Grid: 45 minutes; Meta: 30 extra
Peter Gordon’s Fireball contest, “What Next?” — Conrad’s writeup
This month, we’re requested, What card recreation is hinted at by this puzzle? There had been six theme entries, every containing a bit of a numbered set:
- [Peter and Gordon were part of it]: BRITI(SHIN)VASION
- [In demand]: SOUGH(TAFT)ER
- [Demonstrated to be effective]: PRO(VENUS)EFUL
- [Dodger Stadium setting]: CHAV(EZRA)VINE
- [Hot sauce brand from Belize]: M(ARIES)HARPS
- [Rocky enforcers?]: COLORAD(ORANGE)RS
Each piece has one thing that follows:
- SHIN (twenty first letter of the Hebrew alphabet) -> Tav
- TAFT (twenty seventh U.S. president) -> Wilson
- VENUS (2nd planet) -> Earth
- EZRA (fifteenth e book of the Bible) -> Nehemiah
- ARIES (first signal of the zodiac) -> Taurus
- ORANGE (second colour of the rainbow): Yellow
The following entries spell TWENTY. Our contest reply TWENTY ONE (aka Blackjack) is “next.” Another nice puzzle by Alex Eaton-Salners. Raise your hand if you happen to additionally obtained caught within the ESHARP rabbit gap. It took me too lengthy to identify ARIES and dig out of that one.