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LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:
Title: “Shhhh!”
Instructions: This week’s contest answer is a two-word phrase.
Answer: SPOILER ALERT
Don’t’cha hate it when someone has RUINED THE ENDING of a movie for you? It happened a dozen times last week, where symmetrically-placed grid entries were a movie with the last letter changed:
REDO –> REDS
HOW –> HOP
PSYCHE –> PSYCHO
BAMBA –> BAMBI
YENTA –> YENTL
CLUB –> CLUE
THOU –> THOR
MOANS –> MOANA
BABES –> BABEL
GREASY –> GREASE
HEX –> HER
SALE — SALT
Put those changed letters back and you’ve got SPOILER ALERT, found by 346 solvers.
Orangecane says:
Apparently endings of ‘Tis and Mud were unspoiled!
I deserve a ding there, but let me tell you how tricky it was to keep unwanted three-letter movie titles out. It was like a game of whack-a-mole — I changed BUS/BARES to MUS/MARES to avoid “Bug,” but then “Mud” (which I’ve never heard of but is completely legit) pops up there. “‘Tis” looks pretty obscure so I absolve myself there, but also see the clue note for ELS at 41-D. I had run the alphabet on EL? while constructing but somehow I didn’t notice ELF as a possibility there. Luckily the symmetrical placement of the entries didn’t leave anyone truly in the dark here, though most solvers appear to have used a couple of backsolving nudges once they realized it was SPOILER ALERT.
Meta – World Peace quips:
I see you left the “Elf” on the shelf!
Megan Amram suggests:
you should’ve had one answer that was THESIXTHSENSEBRUCEWILLISWASDEADTHEWHOLETIME
And sps was once an ending ruiner:
Reminds me of the time my 11 year old daughter sat down to watch Titanic and she said I ruined it for her before the movie began because I told her the ship sinks.
This week’s winner, whose name was chosen at random from the 346 correct entries received, is David Reingold of Portland, Ore. In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil, and notepad set, David will also receive a 1-year subscription to Matt Gaffney’s Daily Crossword.
THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:
This week’s contest answer is a six-letter entry in the grid (you can submit either its clue number or the entry itself).
Solve well, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive.