WANT TO SUBSCRIBE TO MY CROSSWORD CONTEST?: MGWCC is available only to subscribers at my Patreon page. A subscription costs $3/month.

LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

Title: “Bit by Bit” by Richard D. Allen
Prompt: This week’s contest answer is a nine-letter word.
Answer: INCREMENT
Correct entries: 514 overall, of which 474 were solo solves

Slightly tricky Week 1 of 5, though we did have a 99.6% success rate of those who submitted. The three long entries were starred to ensure their themehood was noted by solvers:

19-A: [*Wife of the heir apparent to the throne, in some monarchies] = CROWN PRINCESS

34-A: [*Cold War-era legislative body] = SUPREME SOVIET

54-A: [*Benefit-maximizing decision-maker discussed in economics, AI, etc.] = RATIONAL AGENT

Now what? A scan of the grid revealed some familiar-looking short entries. Why so familiar? Because nine of them could be found as pieces of those three theme entries:

CROW — NPR — ESS
SUP — ESO — VIET
RAT — IONA — LAG

See solution grid for exact locations of those. The titular “Bit” left over in each of those three theme entries is INC — REM — ENT, giving us contest answer INCREMENT.

Mike G says:

That took me a “bit” to see – great puzzle!

BHamren writes:

Nice guest puzzle. Don’t think I have seen one like this, yet still a week 1.

Agreed — appears to be a simple but novel theme idea. A nice find.

Sharkicicles says:

I solved this while on the 10D.

And finally, Mutman says:

BRA VOW EEK ONE!

Yes – thanks, Richard! And remember to check out his site Lexicon Devil if you’d like to see more of his metas (and non-metas).

GUEST CONSTRUCTOR MONTH 2022, WEEK 2 OF 5:

Week 2 of GCM is here, authored by two talented Guest Constructor Month veterans, Will Pfadenhauer and Malaika Handa.

Will writes:

Hi folks! I’m stoked to be back on Matt’s site, and this time with a true powerhouse of a collaborator: Malaika! Seriously, this puzzle would not exist without her help – but more on that later. Since I was last here, I launched a new website for the meta crosswords I’ve been making! You can now find all of my past puzzles on PandorasBlocks.org. By day, I’m a graduate student at UMass Amherst where I study invasive plants, and when I’m not doing that or making puzzles I’m usually preparing for my next adventure race or wallowing in the sadness of being a Nationals fan in 2022.

And now, from Malaika:

Hey squad, I’m glad to be back for my second puzzle on Matt’s site, and my first collab (anywhere) with Will! If you’d like more puzzles from me (not metas alas), I have a few midis every week with Vulture. (Warning: Extreme Levels Of Pop Culture References.) I also send out an email every time I have a full-sized puzzle somewhere, whether it’s in a print publication, an indie publication like this, or just on my own website. You can sign up here. And lastly, if you’d like to hear my General Crossword Thoughts, I write things on Crossword Fiend (twice a week) and on Rex’s blog (once a month) and on Twitter (far too much). I’ve been called “childish,” “adorable,” “thoughtless,” and “a breath of fresh air,” by Various Internet Commenters so take that as you will!!

Alrighty — let’s see what this dynamic duo has come up with for Week 2 of 5:

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

This week’s contest answer is things that often end up where they started.

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