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:
Title: “Tastefully Paired”
Instructions: This week’s contest answer is a six-letter word that has a homophone.
Answer: PALATE
Drink up, solvers! First insight: Six theme entries last week began with the name of a drink:
16-A [Lowe’s purchase] = SCREWDRIVER SET. Vodka + OJ. A potent potable to be sure. Speaking of Potent Potables, did you see Erik Agard on “Jeopardy!” this week? He won some serious cash.
21-A [They may run cars, boats, or planes] = V8 ENGINES
35-A [First woman to land a triple-triple, 1981] = MIDORI ITO. That’s figure skating if it wasn’t obvious.
41-A [It may say “Maxwell House”] = COFFEE CAN
58-A [Stackable container] = MILK CRATE
63-A [Kid-run businesses] = LEMONADE STANDS
Second insight: each of these drinks is a different color: Screwdrivers are orange, V8 is red, Midori is green (in fact it’s the Japanese word for “green”), coffee is brown, milk is white, and lemonade is yellow. Curious!
Third insight: there are many foods in the clues, also quite colorful:
Pumpkin is orange, like a SCREWDRIVER (42-D)
Apples are red, like V8 (44-D)
Limes are green, like MIDORI (47-A)
Almond is brown, like COFFEE (12-D)
Tofu is white, like MILK (20-A)
Edam is yellow, like LEMONADE (72-A)
The first letters of those paired foods spell PALATE, which has the fitting homophone “palette.”
Plum, blueberries, and ham also appear in clues — why? Those are purple, blue, and pink, so don’t match with any of the drinks in the grid. They were red (well, not red…) herrings to keep solvers from just seeing the six foods in the clues and finding PALATE from there without noticing the color pairings.
This week’s winner, whose name was chosen at random from the 197 correct entries received, is Rich Novo of Andover, Mass.. In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil, and notepad set, Rich will also receive a copy of Henry Hook‘s Munchkin Crosswords (written under the nom de grid Pete Naish).
Thus concludes our six-week paean to the late, great Henry Hook.
SPECIAL PRIZE THIS WEEK AND NEXT:
In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set, weekly prizewinners this week and next will receive a 1-year subscription to Laura Braunstein and Tracy Bennett‘s new Kickstarter project, “The Inkubator,” featuring puzzles all written by women. After just six days they’re already over $21,000! That’s Agard-level cash. Check it out here.
THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:
This week’s contest answer is a five-letter word with three consonants and two vowels.
Solve well, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive.