Solution to Evan Birnholz’s Dec. 6 Post Magazine crossword, “Sandwiches”

The instructions to today’s metapuzzle read: “The answer to this week’s metapuzzle is something you might put in a sandwich.” As with any meta, start with the theme answers. Six phrases follow an A-B-A word pattern, where the middle word is sandwiched by the same word:

  • 24A: [Vague substitute for something more specific] is SUCH AND SUCH.
  • 48A: [1984 chart-topping single for Cyndi Lauper] is “TIME AFTER TIME.”
  • 63A: [Modern slang phrase about how a seasoned pro acknowledges a newcomer with similar skills] is GAME RECOGNIZE GAME. This was the phrase that inspired the meta idea, by the way.
  • 85A: [Like the ruthless world out there] is DOG-EAT-DOG.
  • 102A: [Milk-cream blend one might add to coffee] is HALF-AND-HALF.
  • 120A: [“It’s not fair, but it’s the law”] is “RULES ARE RULES.”

There are several other phrases you could think of that follow the same pattern, like ONE BY ONE, HOME SWEET HOME, and SORRY NOT SORRY, so why these six? It might be helpful to think of the instructions in a different way. If you added a word inside an A-B-A sandwich, the pattern would become A-B-C-A. This pattern is what you have to find to solve the meta. In this case, the A-B-C-A pattern represents letters.

If you write down the initials of the six theme answers, you might notice that there are four-letter words in the grid that match those initials, with an added letter on the inside:

  • SUCH AND SUCH –> SAS –> SACS at 72A: [Anatomical pouches]
  • TIME AFTER TIME –> TAT –> THAT at 22A: [“Hey, look at ___!”]
  • GAME RECOGNIZE GAME –> GRG –> GREG at 2D: [Wrestler Valentine]
  • DOG-EAT-DOG –> DED –> DEED at 46D: [Title document]
  • HALF-AND-HALF –> HAH –> HASH at 68D: [Corned beef dish]
  • RULES ARE RULES –> RAR –> REAR at 3D: [Tail end]

The last step is to extract the added letters from those four-letter words. In thematic order, they spell out CHEESE. And that’s our answer.

It’s a subtle meta in that all you need is a single insight — spotting the words with the matching-initials-plus-another-letter — but it can be tough to do that in a Sunday-sized puzzle. It might not be needle-in-a-haystack tough, but certainly it is a more difficult treasure hunt than if the grid were smaller. The theme also stands on its own in that even if you didn’t solve the meta, it’s easy enough to see the six theme phrases with the A-B-A word pattern and recognize them sharing a “sandwich” pattern.

The tricky thing for me was that I was forced to eliminate other “sandwiches” from the grid that might cause confusion. Besides SACS, there is no other answer in the grid that begins and ends with an S. Besides THAT, no other answer begins and ends with a T. Some of those sandwiches weren’t too difficult to avoid, like ones that begin and end with G or H. But avoiding the S sandwiches took some time, and I often forgot to stick to that rule while building the puzzle. SO BE IT at 97A: [“All right, then”] was going to be SOBERS because it fit relatively well. so it caused a fair amount of stress when I realized I had to tear that word out and refill that section of the puzzle. I couldn’t avoid all possible sandwiches, like ELSE at 37D: [“I’m Not Like Everybody ___” (Kinks song)], AGUA at 69D: [Guadalajara water], and ELIGIBLE at 67D: [Fit to be selected], but I managed to keep out the ones whose outer letters matched the initials of the theme answers.

Some other answers and clues:

  • 29A: [Activity where you may take a shot at “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” and then take a shot] is KARAOKE. I had a little fun with this clue since this answer doesn’t show up in puzzles all the time.
  • 54A: [“Naught to fear, and naught to think, / For hobbits now have ___ to drink” (hobbit drinking song lyric)] is ALE. I had a little fun with this clue since this answer shows up in puzzles all the time.
  • 7D: [“Hooray, everything is still awful!”] is “LUCKY ME!” Maybe too appropriate of a clue during these difficult times.
  • 39D: [“Close but not quite right”] is GOOD GUESS. I wonder if this answer would draw more attention than normal in a meta.
  • 91D: [“The Remains of the Day” novelist Kazuo] is Kazuo ISHIGURO. He won the Booker Prize for that novel in 1989, back when it was called the Man Booker Prize.

What did you think?

Source: WP