Another MGWCC entry.  It was a pretty good solve and a straightforward meta (though paying attention to the title would have helped it seem less sort of arbitrary.)  It took me about 19 minutes total. The puzzle is at http://crosswordcontest.blogspot.com/2011/02/mgwcc-140-friday-february-4th-2011.html and my solving log is after the cut.

I’m getting back on to the pure “Aha” puzzle track very soon. I have Dan Katz’s minihunts (http://web.mit.edu/thedan/www/minihunts.html) available. I’ll definitely be blogging the 2011 version, so solve now and we can compare notes.  If you missed my posts from last year’s, they’re here and here.  

Log:

0:00:00

Reading the instructions… carefully.

0:00:52

ok, novelist’s last name, got it. On to the puzzle

0:01:15

saw 27D ORFF first

0:01:31

38A FEET (not pants)

0:02:17

That section is done, with CLEAT going down

0:02:48

THEREST and HASHED get us out of that section downward…

0:03:52

SW done. CLEAT LATHE… hmmm, one letter off from anagram, C vs H

0:05:10

alternative to a TIFF? wasn’t that EPS before? I bet it’s not this time… BOT across, maybe, so PBM? not sure.

0:06:51

can’t get bottom center, but AARP/ASTRO/RENNER get me into bottom right okay.

0:08:14

SE done. LATTE… hmmm

0:09:17

E done

0:09:47

6D got me into NW

0:11:04

NW done

0:11:15

LEANT LATER in NW, I think.

0:11:48

N done

0:13:06

NE done, OLETA ECLAT?

0:14:14

all but S (with ADELAIDE dropping in which should help)

0:15:52

or maybe it is EPS…

0:17:10

APPS/PLEX/SEX resolve at the end there, and I’m done.

0:17:21

LEANT LATER, OLETA ECLAT, CLEAT LATHE, EILAT LATHE….let’s pull out those 8 non-LATE letters… I’ll circle them in the grid in case position matters.

0:18:23

L-R, top-bot… ONRCCITH. Doesn’t look like anything in that order…

0:18:57

anagrams to CRICHTON. Done! (cool, didn’t need any references/computer for xword or meta)