IMPORTANT NOTE: As of January 2015 MGWCC is a subscribers-only crossword. The cost is $26 per year, and you can subscribe (or get a free trial month first) here:
LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:
“Looks Can Be Deceiving” read last week’s title, and each of these theme entries looks like its two words should start with the same sound. But none do, those deceivers!
17-A [Chess piece that starts the game on g1 or g8] = KING’S KNIGHT
26-A [When beer is cheap] = HAPPY HOURS
39-A [The facts of the matter?] = PARTICLE PHYSICS
50-A [White alternative] = WHOLE WHEAT
62-A [Jan’s fake boyfriend, in a “Brady Bunch” episode] = GEORGE GLASS
Which U.S. state capital fits this pattern of same-first-letter-but-not-same-first-sound? CARSON CITY, Nevada’s capital, found by 391 solvers (exactly 100 fewer than last week — let’s aim for 291 this week).
danchall writes:
The warning scares me. I don’t see any other alliterative names… CON-CORD? FRANK-FORT? PAGO PAGO?
He means the cautionary note I appended to the instructions: NOTE: Be careful! This meta has only one correct answer, though it may appear to have several at first glance.
JanglerNPL says:
The wrong answers being things like DOVER, DELAWARE?
Yep, which was submitted by 28 solvers, or Honolulu, Hawaii, which was submitted by 10. Without the warning I would’ve felt bad about marking these as incorrect, but not now. I didn’t want solvers who’d only seen the same-letters but not the same-sound thing to be able to argue in favor of their answer.
Except for those Dover people, in which case there’s this, as explained by commenter 10 Miles North of Clute over at Diary of a Crossword Fiend:
O.K., I went for Dover. I could drop one letter in each of the key clues and get a word, (k)night, (h)ours, (p)article, (w)hole and (w)heat and (g)lass. For the answer, dropping the (d), show’s over.
Interesting and unintentional, but too arbitrary to count, since some of the phrases use the first word and others the second. But oddly enough, (C)ARSON CITY would be a valid answer by that logic as well! So the warning came in doubly handy.
OSXpert says:
Shocking Solution!
Similarly, EBud27:
Phun Puzzle
And, especially cleverly, VlnVla:
Sure seems right.
Dang! SUGAR SUBSTITUTE would’ve been a great 15. Missed it. Bravo to VlnVla.
This week’s winner, whose name was chosen at random from the 394 correct entries received, is James Wentworth of Bronte, Australia. In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set, James will also receive a 1-year subscription to a special project of mine which I meant to write about this week but will actually write about next week. Next week’s winner will receive the same prize! Mysterious.
WSJ CONTEST CROSSWORD #5:
After you conquer this week’s meta — or as an amuse-bouche before doing so — head over to the Wall Street Journal for my new contest crossword there. It’s titled “College Search” and the deadline to enter is Sunday at midnight:
http://blogs.wsj.com/puzzle/2015/10/15/college-search-crossword-contest/
THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:
This week’s contest answer is a name in recent news.
IMPORTANT NOTE: As of January 2015 MGWCC is a subscribers-only crossword. The cost is $26 per year, and you can subscribe (or get a free trial month first) here:
Solve well, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive.