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:
Title: “Early Education”
Instructions: This week’s contest answer is how an easy Week 5 meta might make you feel.
Answer: BABIED
The great Jeff Chen guest constructed a beauty for us last week, in what I’m calling the SAD style of meta: “Simple And Difficult.” This is one of my favorite meta types, and one of the toughest to create; a SAD puzzle features a mechanism that is very simple to explain, but difficult to spot.
So here, I’ll explain it in two quick sentences: Each of the six theme entries contains only one letter that’s “PRE-K” in the alphabet. Those letters spell contest answer BABIED.
That’s it! But so tough to solve — just 24 got it in the Week 5 Version, and another 198 in the Week 2 Version. The only difference between the two was the bottom-right square in the grid, which was a K for PRE-K/SEEK in the Week 2 and PREP/SEEP in the Week 5. In the Week 2 PRE-K was clued as [Early education, for short], nudging solvers toward the idea.
Neville, who submitted his answer at 13 minutes past noon on Friday using the Week 5 version, writes:
WEEK 5 — and an excellent puzzle!
johnstonteacher says:
Brilliant! I solved the week 5 version first out of curiosity, but I would never have gotten it without the PRE-K nudge.
Tom Moose had no trouble:
Week 5! My job where I alphabetize things all day came in handy. Hooray librarianship!
And finally, Lucky March turned out to be oddly unlucky for Laura E-D:
The one month I get all 5, I only needed to get 3!
This week’s winners are:
For the Week 2 version: our winner, whose name was chosen at random from among the 198 correct entries received, is K.H.
For the Week 5 version: our winner, whose name was chosen at random from among the 24 correct entries received, is Andy Hinz of Denver, Colo.
In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil, and notepad set, both winners will also receive a signed copy of Jeff Chen’s young adult book ULTRABALL: LUNAR BLITZ. Congrats to both of our winners, and thanks again to Jeff for the puzzle!
LUCKY MARCH WINNERS:
Congratulations to the following 13 MGWCC winners for Lucky March, whose names were chosen at random from among the 267 people who sent in the correct contest answer to at least three of last month’s five puzzles (GREEN BOOK, BITTERSWEET, WOMEN, IVY LEAGUE, BABIED). Each will receive a MGWCC pen, pencil, and notepad set:
A.W.
Jami B. — Edison, N.J.
Mike Buchanan — Sunnyvale, Calif.
Ethan Budin — Deerfield, Ill.
Regina Cassidy — Staten Island, N.Y.
Chad D’Esposito — Simpsonville, S. Car.
R.E.
Chuck Glew — Chicago, Ill.
Ben Gutman — Portland, Ore.
T.M.
Will Nediger — London, Ont.
Joon Pahk — Somerville, Mass.
Mike Sylvia — Seattle, Wash.
Congratulations to all our winners, and thanks for playing Lucky March! Now we’ve got another theme month coming up…
GENTLE APRIL:
Lucky March was a tough month, so let’s even things out with Gentle April. All of the metas this month will be Week 1 or Week 2 level. So if you’ve ever wanted to introduce someone gently to metas, this would be the time for them to sign up for a free month of MGWCC here.
Want a tougher challenge? Here are two suggestions:
1) Don’t look at the instructions. Joon Pahk does this on Week 1’s and it’s extremely entertaining to read about later.
2) Only use the Down clues. Joon also does this. You get the sense that Joon like tough crosswords.
However you play Gentle April, have fun with it! Let’s begin…
THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:
This week’s contest answer is a classic movie that would have made a good fifth theme entry.
Solve well, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive.