NOTE: Due to an exporting glitch of some kind, several clues in the top part of today’s puzzle (MGWCC #243) were misnumbered. This has nothing to do with the meta; it was just some technical error. As of 12:45 PM ET on Friday I have e-mailed the corrected Across Lite and .pdf files to Google Group members and posted the correct files here on the site. I apologize for the hassle.
LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:
Simple but subtle meta last week: solvers were tasked with finding a well-known company with six letters in its name. The five grid-spanning theme entries were:
19-a [Best completely avoided] = NOTHING BUT TROUBLE
29-a [TV show set in an alley] = BOWLING FOR DOLLARS
46-a [Caribbean nation whose capital is St. John’s] = ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA
58-a [Chain of about 2,100 hotels] = HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS
73-a [Conductor who has sold over 200 million records] = HERBERT VON KARAJAN
What does this wide-ranging collection of phrases have in common? Each displays a 7-3-7 letter pattern, pointing to which six-letter company? It must be BOEING, whose signature product is the Boeing 737. 250 solvers got it right out of 307 total entries.
Originally I had this puzzle titled “Across and Dow” and the instructions asked for one of the 30 companies that comprise the Dow Jones Industrial Average. But test solver Charles Montpetit pointed out a piece of bad luck for me: the answer could also have been JOHNSON AND JOHNSON with that phrasing. Yes, the company officially uses an ampersand instead of the “and,” but that’s still close enough to cause confusion. I was a little bummed, but then some teenager suggested I just refer to the length of the company’s name, and that worked fine.
The fill was another matter. On January 1st of this year constructor Brad Wilber and I had the following exchange on Facebook (click on image to enlarge):
Well, this was the uncooperative puzzle grid I was talking about. Five grid-spanners in a 17×17 turns out to be tougher than it looks and I got dinged by Joon at Fiend for some unattractive compromises (NHA, EEC, GHI, ULU, et al.).
Some interesting trivia I learned at the BOEING Wikipedia article:
*** The 737 series is the best-selling jet airliner in the history of aviation.
*** The 737 has been continuously manufactured by Boeing since 1967 with 7,425 aircraft delivered and 3,074 orders yet to be filled as of December 2012.
*** There are, on average, 1,250 Boeing 737s airborne at any given time, with two departing or landing somewhere every five seconds.
Also, the original German spelling of the company founder’s last name is Böing. Cool-looking word with that well-placed umlaut, though it looks more like an internet startup that way than an aviation company.
joel a asks:
Did the 22 x 22 grid get grounded?
He means Boeing’s recent problems with this.
Gnarbles grew up in Washington State, where:
The original Mrs. Boeing lived next door to us when I was growing up. She had a cattle farm down the road from us, black angus.
And finally, david thought the puzzle was:
Cunning and Amusing!
This week’s winner, whose name was chosen at random from the 250 correct entries received, is Jay Hirt of Chicago, Ill. In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set, Jay will also receive a copy of Tyler Hinman‘s new book Winner’s Circle Crosswords: Puzzles From a Five-Time Champion. Next week’s winner will receive the same.
THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:
This week’s contest answer is a singer who should be hidden in this puzzle grid, but isn’t. 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 (1,961 members now!) here.
NOTE: Due to an exporting glitch of some kind, several clues in the top part of today’s puzzle (MGWCC #243) were misnumbered. This has nothing to do with the meta; it was just some technical error. As of 12:45 PM ET on Friday I have e-mailed the corrected Across Lite and .pdf files to Google Group members and posted the corrected files here on the site. I apologize for the hassle.
Solve well, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive.