Title: “If I Could Just Get Things in Order…” Prompt: The meta answer is something that may be difficult for a writer to do. Answer: BEGIN Explanation: the clue for 82A SORT, [Get things in order, such as by alphabetizing], with its clear callback to the title, provides a crucial hint. Something should be alphabetized……

Title: “The Brains of the Operation”Prompt: The meta answer is a famous novel.Answer: FRANKENSTEIN Before we get to the explanation, a quick bit of housekeeping: if you’re reading this on the ACL website (as opposed to in your email, if you’re a subscriber who receives these posts by email), you may notice a new banner…

Title: “If You Play Your Cards Right” Prompt: The meta answer is a literary antagonist. Answer: QUEEN OF HEARTS (from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll) Explanation: 4D, clued as [With 40-Down, the hand that you’ve been dealt] tells you that you have a BROADWAY STRAIGHT in your hand. Google (or just knowledge of…

Title: “State of Communication”Prompt: The meta answer is a novel published in the 1980s whose title would make a good sixth theme answer.Answer: THE HOTEL NEW HAMPSHIRE (by John Irving) Explanation: each of the five longest across entries contains, in some order, the name of a US state and a letter in the NATO phonetic…

Title: “The Art of Writing” Prompt: The meta answer is a novel.Answer: THE GOLDFINCH (by Donna Tartt) Explanation: the five longest across entries, although not clued this way, are all names of famous paintings. The name of the artist of each painting appears in a clue elsewhere in the puzzle, like so: THELASTSUPPER -> 21D…

Title: “Double or Nothing” Prompt: The meta answer is a popular children’s book series. Answer: FROG AND TOAD Explanation: four of the eight longest across answers have a pair of double letters in them. The double letters spell FROG. The other four of the eight longest across answers have clues that include a synonym for…

Title: “No One Can Divide Them” Prompt: The meta answer is a novel. Answer: WUTHERING HEIGHTS Explanation: The clue for 32A PRIMES is phrased in a suggestive way, given the puzzle title: [You can’t divide them (except by one and themselves)]. Looking for prime numbers leads to the numbered squares in the grid, and taking…

Title: Use Your Inside Voice Prompt: The meta answer is a well-known children’s novel. Answer: THE SECRET GARDEN Explanation: something strange is going on with four long across entries. To make the letters work with the crossing downs, the words ROSE (in MICROSECONDS), RAIN (in EXTRAINNINGS), ZEN (in JAZZENSEMBLE), and HERB (in BUTCHERBLOCK) have to…

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…