LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

Week 1 of 3 chess metas, in honor of the World Chess Championship currently taking place in Chennai between champion Vishy Anand of India and challenger Magnus Carlsen of Norway.

And a true Week 1 it was, as 586 solvers found the ROOK as the missing one of the six chess pieces. Five theme entries were clued as [A CERTAIN CHESS PIECE…], and the answers were:

16-a = GOES ONLY FORWARD. That’s the lowly pawn, which can only make forward progress.

22-a = LEAPS OVER ANYONE. That’s the knight. Had to be a little careful with the phrasing there, since the king and/or rook leap over each other when a player castles. But only a knight can jump over anybody.

35-a = STAYS ON ONE COLOR. That’s the bishop, which never leaves whichever color square it starts the game on.

44-a = HAS THE MOST RANGE. That’s the queen, who can move any number of open spaces in any directions she wants, including diagonally. A queen is essentially a rook and bishop combined into one piece.

54-a = IS NEVER CAPTURED. That’s the king, who is only trapped (“checkmate”) but never actually captured in a classical game.

The only piece not described is the ROOK, making that our meta answer.

marpocky had a 15-letter suggestion for ROOK:

(STARTS IN A CORNER)

Leo asks:

Would you have accepted castle, elephant, or tower?

I certainly took “castle,” which is frowned upon by tournament players (it sounds funny) but is obviously a popular colloquial name for the piece. 41 solvers submitted it. Elephant (which is what the piece is called in Russian, slon) or tower (the piece’s name in German, Turm) I probably would’ve taken, too, had any prankster submitted them.

And finally, Jed Scott writes:

I thought you’d want to see this photo from my seven-year-old’s solve. When I told him the meta was chess-related, he immediately asked if he could solve it. With no guidance except to read the theme entries, here’s what he came up with. (he brainstormed the list and then crossed them off as I read entries out loud). Bishop was hardest for him to recognize in words, but even that only took thirty seconds or less.

(Of course, then he wanted to see the previous week’s meta – hence the writing to the right)

Too cool.

This week’s winner, whose name was chosen randomly from the 586 correct entries received, is Justin Rinehold of Bethlehem, Penna. In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set, Justin will also receive a signed copy of Merl Reagle’s 100th Anniversary Crosswords.

SPECIAL PRIZE THIS WEEK AND NEXT:

In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set, winners this week and next will also receive a signed copy of Ben Tausig‘s forthcoming book, The Curious History of the Crossword.

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

Week 2 of chess metas! All six chess pieces are in this grid, but one never made it to the eighth rank. Which one is it? 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. UPDATE, 11/15, 12:25 PM: in an earlier version of this puzzle the clue to 39-across read [Sweet slice]. It has since been corrected to read [First-year player]. Please make sure you have this clue while solving.

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 (2,118 members now!) here.

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