little crossword puzzle competition. Though it may seem strange to be spoken to by a man whose physical form expired 29 years ago this month, perhaps it will seem less strange when you realize that twelve of my films were hidden in last week’s crossword puzzle.

Ten concealed themselves in the five theme entries — SPELLBOUND, TOPAZ, LIFEBOAT, VERTIGO, SUSPICION, FRENZY, SABOTEUR, REBECCA, NOTORIOUS, and that amusing trifle I intended as satire, PSYCHO. An eleventh could be found by astute viewers — pardon me, solvers — in the puzzle’s title (“The Birds and…”).

The dozenth film serves as what Mr. Gahffney informs me is this puzzle’s “contest ahnswer word,” which was ROPE, found at 27-across. 201 of you delightful people sent in this correct ahnswer. Another 36 sent in other answers, primarily ONE B, TEXT, and ICON. These answers were not counted as correct, but I assure you that I am indeed an ICON, and certainly appreciate the sentiment. Solution presented below.

This week’s winner, whose name was chosen at random from the 201 correct entries received, is Howard Barkin of Hillsborough, N.J. As Mr. Gaffney mentioned in last week’s post, Howard will receive as his prize a copy of Patrick Berry’s beautiful new book Masterpiece Puzzles.

We received several charming e-mails regarding my films. One was from a Mr. Tristan Davies, who wrote:

It took a little more than the 39 steps I anticipated to solve this, but finally, as I gazed north by northwest, through the torn curtain that partially covers my rear window, my wife Marnie suggested I ask my friend Harry Smith, the foreign correspondent, and his wife.

“Ask them?” I exclaimed. “I hardly know Mr. and Mrs. Smith– sure, they live next door, but it’s as if we’re strangers on a train. And to be honest, the trouble with Harry is, he’s never stumped– it’s like he’s the man who knew too much!”

“Come now,” said Marnie, toying with the topaz bracelet on her wrist. “At least Rebecca’s not that bad, although the lady vanishes once in a while. I hear she likes to hide out at the Jamica Inn, where she doesn’t have to act so young and innocent.” “Eureka!” I suddenly cried. “Put away the lifeboat, sweetie, I just figured it out. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, the solution is ROPE.”

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

I have been told that this week’s contest answer phrase consists of two interlocking words in this puzzle’s fill, and explains the source of the theme entries. These two words total eleven letters. I’m not certain what an “e-mail” is, but you may e-mail your answers to Mr. Gaffney at crosswordcontest@gmail.com by Tuesday at noon ET. Please put the contest answer phrase in the subject line of your e-mail.

To print the puzzle out, click on the image below and hit “print” on your browser. To solve using Across Lite, join the Google Group here:

http://groups.google.com/group/mgwcc

Solve well, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive. Mr. Gaffney will return next week, and I shall not.