LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

Rather an intricate meta last week, which didn’t stop 82 solvers from getting it. Lots of nudges: 1) Contest instructions asked for a singer who should be hidden in this puzzle, but isn’t; 2) four theme entries (40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN, SCREW RINGS, JACK DANIEL and CENTER OF GRAVITY); 3) the parenthetical words (you get the last word) at the end of each theme clue; 4) six circles scattered around the grid; and 5) the title “Knight Moves.” But how did they all fit together?

The key is to use “Knight” from the title in two ways: as the chess piece, and as the British rank. So you had to make knight’s moves in chess to spell out the names of three famous knighted Brits. (You get the last word) clues suggested that the last word of theme entries would be relevant, and they were, suggesting the name of the knight who would land on them. The circles marked the starting and ending points of the knights.

That sounds complex, so let’s try one: the VIRGIN of 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN suggested Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Records, Virgin Airlines, Virgin Cola, etc., and you can knight’s-hop his name beginning with the circled R and ending with the N in VIRGIN. See the path in green on the graphic at right, stolen from Joon Pahk‘s writeup at Fiend.

In blue you’ll find the path of Sir IAN MCKELLEN, suggested by RINGS, as in “Lord of the,” where he famously played Gandalf. In red you’ll find Sir ISAAC NEWTON, suggested by GRAVITY in the last theme entry.

So who’s missing? We need a knighted singer suggested by the last word of the only unused theme entry, which would be the DANIEL (of JACK DANIEL). There are only a handful of knighted singers — Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Tom Jones (!) and ELTON JOHN, one of whose most famous songs is the 1970s light-rock hit “Daniel.” Which makes ELTON JOHN our meta answer. No one submitted his real name (Reginald Dwight), but I would’ve taken that as well.

And here’s another graphic illustrating all that’s going on here:

Golem points out:

Apparently Bob Seger was never knighted…

And Jason Feng writes:

Just thought you should know that I was an extra in a made-in-British Columbia movie from 1993, starring Christopher Lambert, Diane Lane, and Tom Skerritt. It was a chess-themed murder mystery and of course it was called Knight Moves. If you fast forward to 1:33 there’s a shot of me (second from the right).

This week’s winner, whose name was chosen at random from the 82 correct entries received, is Mike Sylvia of Seattle, Wash. In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set, Mike will also receive a copy of Tyler Hinman‘s new book Winner’s Circle Crosswords: Puzzles From a Five-Time Champion.

SERVER FERVOR:

The Crossword Fiend website crashed right at noon on Tuesday, and stayed down for a couple of hours. Frustratingly, it kept me and many stumped solvers from reading Joon’s writeup. So what happened? You crashed their freakin’ server, that’s what!

Fiend founder Amy Reynaldo was lunching in a Chicago restaurant when she got this e-mail from her ISP:

Fiend (and xwordcontest.com) web guru Dave Sullivan and I had the following e-mail exchange:

DS: Guess lots of folks were hitting the site around noon to see what the solution was!

MG: LOL, I have to use that for marketing purposes. Since it went out right at noon, it’s fair in a technical sense to say that MGWCC #243 crashed the server?

DS: Yep, first puzzle to ever crash a server!

Is that cool or what?

MONTHLY WINNERS:

71 solvers submitted the correct contest answer to all four of January’s challenges (MELODIC MEL, BATTLESTARS, BOEING, ELTON JOHN). The following ten lucky and skillful winners, chosen randomly by computer from that group, will receive a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set:

Brian Biggs — Wilmington, Del.

Terry Wolske — Whitby, Ont.

Congratulations to our 10 winners, and to everyone who went 4-for-4 in January.

CHARITY META-SUITE:

For the second year in a row, Andrew Feist has created a meta-puzzle suite whose proceeds will be donated to a local charity, Transitions, which provides counseling and resources to victims of family violence in Southeastern Virginia.

If you’re short on cash these days, you don’t need to donate to receive the puzzles — just contact Andrew at the above link and you’ll receive the suite anyway, with (as he puts it) “No annoying questions asked.”

SPECIAL PRIZES THIS WEEK AND NEXT:

In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set, winners this week and next will also receive a copy of Trip Payne’s Second Annual Puzzle Extravaganza, which drops this summer.

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

This week’s contest answer is a four-legged animal who would feel at home in this grid. 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 (1,967 members now!) here.

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