meta 0:30
hello and welcome to episode #566 of matt gaffney’s weekly crossword contest, “The Big Picture”. this is week 1 of gentle april. i usually try week 1 puzzles without the instructions, so i’ll be doing that all month. this puzzle was small (only 13×13) and there are four theme answers arranged in pinwheel fashion:
- {“Inside Out” character voiced by Richard Kind} BING BONG. let me tell you: i bawled my eyes out when (uh, spoiler alert) BING BONG died. and then afterwards, i felt emotionally manipulated by the whole experience. i did not feel as if i had been emotionally manipulated when i bawled my eyes out at the end of toy story 3, and now i can’t quite put my finger on why. i do think it’s more satisfying than inside out, but it deals with a similar theme of what kids leave behind when they grow up. (along similar lines: knuffle bunny free. i can’t even with that one.)
- {Will Shortz’s sport} PING-PONG. okay, but just don’t tell will you called it that.
- {Doorbell’s sound} DING DONG.
- {Having a rising and falling rhythm, as someone’s voice} SING-SONG.
right, so what’s the meta answer? this seems like the kind of theme where the meta answer is a more famous example that would make a good extra theme answer, and the title (which has no obvious relationship to the theme) is another nudge in that direction. i had to run about half the alphabet before landing on KING KONG, which fits the title very well and is conspicuously absent from the theme—although it’s pretty cute that {Actress Wray of old Hollywood} FAY is crossing {Flip out} GO APE in the exact center of the grid. not a coincidence, i’m sure!
with only four 8-letter theme answers plus the easter egg, this puzzle is light on thematic content, which is likely why matt chose to downsize to a 13×13 canvas for it. good choice, i think, because it would have felt weird to have a full-sized 15×15 grid with so little theme material.
clue that caught my eye: {Expression that becomes a U.S. state with one letter changed} OH NO. can you think of any others? i came up with some partials like I OWE, but not a fully formed expression. (well, there’s UH NO, but let’s say it has to be another state.)
that’s all i’ve got this week. fun puzzle!
Thanks, Joon — 653 right answers this week.
Week 2 will be a 17×17. Not trying to even out the sizes, it just happened that way.
Wow! That’s great. Is that a record?
No, I’ve published 19x19s and 21x21s before
I might be missing something but I think the question was if 653 correct is a record for the MGWCC. I’d guess the record is more like 750 but you’d know better of course!
Yes, I meant the number of solvers. 653 is the highest I’ve seen, but I’ve only been subscribing for 2 1/2 years.
Oh sorry, I was multitasking. I believe 723 is the record for the pre-subscription era and that this 653 is a new record for the subscription era (old one was 651).
Thought this was a lovely example of a straightforward, pleasantly-constructed Week 1.
(Note to Joon: “UH NO” does not become a state with one letter changed.)
(Note to self: RHONE ISLAND is not a common expression.)
oops!
Is there a genre called ALT SKA?
That would probably be some ILL NOISE.
{Greeting from Wonder Woman} I’M DIANA
and i just realized there’s an ACPT contestant (in the top 100 every year) whose full name is one letter off from a state.
That’s a nice find!
Al Obama?
Drivers in Massachusetts public transportation system have to take the ‘T Exam’.