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:
LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:
A one-insight meta last week, but a tough one — just 151 correct entries rolled in for Week 3 of A December to Dismember. We were looking for a six-letter word, and our theme entries were…what? The grid was asymmetrical, with the three longest entries all being single words: ULTRASONOGRAPHY, NARCOTERRORISM, and INVOLUNTARILY.
With a nudge from the title, you might also have notices that those longest entries are 15, 14, and 13 letters long — and that there’s only one entry of each of those lengths in the grid. Hmmm…there are no 12s, but a single 11 (QUARANTINED), a single 10 (UNDISPUTED), no 9, three 8s…and then a solitary 7 (EARNEST). The first letters of those six uniquely-long grid entries, in order from longest to shortest, spell out contest answer UNIQUE.
Gwinns says:
Bold choice to put the answer in all caps on the “submit an answer” form!
Hey, I’m here to help.
This week’s winner, whose name was chosen at random from among the 151 correct entries received, is P.P. In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil, and notepad set, P.P. will also receive a 1-year subscription to Andrew Ries’ new weekly subscription feature, Aries Freestyle. Next week’s winner will receive the same.
A DECEMBER TO DISMEMBER GUEST PUZZLE:
Guest Constructor this week, but I’ll be returning for Week 5 of AD2D on Friday the 29th, which is also Puzzle #500 of MGWCC. We won’t stop until puzzle #1000, so we’re almost halfway home.
Pinch-hitting this week is Nate Cardin, whose excellent Guest Constructor Month Puzzle “Side-Eye” you’ll remember from June.
Nate sends along this note about a puzzle project for which he’s seeking constructors:
There’s a need for more LGBTQ+ representation in CrossWorld and an even greater need to support fantastic LGBTQ+ charities, so I’ve recently started a project called Queer Qrosswords. Envisioned as a queer twist on Francis Heaney’s fantastic Puzzles for Progress, Queer Qrosswords will be a fun packet of LGBTQ+-themed crosswords written by LGBTQ+ constructors to fully benefit LGBTQ+ charities. We have a great set of constructors already signed on, but we’re open to others who might also be interested. If there are any other LGBTQ+ constructors (of any experience level!) who’d be interested in writing a puzzle for this project, please get in touch with me at natecardin@gmail.com for more information. We’re especially interested in constructors of color and non-male-identified constructors so as to represent the LGBTQ+ community as diversely possible, though all are certainly welcome. Queer Qrosswords is expected to drop in early-mid March – stay tuned, one and all!
Thanks for the puzzle, Nate — and now on to Week 4 of AD2D…
<THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:
This week’s contest answer is a pair of eight-letter words.
Solve well, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive.