MGWCC #861

 

hello, and welcome to episode #861 of matt gaffney’s weekly crossword contest, a week 1/5 puzzle called “I ShalL Return”. this week’s puzzle was … mostly solvable without the instructions, but with a glaring ambiguity if you didn’t look at them. what were the theme answers?

• {Tourist’s need on the second-largest island of the Philippines?} MINDANAO MAP.
• {Breakfast eaten in a state of enlightenment?} NIRVANA OMELETS.
• {Student’s reaction to an unexpectedly high grade?} I GOT AN A, OMIGOSH.
• {“Allow me to introduce you two US Open finalists of 2018”?} SERENA, NAOMI. a memorable and controversial final, to say the least.

these all have a hidden MOANA in reverse, and the final across clue has one more hint: {“And…she’s ___” (famous Disney movie line of 2016…and what’s going on in our theme entries)} BACK. but what’s the meta answer? well, it’s either MOANA or MOANA 2, the sequel that’s (relatively) new in theaters now, and there’s no real way to know without looking at the instructions. so, i looked at the instructions: This week’s contest answer is a noted movie sequel (be sure to submit the sequel’s title, not the original’s). well, okay, i guess it’s MOANA 2. but oof, it would not be a good week to insist on trying it without the instructions, because otherwise you’re really just guessing.

incidentally, MOANA (2016) was the last movie i saw in theaters prior to covid, and i hadn’t been back to the movies since last week when i went to see… wicked, not moana 2. (i will probably watch the latter, some day, on streaming. i really liked the first one.) so just like moana, i’m back in movie theaters for the first time since 2016.

i liked how the four theme answers all split up the letters of ANAOM in different ways across word breaks. that’s an elegant bit of construction right there.

that’s all i’ve got this week. how’d you like this one?