Title: “Following a Pattern” by Patrick Berry
Prompt: This week’s contest answer is a six-letter word.
Answer: SEWING
Correct entries: 374 overall, of which 302 were solo solves

Beautifully spare meta from Patrick last week, with solvers getting only the minimum of information and hintage required. We had six long theme entries:

18-A: [Jack Crawford’s portrayer in “The Silence of the Lambs”] = SCOTT GLENN
22-A: [Like 1-800 numbers] = TOLL-FREE
37-A: [Printings with wide margins for copyediting notes] = GALLEY PROOFS
44-A: [They might cause someone to smile] = FACIAL NERVES
54-A: [Pirates sail them] = HIGH SEAS
62-A: [Ornamental plants of the Southwest] = YUCCA TREES

At first these appear to have little in common, and even their identities as theme entries aren’t certain in the case of the eight-letter entries. But he did mention a six-letter word, so maybe they are…and slowly, the idea emerges into view…

…and that idea is: each of the two words in each theme entry shares a cryptogram-style pattern. We’ll use numbers so it’s not confusing:

Both SCOTT and GLENN follow a 12344 pattern
Both TOLL and FREE follow a 1233 pattern
Both GALLEY and PROOFS follow a 123345 pattern
Both FACIAL and NERVES follow a 123425 pattern
Both HIGH and SEAS follow a 1231 pattern
Both YUCCA and TREES follow a 12334 pattern

Now what? Look for the one entry in the fill that also follows each of these patterns:

12344 = SNIFF
1233 = EVOO
123345 = WESSON
123425 = INLAND
1231 = NOUN
12334 = GIDDY

The initial letter of these six spell contest answer SEWING, another kind of following a pattern.

Beautifully done, as one expects. Care for more? Patrick has a brand-new suite of nine metas entitled “Heavy Meta” which would be a bargain at twice its price of $15. Very highly recommended sight unseen.

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THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

No instructions given on the site this week since solvers have a no-instructions option, so that would be spoilery.