LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

Title: “Who Loves Ya, Baby?”
Prompt: This week’s contest answer is someone from whom you may receive a Valentine.
Answer: SECRET ADMIRER found by 404 solvers, of which 346 were solo solves

Five grid-spanning theme entries last week (well, if you don’t count cheater squares…). They were:

15-A: [Huge fan of the local population?] = NATIVE DEVOTEE
19-A: [Person who can’t stop acquiring diplomas?] = DEGREE FANATIC
33-A: [Connoisseur who’s a smooth operator?] = SUAVE AFICIONADO
42-A: [Huge fan of poet Rita?] = DOVE SUPPORTER
50-A: [Huge fan of Paul Bunyan and “The Shining”?] = AXE ENTHUSIAST. Is the axe-throwing craze over? There’s an axe-throwing place in the next town over from Staunton but I’ve never been. I don’t think I would get it.

First step is to notice that the second word of each of these two-word phrases is a synonym for “fanatic” (or “aficionado” or “devotee” etc.). I guess a better way of saying it as that all five of these entry-ending words are synonyms.

OK, but then what’s the deal on the first words? It’s subtle, but they are all brands of deodorant/anti-perspirant. Quite the curveball, and highly missable; deodorant brands seem to not want to showcase the “smell” aspect of their product, so they just use vaguely positive words like…”native” and “suave” for their product…or “Secret.”

The second words’ connection was much easier to spot, as each is a synonym for “fan” — devotee, fanatic, aficionado, supporter, enthusiast — which leads us to contest answer SECRET ADMIRER, found by 377 solvers.

I also accepted “secret lover” (submitted by 27 solvers); it’s not quite as strong a phrase as “secret admirer,” but you Gen-Xers-and older might remember this cheesy classic from the ’80s:

Magoo writes from the UK:

Pretty tough when only one of these brands of anti-perspirant has made it to the UK!

Interesting. I wonder if other countries use the same vagueness when naming deodorants?

Who’s ready for Week 4 of 5? Here we go…

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS: