MGWCC crossword 2:47
meta ? 
[3.40 avg; 5 ratings] rate it
hello, and welcome to episode #901 of matt gaffney’s weekly crossword contest, a week 1 puzzle called “Court Is in Session”. i attempted this puzzle without the instructions. did i get the answer right? i don’t actually know. i guess we’ll find out! what are the theme answers? four 10-letter proper names:
- {“The Day Lady Died” poet, 1964} FRANK O’HARA. this is a poet i’ve barely heard of and never read.
- {Conductor who passed away last year in Tokyo} SEIJI OZAWA.
- {Former White House resident} MALIA OBAMA.
- {“The Man in the High Castle” actor} JASON O’MARA. i’ve never heard of him at all.
okay, so: five-letter first name, five-letter last name fitting the pattern O_A_A. is that it? i may be missing something, but i think that’s it. probably the most famous person fitting this pattern who’s not already in the theme is … well, it might be malia’s sister SASHA OBAMA. but also it might be tennis player NAOMI OSAKA, an answer which would fit with the “court” in the title. but it’s possible there’s another element to the meta that pins the answer more directly.
as i’m not seeing what that element might be, i’m going to check the instructions: This puzzle’s contest answer is a name in the news. hmm. well, it could have been more helpful, i must admit. was naomi osaka in the news? she made it to the semifinals of the women’s singles in the just-concluded US open, but she was eliminated on thursday night (the night before the puzzle was sent out) in quite a thrilling three-set match by eventual runner-up amanda anisimova. i think that probably counts as in the news—perhaps matt was hoping while making this puzzle that she’d go on to win the tournament (as she had done all four previous times she reached at least the quarterfinal stage of a grand slam). it was certainly the best result she’s had since making her comeback to tennis after giving birth to her daughter shai in 2023.
having said all that, i don’t have a very strong click here, and i am feeling quite flummoxed by my inability to put my finger on anything strongly pointing to the answer for this week 1 puzzle. “a name in the news” could be, really, anyone. if the instructions had specified a tennis player, i think this would have been pretty clear and a reasonable difficulty for a week 1 puzzle. as it is, i just don’t have any confidence, but i will submit naomi osaka and hope it’s right. or maybe i’m hoping it’s wrong—because if it’s right, then either i missed something important or i don’t like the puzzle. it just feels unpinned.
well, did i miss anything?
I was also curious if there was another element missing. Looking at it with fresh eyes, I see a possibility–it’s a stretch, but if NAOH = “Nao” (???) and MATT = “Me” (the constructor), those could combine phonetically to form the first name. My guess is that that’s a coincidence, though
Puzzle: MGWCC; Rating: 4.5 stars
The title of the puzzle is -um – a pretty big clue!
I saw the 2 Across 5/5 O-A-A entries and figured it was likely Naomi, then I realized 2 minutes later the 2 down entries also fit the theme and I ran with it. 2 might be a trend but 4 is a gotta-be-her, especially given how much tennis content there is in MGWCC-land.
Jeffrey–That’s brilliant and it could have been intentional. Nice job!
Puzzle: MGWCC; Rating: 4 stars
I wasted a good bit of time looking for something in court news before a friend suggested Tennis. There was only one name that matched the pattern in US open news, so to me it was a lock.