" I Made You a Pair of Shorts" September 9, 2022

[Joe Ross]

This just in:

The new head of the British monarchy shall be referred to as

King Chip.

The 3rd!

That would make him King Trey, or am I mixing my metasemitriordinalphores?

[KayW]

This just in:

The new head of the British monarchy shall be referred to as

King Chip.

The 3rd!

King Chip Trip

[Inca]

So exactly what was it about this meta that made it classic Matt Gaffney?

Relate the title to the meta clue, then both to what the grid *and* the clues offer, finding the metanism. Relate those results back to other grid entries, then reverse the metanism to find the (Is that your) final answer (?).

YMMV

It's the *and*-the-clues that I don't like. That print is so small on the pdf and if I do the puzzle online and solve that way or if I try to enlarge the rules on the screen, I have to do too much scrolling to let me see the big picture.

I may not be so good at solving metas, but I'm sure good at complaining. Right?

[MikeMillerwsj]

The contest answer is CHARLES SCHULZ. For each theme answer, if you take a nickname for the first name plus the last initial, you get a word, like IKE A for ISAAC ASIMOV. Each of these words begins the clue for a grid answer (Ikea/CHAIR, mega/HIT, Tonya/ICE, Abel/POP, jacks/SPEED). The first letters of those answers spell CHIPS, which works like the theme answers did for Charles Schulz, with Chip a nickname for Charles.

Quite a tricky one this week, right? We had 719 entries with just under half correct. Other wrong answers included Matt Groening (47), Scott Adams (22), Wal Disney (18), Thomas Nast, (17), and Stan Lee (17). Also 39 votes for Chip Sansom, a cartoonist we weren't aware of, who took over the "Born Loser" strip from his father. Our randomly selected entry had the intended correct answer (Schulz) so we didn't have to make a ruling on Sansom but we're inclined to think it was acceptable.

Congrats to this week's winner: Barry Kessler!

[Fogway]

Somebody remind me to order a Kessler whiskey from Isaac next time. Maybe it will improve my chances.

Congrats to Barry.

[Joepickett]

Since i submitted Chip Sansom, I'm inclined to update my own stats to "correct" for this puzzle.

[Bonnibel]

The contest answer is CHARLES SCHULZ. For each theme answer, if you take a nickname for the first name plus the last initial, you get a word, like IKE A for ISAAC ASIMOV. Each of these words begins the clue for a grid answer (Ikea/CHAIR, mega/HIT, Tonya/ICE, Abel/POP, jacks/SPEED). The first letters of those answers spell CHIPS, which works like the theme answers did for Charles Schulz, with Chip a nickname for Charles.

Quite a tricky one this week, right? We had 719 entries with just under half correct. Other wrong answers included Matt Groening (47), Scott Adams (22), Wal Disney (18), Thomas Nast, (17), and Stan Lee (17). Also 39 votes for Chip Sansom, a cartoonist we weren't aware of, who took over the "Born Loser" strip from his father. Our randomly selected entry had the intended correct answer (Schulz) so we didn't have to make a ruling on Sansom but we're inclined to think it was acceptable.

Congrats to this week's winner: Barry Kessler!

Feels great to be among those who successfully solved, but also admit to feeling a tad deflated since the odds of actually winning a mug are next to impossible.

Still, I remain a loyal fan who submits each week despite this reality. Not counting those times I am completely stymied.

That said, sincere congrats to Barry!

[Cindy N]

The contest answer is CHARLES SCHULZ...

Quite a tricky one this week, right? We had 719 entries with just under half correct. Other wrong answers included Matt Groening (47)

Although this is my first answer miss since I was pageanted, I don't feel so bad as I wasn't alone with seeing the Simpson's version of the nicknames. Now I think I shall go have a big bowl of cereal...