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LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

Title: “First Taste”
Prompt: This week’s contest answer is a country.
Answer: JAPAN
Correct entries: 692 overall, of which 668 were solo

Six theme entries in last week’s nation-hunt, and to which nation did they lead? Let’s check them out:

17-A: [“My goodness!”] = SAKES ALIVE!
20-A: [Wowed the crowd] = WAS A BIG SUCCESS
32-A: [Discriminatory, in a way] = MISOGYNISTIC
41-A: [Like many a 1980s music video] = SO BAD IT’S GOOD. Exhibit A.
53-A: [Discombobulated] = BENT OUT OF SHAPE
60-A: [Matt Damon’s condition, in the Jason Bourne movies] = FUGUE STATE.

Each of those six begins with a signature food or drink item from contest answer JAPAN, especially in the news lately because Olympics. They are SAKE, WASABI, MISO soup, SOBA noodles, a BENTO box, and dangerous FUGU. I visited Japan in 2003 with my high school friend who is Japanese on his Mom’s side, and his aunts and uncles took us out for fugu in Tokyo. When it arrived, jokester uncle Kazuo pushed the plate over to me and said “You eat first. If you’re still alive in five minutes, then we Japanese eat.” Standard fugu restaurant humor I’m sure but it was still funny.

docison says:

U don’t have to make it so easy, Matt!

Well it was a Week 1 of 5, so I thought: the easier the better.

Jesse Lansner says:

U do not disappoint with these metas!

Thanks, Jesse! Even with a Week 1 of 5 I try to make them interesting and fun, along with virtually unmissable.

Myelbow writes:

U do nifty metas, Matt.

Thank you! I like the adjective “nifty” there — not often applied to metas, but now that I see it, I like it! Well chosen.

And finally, marpocky says:

U DON’t need to give me any more hints!

Haha — Week 1 of 5, so I won’t!

Loved the comments this week, especially that solvers feel comfortable enough to use the casual “U” with me instead of the stilted “you.” I’m glad we’re “good like that”!

GUEST CONSTRUCTOR: MALAIKA HANDA

Today’s meta is by the still-fairly-new-but-already-making-her-mark constructor Malaika Handa, who writes:

Hey everyone, I’m Malaika, writing to y’all from Brooklyn, and I’m super excited to have today’s puzzle! I’ve been constructing for under a year, so I’m really grateful to Matt for giving me a space on his site. I love metas– they make me feel like I am a character in “The Mysterious Benedict Society” (deep cut). I hope you all have fun with this one! If you enjoy, I’ve got more puzzles (mostly non-metas) on my website, and I’m a constructor for the upcoming Boswords summer tournament. I hope to (virtually) see you there! You can also find me reviewing crosswords on Crossword Fiend and talking about puzzles on Twitter.

Thanks to Malaika, and let’s see what meta-wizardry she’s conjured up for us today:

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

Today’s puzzle is Week 2 of 5 in July. Instructions:

This week’s contest answer is a five-letter word.

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