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: “Call to Order”
Instructions: This week’s contest answer is a two-word phrase.
Answer: PIZZA PIE
A power Week 1 from power duo Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon: novel, amusing, and almost unmissable (625 correct vs. 2 incorrect).
Four ingredients of our order, each clued as [Order, in part], are missing something: PEPERON, MORELLA, ARMESAN and ANCHOVS. We also get some nudges at 36-A [Description of the order, in parts] = PIECEMEAL and 24-D [What’s ordered, and how to get it] = TAKE OUT.
Those “order parts” look like pizza ingredients, so let’s see what we’ve taken out to piece this meal together: PEP(P)ERON(I), MO(ZZA)RELLA, (P)ARMESAN, and ANCHOV(IE)S gives us contest answer PIZZA PIE, and buy yourself a cannolli afterwards if you noticed bonus entry ITALY in the lower center. Magnifico, Enrico e Emilia!
Solvers loved this one, and loved seeing this duo meta with us here. Small Wave Dave says:
Cox and Rathvon are national treasures!
wasoxygen wants this one enshrined:
Hall of Fame Guest Constructor Month!
KateD writes:
Love Cox-Rathvon puzzles. Thanks for contributing!
Xword lover says:
Easy but very clever for Week 1
Steve Jorgensen says:
Love their Acrostics every other week in the NYT. All fun and I have managed to solve every one over the past several years.
just10 writes:
I’m a huge fan of the Cox and Rathvon puzzles. So great you invited them this month!
Maggie W. suggests:
Hi Matt, I honestly wouldn’t mind an all-Hex guest month.
Hex is Emily and Henry’s nom de puzzling, in case you didn’t know.
Trout Almondine writes:
I’ve been doing Cox and Rathvon puzzles for over 25 years–and I got my hands on back issues of the magazine they used to publish in, monthly, and went back even further. They are living legends.
lisepac writes:
Have been solving HEX cryptics for decades, starting with my parents’ Atlantic Monthly. On nights when I had trouble sleeping, I’d memorize a few particularly knotty clues and fall asleep trying to unravel them. Thanks for the photo!
Andrew Bradburn echoes that:
I also am a big fan of Cox and Rathvon. Been doing their cryptics for decades. Thanks for inviting them to construct!
patanga too:
A big thank you to our guest constructors; I am an awed fan of their cryptics.
We could keep going (there were many more such comments) but you get the idea — people loved this one, and loved that Emily and Henry contributed here. And so do I! Thanks to both of you for a memorable Week 1.
This week’s winner, whose name was chosen at random from the 625 correct entries received, is Jeff Eddings of San Ramon, Calif. In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil, and notepad set, Jeff will also receive a signed copy of my book Pint-Size Crosswords.
GUEST CONSTRUCTOR MONTH 2019, PUZZLE #2:
Next up we’ve got another puzzling duo: Laura Braunstein and Ken Stern. Here’s a pic of them from Lollapuzzoola last month:
I first met Laura earlier this summer at the Indie 500, and then got to sit next to her at dinner that evening, which was a lot of fun. By day she’s a librarian at Dartmouth College, but you probably know her as co-founder of the Inkubator, which features an all-women lineup of constructors and had a very successful Kickstarter last year. She’s also been published in the New York Times and the AVCX.
Ken I first met in the ACPT in 1997, where we had a memorable group dinner with a fun crowd and got kicked out of the restaurant’s mall afterward (or couldn’t find our way out, or something crazy). Ken works for the Advanced Placement (AP) program in New York City and he’s been published in the New York Times as well as a being a strong solver (he came in second in the B Division at the 2011 ACPT).
So let’s do it! Week 2 awaits…
THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:
This week’s contest answer is an 11-letter phrase.
Solve well, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive.