Prompt: This week’s contest answer is what those solvers who figure out this meta are.
Answer: GAME CHANGERS
Correct entries: 571
Week 2-level difficulty last week, as the 12 games hidden in wacky theme entries didn’t stand out quite as well as I’d anticipated. Our theme entries were:
17-A: [Casual drawing by blues legend Diddley?] = BO SCRIBBLE
21-A: [Says “pfutter” instead of “putter” or “tree word” instead of “three wood”?] = GARBLES CLUB
29-A: [Salad green named for the Devil?] = SATAN CRESS. Look who showed up in puzzle #666!
44-A: [Write a bunch of personal information on a spacecraft’s exterior?] = FILL OUT UFO
56-A: [Those who create horse sculptures?] = PONY CARVERS
62-A: [Truck driven by a 3,000-year-old Anglo-Egyptian?] = MUMMY LORRY
Change one letter in each of those (see awesome graphic above, created by anonymous Muggles Forum poster) and you’ve got a game: GO, SCRABBLE, MARBLES, CLUE, CATAN, CHESS, FALLOUT (a bit of a cheat here since the game Fallout is one word, while “fill out” is two words, though it’s one ‘lexical chunk’), UNO, PONG, CAREERS, RUMMY, and SORRY.
TMart says:
Thanks for playing!
Hey wait — I’m supposed to the say that to you all, not vice versa.
Quizquest writes:
Seems like there was some lingo/bingo on this one too.
This was a coincidence but now I’m starting to wonder if these things don’t sneak into my brain without my noticing (LINGO was the meta answer last week, and I ran a one-word solver e-mail that said “Bingo!”, which is a pairing that would work with this meta). So odd.
And Pundog lives up to his username:
Never heard of “Careers” but I took a Risk, and Yahtzee! The Operation was a success. That’s Life.
LETTERS TO MARGARET:
I just backed this Kickstarter, which sounds intriguing. Cartoonist Hayley Gold is writing a graphic novel entitled “Letters to Margaret” that’s centered on crossword puzzles. Check it out here:
THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:
This week’s contest answer a well-known two-word app.