LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

Title: MGWCC #880 — “Jacket Required”
Prompt: This puzzle’s contest answer is a Masters-champion golfer.
Answer: ARNOLD PALMER, found by 250 solvers, of which 154 were solo solves

If last week’s puzzle were a golf shot, it wouldn’t have landed on the fairway — more like the rough, though some solvers would say it went right into a water hazard…

The task was to find a Masters-winner, and our four grid-spanning theme entries were:

17-A: [Remove an ancient European kingdom from your crossword database?] = DELETE MACEDONIA

25-A: [Dipped author L’Engle in a vat of chocolate?] = COATED MADELEINE

45-A: [Funny story you have to click on?] = EMAILED ANECDOTE

57-A: [Described an actor’s brief film appearance?” = DELINEATED CAMEO

First thing to notice is that all four of these grid-spanners use the same 15 letters, meaning we’re probably looking at some anagram of these to point at a certain golfer.

But what’s the anagram? Solvers dislike “randomgram” metas (as they periodically remind me when I run one), but I thought (past tense) this one had enough hints. The idea was that a drink of half-iced tea, half-lemonade is called the Arnold Palmer, but that isn’t as common knowledge as it was a couple of decades ago (I used to order them as a kid when at a restaurant; they weren’t an uncommon sight on menus).

But time has passed, and many solvers got annoyed with the randomgram hunt and had not heard of this particular quaff. So while those who got it found it fun, those who didn’t were understandably irritated by spending time on a drink they didn’t know existed. Not good! Suffice it to say that randomgram metas will be pretty much a thing of the past from here on out. At the very least I’ll tread (very) lightly if I ever do one again.

Mikey G says:

I’ll need one after that one!

Or maybe this, if it really drove you nuts…

FunkyPhD writes:

A vague recollection that this thing exists (I don’t drink tea of any kind) made this harder than it should have been.

I’ll gladly take “vague recollection” on this one…

Dawg8866 says:

Arnold Palmer is a good drink, but the John Daly hits better.

And finally, Golem notes that:

Some people say he preferred eagles to birdies, but I hear he was actually MALLARD-PRONE.

Oof! I may need a John Daly after that joke.

Let’s quickly move on to Week 3…

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

Today’s puzzle is Week 3 of 4 in April. Instructions:

This puzzle’s contest answer is a seven-letter type of person who might appreciate this meta.

Good luck!

–Matt