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LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

Title: “Global Search”
Prompt: This week’s contest answer is a nation in the news this month.
Answer: QATAR
Correct entries: 598 overall, of which 578 were solo solves

Are you ready for some fútbol? I bet I’m the first person to think of that. Anyway, four long theme entries last week:

17-A: [One of about 750 eateries in the US] = QDOBA RESTAURANT. I have eaten at two of them.
28-A: [Rulers of China from 1636-1912] = QING DYNASTY. QINGDY NASTY doesn’t sound quite as intimidating as HANDY NASTY.
45-A: [Bed, Bath & Beyond purchases (yes, this is what they actually call them)] = Q-TIP HOLDERS.
56-A: [Most of you are solving this crossword on these] = QWERTY KEYBOARDS. Fun to type just now, just roll your fingertip over those six keys!

So these are all Q-not-followed-by-a-U entries, which leads us to contest answer QATAR, in the news because the World Cup begins there on Nov. 20th. Not IRAQ since that’s Q-followed-by-nothing-and-not-starting-the-word-like-all-the-others, plus the clue at 63-A read [The meta answer is NOT this country, look more closely (it’s not Mozambique either, come on!)].

Bonus feature: none of the downs off those four theme Q’s were U-followed, either (FAQS, QR CODE, QANTAS, QVC).

Mikey G quips:

This is Qs you can use!

bodhipepper writes:

Solved while listening to the ESPN Daily podcast about this very topic!

JrMan keeps the theme rolling:

Qi that was fun — for me and for my qat (*qoph*, *qoph*)

Notorious hockey fan Tyler Hinman writes:

What, no shout-out to Equatorial Guinea? Also, to hell with the World Cup.

I should’ve also mentioned that it’s not EQUATORIAL GUINEA, the other Q country. Fun fact: Equatorial Guinea is not on the Equator! It’s close but not quite on it, so I propose a renaming of the country to Quasi-Equatorial Guinea.

And finally, jweaver writes:

Only possible answer. QED

And that’s that.

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

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