Title: Don’t Hate the Player
Prompt: The meta answer is a Shakespeare play.
Answer: HAMLET
Explanation: six across entries are all clued the same way: [It’s played by a certain player]. The players in question can be found in six other clues in the puzzle:
BASEBALL -> 49A {Hand-___ coordination (outfielder‘s asset)} EYE
POLITICS -> 24A {___-ran (losing candidate)} ALSO
POSSUM -> 8A {Streaming service behind 2022’s “Prey” } HULU
TRUANT -> 41A {Hurdle for a student hoping to earn a JD} LSAT
PEEKABOO -> 28D {Baby‘s first word, often} MAMA
THEFIELD -> 66A {Dater‘s preference, so to speak} > TYPE
The first letters of the answers to those six other clues, read in grid order, spell HAMLET, the contest answer.
There were 63 correct answers and 11 incorrect submissions this month, which is right on par with past contests despite the shortened submission window. Most of the incorrect submissions were for As You Like It, presumably because of the puzzle title’s apparent connection to the famous “All the world’s a stage” monologue from that play. I’ll point out though that Hamlet also has a famous play-related line in it: “The play’s the thing / Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King.” Shout-out to solvers Jen and Brad who wrote in their submission email, “Spent ages looking for the politics one, but as it turned out, the A’s the thing.” Well done. Several other solvers also included Shakespeare puns in their emails – I can’t quote them all here, but please know I read and chuckled at every single one.
Congratulations to this month’s randomly chosen winner: Cindy Heisler of Minoa, NY! The prize this month is a copy of a thematically apt novel embossed with FROM THE LIBRARY OF ARIADNE. There is no shortage of Shakespeare-inspired literature out there; I was hoping to find a novel with a connection to As You Like It, to tie-in the incorrect submissions, but I couldn’t find one I was satisfied with. On the other hand, books inspired by Hamlet are a dime a dozen, and so this month the prize is The King of Infinite Space by Lyndsay Faye. Congratulations, Cindy!
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 Tom W., whose answer came in at 9:45 AM EDT on September 1. The White Rabbit Award, which is awarded to the solver whose submission I received last, goes to Lydia R., whose answer came in at 9:32 PM EDT on September 5. 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??
More to Explore
Curious where to find more meta crosswords written by women? Today’s (September 7’s) puzzle in the “Smooth Sailing Sundays” subforum of the XWord Muggles Forum is by Barbara Koehler.
If you know of any other meta/contest crosswords constructed or co-constructed by women or woman-aligned constructors that I should shout-out, please send links to those puzzles to damefoxwords@gmail.com and I’ll mention them in next month’s solution write-up.
Thank you to everyone who submitted an answer to this month’s contest! See you in October!
Ex libris Ariadne
Ariadne's Crossword Library 