LAST WEEK’s PUZZLE:

Title: “One Life to Live”
Prompt: Instructions: this puzzle’s contest answer is a well-known scary movie
Answer: THE SIXTH SENSE, found by 279 solvers, 233 of whom were solo solves

It’s getting scary out there! Dark nights full of unspeakable horrors! Gaaaahhhhh!

OK, it was only a crossword, so how scary could it be? Week 3 of 5 in October, and Week 1 of 3 in our unannounced-until-now-three-meta-mini-meta-series-about-scary-movies.

Our scream entries were:

18-A: [“Le città invisibili” author (1923-1985)] = ITALO CALVINO
23-A: [Outlaw killed while rustling cattle (1847-1887)] = IKE CLANTON
34-A: [“Fame” singer (1959-2022)] = IRENE CARA
40-A: [Sid Caesar’s foil on “Your Show of Shows” (1908-2001)] = IMOGENE COCA

So we’ve got four famous people who are no longer with us, and they all have the initials I.C. Which can only lead to contest answer “The Sixth Sense,” a film whose most famous line is “I see dead people,” reimagined as “I.C. dead people,” or celebrities no longer with us who share those initials. Irene Cara on vocals, non-I.C. Jennifer Beals dancing.

AZ in DC says:

Not even “so bad, it’s good.” This is objectively hilarious! Nice one.

Maggie W. writes:

Hi Matt, Looool. I appreciate this very silly meta. Have an excellent week!

Steve Jorgenson is on the board:

OMG. IF I got this right, it’s the first Week 3 for me in a long time!

Voice-over: “He got it right.”

And finally, sharkicicles writes:

The aha moment on this one was such a groaner it looped from bad all the way back around to hilarious. Well done.

THIS WEEK’S PUZZLE:

Today’s puzzle is Week 4 of 5 in October and Week 2 of 3 in Scary October.