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Title: “Grid…of…Fortune!”
Prompt: This week’s contest answer is a phrase.
Answer: I’D LIKE TO SOLVE THE PUZZLE
Correct entries: 547

We played some “Wheel of Fortune” last week, as the theme entries told us:

19-A: [“Welcome to ‘Grid of Fortune’! I’m your host, Matt Sajak. Our first category today is: ON THE MAP. Good luck!”] = MID-ATLANTIC

27-A: [“Next category: PEOPLE”] = BLANKET HOGS

48-A: [“Next category: BEFORE & AFTER”] = COLUMBIA RIVER RATS. This is the “Wheel” category where two unrelated phrases are joined by a common word, in this case “Columbia River” and “river rats”.

64-A: [“Next category: PHRASE”] = CAN I HELP YOU?

77-A: [“And our final category: LIVING THING”] = GRIZZLY BEAR

Solvers couldn’t help but notice that a bunch (21, to be precise) of the down entries were just clued as [???]. Why? Because each of the five theme entries was a “Wheel of Fortune” round, so of course Sajak isn’t going to give you all the letters! So you gotta piece it together like a contestant.

And these pieced-together entries were the key: take the squares in theme entries where the crossing down clue is a [????] and they spell out:

MIDATLANTIC
BLANKETHOGS
COLUMBIARIVERRATS
CANIHELPYOU
GRIZZLYBEAR

That’s the standard “Wheel” line “I’d like to solve the puzzle,” and how meta is it that you are indeed solving the puzzle just by typing the phrase? Answer: it’s quite meta.

MetaNewbie is getting the hang of it:

First one without any hints from my sister!

As is Stax:

I think this is the first Meta Gaffney Puzzle I’ve ever answered!

Same for SCW:

I can’t believe I solved the puzzle! My first one (been subscribing for about two months)!

RJS is back with us after a break:

Hello again after a long time. I can’t recall what my old unique nickname used to be so I hope I’m not using the same one. Thank you!

You’re not! But even if you were it’d be OK.

And finally, Bird Lives almost got the shows mixed up:

I nearly submitted, “What is ‘I’d like to solve the puzzle,’?”

Reminds me of this:

https://youtu.be/dtIT-jr1hmQ?t=378

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

The Feared Pirate Captain Gridd has hidden a great piece of treasure. Are you clever enough to find it? This week’s contest answer is the missing piece of treasure.