Pun of a Kind

PDF  /  PUZ The Summer of Solves  is over, so we're back to our regular schedule, part of which means I have no schedule. Here's your mini-meta to tide you over until the end of the month! 1.  Puzzle #37 recap Puzzle #37 answer:  SHOW'S OVER Correct entries:  26 The answer to our final meta, a nod to the final puzzle of the summer (but not of the Land of Metas) was SHOW'S OVER : Nine of the clues ended with titles of game shows (hence "Endgames"), and the final letters to each of those entries spell the meta answer. I think the one that stumped the majority was Card Sharks , and Jim Perry did all he could with a game that basically had to do with just predicting if cards were higher or lower. ([overly excited]"Oh, no, it's a queen, it's not lower!"[/excited]) --- 2. It's 17-by-11, and that has an area that is less than 15-by-15, so it still qualifies as a mini in my book! Best of luck, as always, on your quest for meta greatness! Mikey G

PDF  /  PUZ Finally, we did match - last week's puzzle was indeed a Week 4 but what I felt was the best one of the month! 1.  Puzzle #36 recap Puzzle #36 answer:  HIGHLIGHTER Correct entries: 37 One of my favorite puzzles of the summer - and one that came to me while eating something spicy one day, which is every day. I like the fact that you have to be a little clever in figuring out what's going on with the mechanism. My line of reasoning: a. We have 7 starred entries - but also the fact that the prompt clearly says what we're looking for is more than 7 letters. So at least something else is going on. b. In perhaps bold, iconoclastic contrast to the title, the starred entries all seem to be congregating toward the bottom of the grid...so something clearly is going on toward the top! c. This is where we have to be a little bit more sneaky, but I will aver that - since I like clues that might have more than one entry that fits of the same length - I figured that it might be