LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

Title: “I Shall Return”
Prompt: This week’s contest answer is a noted movie sequel (be sure to submit the sequel’s title, not the original’s).
Answer: MOANA 2 found by 535 solvers, 526 of which were solo solves

Looking for a movie sequel, and our theme entries were:

17-A: [Tourist’s need on the second-largest island of the Philippines?] = MINDANAO MAP

28-A: [Breakfast eaten in a state of enlightenment?] = NIRVANA OMELETS

42-A: [Student’s reaction to an unexpectedly high grade?] = I GOT AN A, OMIGOSH!

54-A: [“Allow me to introduce you two US Open finalists of 2018”?] = SERENA, NAOMI

And then at the omega-across:

64-A: [“And…she’s ___” (famous Disney movie line of 2016…and what’s going on in our theme entries)] = BACK

And there MOANA is in reverse (ANAOM) in each of our theme entries, making the recently-released “Moana 2” our contest answer.

Big thanks to Gridmaster T for the graphic above!

FIREBALL NEWSFLASH:

Consider subscribing to the new edition of Fireball Newsflash Crosswords, written by the great Peter Gordon. Current events crosswords full of newsy entries:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/petergordonpuzzler/2025-fireball-newsflash-crosswords

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

This puzzle’s contest answer is a celebrity with a total of eight letters in their first and last names.

Good luck!

–Matt