LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

Francis Heaney delivers the goods! Last week’s meta was universally praised on the crossword blogs, and we’ll add to that today.

We were looking for a ten-letter word, and the most obvious nudge came from the three entries in the central row:

39-A [Lattice (or where a word in the clues should not appear, per crossword custom)] = GRID.
40-A [Hints (or where a word in the grid should not appear, per crossword custom)] = CLUES.
41-A [Sucker (or word that appears more than once in a crossword)] = DUPE.

So where does that lead? Well, some of the clues were a bit wordy, and with good reason: ten pairs of crossing entries “dupe” each other in their clues. For example, at 1-A we have [Parts of a patriotic design] for STARS, and at 4-D we have [Activity that may involve civil unrest, arson, looting, and the like]. As you can see from the emboldened letters, the clue for STARS contains “riot” and the clue for RIOT contains “stars.” Cool!

Here are the other nine:

***[Scorecard digits for players like Glavine, Koufax, and Seaver] = ONES, crossing [“Middle Cyclone” songstress Case] = NEKO at the E.
***[It may be dirty but not unclean] = RICE, crossing [___ Deadly (Muppet who duetted with Vincent Price)] = UNCLE at the C.
***[Not getting enough nutrients, perhaps] = THIN crossing [Nothing, in France] = RIEN at the I.
***[“Doesn’t that sound like a good ___?”] = IDEA crossing [They may be seen alongside a group of stags] = DOES at the D.
***[Lattice (or where a word in the clues should not appear, per crossword custom)] = GRID crossing [Room probably filled with stuff you ought to be getting rid of] = ATTIC at the I.
***[Prevents from becoming law, in a way] = VETOES crossing [Rant because angry feelings have to escape] = VENT at the V.
***[“The ___ of Spring” (“Fantasia” movie segment)] = RITE crossing [Alicia Keys release that won Favorite Album in two categories at the American Music Awards] = AS I AM at the I.
***[Appreciates the appetizer] = EATS crossing [Trial run in response to nuclear threats, briefly] = A-TEST at the S.
***[It can power a motor] = STEAM crossing [Member of a St. Louis team] = RAM at the M.

Take those in grid order and you’ve got meta answer RECIDIVISM, fittingly for a puzzle entitled “Repeat Offenders.”

Squonk writes:

Wow! I want to be Francis when I grow up.

Redhead64 dubiously claims:

“I Cried Vims” when I found out I got every single meta answer right in an entire month for the first time!

mrbreen says:

Wow. Just, wow.

Similarly, Leo:

Awesome awesome construction construction!

And finally, Ben Vincent writes:

this one was so good, i think i’ll do it all over again!

This week’s winner, whose name was chosen randomly from the 106 correct entries received, is Joon Pahk of Somerville, Mass. In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set, Joon will also receive all of Francis Heaney’s AVCX crosswords.

THANKS TO OUR GUEST CONSTRUCTORS:

Big round of applause for Jeffrey Harris, Ian Livengood, Neville Fogarty and Francis Heaney for knocking it out of the park on Guest Constructor Month. Total power team and the feedback from solvers has been outstanding. Thanks, guys!

MONTHLY WINNERS:

106 solvers submitted the correct contest answer to all four of September’s challenges (ALADDIN, ROCK GARDEN, LIAM NEESON, RECIDIVISM). The following ten lucky and skillful winners, chosen randomly from that group, will receive a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set:

Matt Breen — Madison, Wisc.

James Wentworth — Bronte, N.S.W, Australia

Congratulations to our ten winners, and to everyone who went four-for-four in September.

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

This week’s contest answer is the correct chronological order of this puzzle’s four theme entries. The four theme clues are labeled A, B, C and D, so use these to identify the correct order; for example, your answer might be “D-B-C-A” or “A-D-C-B.”

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 (2,315 members now!) here. Or you can download the .puz file (you may have to right-click the link and save to your Downloads folder).

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