35. Left and Right

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Welp, no records this week - sorry about that!

1. Puzzle #34 recap

Puzzle #34 answer: AUGUSTA

Correct entries: 26, of which fewer than 12 were likely solo solves

My original Week 2 idea didn't have a strong enough click in my mind, so I quickly put something together in about two days last week. I figured the spanner of CAPITAL with the word "state" in the clue would've been enough to get us over 40, but apparently, some of those capitals were really well hidden!

There's not much of purport in the grid, save for the main clue CAPITAL going across. This, coupled with the title, was meant to get you on a quest to find several hidden state capitals in the grid. I think the puzzle is fine; however, I think there did need to be more assistance for it to click down to a Week 2. Probably should've said "U.S. city" and got you thinking more about the clues than the grid.

It wouldn't have been easy to hide too many others, although one almost slipped in inadvertently! The clue about MASH originally mentioned "lasted over," which would've included "Dover" by accident.

Here are the state capitals, along with their clued words:

ADIA (McLachlan single)

UNO (Skip-bo; I seem)

GUIDE (concordance - I thought this was one was pretty contrived, but I do use the SAT-ACT concordance all the time!)

USED (sale merchandise)

SADE (Helen Adu)

TONER (Copier refill)

AGE (Auden verses)

Put them together, and you have AUGUSTA (for August, of course!), the answer to our challenging Week 2 meta.

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2. I planned on swapping out this for a meta that was more like a Week 2 after realizing how grueling the last one was, but no other ideas fermented in time. I think this is a fair enough Week 3 once you realize what's going on.

Good luck!

Mikey G

The answer to the meta is what you might say to certain letters in the grid.