Black And White (Meta)

Enjoyed this concept, thanks. And get that thesis done!

Oho! Good one! Thanks, Ben! (And while I had the entry for 58A quickly enough, it took me a bit to figure out why it was so "meta" :-)

Okay, I have to ask. The blacks were easy but how are we supposed to figure out the whites?

Very nice! Although I still don't get 58A. The title really helped. Thanks, Ben!

Loved it, very cool!

That was fun, Ben. Clever concept. Thanks.

Fun one Ben, I tried all kinds of things but then thought, "OK, what does the Title mean" and it hit me that in one box it would be BLACK and another WHITE. Now that said I ended up with CHECK S/C/ATE at different points; ERAS and ONES gives you an S, TAO and ARA gives you a C, etc. There's the problem with three letter words and crosswords (as I learned with "Rack Up the Points - 4/2/22). So many words and abbreviations are 3 letters and commonly used that you quickly limit your fill. You actually did a GREAT job of making only necessary 3 letter words out of 4 letter words overall, and to be fair there is no other answer than CHECKMATE that goes with your title (CHECK SATE happens when you are fed up with getting the check, CHECK CATE is what you do if Ms Blanchett is about). So thanks for MEOWing when I know you had other things to do and your own area to tend to

Very clever Ben - thanks!

Thanks for the puzzle, Ben, and good luck with your thesis!

Very apt title - that we needed both the black and white squares (in alteration) to derive the answer. Fortunately my first hunch - that ignoring the black squares still left valid words - turned out to be correct. But since the five black square letters yielded nonsense, I thought I'd try to find a white square in the four non-black boxes that would follow that rule - and it was CHECKMATE (both answer and victory cry).

Though your MOAT is a gambit to which I haven't found a winning response yet.

Loved it...thanks Ben!

WOW that took forever to figure out! I solved on PDF first and thought the odd numbering system would be some kind of clue… then did again on Crosshare and figured out that was probably just the way they had to be numbered for the software to work. Then I was sure we were playing tic-tac-toe, then I was sure we were playing with colors (black BEAR, gray AREA) …. what led me to look for similar conditions in the other little grids I do not know, but there it was! A great meta idea, and a great challenge to literally think outside the little boxes!

Agree with the below (again, @woozy?!) not sure I fully understand the metanism, but went with letters that I could pull out and leave valid 3-letter words behind. And once I saw something chess related, bingo.

This one was a toughie for me. Needed a nudge to get me across the line. That having been said -- great puzzle (once I saw it)! Query though -- what is the derivation of 5D? Never heard that term before.

Cheers, mate! Gl on your thesis, but I'm sure you don't need any luck: I wouldn't have been smart enough to make such genius puzzles while writing my thesis... hell, I'm not smart enough to write any puzzle while I'm not writing one now!

Very clever! Thank goodness for hints :)