Title: Shh! This Is a Library!
Prompt: The meta answer is a fictional bibliophile.
Answer: BELLE (from Beauty & the Beast)
Explanation: each of five long across entries (whose clues are starred) contains one silent letter :
18A GASHLYCRUMB
29A YETTOCOME
38A COULDNTHURT
47A HALFHUMAN
60A JUSTIMAGINE
Those silent letters spell BELLE, as in the protagonist from Beauty & the Beast, who fits the prompt of a fictional bibliophile.
There were 66 correct answers and only 1 incorrect submission this month. Some solvers reported seeing the answer almost immediately, while others stared at the grid coming up empty for quite a while. One solver mentioned initially thinking the answer would be related to The Gashlycrumb Tinies (referenced at 18A) because there are several other entries that connect back to that book (there’s the explicit reference in the clue for 37A AMY, but there’s also 14A ICE and 5D IDA).
Congratulations to this month’s randomly chosen winner: SquishmallowsUnited from Georgia! The prize this month (as it is every month) is a copy of a thematically apt novel embossed with FROM THE LIBRARY OF ARIADNE. Well, actually, this month it’s not going to be a novel, but it is going to be a thematically apt book. In addition to the solver mentioned above, four other people made mention of The Gashlycrumb Tinies in their submission emails, so I felt like that was the only way to go. But since that book is quite short, I’m going to add in another morbid children’s book from Mr. Gorey as well, which means the prize this month is The Gashlycrumb Tines and The Doubtful Guest both by Edward Gorey. If you are unfamiliar with the works of Edward Gorey, I (and from the sounds of it, several of your fellow solvers) recommend seeking them out – they’re very enjoyable, albeit a bit morbid. Anyway, congratulations, SquishmallowsUnited!
You can read Ben Chenoweth’s blog post about this month’s contest over at Crossword Fiend, where you can also leave a comment and rate the puzzle.
Dubious Honors
This month’s Tick-Tock Award, which is awarded to the solver whose submission I received first, goes to Alexander M., whose answer came in at 9:50 AM EDT on August 1. The White Rabbit Award, which is awarded to the solver whose submission I received last, goes to Lindsey S., whose answer came in at 5:16 PM EDT on August 8. I have no actual prizes to hand out to these solvers, they just get the satisfaction of BOOKending this month’s contest. Well done!
Can you beat their times next month??
Thank you to everyone who submitted an answer to this month’s contest! See you in September!
Ex libris Ariadne
Ariadne's Crossword Library 