This Friday is presented by ... 🥁🥁🥁... the first-ever Happy Little Puzzles meta contest!
(Let's goooooo.)
If you're not familiar with the format, a meta is a puzzle within a puzzle. Start by solving this crossword as you would a normal puzzle (perhaps taking note of anything interesting or unusual you encounter along the way). Once you finish the grid, use the completed puzzle to figure out the meta solution. Here's a hint:
The answer to the meta is a food-related phrase
(or what you shouldn't do when you figure out the answer!)
If you crack the meta, congratulations! Drop your info into the Google Form at the bottom of this page (or at the link here) by Sunday, Sept. 27 at 11:59 p.m. ET, and you'll be entered for a chance to win a prize. Woohoo!
This time around, I've got two prize options. By far, the cooler of the two is a one-year subscription to The Inkubator, a thrice-monthly crossword publication created and edited by women. Their puzzles rock, and if you're not doing them, you should be. For two random winners, your first year will be on me!
If you're already an Inkubator solver/superfan, please try out the meta all the same! I'll choose two of you with correct submissions at random and make you each a custom 11x puzzle. It won't be dozens-of-incredible-puzzles-by-incredible-women-level lit, but it'll still be lit.
Lastly, special thanks to friends Ria Dhull and Sid Sivakumar for test solving and offering feedback earlier this week. Check out their sites for even more great puzzles once you're done over here.
TL;DR — Solve this crossword! Submit your meta answer by next Sunday night. Follow Inkubator on Twitter, and share this puzzle while you're there.
Enjoy!
-Matthew