Title: Fairy Rings Prompt: The meta answer is a literary character. Answer: FRODO Explanation: there are five starred entries in the grid. Each of these entries is still a valid word if you remove all of its Os (it’s just a coincidence there happen to be exactly two in each), and those new words match…

Title: Are You Missing Something? Prompt: The meta answer is a five-word book title which may describe how you find yourself after solving this puzzle’s grid. Answer: IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME Explanation: four entries don’t quite fit their clues, but they would if you added one of the letters T, I, M, or E…

Title: Gift Wrapping Prompt: The meta answer is a character associated with the holiday season. Answer: The Grinch Explanation: The three longest across entries don’t appear to have much in common, but they do all have the same trigram, BOW, appearing in them. 69A TOP, clued as [Surface of a gift that the bow goes…

Title: The Ending Places Prompt: The meta answer is a prolific science fiction author. Answer: URSULA K. LE GUIN The four longest across entries are:17A: TROUBADOURS31A: ORIONNEBULA48A: LIVEBOOTLEG64A: KINGPENGUINThe last three letters of each of these entries, read in order, spell URSULA LE GUIN. But wait, didn’t she also go by her middle initial? That’s…

Title: In Search of a Colorful MetaphorPrompt: The meta answer is a metaphor with its origins in American literature that could serve as a fifth theme entry.Answer: WHITE WHALE (from Moby-Dick) Explanation: there are four theme entries in the puzzle:16A {*Absolutely perfect candidate, to human resources} PURPLE SQUIRREL21A {*Hidden-away family member,perhaps} BLACK SHEEP43A {*Awkward suspect…

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…

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 &…

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?]…

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…