IMPORTANT NOTE: As of January 2nd, MGWCC is now a subscribers-only crossword. The cost is $26 per year, and you can subscribe here:
www.mgwcc.com
LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:
After a few curveballs, you throw a slow pitch down the center of the plate! That’s what this meta was. Solvers were tasked with finding a well-known peninsula, and the three apparent (and actual, as it turned out) theme entries were:
16-A [“Roger” and “me,” in the sentence “Jennifer gave Roger and me the books”] = INDIRECT OBJECTS
35-A [Very smart person, per a cliche] = ROCKET SCIENTIST
56-A [Old-school Secret Service] = PRAETORIAN GUARD
So what’s with the pitching analogy? My geography metas are usually map-related, but this one was a little more low-tech. My intended path for solvers was: the title is “You’re Surrounded!”, a peninsula is surrounded on three sides by water; there are three theme entries; so the three theme entries might each point to a body of water.
Once you make that leap, the initials jump out: I.O., R.S. and P.G. stand for Indian Ocean, Red Sea and Persian Gulf, the three bodies of water surrounding meta answer the ARABIAN PENINSULA. Just 83 solvers got it, which means this was much tougher than I had expected.
There was some controversy over the body of water to the south of the peninsula, since that section of the Indian Ocean also goes by the name of the Arabian Sea. Several solvers mentioned being thrown off by that; animated discussion of that and other aspects of the meta here.
The first comment there is from Paul Coulter, who found a remarkable alternate answer to the meta. Ultimately I couldn’t accept it (and the Meta Panel agreed by a 3-0 vote), but still it’s quite interesting: he found that the letters in CRIMEA form a C and an O in the grid, and that Iceland’s SOUTHERN Peninsula forms a D, and submitted as his answer CAPE COD:
Using Crimea twice and then (the obscure) Southern once was too arbitrary to accept as correct, but you’ve got to admit that it’s clever.
Jed writes:
Sent from my favorite almost-island, with the motto “Si Quaeris Paeninsulam Amoenam, Circumspice.”
I remember having to memorize that state motto in high school Latin class!
Munch says:
Persian Gulf, Red Sea, Indian Ocean. whew, nothing like a walk on the Miami beach boardwalk to get inspiration
Tilly and Dave note:
We were Balkan at this one for a long time.
And finally, JanglerNPL saved his famous unbroken MGWCC streak through sheer luck! Like so:
Throwing in the towel. I’d greatly appreciate it if you could tell me how this worked now.
When I wrote him that his Hail Mary ARABIAN PENINSULA had indeed worked, he informed me that the only reason he had guessed it is that he thought it might be a pun on “well-known peninsula,” i.e. a peninsula known for its oil wells. Lucky duck!
So close to stumping him! Well, I’ve got 653 more tries…
This week’s winner, whose name was chosen randomly from the 83 correct entries received, is Karen Horn of Centennial, Colo. In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set, Karen will also receive a Muller Monthly Music Meta coffee mug (and reminder: the deadline for Season 4, Episode 1 of the Muller Meta is this Sunday!)
SPACE PUZZLEFEST:
Patrick Blindauer‘s latest puzzle suite is here, and its theme is Outer Space. Pick it up for $17 here:
http://patrickblindauer.com/puzzlefest.php
THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:
This puzzle’s six theme entries and five pieces of its fill are starred. Which sixth piece of fill should also be starred?
IMPORTANT NOTE: As of January 2nd, MGWCC is now a subscribers-only crossword. The cost is $26 per year, and you can subscribe here:
Solve well, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive.