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LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

Title: “Quartet for Strings”
Prompt: This week’s contest answer is a person in the news this week.
Answer: SERENA WILLIAMS
Correct entries: 641 overall, of which 626 were solo solves

Four nonsensical phrases in our grid last week:

17-A: [Clean someone’s teeth with a sci-fi weapon?] = LASER ENAMEL

27-A: [Result of the new Disney CEO disliking the word “Mickey”?] = MOUSE RENAMED

48-A: [Response to “Hey troubadour, what’re you doing beneath that balcony”?] = I’M SERENADING

63-A: [Coffee shop freebie in a French department?] = ISERE NAPKIN

Those each conceal the letters SERENA, indicating tennis legend Serena Williams, who retired on Tuesday after a very long (she turns 41 in a couple of weeks) and extremely successful career.

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

This week’s contest answer is a synonym for “threadbare”.

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