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LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

Title: “Hanging by a Thread”
Prompt: This week’s contest answer is a synonym for “threadbare.”
Answer: WORN-OUT
Correct entries: 540 overall, of which 523 were solo solves

Not clear what our theme entries were with the Week 2 of 5 in September last week. But there was a revealer stashed a bit strangely not at the omega-across but rather at the chi-across, a.k.a. the antepenultimate across, a.k.a. 70-Across:

[Moth-___ (threadbare; not the meta answer!)]

Answer was EATEN, so “moth-eaten” is not the meta-answer but it does help us suss out our theme: many entries across contain MOTH with a letter inserted between the O and T, as if the moth had “eaten” the letter:

17-A: [Use blades on blades] = MOW THE LAWN
21-A: [Drink from a blender] = SMOOTHIE
27-A: [Vaguely consider a course of action] = HUMOR THE IDEA
40-A: [March or Ramadan, say] = MONTH
47-A: [1930 tariff act signed by President Hoover] = SMOOT-HAWLEY
54-A: [Martini ingredient] = VERMOUTH
64-A: [Bronx neighborhood just across the Harlem River from Manhattan] = MOTT HAVEN

Those letters devoured by our hungry flying friend spell contest answer WORN-OUT, our synonym for “threadbare.”

bhobgeary says:

Maybe my fastest solve ever!

johnstonteacher says:

This week’s contest answer is what a teacher is after the first week back.

And finally, Evan gives his 3-letter opinion of this one:

LONGARMOFTHELAW DARTMOUTH SLAMONTHEBRAKES

Thanks, Evan! That’s what every meta should be…except Week 5s. Those should be excruciating.

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

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

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