WANT TO SUBSCRIBE TO MY CROSSWORD CONTEST?: MGWCC is available only to subscribers at my Patreon page. A subscription costs $3/month.

LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

Title: “Urban Planning”
Prompt: This week’s contest answer is a city within 1,000 miles of Al Khor, Qatar, where the 2022 World Cup will begin on Nov. 20.
Answer: BAGHDAD
Correct entries: 404 overall, of which 340 were solo solves

World Cup, Round 2: seven cities concealed themselves in our theme entries:

18-A: [Like an angry bull’s nostrils] = FLARED OUT

20-A: [Like Starbucks and McDonald’s] = UBIQUITOUS

29-A: [Change in a DNA sequence] = GENE VARIANT

41-A: [Horse racing, poetically] = THE SPORT OF KINGS

55-A: [Side-by-side analyses] = COMPARISONS

63-A: [Roadside assistance reason, often] = TIRE DAMAGE

70-A: [Like rice noodles] = PAPER-THIN

Whoops — kid duty all of a sudden! I’ll finish this writeup this afternoon! But for now, help me welcome…

GUEST CONSTRUCTOR: MIKE GRACZYK

Mike Graczyk is a math tutor from the Chicagoland area. When he’s not solving metas, making metas, or thinking up another groaner (he never meta puzzle he didn’t like), he enjoys cats, coffee, his beloved Cubbies, reading, logic problems, smooth jazz, spending time with friends and family, speaking about his hobbies in the third person, cats, and repeating himself.

And you can find Mike’s meta-blog here:

https://punofakind.blogspot.com/

And now, let’s see what he’s got for us this week…

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

This week’s contest answer is what you might be if you solve it.

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