IMPORTANT NOTE: As of January 2015 MGWCC is a subscribers-only crossword. The cost is $26 per year, and you can subscribe (or get a free trial month first) here:
LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:
Title: “Solving in Pairs”
Instructions: This week’s contest answer is a famous duo, one of whom was born in 1953.
Answer: REGIS (Philbin) AND KATHIE LEE (Gifford)
Five long entries, so let’s look there first:
20-A: [The Joker’s portrayer on TV] = CESAR ROMERO
29-A: [Popular pasta] = PENNE RIGATE
40-A: [They deliver underwater] = CALVING WHALES. Also Pizza Hut in Honolulu. Not really.
52-A: [Hamburger topping] = FRIED ONIONS
68-A: [Result of seeking, in a Biblical verse] = YE SHALL FIND. It would have been evil of me to cite the chapter and verse numbers, since it’s Matthew 7:7, which would definitely have looked meta-related.
From the title we’re looking for pairs, and you might have noticed a few famous pair halves during your solve: there’s Miranda HOBBES at 1-A, which is half of Calvin & Hobbes — and hey, there’s CALVING in a theme entry…
So the idea turns out to be: each of the five theme entries contains the first member of a famous pair + one extra letter, and the second half of that pair appears in the fill. They are:
ROMEO and JULIET (50-D) from CESAR ROME(R)O
PENN and TELLER (11-A) from PENN(E) RIGATE
CALVIN and HOBBES (1-A) from CALVIN(G) WHALES
FRED and GINGER (74-A) from FR(I)ED ONIONS. The toughest one to find since a) Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers are old-school, plus b) they were probably more commonly referred to as a couple with their full names. Many solvers searched for WILMA in the grid before finally landing on GINGER.
HALL and OATES (from 62-A) YE (S)HALL FIND.
Those extra letters spell REGIS, meaning our contest duo must be either Regis (Philbin) & Kathie Lee (Gifford) or Regis & Kelly (Ripa). Kathie Lee is the one born in 1953, as the instructions stipulated, so Regis & Kathie Lee is our answer, found by 443 solvers. The Week 2 curse is broken yet again! Go me. Often they’re way too tough but I aim for between 400 and 500 for Week 2/5 so 443 is right over the plate.
Rachel Ostrow says:
and that’s my… final answer.
Squonk writes:
Did you know Regis once called me one of America’s finest, brightest young professors? I was a phone a friend on the original series of Millionaire. Unfortunately my friend did not take my correct answer, but at least he walked away with $64,000.
And Meta – World Peace writes:
I like that OLAF V answers “both-and” to the perennial “F or V?” question.
This week’s winner, whose name was chosen at random from the 443 correct entries received, is Jay Giess of Rochester, N.Y. In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil, and notepad set, Jay will also receive a signed copy of my book Mental Floss Crunchy Crosswords.
THANKS AND FAREWELL TO DAVE SULLIVAN!
Dave Sullivan is retiring this week after eight years as MGWCC Webmaster, and I’d like to say a big thank you to him, from myself and also on behalf of every MGWCC solver.
Dave revolutionized the structure of MGWCC and allowed it to expand greatly. As solvers from the early days recall, you used to have to e-mail me your entries, which made it very tough for me to read solver comments every week plus made things like monthly prizes much more difficulty logistically. It was Dave who prodded me to improve the whole system, and then did all those improvements himself! The design of the page, online weekly submissions, the Leaderboard with its Streaks, This Year, and Overall tabs — all this was Dave’s doing.
In addition, he created a lot of behind-the-scenes processes that make my life and my interaction with solvers much easier — I can easily read everyone’s comments each week on the submissions form as I’m verifying entries, for example, plus he automated the selection of weekly prizewinners, which I can’t even remember how we did before that but it must’ve been incredibly cumbersome.
Dave also made a lot of week-to-week technical contributions to the site, such as fixing typos in usernames, handling other issues involving streaks and entries, and serving on the Panel to judge alternate entries.
So again, a big thanks to Dave for his contributions to MGWCC — so much of what this site is now is due to his efforts, for which I’m eternally grateful.
As a swan song, here is Dave’s third MGWCC Guest Constructor appearance (and I trust not his last!). And a few words from the man himself:
My first memories of solving puzzles were the ones that appeared in the back of the TV Guide that would come in the mail each week. (This may explain my comfort with old-time TV clues, but none since cable guides appeared online.) . From there, I started to tackle the weekly puzzles by Henry Hook and Cox & Rathvon that would appear in the Sunday Boston Globe Magazine section. I’m not sure when I tried my hand at early week New York Times puzzles, but once I felt comfortable with them, I began to wonder how they were made and who were these constructors? Was it something I could do?
Since I solved the NYT puzzles online, I found the forum (frequented by a cryptic group called “The Cru”) helpful not only with solving but also with my first questions about constructing puzzles. Count me among the many constructors who got their start under the tutelage of Nancy Salomon, who helped with theme development and fill. Of my first 3 submissions to Will, he accepted one and I was over the moon with pride. Now 15 years hence, I’ve had varying degrees of successes and failures, but always a proud member of this community of puzzle solvers and makers.
Thanks again, Dave (who is on the left in this picture with his husband, Gary). Could not have done this without you!
And here is his Week 3 puzzle…
THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:
This week’s contest answer is a four-letter course you might take at a 45-Across.
Solve well, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive.