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:
Simple, but not easy! Instructions asked for a six-syllable word whose fourth syllable is stressed. Peculiar, and it wasn’t clear whether the two 9s in the grid were theme (they were). So our six theme entries were:
12-A [Shade similar to aqua] = OCEAN BLUE
16-A [Hunter vehicle of note] = RAISING ARIZONA, which starred Holly Hunter.
32-A [Capital city with an apostrophe] = SANA’A, YEMEN
40-A [Connery commanded it] = RED OCTOBER
56-A [She’s feeling the Bern] = HILLARY CLINTON
60-A [Algebra class instructions] = SOLVE FOR X
Tough to spot the pattern here, but that pattern is: the final word in each entry is the third-to-last, or ANTEPENULTIMATE, member in a series: BLUE is the 5th of the 7 colors in the rainbow; ARIZONA was the 48th of 50 states admitted to the Union; YEMEN is followed by only Zambia and Zimbabwe in an alphabetical list of the world’s countries; October is the 10th of 12 months; Bill CLINTON is currently the 42nd of 44 U.S. presidents; and X is the 24th of 26 letters. The title is essentially another theme entry, since “The Force Awakens” is the 7th of the 9 planned “Star Wars” movies.
My original instructions asked for “a 15-letter word whose 13th letter is A,” slyly mentioning the antepenultimate letter of the answer in the clues. But a clever tester pointed out that this, surprisingly, made the meta not that difficult to backsolve. There aren’t very many common 15-letter words, and lists of ????????????A?? words (such as at onelook.com) cough up ANTEPENULTIMATE on the first page. It’s obviously a suggestive meta-word, so I had to scrap those instructions.
Fortunately the same clever tester who pointed out that problem also pointed out its elegant solution, since the syllable-based backsolve is much more difficult.
Al suggests:
This would have been a good one for the 29th! 🙂
It was certainly Week 5 difficulty!
pgw asks:
couldn’t wait to run this one as mgwcc #998, huh?
slubduck writes:
OMG!! I am on an incredible high, knowing this is correct with so few correct answers so far — BUT — my heart has plummeted after one minute of rejoicing, because I cannot for the life of me guess why the title is “Episode 399” unless it means the Gaffney Meta Series will end at #401?????? Please, please, please say that isn’t so. I will cry for a year if this surmise proves so.
No way — we’re going to four digits with this thing! See below.
And xhixen suggests:
There should be a bonus prize for the antepenultimate correct submission this week!
This week’s winner, whose name was chosen randomly from the 77 correct entries received, is Deepak Bal of Montclair, N.J. In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set, Deepak will also receive a 1-year subscription to MGDX.
400!
We’re 40% of the way through MGWCC, which will end with puzzle #1000 in August of 2027. Thanks very much for solving — you keep doing what you’re doing and I’ll keep doing what I’m doing!
THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:
This week’s contest answer is the letter that goes in box 29. NOTE: in order to receive credit for this meta, you must provide a sentence or two explaining your logic along with the correct answer!
Solve well, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive.
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: