LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

Title: “Something’s Brewing”
Prompt: This week’s contest answer is a brand of beer.
Answer: FOSTER’S
Correct entries: 673 overall, of which 654 were solo solves

Visual meta last week: nestled inside that 21×21 were seven 2×3 rectangles in which the same letter appeared six times. And then 114-A contained this nudge: [Convenient beer purchase; you’ll need several of them today] = SIX-PACK. Which is shaped like a 2×3 rectangle and contains six of the same kind of beer (not counting those mix-and-match places, gross idea). In grid order from top-to-bottom and left-to-right they spell FOSTER’S, which is Australian for beer, mate.

Or is it? Anouk writes from Down Under:

Surprisingly almost unobtainable in Australia now

Interesting — it’s sold in all three of my town’s grocery stores.

Why FOSTER’S? Because there are only 7 or 8 letters that can reasonably fill a 2×3 block, and FOSTER are six of them!

Evan writes:

Oh I see how it is. I write a 21×21 meta called “Foursquare” with 2×2 matching letters and so you go and top that with 3×2 or 2×3 segments. It’s gonna be an arms race to that magic square 3×3 meta, isn’t it?

Proceed at will, sir, as I have long since anticipated your forthcoming 3×3 and have my 4×3 at the ready.

GUEST CONSTRUCTOR PUZZLE:

This week’s puzzle comes to us from Andrew Linzer. He writes:

Hello! I’m 27 years old and grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and recently moved to Oakland, California, where I work in healthcare analytics. Outside of crosswords, my passions include board games, basketball, and public staircases.

I’m an avid MGWCC solver, but this is the first meta I’ve ever made! Big thanks to Sarah, Mike, Caroline, and Avery for their input during construction.

Thanks, Andrew! Let’s see what he’s got in store for Week 3…

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

This week’s contest answer is a four-letter word you’ll need to use twice to solve this puzzle.