WSJ (Contest) Grid: 10 minutes; Meta: 5 more 
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Matt Gaffney’s Wall Street Journal contest crossword, “Key Insight” — Conrad’s writeup
This week we’re looking for a noted classical composer. There were no obvious theme entries, but Matt stuck nudge in the final horizontal entry: MIDDLE, clued as MIDDLE: ___ C (important part of a piano…and of this crossword’s grid, including its center square). The center square crossed ZOCOR and SOCAL I looked for more middle C’s, and I found a lot:
WSJ Contest – 06.27.2025
- FA(C)ET
- REPLI(C)ATION
- A(C)T
- NA(C)RE
- ZO(C)OR
- SO(C)AL
- HI(C)KS
- U(C)D
- BA(C)ON
- EL(C)ID
- R(C)A
- T(C)M
The first letters of the middle C entries spell our contest solution FRANZ S(C)HUBERT. Impressive construction by Matt. Every C on the grid is in the middle, sometimes once and sometimes twice. And the C in Franz Schubert is also in the middle. Amazing. Solvers: please share your thoughts.
I don’t have a thematic song to end with, so I’ll close with one of my favorite Patty Griffin songs that was featured on The Bear, season 4 episode 8.
I think you need to use the “middle” C to have the correct spelling of Schubert.
One of my favorite composers and also the subject of one of my favorite paintings — Klimt’s “Schubert at the Piano”. Destroyed at the end of WWII.
Fixed, thanks!
That is, indeed, a wonderful painting!
Ah, but the composer’s name is spelled SCHUBERT. Where do we find the middle C in FRANZS(C)HUBERT? Why, in the center (middle) square of the grid, as suggested by 75A, and properly placed between the S and the H, too.
(BTW, the N is missing from your column of letters.)
Yes, you need the N from NACRE.
Fixed, thanks!
Thanks for pointed out that final grace note.
Puzzle: WSJ (Contest); Rating: 5 stars
Superior meta from Matt.
Unfortunately, for me, I forgot to submit the answer.
I loved how the center C in the grid was also the centet C in the solution. Great one Matt!
I’m in my 70s and love it when Matt Gaffney lobs a “softball” at his solvers, and I got this meta correct (yay me).
Also, (Eric) Conrad is one of the many Crossword Fiend reviewers who does not get enough credit for doing a great job. And when he makes a typo or whatever, he reads our comments and quickly makes edits to his post.
Kudos to you, Conrad, for being very attentive to detail and for making Amy’s website a pleasure to visit every day!
+1 (Where’s that like button? :) 👍
Puzzle: WSJ (Contest); Rating: 4 stars
+2
Be sure to choose WSJ (Contest) to rate a contest puzzle.
Puzzle: WSJ (Contest); Rating: 5 stars
Thanks for the kind words, everybody!
+1
Puzzle: WSJ (Contest); Rating: 3.5 stars
When I was solving this, I just glanced at the grid, “F…A…Z…B…R… okay, must be Schubert”, and missed the middle C trick of FRANZ S(C)HUBERT. This is a genius idea and worthy of one more star than the 2.5 star rating I gave in Friday.
That said, I still stand by my opinion. While it is unavoidable to have a lot gibberish fills due to the sheer number of theme entries, the clues should have been made easier to compensate for that. It is quite unpleasant to solve the crossword itself.
Puzzle: WSJ (Contest); Rating: 5 stars
Five stars because such brilliance on so many levels overshadows minor flaws and nits. What a joy!
Thanks, Conrad! This meta had one of the highest “difficulty to solve” vs. “difficulty to construct” ratios I can recall. Not too tough to puzzle out FRANZ SCHUBERT, but I actually gave up at one point and emailed Mike Shenk that the meta I’d spent all this time on just wasn’t going to work so I was going to need to start over from scratch.
Five minutes later I sent him an “ignore previous wire” email since the idea to put the middle C in SCHUBERT in the middle of the grid and then reference it in the kicker entry. That’s the thing that made it work.
Puzzle: WSJ (Contest); Rating: 5 stars
A week late, but enjoyed it very much!