"Fall Out" - October 19, 2923

[ricky]

https://crosshare.org/crosswords/nkUDbM ... l-out-meta

Okay, I got mixed up and posted this on Crosshare before sending out my mailing list email or posting it on my blog. But since it's out there in the world, I'm sharing the link.

[SamKat9]

So far I think I'm stuck on what seems like the second step.

Edit: I got it, I think I overcomplicated things. Clever puzzle!

[ricky]

Leaderboard so far

merlinnimue solved at 11:12 on 10/19/2023
Hector solved at 11:47 on 10/19/2023
Laura M solved at 17:49 on 10/19/2023
SamKat9 solved at 20:14 on 10/19/2023
LesY solved at 20:18 on 10/19/2023

[benchen71]

Solved!

As an non-US person, I was very pleased to have solved this one!

[schmidzy]

I think I'm also stuck at step 2, maybe today will bring more insight.

[ricky]

Blog post up...

I wanted to extend the deadline for this but apparently Crosshare won't let you extend the answer reveal date once it's set. See post for more details.

http://www.lexicondevil.live/2023/10/pu ... -meta.html

[ricky]

Updated leaderboard:

merlinnimue solved at 11:12 on 10/19/2023
Hector solved at 11:47 on 10/19/2023
Laura M solved at 17:49 on 10/19/2023
SamKat9 solved at 20:14 on 10/19/2023
LesY solved at 20:18 on 10/19/2023
boharr solved at 21:10 on 10/20/2023
benchen71 solved at 1:25 on 10/21/2023
Meg solved at 10:52 on 10/21/2023
Cindy Weatherman solved at 9:34 on

[Abide]

Solved without nudges (and without reveal). Nice one!

[ricky]

Final Ccrosshare leaderboard:

merlinnimue solved at 11:12 on 10/19/2023
Hector solved at 11:47 on 10/19/2023
Laura M solved at 17:49 on 10/19/2023
SamKat9 solved at 20:14 on 10/19/2023
LesY solved at 20:18 on 10/19/2023
boharr solved at 21:10 on 10/20/2023
benchen71 solved at 1:25 on 10/21/2023
Meg solved at 10:52 on 10/21/2023
Cindy Weatherman solved at 9:34 on 10/22/2023
Pair O Ducks solved at 17:50 on 10/25/2023
Abide solved at 15:11 on 10/29/2023

Congrats to merlinnimue and Meg, our two winners this month!

However - maybe due to an initial error in the way I set up the Crosshare submission - I didn't get email addresses for either of you (Meg, I might have yours in my email already but I can't get to it at the moment). So if you both would leave your emails in this thread, that would be great.

[Katiedid]

So, what's the answer/metanism? I never got it.

[ricky]

SOLUTION:

There are 4 states mentioned in clues, all fully spelled out: Kansas, Georgia, Louisiana and Maryland.

Some of these clues were intentionally stretchy, like the ones mentioning an old SNL character and an anti-Duke chant in Maryland when the two schools aren't even in the same conference anymore.

There are also 4 theme entries, each of which contains the abbreviation of a state university in one of those states:

PIC_KSU_PSPEED - Kansas State Univ.
OPI_UMD_EN - Univ. of Maryland
FUL_LSU_N - Louisiana State Univ.
PA_UGA_SOL - Univ. of Georgia

The revealer, BACKTOSCHOOL, hints that you should look for the letter with its back, so to speak, to each school acronym.

Final answer: PENS.

There were a lot of wrong answers this month, and I did feel this one might have been a little too specialized in its subject matter for solvers who aren't up on the abbreviations for every state university (knowledge often gained through watching college sports).

Hope you all enjoyed it!

[ricky]

So something went wrong with the submissions on this one - I only got one email address for the contest and it was for the wrong answer. The following are the correct submitters, in order:

merlinnimue
boharr
benchen71
SamKat9
Pair O Ducks
Meg
LesY
Laura M
Hector
Cindy Weatherman
Abide

So merlinnimue was the first correct answer, and I'd like [edit: him / her / them] to get the puzzle pack... Anyone know [edit: him / her / them]? Merlin, you out there?

Anyone who's on this list and wants the puzzle pack - first response in this thread gets it.

[benchen71]

Sure!

[ricky]

Sent!