LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

Title: “MGWCC #912 — “The Bottom Line” by Patrick Berry
Prompt: This week’s contest answer is a four-letter word.
Answer: TAIL, found by 255 solvers, 156 of which were solo solves

Four grid-spanning theme entries, made up of nonsense phrases with 5,5,5 enumeration. They are:

16-A: [Presents avant-garde musical drama?] = SHOWS NOVEL OPERA
31-A: [The Sowbelly of Damocles?] = BACON ABOVE RULER. I was last week years old when I learned the word “sowbelly”!
40-A: [Sample extreme baking product?] = TASTE ULTRA FLOUR
57-A: [Hermits commandeer mountainside spot?] = GURUS USURP LEDGE.

Now what? We’ve got four grid-spanning theme entries with 5-5-5 enumeration, so that’s gotta mean something. And it did — it meant stack those fivers! Like so:

SHOWS
NOVEL
OPERA

BACON
ABOVE
RULER

TASTE
ULTRA
FLOUR

GURUS
USURP
LEDGE

Now what? Hmmm…those really look like they want another layer of letters below them! SNO up top could be SNOB or SNOW, and everything else look simpatico for making 5×4 rectangles. And they were:

SHOWS
NOVEL
OPERA
BERET

BACON
ABOVE
RULER
STAND

TASTE
ULTRA
FLOUR
TYPES

GURUS
USURP
LEDGE
FREED

Gotta be the right path, but we still don’t have a four-letter answer. What’s the final step? Find another clue in the puzzle that can satisfy each of these entries:

19-A: [Soft brimless cap] = TAM, but also BERET
14-A: [Get up from a chair] = ARISE, but also STAND
65-A: [Varieties] = ILKS, but also TYPES
51-A: [Released from jail] = LET GO, but also FREED.

Those first letters spell out contest answer TAIL. Lovely.

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

This week’s puzzle is a guest meta by Ben Chenoweth. Instructions:

The answer to this meta is where you’ll find it.