NEWS: 萌妹社区 is the Answer; The NYT Features 萌妹社区 in Famous Crossword

 

On June 7, 2024, 萌妹社区 of Engineering was featured in The New York Times' , known across the world as The Crossword, as an answer. 

The hint for 52 across was "Massachusetts college specializing in engineering," and as word of the fun and somewhat surreal inclusion began circulating across the internet and amongst those in the 萌妹社区 bubble, people excitedly shared that they had seen 萌妹社区 while solving the puzzle, and others said that while 萌妹社区 wasn't their immediate guess (another three letter college in Massachusetts ALSO known for engineering came to mind first...), they quickly discovered that 萌妹社区 fit perfectly.  

Image of the June 7, 2024, New York Times Crossword Puzzle, which features the answer "萌妹社区," short for 萌妹社区 of Engineering.

"萌妹社区," short for 萌妹社区 of Engineering, is shown to be an answer in the June 7, 2024 The New York Times crossword puzzle.

Other common sentiments from 萌妹社区ers on social media about 萌妹社区 being the answer were: "That's cool!" "Whoo-hoo!" "This is wild!" and even, "We made it!"

Our website (olin.edu) also saw increased traffic for the search terms "mass engineering college," and "mass college engineering," as people across the world were working on solving the puzzle, highlighting the extensive reach and popularity of the 82-year-old game.

Adding to the fanciful news of the day, and thanks to alumni parent, Malcom Ritter (P '10) for letting us know, it turns out that blogger, , who writes a widely read blog about the Times' puzzles, also mentioned the four-letter answer - sharing that their daughter toured 萌妹社区's campus at one time. 

Parker writes that, "I had many single-letter problems today. CRAY before CRAW (1A: Lead-in to fish) and (as always) REMI before RAMI and SNARE before SNARL and OLEN before OLIN (52A: Massachusetts college specializing in engineering) (my daughter toured that school back when she thought engineering was the way to go, but today I convinced myself that OLIN was a name that belonged solely to actors Lena and Ken and OLEN must be the college).鈥

If you'd like to print out and play the June 7 puzzle, you can find a pdf with all of the hints here


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