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http://www.mgwcc.com/

LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

Title: “Dressed to the Nines”
Prompt: This week’s contest answer is an object used in some constructions.

Thanks to the great Pete Muller for pinch-hitting last week, and I think we can safely say he knocked it out of the park.

There weren’t any overt theme entries, but two clues subtly hinted at the idea: 23/52-Across were [Objects used in construction], which mirrored the puzzle’s instructions so closely that they had to be relevant. Answer: TWO BY / FOURS. And then 61-Down was [Japanese drama, or, in a way, solver’s query after getting this puzzle’s meta] = NOH.

Curious! What did they mean? The key was to find 2×4 blocks offset by two black squares; putting a letter into each of the squares created eight nine-letter words:

(SHOR)+T+(AGES) = SHORTAGES
(METE)+O+(RITE) = METEORITE
(MAST)+O+(DONS) = MASTODONS
(OVER)+T+(ONES) = OVERTONES
(OFFS)+P+(RING) = OFFSPRING
(MART)+I+(NETS) = MARTINETS
(COIN)+C+(IDED) = COINCIDED
(THAN)+K+(LESS) = THANKLESS

Those eight letters added spell out TOOTPICK; do the same connect-the-four-letter-words trick one more time and you get contest answer TOOTHPICK, verified by the little “No H” joke at 61-Down.

So yeah, that’s a great big “Wow” for sure. The amount of fancy stepping required to get all that to work, much less fit in the grid symmetrically, makes my head hurt.

jefe says:

awes ruck!

adamrosenfield writes:

This was brilliant! Didn’t see it on my first pass at the puzzle. I put it down and then picked it up again the next day and immediately got the aha at 1A!

DIS asks:

I guess that was an aa moment?

And finally, Thurman8er quips:

Very nice. I think I’ll have to launch in investigation into this Muller guy.

You should — his Monthly Music Meta is here, and highly recommended (I also blog it each month at Diary of a Crossword Fiend).

Grazie e bravissimo, Meta Maestro! And we’ll talk more about classical music in a moment…

This week’s winner, whose name was chosen at random from the 260 correct entries received, is Marty Noonan of York, Penna. In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil, and notepad set, Marty will also receive a subscription to Matt Gaffney’s Daily Crossword.

MAY WINNERS:

Congratulations to the following ten MGWCC winners for May, whose names were chosen at random from among the 160 people who sent in the correct contest answer to each of last month’s four puzzles (ROSS PEROT, CARNATION, FOOD CHAIN, TOOTHPICK). Each will receive a MGWCC pen, pencil, and notepad set:

Congratulations to our ten winners, and to everyone who went 4-for-4 in May.

GUEST CONSTRUCTOR MONTH 2018, PUZZLE #1:

Guest Constructor Month 2018 begins now! Our leadoff batter is Joshua Kosman, whose name/username you probably recognize from the MGWCC leaderboard. He’s frequently among the quickest solvers of metas here each week, so let’s turn the tables and see how quickly folks can blaze through his Week 1 (with proper caution, of course).

Joshua is also known to puzzlers as the co-constructor of the cryptic crossword that runs in each issue of The Nation, which he’s been writing since 2011. These puzzles have also been compiled in book format, most recently here.

In non-puzzling life, Joshua lives in San Francisco with his wife and daughter, and has been the classical music critic for the San Francisco Chronicle since 1988. Check out an amusing recent column of his here.

Without further ado…

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

This week’s contest answer is a frequently performed opera.

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