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LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

Title: “Second Look”
Prompt: This week’s contest answer, which is 10 letters long, is what you’ll need to use to solve the meta.
Answer: VISUAL CUES
Correct entries: 201, of which 104 were solo solves

I’ve labeled ideas like this “butler metas” in the past, as in “The Butler Did It.” Reason being that I’m using some standard piece of crossword mechanics to conceal the meta, and you’d never suspect that therein lies the key to the mystery!

It worked well here, with just 104 solo solves, meaning it played like a Week 4. Our hiding-in-plain-sight tool this time was five of those “See X-Across” (or Down) clues we use when an answer spans two entries in the grid. They were:

1-A: [With 65-Across, prized piece of porcelain] = MING / VASE
36-A: [With 37-Across, Italy’s leader from 1878 to 1900] = KING / UMBERTO
51-A: [With 63-Across, viewed a second time, as a film] = SAW / AGAIN. Slightly sus, since “saw again” isn’t really idiomatic enough to benefit from linkage.
9-D: [With 2-Down, eight elite schools] = THE / IVIES
12-D: [With 22-Down, The New York Post’s famed gossip column] = PAGE / SIX

Now what? Let’s examine those oh-so-innocent-looking second halves of those close, the types that never get any attention:

65-A: [See 1-Across] and 1-Across is MING
37-A: [See 36-Across] and 36-Across is KING
63-A: [See 51-Across] and 51-Across is SAW
2-D: [See 9-Down] and 9-Down is THE
22-D: [See 12-Down] and 12-Down is PAGE

Put that SEE in the clue before the referenced first half to form five new words:

SEEMING
SEEKING
SEESAW
SEETHE
SEEPAGE

Each of these is a valid answer to a different grid entry’s clue:

7-D: [Appearing to be] = SEEMING (instead of LOOKING)
11-D: [Searching for, as new possibilities] = SEEKING (instead of EXPLORING)
51-D: [Piece of playground equipment] = SEESAW (instead of SLIDE)
49-D: [Be unable to openly express one’s irritation at something] = SEETHE (instead of CHAFE)
60-A: [Pipe challenge] = SEEPAGE (instead of UNCLOGGING)

The five first letters of the first half of these clues spell VISUA, while the second half spell LCUES, leading to contest answer VISUAL CUES (see graphic above). Maddening for some solvers that those second five are CLUES if you swap the L and C, but no — it’s CUES here.

A co solver noticed that it also spells usual vices.

Is meta-solving a vice? No, it’s a virtue! I think…

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

This week’s contest answer, which is eight letters long, is what you’ll need for a successful solo solve.

NOTE: Due to the delayed post, the deadline for submitting entries this week is Wednesday, March 1st, at noon ET.

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