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Week 6 everyone, which means we start another cycle of puzzles. The cosmic ballet goes on.

Last week was a meta contest, so to explain the meta:

We are looking for an appropriate 9-letter word. The four theme entries are

17A: Gits and speeds off [1 5] = BURNS RUBBER
27A: Winner’s prize and crown [1 3 4] = LAUREL WREATH
47A: Noted German friar and reformer [1 4] = MARTIN LUTHER
62A: City and island of Miami-Dade County [2 5] = KEY BISCAYNE

With the word “and” appearing twice in the title “Think and Grin (and Mix)”, and the word “and” appearing in each of the theme clues, as well as the word “and” NOT appearing anywhere else in the clues, finding pairs was the idea.

The first word of each long answer is the first name in the listing of a famous comedy duo.
BURNS & ALLEN
LAUREL & HARDY
MARTIN & LEWIS
KEY & PEELE

Now, using the numbers found at the end of the clues as indexes on just the names of the second acts:
ALLEN [1 5] = AN
HARDY [1 3 4] = HRD
LEWIS [1 4] = LI
PEELE [2 5] = EE

Anagram, as clued by “(and Mix)”, these nine letters and you get HEADLINER, the appropriate word to describe the comedians in the grid.

Six correct entries came in for Meta #1, and using the best method to pick a random number from 1-6, the randomly selected winner for this week is Jon Delfin. Mr. Delfin’s name will be the inaugural entry of an upcoming section of this site, so stay tuned.

Thanks to everyone who played Meta #1. I enjoy writing metapuzzles, and I look forward to putting a new one out every five weeks.

Until then, here’s this week’s puzzle. If your regionalism knows no bounds, then this puzzle is a salute to you.

Enjoy!

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This is my fifth week of writing this crossword blog. However, I’ve been writing puzzles for years now. In my first three years at the University of South Carolina, I have written three incarnations of the USC Puzzle Hunt, which is based on the MIT Mystery Hunt. Puzzlehunts are some of the most fun you’ll ever have solving puzzles, which is why I love writing them. And speaking of the Mystery Hunt, I’m going this year! I bought my plane ticket for Boston earlier this week. I cannot wait to be in the midst of it.

Every fifth week on this site will feature a meta puzzle. To quote directly from Matt Gaffney’s xwordcontest site,

“Each week’s puzzle will contain a sort of puzzle-within-a-puzzle (or “metapuzzle”) that you have to figure out once you solve the crossword. The answer to this metapuzzle will be that week’s contest answer word, and it is this word (or series of words) you must submit to enter the contest.”

That being said, I’m looking for an appropriate 9-letter word. When you think you have it, email me at cking.gow(at)gmail.com with your answer. I’ll accept answers all the way to noon ET on Saturday.

And finally, the picture in this post has nothing to the crossword. The final question of a trivia night I played in recently, which earned our team $200, was the only one-syllable US state. Trivia fans will tell you that’s Maine, so I included a picture of the crossword-friendly home of the University of Maine, ORONO.

Well, that’s one cycle of my crossword blog. Stick around for the next 5 weeks, and we’ll do the same thing again.

Enjoy!

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Week 4 is now out. For those who are visited this blog due to missing Neville’s, then today’s theme should feel welcomed.

And for a couple of news around the crossworld:
-I want to thank Stand Alone for adding me to their roster.
-Patrick Blindauer recently announced that he’s the constructor of this year’s theme week for the NYT. Remember the praise of Patrick Berry’s “Cross” word contest? Remember the discussion after Patrick’s “Change of Heart” puzzle? I’d like to think this will combine both. But in a good way.

Stick around for Week 5, and we’ll have a meta puzzle slash contest.

Enjoy!

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Welcome to Week 3! If you are new to the site, I hope you stick around. Have fun solving this one, and be sure to take a gander at the first two weeks.

I would like to thank Neville Fogarty for mentioning me in his announcement this weekend. I’ve been a puzzle person for a long time, but creating a crossword site is a big intimidation. Neville, more than anyone, is the inspiration for wanting to create my own site. I emailed him on July 26 asking some questions about the basics of creating my own site. Neville was very helpful answers my questions, and a lot of his advice was used in the creation of this site. The humor he used with his crosswords is something I hope to use when I write my puzzles. And if you are big on having some pop culture in your grids, then I hope you’ll enjoy what I have to offer.

Also, if you’re not following Neville on Twitter where he goes trolling on Final Jeopardy, then hopping on that would be a good idea. Neville, thanks for all the puzzles.

Welcome, and enjoy!