Author: Emma O.
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October 2025 Monthly Contest: “In Search of a Colorful Metaphor”
The pumpkin spice season formerly known as fall is upon us, and what better way to celebrate than by fixing yourself a mug of apple cider, settling down in a comfy chair, planning the demise of the enormous skeleton your neighbor has inflicted upon their front yard, and solving a meta crossword. Actually, you really…
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September 2025 Monthly Contest SOLUTION
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)} EYEPOLITICS -> 24A {___-ran (losing…
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September 2025 Monthly Contest: “Don’t Hate the Player”
This month’s contest puzzle is “Don’t Hate the Player” by Emma Oxford. The meta answer is a Shakespeare play. If you’d like to see a wider variety of names in the bylines of these puzzles, please encourage your woman-identifying constructor friends to submit to this project! Or, if you yourself happen to be a woman-identifying…
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August 2025 Monthly Contest SOLUTION
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 GASHLYCRUMB29A YETTOCOME38A COULDNTHURT47A HALFHUMAN60A JUSTIMAGINE Those silent letters spell BELLE, as in the protagonist from Beauty &…
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August 2025 Monthly Contest: “Shh! This Is a Library!”
Hard to believe we are eight puzzles into ACL, but somehow August has come around again. For those of you in the Northern Hemisphere, I’m sorry to say this puzzle does not come with air conditioning – you’ll have to supply that yourself. This month’s contest puzzle is “Shh! This Is a Library!” by Emma…
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July 2025 Monthly Contest SOLUTION
Title: Go By Prompt: The meta answer is a science fiction author. Answer: N. K. JEMISIN Explanation: four long across answers are authors who often go by their first initials: G. K. CHESTERTON, P. G. WODEHOUSE, H. P. LOVECRAFT, AND L. M. MONTGOMERY. Four two-word clues in the puzzle match these sets of initials:3D [Good kick?]…
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July 2025 Monthly Contest: “Go By”
Happy Canada Day to those solvers up north! (WordPress tells me ACL does get some traffic from up thataway.) A great day to listen to some Stan Rogers. This month’s contest puzzle is “Go By” by Emma Oxford. The meta answer is a science fiction author. To submit to the contest, send an email with…
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June 2025 Monthly Contest SOLUTION
Title: Step and Repeat Prompt: The meta answer is a 19th century novelist. Answer: GEORGE ELIOT Explanation: five synonyms for the word “step” are hidden in the longest across answers: GHOSTRIDER, THEATREKIDS, LIGHTREADING, STROOPWAFEL, and SPACEOPERA. These words also appear in five clues elsewhere in the puzzle, and the first letters of the answers to…
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June 2025 Monthly Contest: “Step and Repeat” + Bonus Puzzle Answer
Happy Pride Month! Before we get to the monthly contest, I have the answer to last month’s BONUS PUZZLE for you. May’s bonus puzzle, which used all five of the January-May monthly contests, asked solvers to find a type of book. The trick (if it can even be called that) was to go back and…
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May 2025 Monthly Contest SOLUTION + January-May BONUS PUZZLE
Title: In All Directions Prompt: The meta answer is a literary location which should appear as a clue in this puzzle but does not.Answer: EAST EGG (from The Great Gatsby) Skip to the bottom for BONUS PUZZLE instructions! Explanation of May’s contest: Seven entries are clued using a direction which corresponds to their position in…
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