Paul Counter’s contest, “Remember the Date” — Conrad’s writeup
This month we are asked, What four-letter noun is hinted at by this puzzle? The grid was a slog for me, but hey, it’s a Fireball. There were four theme entries, each containing a traditional anniversary gift:
- HI(TIN)THEEYE: [Be visually striking to]
- (LINEN)OTATION: [Typographical system used for chemical nomenclature]
- AREQUI(PAPER)UL: [Seat of an Andean nation’s Constitutional Court]
- E(STEEL)AUDER: [“Confidence breeds beauty” quotee]
Tin is the tenth anniversary gift, and linen is the… fourth or twelfth, depending on where I looked. Wikipdedia had both, listed under “Traditional (U.K.)” (and notably: not the U.S., where Paul appears to be from). I’ve come to rely on Wikipedia for this kind of puzzle research, as Google drowns us in low-quality “AI” slop results.
FB Contest Solution – 02.02.2025
Given that ambiguity: I dutifully mapped the 10th, 4th/12th, 1st, and 11th grid entries and got SAJG or SIJG, depending on where linen should be. All noise. I put the puzzle down, returned, and tried the 10th, etc., letter of each themer. I found the rabbit:
- TIN (10th): HITINTHEE[Y]E
- LINEN (4th): LIN[E]NOTATION
- PAPER (1st): [A]REQUIPAPERU
- STEEL (11th): ESTEELAUDE[R]
The mapped theme entries spell our contest solution YEAR. Solvers: please share your thoughts.