14. Down for the Count

[MikeyG]

PDF and PUZ

Meta fans of the universe, unite!

We're going to try this title again in honor of my first-ever meta that didn't really have any valid mechanism whatsoever, haha. Little did I know when I posted that last year that my love of metas would continue blooming to the point that it's pretty much all I make - and, outside of the New York Times puzzle, virtually all I solve! I once again thank all of you for your support and camaraderie and hope you are having a wonderful holiday season.

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The answer to the meta is a well-known title.

Deadline: January 9 at 11 pm Eastern

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Leaderboard of Destiny

(I'm very intrigued to see how that relates later, Laura - the "well-known" was added later and not in the .PUZ, but you can try again if you wish!!)

1. whimsy
2. whimsy's daughter (all in the family!)
3. boharr
4. Cap'n Rick
5. LuckyGuest
6. benchen71
7. oldjudge
8. DJB
9. Frankie
10. Darth
11. ChrisK

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Mikey G

[whimsy]

Challenging grid and lots of fun!
Thanks, Mikey!

[Laura M]

I submitted something that I thought could be the answer, but I missed the "well-known" part of the prompt, so I was definitely wrong. Although it's possible that the correct answer is not entirely unrelated...

[boharr]

Answer submitted.
Edit: on the board

[Cap'n Rick]

I've submitted. We'll see...

[benchen71]

Submitted! Nice one.

[oldjudge]

I think I have it—submitting. Upon reflection, I think there are two good answers to this puzzle.

[MikeyG]

I think I have it—submitting. Upon reflection, I think there are two good answers to this puzzle.

I agree with you!

[ChrisKochmanski]

Submitted. Awaiting confirmation.

[MikeyG]

Submitted. Awaiting confirmation.

And you got it!

[MikeyG]

December/January solution: CATCH-22 or GRAVITY

Correct answers: 11

Winner: @Darth



One thing I tend to do, for better or for worse, is that my metas are often a bit more conceptual than having the answer directly spelled out in the grid. I need to be careful that, in doing that, I still make the answer as crystal-clear as possible!

There was, as I can see, ambiguity in this one that could have led to a second viable solution, which I did end up accepting. My line of reasoning was:

• Notice the title is "DOWN FOR THE COUNT," so look for something spelled out going down.
• The four longest down answers (still small in length) have four numbers "hidden" (Note: Before publication, when I was editing clues, I realized that what I had written in the down entry as FOURNIER, indicating a mathematical series, was supposed to be FOURIER - and so that led to a giant redo. Although the hidden words are relatively obvious, I wasn't super-fond of having the FOUR as part of the phrase but c'est la vie.)
• These four numbers are ONE, FOUR, SEVEN, and TEN (y = 3x - 2, for our math fans.)
• The first long across entry gives us the clue to SUM, and 1 + 4 + 7 + 10 = 22 (and that's the new year, so Mikey G would do that.)
• The second across entry gives us the fact that we're looking for a BOOK title.
• The most decidedly well-known book title with 22 in the title would be Joseph Heller's CATCH-22, the intended answer for the meta.

However, at least one of your recognized that the number 22 could also indicate that we should look at square #22, which just so happened by complete coincidence to be the letter "G," and - in physics - g is short for the gravitational constant. This is a great connection (as gravity certainly makes things go down!), and while I would've loved it if the famed 2013 film with Sandra Bullock had its origins in a book, there is another book with that title here, and I presume 1,000 ratings is enough to indicate notability. Long story short, I also took GRAVITY, in fairness.

With all of that dust settled, the winner to the drawing is Darth! Congrats!!

That's all for now! Keep on puzzling, and see you for the January/February puzzle in a couple of weeks!

Mikey G