LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

Title: “Set Collection” by Alex Eaton-Salners
Prompt: This week’s contest answer is a Monopoly property.
Answer: BALTIC AVENUE, found by 226 solvers, of which 123 were solo solves

Another SAD (Simple and Difficult) meta last week, like the puzzle before it. Just one insight required, and not complicated at all, and everything is right there on the page in plain view — yet just 11 solvers got it in the first hour.

Five theme entries, starred for your solving convenience:

16-A: [*Intriguing spot] = TEASER AD
24-A: [*Keaton/Russo crime drama about an NYPD detective] = ONE GOOD COP
34-A: [*Collection split across multiple rows] = PERIODIC TABLE. If your meta antennae started buzzing when you read this clue, they did not fail you. It is indeed oddly and suspiciously worded, and the Periodic Table has been the basis for many a meta in the past.
44-A: [*Surfer’s starting point] = ADDRESS BAR
56-A: [*Flipped out] = GONE LOCO

So let’s look at that suspicious clue again: “split across multiple rows” is a strange way to describe the Periodic Table. Yes it’s comprised of multiple rows, but how is it “split”? The elements just appear in blocks in a logical manner, more “arranged” than “split”. So this word has to mean something…

And if you look closely, you’ll see element names that are split from row to row of theme entries:

TEASER AD ONE GOOD COP PERIODIC TABLE ADDRESS BAR GONE LOCO

That’s RADON, COPPER, LEAD, and ARGON. Back to the prompt: What Monopoly property can finish the pattern? Meta answer BALTIC AVENUE using the CO from LOCO and the BALT from BALTIC. This was found by 224 solvers.

2 other solvers found an intriguing alt-answer that we accepted as correct: B&O RAILROAD, since the B stands for BALTIMORE! Remarkable — not much starts with BALT, but two etymologically unrelated Monopoly properties do, if you extend the B in B&O. Both solvers said they were sure it was right when they saw it so didn’t look further, and got full credit for it.

Thanks for this SAD (Simple and Difficult) meta, Alex! And now it’s on to Week 5…

GUEST CONSTRUCTOR MONTH, PUZZLE #5:

Our fifth and final Guest Constructor this month is Paul Coulter. He writes:

I’m a retired biology professor living in the Philadelphia area (Go Union, Phils, Sixers, Iggles!). I’m an avid sports fan, but even I admit that the Flyers are hopeless in their current form. Aside from constructing US-style crosswords, I enjoy cooking, cryptic crosswords in the Guardian and Times (of London), and getting my butt whupped playing backyard soccer against my seven-year old granddaughter Adeline. Look out for Addie Coulter, US WNST, 2034!

Alrighty! Let’s see what Paul’s got for us in the anchor spot this month…

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

This week’s contest answer is a type of sandwich.

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