MGWCC crossword 5:38 (paper)
meta 3ish 
[4.06 avg; 8 ratings] rate it
hello, and welcome to episode #908 of matt gaffney’s weekly crossword contest, a week 4 puzzle (but intended at week 2-ish difficulty) called “That’s So Sweet”. the instructions this week ask for a treat you might get while trick-or-treating. what are the theme answers? there are four 15s in the grid, all reading down, that are nonsense three-word phrases:
- {Bird propelled by burning writing instruments?} is a PENCIL FLAME SWAN.
- {Sweet grains for a cartoon bird?} is TWEETY MANGO RICE.
- {What the Frosted Flakes mascot pours on cereal when he wants extra Vitamin K?} is BANANA TIGER MILK.
- {Clothing material smeared with fire-softened dairy products?} is BUTTER EMBER WOOL.
the grid was rather difficult for me to fill, in part due to the theme answers mostly having to be completed with crossings (since none of the phrases had any real logical sense) and also in part due to the fact that it was PDF-only this week, for reasons that are totally unclear to me (my guess is matt just forgot to attach the .puz, as there’s no particular meta-related reason why this couldn’t have been solved as a .puz), and i’m a little rusty solving on paper. the third reason i’m going to blame is some unexpectedly shoddy fill; i’ll get to that later.
all of that said, the meta didn’t take me long: each of the themers is a stack of yellow thing on orange thing on white thing. you can maybe quibble about TIGER and EMBER being orange, and about the different colors of RICE, but the gist is certainly there. combine this tricolor formation with the vertical orientation and it becomes clear that the halloween treat we’re looking at is CANDY CORN, which was also subtly hinted at by the rather conspicuous absence of the word “candy” from the prompt. i know it’s a divisive candy, but count me on the solidly pro-candy corn side. i wouldn’t want it instead of chocolate (well, except dark chocolate), but it’s definitely additive as part of an overall halloween haul.
also: i enjoyed this meta! it was not too hard, but definitely a change of pace from some of the orthographic meta mechanisms we’re used to. it’s kind of fun that you can clearly indicate a specific brand-name item just based on color scheme.
some of the fill was more trick than treat, i have to say. the variant spelling MANDRIL of the already rather technical term MANDREL was not a welcome sight in the grid. (MANDRILL, the large monkey species, is much more familiar to me.) partials A SET, IN ONE, WELL A, and the lengthy COME AWAY were also weak points. and i cast a skeptical eye upon {Remote productivity} EWORK.
that’s all i’ve got this week. are you prepared for the week 5 halloween puzzle? no, me neither.
The “solve a week 5 puzzle on Halloween” achievement is super elusive and there won’t be many more opportunities to get it!
Thanks, joon — 287 right answers this week, 223 of which were solo solves.
Not sure if many solvers noticed this Easter Egg (to mix holiday metaphors) but the yellow things are all 6 letters, the orange things are all 5 letters, and the white things are all 4, mirroring how a piece of candy corn tapers downward.
I not only noticed that pattern; it was *the* red herring which had me spinning in circles for a long time. I kept looking for candy brands with a (6,5,4) enumeration (like, I dunno, maybe there’s a REESE’S CANDY CUPS or something).
Puzzle: MGWCC; Rating: 3.5 stars
Thank God I missed the pattern!
Puzzle: MGWCC; Rating: 3.5 stars
I spotted the numeric pattern about three days before I saw the chromatic one. I submitted “Brach’s candy corn” in recognition of both (and it was accepted.) Side question: do Easter eggs have any place in a Halloween puzzle?
This was my exact experience (or 19A “I can relate to that”)!
I eventually asked my 9 year old if she knew of a candy which was yellow, orange, and white and she immediately replied candy corn, which I eventually accepted must be the answer and even convinced myself that the 6,5,4 thing was because of the shape of the candy corn.
For the record, I do not care for candy corn.
Puzzle: MGWCC; Rating: 5 stars
This puzzle was absolutely adorable. Made me smile way more than actually eating said candy corn!
Puzzle: MGWCC; Rating: 4.5 stars
I noticed the 6, 5, 4 word patterns first, then focused on what (besides that) each group had in common. It was that each had a color, and I saw that all the 6s were yellow, but there were variations on the 5s, and natural wool is often grey I finally decided the intent was yellow, orange, white, and set it aside. About 10 minutes later I made the candy corn connection, and then the numbers made it a lock.
Unfortunately I didn’t see the color mechanism and failed on this one. However, it stuck out to me that the themers share the same word length pattern (6/5/4), so I assumed the answer would conform to that pattern as well– so perhaps the “proper” answer is “Brach’s Candy Corn”?
I also liked that the meta mechanism was atypical, and agree with the side-eye to MANDRIL, had to look it up despite “mandrel” being a fairly common term in my engineering career. Saw the 6-5-4 word lengths before snapping to the colors, and got a good aha out of it. I’d give it a Week 3-ish difficulty level, good for positive vibes going into the big Week 5 Halloween badge opportunity.
And for the record, my vote on candy corn has always been thumbs down. Never liked it as a kid, back in the day when loose candy was common I saw it as an obvious cheapskate cop-out when I’d get a few pieces tossed in my bag. Always thought the mini candy bars were the best, so now they’re all I give out, I’d worry about the little beggars egging my house if I gave out candy corn.
@joon reminder that Matt added an online solving portal to xwordcontest.com, so there is a digital option other than the .puz files.
The solving portal also allows you to download puz files, if that’s your thing
I noticed the 6-5-4 pattern but let’s be honest: that pattern is upside down! Any mental image of a single candy corn has the fat end on the bottom!
I didn’t spot the 6-5-4 pattern, but I wondered why some of the items weren’t particularly iconic for their colors. I’m looking at you, ember, which I think of more as red. I think of a tiger as orange with black stripes, not orange, and a flame as multi-colored, depending on its different regions’ intensity of heat. Not a lot of choices for 5-letter orange items. Maybe henna. And Ernie the Muppet. Loved the meta, overall. Big fan of candy corn, though I wouldn’t want to eat it more than once a year.
+1 and well-put
Puzzle: MGWCC; Rating: 4 stars
I submitted Jelley Belly Jelly Beans. They have all those flavors! Matt’s answer more elegant!
Puzzle: MGWCC; Rating: 5 stars
Really enjoyed this colorful meta too, but I’m also a no on Candy Corn. I totally missed the proportional lengths element, but I will add a belated “Bravo!” for that elegant touch. My email included the usual .puz file link, and it opened with no problem.
I don’t have a sweet tooth anyways so I’m not the best judge on this matter, but I had candy corn once, and let me just say that I’ll never have another one ever again.
How about this.
I recognized the 6-5-4 pattern. However, thinking maybe it stood for the letters in the alphabet 6=F/5=E/4=D
one might get FED?
My wife answered FED, but it was wrong. So I figured since it was in an up/down motion rather that across, I put in “Fed Up”.
How about it?