WSJ (Contest) Grid: 15 minutes; Meta: 10 minutes 
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Matt Gaffney’s Wall Street Journal contest crossword, “Covert Operation” — Conrad’s writeup.
This week we’re looking for a well-known company slogan. There ended up being six long down theme entries, each containing C.T:
WSJ Contest – 04.12.2026
- EX(C)[I](T)ATION: Thrilled state
- (C)[N](T)OWER: Canada’s tallest structure
- COMI(C)[S](T)RIP: Boxes containing balloons
- KANSAS(C)[I](T)Y: Frequent landing site for Taylor Swift’s plane
- (C)[D](T)OWER: Stack with many numbers in it
- AS(C)[E](T)ICISM: Denial of pleasures
The letters between the C and T spell INSIDE (left-to-right in the grid), leading to our contest solution Intel Inside. I found the four long themers quickly, but it took me a bit to spot the other two. I’m guessing C and T are supposed to represent first and last letters in covert. I’m may be missing something, but the solution was a lock. Solvers: please share your thoughts.
Thanks, Conrad! Those were supposed to be read as both “covert” and “C over T,” which explains the downward orientation of the theme entries.
Puzzle: WSJ (Contest); Rating: 5 stars
Well, that’s brilliant.
Thanks, Matt!
Regarding the C and T: “Covert” translates to “C over T”, so the letters that form the solution (the intel) are inside….
I didn’t figure out the meta, but now I’m seeing that “Covert” = “C over T.” Where does “Intel” get hinted at?
“Intel” as in intelligence, what a spy gathers.
Brilliant Meta Matt. I didn’t get it. I covered the “Ts” but it got me nowhere. After reading the explanation, I figured it this way.
First: You had C over T, literally.
Second: That led to intel inside of the C and T.
Third: Because of the word “covert” one thinks of spies which mad the word intel come to mind.
I am only repeating what has been said because this is by my count a triple entendre. It’s absolutely brilliant. Did I miss anything?
By the way I think both Matt and Frederick are correct. The dictionary defines “dupes” as follows:
1- to deceive or cheat easily
2- short for duplicate, as in “but I still have a dupe on my key ring.”
So I can see where both Frederick and I both thought it meant to fool someone. In general, this shortening of words is leading to bad things. In the future, crossword puzzle will be nothing but Trigrams, and language will be words shortened to the point that nobody will know what anyone is saying. We may be there now. By the way, does anyone understand what I’m saying?
When I was solving the meta, I started from CN TOWER and CD TOWER, because I thought Gaffney is too good to allow dupes unless it’s absolutely necessary.
Those aren’t dupes. Dupe is when two entries are exactly the same, like HELLO and HELLO. Nothing wrong in my book with using CN TOWER and CD TOWER in the same grid, even if they weren’t there as part of a theme.
Conrad, you have CNTOWER and CDTOWER reversed in the above explanation.
The meta solution reads left-to-right, as I explained in my write-up.
JDH means that the clues for CNTOWER and CDTOWER are reversed in your write-up. i.e., You have CNTOWER clued as “Stack with many numbers in it”
Yes, thank you JML. Conrad’s write-up is as you say, and he has CDTOWER as Canada’s tallest structure.
My brain completely skipped the clues when I double-checked.
Fixed, thank (both of) you!
I kept harking back to “the secret’s in the sauce” not realizing that slogan is from the movie Fried Green Tomatoes rather than some company. While I have never heard the slogan “Intel inside,” it is a very apt solution.
Btw I disagree with the notion that Matt Gaffney would not normally use dupes in a grid. He does so often. It’s almost a trademark. I see it as part of his gonzo spirit. And one of the reasons I enjoy his metas and his NY Mag puzzles. He is a bit of a maverick.