IMPORTANT NOTE: As of January 2015 MGWCC is a subscribers-only crossword. The cost is $26 per year, and you can subscribe (or get a free trial month first) here:

www.mgwcc.com

LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

Softball Week 2 to make up for the slider of Week 1: 381 solvers found the answer to the crossword clue [What the strong ancient Roman wore?]. Wee 13×13 grid, in which resided four theme entries:

15-A [Die whose rolls tell the future?] = OMEN CUBE

9-D [Retirement funds for New Mexico artists?] = TAOS IRAS

47-A [Being able to see the Pacific from your hotel room, or picking pineapples right from the tree?] = MAUI PERK

25-A [Guy you meet while climbing a Japanese mountain?] = FUJI CHAP

What’s the big idea? There are ten four-letter countries on our planet, and each of these eight theme words is one letter off from one of them:

OMEN = Oman
CUBA = Cuba
TAOS = Laos
IRAS = Iraq (could’ve been Iran, but wasn’t; see below)
MAUI = Mali
PERK = Peru
FUJI = Fiji
CHAP = Chad

The two missing are Togo and Iran, which answer the question [What the strong ancient Roman wore?] with meta answer IRON TOGA, found by 381 solvers.

Makfan writes:

I guess that means TAOS IRAS comes from LAOS IRAQ?

Right — there was some ambiguity as to whether Iraq or Iran is used for IRAS, but only “iron” from “Iran” fits the meta answer.

BretBloomquist says:

Sounds uncomfortable

to Tyler Fultz, too:

I don’t think I could ever pull that look off.

And Wayne notes:

Act III of Julius Caesar would’ve gone very differently if he’d been wearing one of these.

This week’s winner, whose name was chosen randomly from the 381 correct entries received, is Lance Keigwin of Monterey, Calif. In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set, Lance will also receive a signed copy of my book Pocket Posh Easy Crosswords.

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

In order to complete this puzzle’s theme pattern, one letter somewhere in the grid must change to another letter. Which letter is it? Hint: it’s in a five-letter word.

IMPORTANT NOTE: As of January 2015 MGWCC is a subscribers-only crossword. The cost is $26 per year, and you can subscribe (or get a free trial month first) here:

www.mgwcc.com

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