LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

Title: “MGWCC #903 — “Character Swap”
Prompt:This puzzle’s contest answer is a famous movie of the 1980s.
Answer: TWINS, found by 233 solvers, 141 of which were solo solves

LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE:

Step 1: Solve the puzzle and note the five theme entries, which were:

17-A: [Gave more details (1)] = ELABORATED
26-A: [Doohickey (4)] = MECHANISM
38-A: [Words before words of wisdom (3)] = SOMEONE ONCE SAID
52-A: [Beer type that’s French for “raspberry” (2)] = FRAMBOISE
63-A: [Emphatic denial (5)] = NO WAY, NEVER

Step 2: With a nudge from the title, notice that each of these phrases conceals the name of a famous film character:

ELABORATED = BORAT, played by Sacha Baron Cohen
MECHANISM = HAN, played by Harrison Ford. More familiar as the full “Han Solo” but simply “Han” was also used in the movies.
SOMEONE ONCE SAID = NEO, played by Keanu Reeves in the “Matrix” and its sequels
FRAMBOISE = RAMBO, played by Sylvester Stallone
NO WAY, NEVER = WAYNE Campbell, played by Mike Myers in the “Wayne’s World” movies

So we’ve got Borat, Han, Neo, Rambo, and Wayne. Now what? Answer: swap this character out for another one played by each actor. The most obvious choice for each would be Ali G, Indiana Jones, Ted (from “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure), Rocky, and Shrek. But where to find a reference to those?

Answer: in five clues, whose initials spell the second famous role for each actor. They were:

5-A: [“I’d never doubt you!”] = INDY, for Indiana Jones. Answer to the clue: NATCH
14-A: [Adjust, like iffy guitars] = ALI G. Answer to the clue: TUNE
24-A: [Some have really excellent karma] = SHREK. Answer to the clue: SOULS
49-D: [Rabid ones can kill you] = ROCKY. Answer to the clue: WOLVES
61-A: [That Eisenhower dude] = TED. Answer to the clue: IKE

In order of the parenthetical numbers in clues, those spell contest answer TWINS, found by 233 solvers.

ab writes:

Still haven’t seen that one. Those two?

I reviewed it for my high school newspaper when it came out in 1988, but can’t locate a copy of it. Alas!

And rkval says:

Love that you included “dude” in the clue leading to Ted!

I wonder if anyone ever called D(u)DE “dude” to his face? Probably not.

On to Week 4 of September, featuring a well-known guest constructor around these parts…

GUEST CONSTRUCTOR: WILL NEDIGER

Today’s guest puzzle is by the great Will Nediger, whose work has graced these pages three times previously. Will lives in London, Ontario, with his wife and two kids. Besides all the usual places, his puzzles can be found in an increasing number of Canadian venues, including Maclean’s magazine, The Walrus, and local newspapers all over Ontario.

Let’s see what Will’s got for us for Week 4…

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

Will has failed to write two clues for this puzzle. The meta answer is a two-word phrase made up of what the first words of those clues should have been.