The WSJ Friday Contest Crossword: How Meta Puzzles Work

Every Friday, the Wall Street Journal runs a special kind of puzzle: the contest crossword, or “meta.” You solve the grid as usual — but then a prompt asks a further question, like “This week’s contest answer is a six-letter fruit.” Finding that answer is a second puzzle layered on top of the first.

What a meta actually asks

The grid alone won’t hand you the contest answer. Instead, the puzzle’s theme conceals a mechanism, and the prompt tells you the shape of what you’re hunting for (its length, or that it’s a movie, a city, and so on). Solving the grid is just step one — lean on the fundamentals from our beginner’s guide to get there.

Common meta mechanisms

• Hidden words: a category of words tucked inside longer theme answers.
• First or last letters: the initials of the theme entries spell something.
• The title is a hint: the puzzle’s title almost always nudges you toward the trick.
• Missing letters or odd squares: circled or shaded cells that combine into the answer.

How to crack it

Re-read the title, look hard at the longest theme answers, and ask what they have in common. Metas reward pattern-spotting and a willingness to step back — the same instinct behind understanding how themed grids are built. Because Friday is the toughest day, warm up earlier in the week first; see why difficulty climbs through the week. And if you just need the grid filled before hunting the meta, the day’s full WSJ answers are on our home page.