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: “That Really Sticks Out”
Instructions: This week’s contest answer is a familiar geographical region.
Answer: THE BALKAN PENINSULA
We got all peninsular last week, with six theme entries sardined into the grid:
18-A [Hit for Herb Alpert’s band] = TIJUANA TAXI. Lively little tune.
24-A [How Muslims pray] = FACING MECCA. There’s an app for that.
34-A [Home to a polar bear exhibit called the Arctic Ring of Life] = DETROIT ZOO
45-A [Rodent-borne danger] = SEOUL VIRUS
55-A [Sweet stuff, usually] = MUSCAT WINES
66-A [British ambassador to the U.S. during WWII] = LORD HALIFAX. I think I’ll change my name to this. If we ever meet in person, please address me as “Lord Halifax.”
There’s a city in each of those, each of which is on a noted peninsula:
Tijuana = BAJA Peninsula
Mecca = ARABIAN Peninsula
Detroit = LOWER Peninsula of Michigan
Seoul = KOREAN Peninsula
Muscat = ARABIAN Peninsula (again)
Halifax = NOVA SCOTIA Peninsula
The first letters of those spell out contest answer the BALKAN PENINSULA. I also counted the BALKANS as correct, which has the amusing benefit of using both the N and the S in ‘Nova Scotia’.
Joon correctly dinged me at Fiend for using the Arabian Peninsula twice. I’d scoured the virtual world looking for a usable city on another A- peninsula but to no avail, so took the anticipated ding and forged ahead. But it turns out I should’ve been looking not at a map but at a time machine, as commenter pgw suggested there:
HELEN OF TROY would’ve been an outstanding theme entry. All I can say is “D’oh!”
This week’s winner, whose name was chosen at random from the 301 correct entries received, is Lisa Marchessault of Ferndale, Mich., who writes:
How exciting! It feels fitting that I won this puzzle as I live in the lower Michigan peninsula, and I’m a member of the Detroit Zoo. I got 34 Across right away!
In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil, and notepad set, Lisa will also receive a 1-year subscription to Matt Gaffney’s Daily Crossword.
AUGUST WINNERS:
Congratulations to the following ten MGWCC winners for August, whose names were chosen at random from among the 148 people who sent in the correct contest answer to each of last month’s five puzzles (CHIHUAHUA, BAGEL, SPORK, ACES, BALKAN PENINSULA). Each will receive a MGWCC pen, pencil, and notepad set:
Megan Amram — Los Angeles, Calif.
Ameet Brahmavar — Portland, Ore.
Jared Dashoff — Washington, D.C.
Justin Graham — Oakland, Calif.
Travis Hime — New York City, N.Y.
Andrew Karas — Jamaica Plain, Mass.
Jesse Lansner — Rochester, N.Y.
Jill Palmer — Leverett, Mass.
Eli Selzer — North Hollywood, Calif.
Jody Stroup — Ashland, O.
Congratulations again to our ten winners, and to everyone who went 5-for-5 in August.
PITCHING A NO-HINTER:
I forgot to pick a no-hint winner from MGWCC #534 last week. That winner, whose name was selected randomly from the 19 solvers who tackled that monster hintlessly, is Dave Hunley of Wakefield, R.I. As his prize, Dave will receive a MGWCC pen, pencil, and notepad set.
THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:
This week’s contest answer is a part of the body.
Solve well, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive.