MGWCC #935

MGWCC crossword 2:00
meta 0:35 [3.75 avg; 4 ratings] rate it

hello, and welcome to episode #935 of matt gaffney’s weekly crossword contest, a week 1 puzzle called “Global Search”. the instructions weren’t really needed for this puzzle. what were the theme answers?

• {Talking non-stop} YAMMERING AWAY.
• {Part of the brain that processes memory} AMYGDALA.
• {Many a Bolivian} AYMARA SPEAKER.
• {World Music pioneer from Peru} YMA SUMAC. was she also an AYMARA SPEAKER? it doesn’t seem so, although she occasionally sang in quechua (the language in which her stage name “yma sumac” means “how beautiful”). there’s debate about how closely related quechua and aymara are.
• {1971 Jackson 5 hit} MAYBE TOMORROW. not familiar with this one.

so these five themers begin with five of the six permutations of the letters A-M-Y. the sixth is MYA, and “global search” in the title along with the parenthetical note in 48-down that “kyrgyzstan isn’t the meta-answer” suggests that we’re looking for a country, which would have to be MYANMAR.

that’s a tidy little week 1 (and all in a 13×13 grid). for me it was a welcome change of pace from some of the recent MGWCCs, both in terms of the ease of the meta and the relatively lower amount of massively strained fill. there were still too many partials for my tastes (DOWN A, SAYS A, MASK A, AS YOU, NO U), but … like i said, it was an improvement. on the other hand, the overall meta structure had quite a familiar ring to it—it bears considerable resemblance to MGWCC #453, although it’s a little easier (and more constrained) with the permutations all coming at the front of the themer. that constraint likely necessitated the use of a flexible letter like Y in the trigram.

how’d you all like this one?