IMPORTANT NOTE: As of February 2020 MGWCC is available only to subscribers at my Patreon site. A subscription costs $3/month. During January 2020 only you can download the puzzles for free on this page (see below under “This Week’s Instructions”).
LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:
Title: “How Did You Know?”
Instructions: This week’s contest answer is a familiar verb.
Answer: GOOGLE
What? You didn’t know that KIGYO is the Hungarian word for snake, or that GERRY Adams is an Australian fencer who competed in the 2000 Olympics? How could you have KI?YO and ?ERRY there and not figure it out?
OK, maybe you had to GOOGLE that and five other UNFAIR CROSSINGS, which was the big hint across the center of the grid:
15-A: [Japanese pop pianist Hanako ___] is ?KU, but could be either an I or O since its crossing is 6-D [Half of Will Shortz’s favorite sport], which could be PING or the correct PONG.
16-A: [Attractive, in Argentina] = GUAPO — or is it the feminine GUAPA? Crossing 13-D [North Carolina state representative Lambeth] = DONNY if you Google it, but coulda been “Danny” as well. Solver Gio also writes: “FYI I’m from Argentina and literally no one uses the word “GUAPO” to talk about an attractive person… This is more of a Central American word.” Disculpe me, no lo sabía.
56-A: [Chess author Greengard] was MI? which could be a few things, but narrows down to G or M when you see 57-D: [Animal that’s “hanhi” in Finnish]. It was GOOSE, not “moose.” Goomle it if you don’t believe me.
74-A: [Ninth word of Dickens’s “The Pickwick Papers”] = G?OOM, so probably “gloom” or “groom.” No help from 71-D [Georgia town 18 miles north of Athens] = I?A, unless you’re Patrick Berry, who lives in Athens. It was ILA. Commenter C.Y. Hollander notes that IRA is in the grid at 37-D, so you could’ve skipped the Goog on this one. I missed that!
75-A [Danish pole vaulter Rasmussen who competed in the 2000 Olympics] = MARI? which could be a few vowels and even a few consonants, but the crosser was 64-D [Limoux’s river] for AUD?. MARIE and AUDE, as it turns out.
Put those all together and we’ve got GOOGLE, found by 516 solvers.
Longtime Google employee xhixen writes:
Never heard of the answer. Had to Bing it.
Mic drop; comments closed.
PATREON SWITCHOVER UPDATE:
OK, it’s crunch time! Or semi-crunch time; this was supposed to be the last week you could get MGWCC without Patreon, but I had an eventful week and didn’t finish going through subscriber lists, so I’m posting files here for one final week today just so nobody misses the puzzle. This is the last time, though, for real!
1) We’re up to 753 solvers who’ve made the switch over to Patreon! Join them at the link. Thanks to everyone who’s made the jump so far; If you have any trouble with it, please e-mail me at crosswordcontest@gmail.com or via Patreon messaging.
2) If you have months remaining on your MGWCC subscription, you will be receiving an e-mail from me next week verifying the number of months you have left. Note that even if you do have time remaining on your subscription, you will still need to sign up at Patreon to receive the puzzle, starting next week. You will be charged for one month, but I will refund that payment over the coming weeks, and after that you won’t be charged again for the duration of your remaining subscription time.
3) If you would like to keep solving but truly do not want to have a Patreon account, please e-mail me (crosswordcontest@gmail.com) and we can work out alternate payment. I have a list of about 25 solvers who can’t or don’t want to go the Patreon route, and I have a separate mailing list to get the puzzle to them each week. I’m trying to keep this list very small for logistical reasons, though, so please do sign up at Patreon unless you really have strong feelings against it.
That’s it for now! E-mail me at crosswordcontest@gmail.com or via Patreon messaging if you have any questions.
THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:
This week’s contest answer is a Best Picture nominee this weekend.
Solve well, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive.