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LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:
Title: “Weird Neighbors”
Instructions: This puzzle grid contains three countries. What fourth country, whose name has seven letters, should also be in the grid but isn’t?
Answer: TUNISIA
Do you have weird neighbors? These countries did, if you picked up on “weird” as the cryptic-style anagram hint. The three entries clued as just [COUNTRY] were URUGUAY, YEMEN, and USA, and our four wacky theme entries were:
17-A: [“I’m so glad that Caribbean island’s surge in popularity has finally abated!”] = ADIOS, ARUBAMANIA!
27-A: [University professor who studies nerve cells?] = AXON ACADEMIC
46-A: [Boast from someone talking on the phone at 30,000 feet?] = I GAB AERIALLY. Probably a three-word sentence that no human has ever written before now.
60-A: [Teaching someone how to smoke marijuana?] = TRAINING A BLAZER.
Anagram each wacky answer into two countries who are the only two neighbors of one of the given countries:
ADIOS ARUBAMANIA = SAUDI ARABIA + OMAN, which are the only two neighbors of YEMEN
AXON ACADEMIC = CANADA + MEXICO, which are the only two neighbors of the USA
I GAB AERIALLY = ALGERIA + LIBYA, which are the only two neighbors of TUNISIA, which isn’t in the grid but should be!
TRAINING A BLAZER = BRAZIL + ARGENTINA, which are the only two neighbors of URUGUAY. So TUNISIA is indeed our missing country, found by 389 solvers.
This week’s winner, whose name was chose at random from the 389 correct answers, is Ryan Friedman of Nashua, N.H. In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil, and notepad set, Ryan will also receive a signed copy of my book Pint-Size Crosswords.
GENTLE APRIL WINNERS:
Congratulations to the following 10 winners for Gentle April, whose names were chosen at random from among the 261 people who sent in the correct contest answer to all four of last month’s challenges (KING KONG, MAMMA MIA, PIGPEN, TUNISIA). Each will receive a MGWCC pen, pencil, and notepad set:
Ben Aisen — New York City, N.Y.
Amy Bemis — Minneapolis, Minn.
Sean Forbes — Crest Hill, Ill.
Craig Harman — Silver Spring, Md.
Brian MacDonald — Stamford, Conn.
Joe Nelson — Chicago, Ill.
David Poole — Wakefield, Que.
D.V.
Mike Weepie — Cedar Rapids, Ia.
Scott Weiss — Walkersville, Md.
Congratulations to all our winners, and thanks for playing Gentle April. Now we have normal, no-special-name May. But it does have a Fifth Friday, so there’s that…
THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:
This week’s contest answer is a famous actor.
Solve well, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive.