Meta Rows Garden Solution, and Winners Announced

Meta Rows Garden Harder - Solution

Meta Rows Garden Easier - Solution

In this meta, we were looking for a "1970s song." The instructions stated that four blooms had something wrong, and another hint at getting the song was contained in one of the rows.

The four troublesome blooms needed only one letter in them, to be shared by the parallel rows. So for instance, D1's answer was BUMMER(D)UDE and LA STRA(D)A, both sharing the D in parentheses.

Those blooms, read from top to bottom and left to right, spell out DEAD. And if you take B1 and the S of B2, you see the ROLLINGSTONES hanging out in Row B.

Seeing that this is a garden after all (with AMARYLLIS confirming that in Row A), what could possibly be the answer? Fittingly, it's DEAD FLOWERS, a country-inspired song off the Rolling Stones' seminal 1971 album Sticky Fingers. It's been oft-covered since then, with probably my favorite version being Townes Van Zandt's, which was featured at the end of The Big Lebowski.

Norm Hurlbut uses a gardening pun to convey his satisfaction with the puzzle:

I think you have broken new ground with this one. 

I dig it, Norm!

Fellow Minnesotan John Wilson found the meta to be a tad ill-timed:

Say it ain't so - can't we get just a couple more frost-free weeks here in Minnesota before the growing season is going, going, gone?

Eric LaVasseur explains his leg-up for getting the meta:

I play keyboards in a band, and this is one of the cover songs that's in our rotation. 

Pete Muller (who creates his own music-related meta crosswords) channels his inner Mick Jagger in submitting his answer:

I won't forget to put roses on your grave.

Those are the closing lyrics to "Dead Flowers."

A fair amount of solvers mentioned they weren't familiar with the song, but were able to come across the correct answer. While it's no doubt disappointing when solving a meta puzzle that you need external resources to come up with the answer (it's much more satisfying if you reach the "a-ha" yourself), I was pleased that "Dead Flowers" had enough of a "click" factor once googling "Rolling Stones dead". No doubt the floral aspect of the answer was enough for these solvers to be confident in their answer. So I do feel bad that "Dead Flowers" is a bit too much of a deep cut (especially when considering the Stones' vast oeuvre) for universal recognition, but as I mentioned I was satisfied that the meta was solvable even for those who aren't familiar with the song.

87 solvers submitted the correct answers, along with 9 incorrect answers. Using a random number generator, the winners of a 2015 subscription and a copy of my upcoming Creepy Crosswords are: Daniel Streit and Matthew Mitchell. Congratulations to both, and thanks again for everyone for playing!

Meta Rows Garden - And it's a contest!

Meta Rows Garden - Harder

Meta Rows Garden - Easier

I’m excited to release this BONUS Rows Garden, and even more, it’s a meta contest! 

Instructions for solving the meta are included underneath the title of the Rows Garden. You may find the need to consult external materials to arrive at the meta answer; this is more than okay and indeed encouraged.

Once you’ve found the answer, email me at aries.puzzles@gmail.com before next Wednesday, September 17th at 11:00 AM CDT with your answer in the subject line of the email. You only can send one answer, so make sure it’s right before submitting.

Two solvers who send in correct answers, chosen at random, will each receive a 2015 Aries Puzzles Rows Garden subscription, as well as an autographed copy of my upcoming book of standard crosswords, Creepy Crosswords. 

Feel free to share this link with family, friends, or any other interested puzzle people.

Enjoy!

2014 Subscriptions -- And a Freebie Too

BACK IN BUSINESS!

I’m happy to announce that I will be restarting regular Rows Gardens in 2014. Puzzles will be available on a bi-weekly basis and will feature the kind of lively grids and clues that has been on display here since 2010. The delivery of said puzzles will change, however. The Rows Gardens offered will only be available via email delivery. In order to sign up for email delivery, you will need to purchase a subscription.

How much is a subscription, you ask? You tell me! That’s right – I am offering Rows Garden subscriptions using a “name-your-price” model. I wrestled with price points long enough to make my head spin, so finally I decided to leave the pricing up to the solver.

THE NITTY GRITTY

• 26 puzzles in total will be offered on a bi-weekly basis in 2014. Puzzles will be sent early in the week, generally Mondays or Tuesdays. The first puzzle will be sent on Tuesday, January 7th, 2014.
• A subscription will get you all remaining puzzles in 2014 after the time you subscribe. That is, if you subscribe February 1st, you will receive all puzzles after that date but will miss out on the two January puzzles. So in order to get in on all the fun, be sure to sign up promptly. 
• As opposed to AP.com-posted puzzles, I will not include an answer key along with the PDF version of the puzzle that will be emailed out to solvers. Instead, I will be posting the answers on the website one week after the puzzle was emailed, along with some brief commentary and other crossword-related linkage and such as I see fit. I hope that this provides a forum for solver feedback so please stop by the website regularly to check solutions and post your comments.  
• All puzzles will be available in both the Easier or the Harder versions.
• Don’t do Paypal? I will gladly take subscriptions via check. Send me an email and we can discuss specifics. 
• Be sure to use the same email for Paypal that you want the puzzles delivered to. If you want the puzzles delivered to a different address than your Paypal account, please specify in the comments box which email you'd like it delivered. 
• Want to purchase a gift subscription for a friend or relative? No problem! Just be sure to use a separate Paypal transaction for a second (or third) subscription, and put the name and email of the giftee in the comments box. This will ensure that I won’t forget to send the puzzles to any solvers.
• Be sure to follow AP.com on Facebook. I'm also on Twitter now; you can follow me here.

STILL ON THE FENCE?

Allow me to give you an example of what to expect next year. Enjoy the puzzle below, the last of 118 free Rows Gardens that I've offered since 2010. Be prepared for a lively 2014 -- I already have a few grids ready to go and things are looking good. So sign up! Simply enter your price in the "Item Price" field on the left side of the Paypal screen.

ROWS GARDEN 118 -- HARDER

ROWS GARDEN 118 -- EASIER

Rows Garden 118 Harder -- Solution

Rows Garden 118 Easier -- Solution

PS -- I am working on archiving the old freebies and importing them to the new site. Stay tuned as the weeks progress.