MGWCC #905

MGWCC crossword 1:40 
meta 1:30 [4.00 avg; 1 rating] rate it

hello, and welcome to episode #905 of matt gaffney’s weekly crossword contest, a week 1 puzzle called “Eight for Eight”. this particular week 1 meta was quite possible without the instructions. what are the theme answers? well, there are no long answers, but there are eight answers that are 8 letters long, and the title suggests that we should look there:

• {“Moving right along…”} NEW TOPIC.
• {Height comparison usually involving a grasshopper} KNEE-HIGH.
• {Sneaky way in or out} TRAPDOOR.
• {Replacing} IN LIEU OF.
• {Emulate Alysa Liu} ICE SKATE. nice little echo with “lieu”—i’m guessing unintentional. if you don’t know this skater, she’s american and the 2025 world champion, and has two very crossword-friendly names (the first of which has probably been added to many constructor’s word lists recently), so she’s a good one to remember. i don’t think midori ITO needs to be looking over her shoulder, but i do think ALYSA is here to stay, especially if she can do something great at the 2026 winter olympics… which is, believe it or not, only four months away.
• {Valhalla figure} VALKYRIE.
• {Words on candy hearts} I LOVE YOU.
• {Make both parties happy} CUT A DEAL.

my first thought was to look at the first letters of these eight answers, but when that didn’t amount to much (IVNKICTI), i tried their last (i.e. eighth) letters, and those spell out CHEERFUL when read from top to bottom in the grid. that’s an 8-letter word, all right, so i figured it was the answer. reading the prompt, i learned that This week’s contest answer is an adjective that describes my son, Tilghman, who turned eight years old yesterday. that’s quite lovely. happy birthday to the cheerful eight-year old! they grow very fast at that age—i bet he’s no longer KNEE-HIGH to a grasshopper.

that’s a very gentle start to october, but it’s a five-friday month, with halloween falling on the 5th friday, so i expect we’re in for a terrifying conclusion, like one of those horror movies that starts out with a peaceful daytime scene. perhaps week 2 will have the first jump scare?