LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

Were you eating LEFTOVERS (58-across) last Friday? Probably. The key to last week’s meta was just that: take the two Turkey Day portmanteaux in the grid, TURDUCKEN and THANKSGIVUKKAH, and use their “leftovers,” or letters from the words they stem from:

TURDUCKEN = turKEY + duCK + CHIcken

THANKSGIVUKKAH = thanksgivING + HANukkah

Which three grid entries comprise those leftovers? The letters (emboldened and capitalized above) are KEY CK CHI ING HAN, which you can form from KHAKI, CINCH and GEN Y in the grid (20-a, 62-a, 63-a). That trio of entries was our meta answer, found by 150 solvers.

Maestro says:

I assume it will be 77,000 years before you use “Thanksgivukkah” as an entry again.

This week’s winner, whose name was chosen randomly from the 150 correct entries received, is Alex Miller of Brooklyn, N.Y. In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set, Alex will also receive a copy of my new Kickstarter campaign. My what? Read on…

“MURDER BY META”:

On Dec. 31st, 2013, at the biggest puzzle tournament of the year, crossword constructor Daphne Pratt is going to be poisoned. How horrible! Won’t you help find her killer? You need only solve eight metas to do so…

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1302909545/murder-by-meta-a-crossword-puzzle-mystery

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

This week’s contest answer is a U.S. state. 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 (2,130 members now!) here.

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