LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

Title: “By the Numbers”
Prompt: This week’s contest answer is a synonym for “excellent”.
Answer: MASTERFUL
Correct entries: 309 overall, of which 232 were solo solves

Nine one-word clues sat quietly in their columns last week, chuckling to themselves over their greater-than-usual importance. They were:

1-A: [Truism] = DICTUM
7-A: [Cap] = HAT
42-A: [Essential] = NECESSARY
45-A: [Representative] = CHARACTERISTIC. That’s the adjectival forms used there, since those two aren’t synonymous as nouns.
58-A: [Mug] = CUP
61-A: [Wealthy] = OPULENT
12-D: [Ares] = MARS
30-D: [Twister] = TORNADO
46-D: [Safety] = REFUGE

Now what? Answer: each of these pairs has exactly one letter in the same place in its words:

[Truism] = DICTUM
7-A: [Cap] = HAT
42-A: [Essential] = NECESSARY
45-A: [Representative] = CHARACTERISTIC
58-A: [Mug] = CUP
61-A: [Wealthy] = OPULENT
12-D: [Ares] = MARS
30-D: [Twister] = TORNADO
46-D: [Safety] = REFUGE

Taken in the usual top-to-bottom, left-to-right grid order, that spells contest answer MASTERFUL. My original answer was WONDERFUL but when I found the nice TORNADO/TWISTER pair I really wanted to use that T so I switched horses midstream.

And now it’s time for the last puzzle of 2021! Let’s go out with a bang, and I’ll see everyone in MMXXII!

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

This week’s contest answer is a well-known American university.

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