LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

Title: “Permutation Situation”
Prompt: This week’s contest answer is a well-known American university.
Answer: OHIO STATE
Correct entries: 269 overall, of which 200 were solo solves

Tricky pattern to spot on last week’s year-ending meta. “Permutation” in the title was the big hint, and we were indeed looking for all 24 permutations of the letters in OTIS. Yes, that’s the name of one of my cats, who you may recall from this meta; but more importantly, those four letters get along so nicely with each other that you can find a crossword entry that includes all 24 permutations. See grid and graphic at right.

Tricky (and on-purpose! Sorry not sorry, it’s week 5) aspect of this one: only three of the four longest entries contain the OTIS-in-some-order string, which was enough to derail many solvers (at least temporarily) with a “well, can’t be that” shrug.

The missing string in the grid was IOST, which can be found in just one well-known American university’s name, OHIO STATE. Or “The Ohio State University,” as 43 solvers submitted it. That’s its official name, and there was a lawsuit a few years ago where OSU tried to copyright the word “The”. Nice.

Oneacross says:

I hear they have a great Biostats program

Laurabrarian says:

as a lifelong Michigan fan, I object

Similarly, Mutman:

My Michigan neighbor does not appreciate!

genefaba laments:

Matt, As a Michigan Alum, I looked long and hard for an alternate answer.

And finally, David Stein writes:

Geez Matt. On this historic day in Michigan football, Ohio is your answer? Happy New Year anyway!

Well, OSU had a good weekend too! Check out this insane catch:

Anyway, thanks to everyone for a great 2021 here at MGWCC. Got some exciting new things planned for 2022 so stay tuned! And note that I’ll list 2021 prizewinners in next week’s post.

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

This week’s contest answer is a 5-letter place name.

Solve well, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive.