MGWCC #808 — "Follow the Instructions" by Ben Chenoweth

[Streroto]

Pretty sure I am beamed. If so very happy to get a week 4 even if an easier one!!!

Stay well

Update - confirmed!

[rjy]

Downs-only, no-instructions! Submitted blind - still haven’t looked at the prompt… waiting first to see if I’ve been beamed up.

Was a pretty difficult one to solve this way, and truth be told I had to peek at a few across clues. Curious if anyone got it without a peek or two, it was a very difficult grid for obvious reasons - in hindsight.

But congrats, Ben! So happy to see your name pop up on this! And a fun, challenging puzzle at that.

Edited: Beamed!

[Laura M]

Beamed, pending confirmation. Somehow with @benchen71's metas, I either see it right away or... really, really not :-) Glad I eventually did get there! Congrats Ben!!

[johnaldape]

I have (what I believe people are calling) part 1, but am stuck on part 2. Can anyone DM me with a part 2 nudge?

[SusieG]

I had part one very quickly, then it took me a couple days before I got part two of the instructions. I have learned a new term, but I can’t follow the instructions.

[Trish]

Submitted in the nick of time! I agree with SusieG….got the first step quickly but struggled with the second step til…..duh it all fits together. Now the first part makes sense!

[Jade]

If anyone sees this in time, would love a nudge via DM. We have the grid but absolutely no clue where to start on the meta, nothing standing out at all.

[Jade]

Got it! Thanks to johnaldape for the assist.

[Bird Lives]

Matt's email said that the deadline is noon Friday. But last night and this morning, when I went to xwordcontest website, the door was locked and all the windows were shuttered.
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[Jade]

He mentioned in his e-mail that you might need to e-mail him the answer rather than submitting online if you were doing it after noon on Thursday.

[HoldThatThought]

Matt foresaw this possibility in his original email and said:

"Deadline for submission is Friday, December 1st at noon ET. The website's being a little wonky with the late deadline, though, so if you submit after noon on Thursday you may need to email me your entry at crosswordcontest@gmail.com. Just an FYI there..."

Easy to have forgotten, though, I'm sure.

[HoldThatThought]

If anyone is still looking for very last minute help, I'm around for the next half hour, or so.

[woozy]

Matt's email said that the deadline is noon Friday. But last night and this morning, when I went to xwordcontest website, the door was locked and all the windows were shuttered.
.
Closed.jpg

I got that at the very beginning on Tuesday when I submitted. But I was on the board shortly after I was there.

[BrennerTJ]

[SusieG]

Oh, so the answer was just OVERFLOW? I thought it was part of the instructions.

[Joe Ross]

(8) 5-letter horizontal entries, symmetrical in the grid, start with a single letter & combine with a whole word.

The single letters within those (8) answers give the instruction to ADD ONE TO.

FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS is the title.

ADD ONE letter TO each of the whole words of the (8) entries & find new entries in the grid using those letters.

The added letters to the second set of (8) grid entries, in original (8) entries order, speel OVERFLOW, the 8-letter word of the meta prompt.

[ZooAnimalsOnWheels]

I got there pretty quickly, but I did have a point where I was wondering what I was supposed to add one to. I tried adding one to 'ADD ONE TO' itself, by incrementing each letter one place in the alphabet. That gives you BEEP OF UP, which almost seems like it could mean something in a meta

[benchen71]

Here's my answer graphic:

I was very happy to help Matt out this week, and would do so again any time!