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:
Liked-but-not-loved meta last week, mostly. The first part was pretty nifty, but then some found the second step a bit odd and/or clunky, like a song whose first verse is excellent but the second is just OK.
Title was “Watch Those Crossings,” and instructions read:
This week’s contest answer is any pair of countries you might visit when making a certain crossing (several answers are possible).
Then our five long themers each had their correct geographical reference swapped out for something else:
17-A [2002 rom-com starring Jennifer Lopez and Ralph Fiennes (5)] = MAID IN NEW JERSEY. But the actual title of the movie is “Maid in Manhattan.”
23-A [Popular bar food (3)] = CLEVELAND WINGS. But should be “Buffalo wings.”
40-A [Oscar-nominated song from the “South Park” movie (1)] = BLAME NEW ZEALAND. Correct song title is “Blame Canada.”
52-A [Leader deposed in 1979 (4)] = THE SHAH OF QATAR. Correct answer is “the Shah of Iran.”
64-A [1984 drama nominated for eleven Oscars (2)] = A PASSAGE TO YEMEN. The movie is in fact titled “A Passage to India.”
First insight: you cross a body of water to get from the wrong locations in the grid to the right ones. Like so:
New Jersey to Manhattan: cross the Hudson River
Cleveland to Buffalo: cross Lake Erie
New Zealand to Canada: cross the Pacific Ocean
Qatar to Iran: cross the Persian Gulf
Yemen to India: cross the Arabian Sea
Second insight: there’s a three-letter entry in the grid with each of those bodies of water’s initials in the first and third places. So HER for the Hudson River, LIE for Lake Erie, PRO for Pacific Ocean, PNG for Persian Gulf, and AHS for Arabian Sea.
Third insight: place those middle letters in order using the parenthetical numbers in clues, and they spell out the RHINE River. Pick any two countries you can visit on a Rhine crossing and you’re done: FRANCE and GERMANY was the most obvious and by far the most common entry, but also acceptable were Switzerland-Austria, Switzerland-Germany, and of course the most impish solvers could not resist submitting Switzerland-Liechtenstein (there were ten, and you know who you are).
mpstable writes:
crossing the Rhine. Cleveland has been in two metas in a row. i liked this appearance much better than last week’s.
Cleveland rocks! Glad to balance the scales for Clevelanders and those who love them.
This week’s winner, whose name was chosen at random from among the 106 correct entries received, is Diana Breithaupt of Santa Rosa, Calif. In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil, and notepad set, Diana will also receive a 1-year subscription to Peter Gordon’s Fireball Newsflash Crosswords. Peter’s about halfway to his funding goal with 16 days left, so reminder to kick in if you intended to.
E-MAIL I MEANT TO RUN LAST WEEK:
…but the post was already very long, so I didn’t. But here it is: Rich O’Malley fumbled the recent CLEVELAND BROWNS meta, which is funny because…
I tell you this only because I think you will appreciate it.
My life for the past six months has been nothing but this …
www.richomalley.com
TL/DR … i have completed my life’s mission to see a home game for every team in U.S. pro sports — all 123 MLB, NBA, NHL and yes NFL franchises. So that I could write a book about it, like I’ve always wanted to do.
I just got back from a trip where I saw 40 games in 53 days. I’ve got teams spinning around my brain!
And so clearly I’m not back up to snuff yet. I saw your puzzle, saw all the SS’s piling up and said AHA SEATTLE SEAHAWKS! But thought it didnt make much sense to the title. I checked the leaderboard and saw a billion people had gotten it right away and figured, well, must really be that easy.
Next morning had a funny feeling and checked. My name wasnt there. WHAT DID I DO? I am Mr. Sports Man, where did I go wrong?! Open the puzzle back up and three seconds later … D’OH!
I may be the only person to boink this puzzle and I kinda hope I am. Because I really earned it.
THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:
This week’s contest answer is a famous one-word song title.
Solve well, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive.