It's All Greek to Me
◆ · By Wendy Walker · Published 2024-07-29T06:32:56.419Z
Meta Prompt
The meta answer is a six-letter proper noun.
Hello, friends, and welcome to this week's Monday Muggle Meta. Thanks to MMM-meister Peter Abide; to Alan Kennan for adding some especially witty clues (one of his trademarks); and to Joe Ross for his formatting help. Nudges will be posted on Wednesday, though I suspect this puzzle will be firmly in the wheelhouse of many Muggles.
Nudges:
Step 1: Say the asterisked entries out loud. How do they relate to "Greek" in the title?
Step 2 is a little trickier. How do the English and Greek alphabets differ?
Which alphabet has more letters?
The English alphabet has 26 letters: A is 1, B is 2, C is 3, etc. Same letter/number principle applies to the Greek alphabet.
Now, how can you use those numbers vis-a-vis the six Greek letters that you sounded out in the grid?
Checking for previous play data...
But speedily figured it out again. Very nice, thanks.
1A
Chooses
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
Across
- 1AChooses
- 5AWhat the law is, per Dickens' Mr. Bumble
- 8AQuarrel over who's going to fix HR's printer this time
- 14A* Subtle pout
- 15A* "___ and improved!" (usually a dubious claim)
- 16AEvery 60 minutes
- 17AReese played her in "Legally Blonde"
- 18A"Either you clean your room, ___ will" (parental promise/threat)
- 19AYves' years
- 20AEnter
- 21ACarson City is its capital
- 23ASign of a sellout (the good kind)
- 24AMolded meat jelly
- 26ACountry where everyone's always high?
- 27ARR stop
- 28AMany Sri Lankan residents
- 30ABeehive State native
- 31A* Humble or cherry, perhaps
- 34ABlunt way of saying "I think you are mistaken"
- 35ACodfish and haddock
- 38AChess grandmaster Karpov
- 40ABeloved Schulz comic strip
- 41ATenant
- 42AParks & ___ (dept. in many towns)
- 43A* Horizontal part of a spreadsheet
- 44AFabulous cleaner?
- 45ATakes on, as a new pet
- 48A"Hail fellow, well ___!"
- 49AThroat ailment, for short
- 51APoet's feet
- 55AOne of Freud's triad
- 56AWhat Patsy Cline goes to?
- 58ABig shindig
- 59AUtility drawer staple
- 61AOften-injured knee tissue, for short
- 62AClapton or Idle
- 63ALow-scoring draw
- 64A* "Shame on you!"
- 65A* Sad exhalation
- 66AHorses
- 67AHorror-movie franchise; number 11 is expected next year
- 68ALittle piggies
Down
- 1DAlpha's opposite
- 2DKnit shirts whose collars are often worn popped
- 3DPopular spring flower
- 4DWhy you might say "no" to a movie invite
- 5DPresently
- 6DPeace of mind
- 7DPivot
- 8D"___ nightmare that I forgot to attend class all semester!"
- 9DBelonging to the same color family
- 10D"Here Comes the ___"
- 11DJunket for reporters to, say, the town's new sewage-treatment plant
- 12DGave a heads up about
- 13DFood manufacturer whose brands include Hillshire Farms and Jimmy Dean
- 22DCourses for coll. credit
- 25DCamp watercraft
- 29DDouble agent
- 30DLarge coffee dispenser
- 31DBuddy
- 32DAdjective for a meta crossword with inconsistent and asymmetrical themers, say
- 33DObvious (a phrase that might be censored on the Muggle Forum)
- 35DOoze
- 36DSaguaro and prickly pear, perhaps
- 37DOpposite of NNE
- 39DMao ___-tung
- 40DHair-growing agent finasteride
- 45D"We ___ the Champions"
- 46DBland coffeeshop orders
- 47DMost wise
- 48DOffice communications
- 49D"Let's ___ Some Time Together" (as performed on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in January 1967)
- 50DPirellis or Goodyears
- 52DCreator of Vito, Sonny, and Fredo
- 53DSinger Mary J.
- 54DInvestment bank Goldman ___
- 57DWhat the Beamish Boy did to the Jabberwock
- 60DUtility shed staple