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LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

Title: “Tentative Meta” by Tom Burnakis”
Prompt: This week’s contest answer is a number.
Answer: 100, found by 297 solvers, of which 229 were solo

Subtle and SAD (simple and difficult) meta from Tom Burnakis last week. In one non-tortured sentence: take the first letter of the answers to the ten clues that contained exactly ten words in them to spell the meta answer. Well, to spell TEN SQUARED, which = meta answer ONE HUNDRED.

For this to work, the non-theme clues had to be pretty short so the ten longer clues would stand out. And stand out they did, as seen in this solution by Gridmaster T:

Mikey G says:

This meta gets 100%

anjhinz writes:

My obligatory ten word comment: what a fun puzzle, thanks!

jus10 says:

Maybe my nickname gave me an unfair advantage? I dunno.

And SarandDrew write:

10/10 meta!

Agreed — novel and interesting. Thanks, Dr. Tom! And now, on to next week…

GUEST CONSTRUCTOR MONTH, PUZZLE #4:

Our fourth Guest Constructor is Alex Eaton-Salners. Alex lives in Southern California, where he works for a
large technology company. He’s published hundreds of puzzles including a book of diagramless crosswords. His hobbies include the sport of curling, escape rooms, and using serial commas. He’s also a voracious reader and enjoys spending time in nature.

Alrighty — let’s see what AES has in store for Week 4…

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

What Monopoly property would be a fitting sixth theme entry for this puzzle?

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