FIVE YEAR ANNIVERSARY + TIP JAR WEEK STARTS NOW!

It was 5 years ago this week that MGWCC began! How time does fly; let’s do 5 more.

The yearly tip jar week also begins today, so if you’ve enjoyed the past year of puzzles half as much as I have, visit the Super-Duper Extra-Special Tip Jar Page, or just click the PayPal button below. If you prefer to send a check, e-mail me (crosswordcontest@gmail.com).

LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

“This Might Upset You” read the title of last week’s puzzle, though “upset” there meant not “sadden” but rather “invert.” And if you’d stood on your head you’d’ve gotten the meta quickly, since the key was turning the first word of each theme entry upside-down. Those themers were:

17-a [They help you reach lofty goals] = NINE IRONS
24-a [Get lots of 10s] = WOW THE JUDGES
40-a [Source of much bacon (use flag)] = POLAND CHINA PIGS
50-a [Movie with the line “I remember how the meaning of words began to change”] = V FOR VENDETTA
63-a [Doubter’s reply (use lowercase)] = I THINK NOT

So let’s invert those:

NINE upside-down is famously a SIX (9–>6)
WOW upside-down is semi-famously MOM
The flag of POLAND upside-down is the flag of INDONESIA (note “use flag” tag in the clue)
V upside-down is the Greek letter LAMBDA
And a lowercase i upside-down is an EXCLAMATION POINT

Instructions asked for “a five-letter word that bears a certain relationship to a word in this puzzle grid.” The first letter of each inverted result above yields meta-answer SMILE, which is famously a FROWN (51-d) upside-down. So even if you missed the meta, turn that frown upside-down because a new month (year, in fact!) begins today.

Joshua Kosman writes:

So obvious in retrospect! And still it took me all weekend.

Nice to hear! That’s exactly what I’m aiming for on Week 5.

Jeff Louie‘s path to success:

Six Mom Indonesia Lambda Exclamation point. Is that right? I had figured some of this out early on, but I had only come across Monaco’s flag and not Indonesia’s, so nothing was making sense, so I kept going down other radically different barren trails. I finally resorted to scanning all grid entries for any word that could have a logical relationship with another five-letter word, saw FROWN, thought of SMILE, and then reverse-engineered it, looking at the flags of all “I” countries. The point: this was very difficult and it’s 2 something in the morning and I hate you. Love, Jeff

Nice to hear! That’s exactly what I’m aiming for on Week 5.

And finally, mrbreen submitted UNCLE, explaining:

‘Cause I give up.

Nice to hear! That’s exactly what I’m aiming for on Week 5.

OK, that joke is getting old so let’s go to the prizes: This week’s winner, whose name was chosen randomly from the 48 correct entries received, is Karen Horn of Centennial, Colo. In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set, Karen will also receive a 20-week subscription to Peter Gordon‘s new Fireball Newsweekly Crosswords. Peter’s Kickstarter campaign could use a little love, so consider subscribing if you haven’t already.

MONTHLY PRIZES:

36 solvers submitted the correct contest answer to all five of May’s challenges (THE BRONX, FACEBOOK, GRAND CAYMAN, MADRAS, SMILE). The following ten lucky and skillful winners, chosen randomly from that group, will receive a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set:

Jared Banta — Superior, Colo.

Peter Gordon — Great Neck, N.Y.

Brent Holman — San Francisco, Calif.

Scott Weiss — Walkersville, Md.

Congratulations to our ten winners, and to everyone who went 5-for-5 in May.

MULLER META:

I swung and missed on May’s edition of the Muller Monthly Music Meta, but I clocked June’s puzzle out of the park. It’s a good one, and you have until Sunday evening to unravel it.

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 the forthcoming Team 23 Crossword from the American Values Crossword gang.

TIP JAR OPEN:

In case you missed it above: It was 5 years ago this week that MGWCC began! Tempus really fugit, doesn’t it? The yearly tip jar week also begins today, so if you’ve enjoyed the past year of puzzles half as much as I have, visit the Super-Duper Extra-Special Tip Jar Page, or just click the PayPal button below. If you prefer to send a check, e-mail me (crosswordcontest@gmail.com).

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

This week’s contest answer is a number between 1 and 10. 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 (2,054 members now!) here. [UPDATE, 6/7, 12:20 PM: Awesome way to start Year 6, with two mistakes! The clue at 7-d should read “Tenor” instead of “Tenon,” and the clue for 27-d should read [Trip to Mecca]. Double d’oh.]

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