Update: Scroll to the bottom of this post for an explanation of the meta answer!
In celebration of a year of puzzles at Datalexic, and also of this being the 25th puzzle to appear on the site, here’s a meta midi that envisions a “Royal Screwup” scenario! Send the correct answer to datalexic@gmail.com to be entered in a raffle for a 1-year subscription to the AVCX, Inkubator, or Matt Gaffney’s Weekly Crossword Contest, for you or someone you think would enjoy it.
For those new to meta crosswords, please read this gentle intro by Matt Gaffney first, and if you find yourself stumped feel free to use the internet and/or e-mail me for a hint to the meta. Answers are due by Sunday night (12/20), and I’ll announce the winner on twitter the next day. Here are your instructions:
The meta answer to this puzzle is the last name of an actress who played a superhero on film.
Thanks to Matthew Stock for test solving an initial draft of this, and to my partner Vince (who has no meta experience) for verifying the “gettability” of the meta!
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To find the meta answer, we need to look at the crossword’s central revealer PRINCESS CUT as well as the starred answers TINA, ARIE, ELLE, and MONA. The trick is that each of these answers has a letter “cut” from the name of a Disney princess, to make the name of another notable woman:
– A is cut from TIANA of “The Princess and the Frog” to make TINA
– L is cut from ARIEL of “The Little Mermaid” to make ARIE
– B is cut from BELLE of “Beauty and the Beast” to make ELLE
– A is cut from MOANA of “Moana” to make MONA
In order, the cut letters spell out the meta answer Jessica ALBA, who played the superhero Invisible Woman in two “Fantastic Four” films.