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LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

Title: “Chain Gang”
Prompt: This week’s contest answer is an infamous American of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Answer: KEN LAY
Correct entries: 238 overall, of which 152 were solo solves

Manson or Madoff? Gotti or Marilyn Monroe (?!)? Those were some of the guesses that came in last week. But no, our infamous person was former Enron CEO Ken Lay, whose (3,3) surname fit the bill nicely.

STEP 1:

Successful meta-solvers first noticed that our five wacky theme entries concealed five famous (3,3) names — but they were staggered, with a 3-letter last name in the first word, and a two-letter first name in the second word. These formed a chain, with the fifth theme entry circling back. Like so:

17-A: [Nervousness about holding a baseball bat correctly?] = STANCE ANGST
25-A: [Avoids capture in the “Lord of the Rings” universe?] = FLEES SAURON
36-A: [Like a big-box store with but a single senior staffer?] = SPARSELY MANAGED
51-A: [Delicious eel-based brunch?] = MORAY OMELET
61-A: [Juice company’s shame at releasing a lousy flavor?] = MOTT‘S INFAMY

Starting with the back half of the first entry, we see a famous (3,3) person in successive back/front ends:

ANG LEE in ANGST / FLEES
RON ELY in SAURON / SPARSELY
MAN RAY in MANAGED / MORAY
MEL OTT in MORAY / OMELET
AMY TAN in INFAMY/ STANCE, circling back up to the top

Now what?

STEP 2:

Notice that each of these five famous people can satisfy another clue in the grid. Starting with the novelists first now:

AMY TAN works for the clue to EGGERS at 11-D: [Noted San Francisco Bay-area novelist]

ANG LEE works for the clue to NOLAN at 69-A: [Director with two Best Picture nominations (as producer) this century]. Oddly specific and weird clue, which hipped a lot of solvers to the hijinks.

RON ELY works for (Charlotte) RAE at 50-A: [TV star who appeared in several “The Love Boat” episodes in the 1980s]

MAN RAY works for ONO at 65-A: [Artist who was the subject of one of Andy Warhol’s famous “Polaroid Portraits”]

MEL OTT works for NADAL at 15-A: [Athlete whose surname often appears in crossword puzzles]

STEP 3:

The first letters of those alt-answers (EGGERS/NOLAN/RAE/ONO/NADAL) spells ENRON. Is there a famous (3,3) related to that? Yes, disgraced CEO Ken Lay, our contest answer.

Pretty solid, but was there a click that made it a 100-percenter? Indeed: KENO and SLAY at 31-A and 37-A, hiding just like the other theme entries (albeit a little more subtly).

Golem asks:

What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?

Answer: 3.3

CanNibble writes:

Sure he’s in the grid, but he’s aptly crooked.

And finally, Seth Rotkin notes:

Got *very* confused by MEL OTT having the “First name of a Spice Girl” (see 22-Across) but on closer inspection the rest of the clues refer to the actual person, not just part of their name.

GUEST CONSTRUCTOR: PAOLO PASCO

Two extra days wasn’t even enough (what a week!), but luckily I had an emergency switch to pull. That would be today’s puzzle by Paolo Pasco.

Paolo is a data scientist in San Diego, CA. As a fun little Spider-Man-type alternate life thing, he is also the assistant crossword editor for the Atlantic and AV Club Crossword, and has puzzles in rotation at the New Yorker and The Browser. He has a website, Grids These Days, which is just *that* close to hitting Puzzle #100. Outside of all that, he likes to cross-stitch, watch movies, and have fun times with his friends.

Excited to have Paolo appear here at MGWCC! Let’s see what he’s got for us…

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

This week’s contest answer is a term used in history.

NOTE: Due to the delayed post, the entry deadline this week is 3 PM ET on Thursday, September 1st.

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