(Photo credit: Nemo)
Some busy goings-on here at Devil Cross headquarters. Last week I got to join in the annual Post Hunt in Washington D.C. with my wife and the ever-gentlemanly duo of Erik Agard and Andy Kravis. Though we didn’t quite make it to the final solution, we had us some good teamwork and some good smoothies to counteract that nasty sunburn I got on my pale-ass skin. You can read about the solutions to the Hunt here. I’ve also been hard at work putting together some variety puzzles for submission to the bimonthly “Will Shortz Presents WordPlay,” and perhaps for publication here if the inspiration should strike. And, I’m leaving to go on a weekend trip to Amish country tonight, hence why I’m posting today rather than on Saturday.
So guess what? It’s time for another meta contest! You remember how these work, right? Solve the crossword, then try to figure out the hidden puzzle within the puzzle. Matt Gaffney is the go-to guy for your weekly meta needs. He posts a new one every Friday with increasing difficulty as the month progresses, and because today is the first Friday of June, his will be relatively easy — that’s as good a time as any to get started with metas if you’re not used to them. In fact, you can read a nice little write-up in The Nation about Matt’s weekly crossword contest here. For you music lovers out there, Pete Muller has a monthly music meta, and his meta for June is currently running until Sunday morning, so get on it fast — and get on it good, since it’s been stumping me.
The answer to this contest puzzle is a superhero. Please submit your answer to me (devilcrosswords@gmail.com) by 6 pm ET on Friday, June 13. Only one answer per entrant, please — so make sure you’ve got it right before hitting “Send.” One randomly selected winner will receive a Devil Cross t-shirt.
Enjoy! I will post the solution to the meta — as well as a bonus off-week puzzle (!) — next week on Saturday, June 14.
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Surprise! I’m breaking my “new puzzle every other Saturday” rule by publishing on an off-week, and also on a Friday. I wrote the New York Times puzzle for tomorrow, so I figured, why not have two? My schedule will get back to normal beginning next week — meaning, there will be a new puzzle on March 1, then on March 15, and so on.
Today’s puzzle is a metapuzzle. If you’ve never solved a metapuzzle before, here’s how it works: you solve the crossword as you normally would, and when you’re done, you have to find a specific word or phrase which fits a pattern hidden in the puzzle. For example, if the longest entries in a puzzle hid the words SIGHT, SMELL, SOUND, and TASTE inside them, then the answer to the meta would probably be TOUCH. It’s basically a puzzle within a puzzle. Matt Gaffney is a master at creating these things, and he runs a weekly meta contest which you should definitely check out. Matt has also written a good primer on how to solve metapuzzles which you can read here.
And if you’d like some extra meta contest goodness, check out fellow indie puzzler Neville Fogarty’s offering here.
So that’s that. Oh, and I’m tossing in a prize, too. One randomly selected winner will receive a Devil Cross t-shirt…..which I haven’t designed yet. But it’ll be cool! And in the right size. Because a life goal of mine is to put my website on your chest.
The answer to this contest puzzle is a bygone TV show which has since been adapted to the big screen. Please submit your answer to me (devilcrosswords@gmail.com) by 6 pm on Friday, February 28. Only one answer per entrant, please — so make sure you’ve got it right before hitting “Send.”
Enjoy!
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