Grid: untimed; Meta: 15 minutes
Alex Eaton-Salners’s contest, “Put Your Heads Together” — Conrad’s writeup
This month we’re asked, What five-letter word is hinted at by this puzzle? There were five long theme entries:
FB Contest – 11.09.2025
- [H]OLD[O]N[T]IGHT: “Don’t let go!”
- [A]POLLO[X]II: Moon mission that had a Pete and a Gordon
- [W]ITHIN[A]RMS[R]EACH: Nearby
- [A]S[I][R]ECALL: Account opening?
- [P]OWERS[O]F[T]EN: They’re equally spaced on a logarithmic scale
HARE’s weird clue (Grass consumer) unlocked the meta for me: take the first letter (the first head) of each theme entry, spelling other words. Then add (the second) head after them, mapping to another entry:
- TAIL -> WAR HEAD: Missile’s end
- HARE -> POT HEAD: Grass consumer
- IDIOT -> AIR HEAD: Dolt
- NEURON -> HOT HEAD: Impulsive sort
- KNIFE -> AX HEAD: Sharpener target
The mapped entries spell our contest solution THINK. I loved this meta; the “aha” moment was powerful. Solvers: Please share your thoughts.
Another solid, but apparently unappreciated A E-S construction. The disregard for Fireball’s contributions to the canon is almost criminal.
Count me among the Fireball and AE-S fans, long time and big time. Puzzles are a cut above and the metas stack with any, IMO, beyond just solid.