Formerly known as the “Sunday Summer Substitute”, editor Cap'n Rick now takes the helm for 'Smooth Sailing Sundays'. As The Commodores sang about Sunday morning, the SSS will focus on easier metas. SSS will also support smaller grids and will mentor new constructors on request. Puzzles released each Sunday around 8am Eastern. Nudges released same day at Noon Eastern. New constructors are welcome.
The autumn equinox, and hence the end of summer, will happen on Saturday, so this is the final Summer Sunday Substitute. But do not despair. I hear that plans are afoot to keep it afloat. Maybe it would be better to think of today and its puzzle as the first Sunday of 5784. Le shana tova.
Like the first SSS, this one too had to be salvaged by the addition of numbers in parentheses, but these are much easier to interpret. In fact, as the title implies, you should find the puzzle itself as simple as abc. And if not, look for nudges later today.
The answer is the basis of phonics.
Thanks as always to Editor-in-Chief @Abide and to CTO @Joe Ross or whatever their titles are in the new Muggles corporate structure.
If you want help with a meta, feel free to PM me. The more specific you are about what you have and what you want, the more likely I can help without spoiling.
(And if I help you win a mug, I’ll be especially delighted.)
Check out "The MOAT MEOW Mashup Pack" here. US$10 for 14 metas that don't always abide by the "rules" of the game: asymmetry, 2-letter words, uncrossed letters, who knows. And this time there's a mega-meta!
Shannon PS: If you want help with a meta, PM what you have so I can help without spoiling too much. I've received lots of help in the beginning and I love to pay it forward!
Whoa! Stumbled upon (did not remember) and managed to solve before the 9AM nudges. I love it when I can pull that off.
Fun puzzle. (But one corner of the grid was pretty hard... had to use the meta answer to finish the grid).
Funny story. I was all set to enter Par for the course for the CrossHare midi contest for April but I mistakenly thought midi meant 7x 7 and not 11 x 11. Oops. Well.... Here's a complex but **small** meta on the subject of golf.
Here are the nudges, so you can get this one out of the way before kickoff.
As the intro says, the numbers are there to make up for a flaw in the construction, which otherwise would violate one of the meta rules. That rule is . . .The answer must be spelled out in order in the grid or in the clues.
Phonics starts with learning to read out loud. It’s much more helpful than silent reading.
Check out this very cool project by many of your favorite muggles to raise money to fight cancer. You get a fun puzzle bundle and good causes get $. Win-win: Crosswords for Cancer
SSSolved. Fun - thanks, Jay!
