Title: “Historical Figures”
Prompt: This week’s contest answer is an eight-letter name.
Answer: TIBERIUS
Correct entries: 544

Everyone dug Mollie Cowger’s debut (!) puzzle last week, and it’s not hard to see why: was pretty much a perfect Week 2 of 5, with an intricate core idea. The four theme entries, all asterisked, were:

18-A: [*TV show with the catchphrase “Book ’em, Danno”] = HAWAII FIVE-O

30-A: [*It might hang over your head] = LIGHT FIXTURE

39-A: [*Stonewall era LGBT rights activist who co-founded Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries] = SYLVIA RIVERA

57-A: [*Pulitzer-winning “Brokeback Mountain” author] = ANNIE PROULX. Relative of crossword writer Rich Proulx? I don’t know.

First step: notice that each of the two words in these theme entries conceals a Roman numeral:

HAWAII FIVE-O

LIGHT FIXTURE

SYLVIA RIVERA

ANNIE PROULX

Second step: convert those to Arabic numerals and check out the like-numbered squares in the grid:

box 2 = T, box 4 = I
box 51 = B, box 9 = E
box 56 = R, box 4 = I
box 1 = U, box 60 = S

In order those spell TIBERIUS, second emperor of Rome. Doubly-fitting since Roman numerals are “historical figures” of their own, in a way. I also liked the double-duty pulled by the number IV for both I’s in the name.

And here’s Peter O’Toole taking a smoke break on the set while portraying Tiberius in 1979.

KayW says:

X-L-ent

ASB agrees:

Fantastic for a debut! Fantastic even not for a debut.

Katiedid notes:

51A – I know she lives in Texas (like me)!

Domini writes:

Great meta! Congrats Mollie!!! I loved the broad range of knowledge not often found in crosswords. Someone like Sylvia Rivera would be “too niche” for the Times, but I was able to fill it in with just the Y.

JrMan asks:

Historical figures? But James T. Kirk is from the future!

And finally, nofeetmcgee says:

Absolutely lovely puzzle for a debut! As a fellow novice meta constructor, I found this inspiring 🙂

Agreed, and big thanks to Mollie for the meta! I’m sure we will see her byline on many crosswords in the future, both meta and standard.

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

This week’s contest answer is a plural noun.