"Follow the Directions!" - July 2019

A monthly, music-themed meta crossword published at noon on the first Tuesday of every month. The puzzles increase in difficulty each month, and at year end there is a 13th puzzle (the "Mega-Meta") that invokes each of the 12 monthly puzzles. Currently available at https://pmxwords.com/, as well as through the Washington Post website here: MMMM at WaPo
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BrianMac
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"Follow the Directions!" - July 2019

#1

Post by BrianMac »

For July, you must follow the directions, imparatively. The answer to the meta is a famous rock-and-roll song.
Laura M
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#2

Post by Laura M »

I'm the lucky 13th solver! It's a 100%er, even if you haven't heard of the song (I have though).
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KayW
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#3

Post by KayW »

I'm going to sing my all-too-familiar sad song.... grid completed, no idea on the meta. Well. I see the first baby step but no idea where to go from there.
Contest Crosswords Combating Cancer (CCCC) is a bundle of 16 metapuzzles created to help raise money for cancer-related charities. It is available at CrosswordsForCancer.com.
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BarbaraK
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#4

Post by BarbaraK »

Hmmm. I think I see what to do, just not sure yet where and how to do it.
LesY
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#5

Post by LesY »

Got it! This was super well done. Tried just about everything I could think of until the right thing emerged.

Sadly I just whiffed on my initial attempt at a mega meta answer. I know I have the mechanism (or most of it), but I'm either missing another step or misinterpreting the options it's steering me toward. Are any muggles among the 6 who have solved it?
Leslie
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#6

Post by Leslie »

I was stuck yesterday, but a fresh look today led me to the right approach. What's the musical version of making it to shore?
Leslie
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#7

Post by Leslie »

LesY wrote: Wed Jul 03, 2019 2:44 pm
Sadly I just whiffed on my initial attempt at a mega meta answer. I know I have the mechanism (or most of it), but I'm either missing another step or misinterpreting the options it's steering me toward. Are any muggles among the 6 who have solved it?
Yes, I did!
sheilaco
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#8

Post by sheilaco »

KayW wrote: Wed Jul 03, 2019 9:53 am I'm going to sing my all-too-familiar sad song.... grid completed, no idea on the meta. Well. I see the first baby step but no idea where to go from there.
Same for me.
Laura M
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#9

Post by Laura M »

Leslie wrote: Wed Jul 03, 2019 3:07 pm
LesY wrote: Wed Jul 03, 2019 2:44 pm
Sadly I just whiffed on my initial attempt at a mega meta answer. I know I have the mechanism (or most of it), but I'm either missing another step or misinterpreting the options it's steering me toward. Are any muggles among the 6 who have solved it?
Yes, I did!
I was wondering this too--wow, very impressive, Leslie! I see two things going on but they haven't played out enough for me to venture a guess. There's at least one red herring, maybe more! (Last year I was sure that I found two red herrings, but one of them turned out to be the actual answer! So I missed my shot at an early solve by overthinking...)
Leslie
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#10

Post by Leslie »

Laura M wrote: Wed Jul 03, 2019 10:02 pm There's at least one red herring, maybe more! (Last year I was sure that I found two red herrings, but one of them turned out to be the actual answer! So I missed my shot at an early solve by overthinking...)
I had read the warning about red herrings and if I had been a regular MMMM solver I think I would have hesitated to guess. But I had just decided to try MMMM once (not thinking I'd be very good at it), and I (incorrectly) thought starting in May was too late to qualify for the grand prize anyway, so I figured I had nothing to lose! I got lucky on my first try, and now I'm hooked!
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ChrisKochmanski
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#11

Post by ChrisKochmanski »

I’m in the same place as BarbaraK (above). I believe I know what to do, and where to start, but so far it’s not leading to an answer. We’re on the road this week, so I haven’t yet had a chance to focus on it. There’s still time!
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Hector
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#12

Post by Hector »

I was super confident about the first couple of steps, then stuck like several of you, then bingo. Fun one.
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ChrisKochmanski
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#13

Post by ChrisKochmanski »

Got it. Finally. After being led astray for quite some time by some thing I was seeing as important, but turned out to be irrelevant. Overthinking again.

Good one!
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BarbaraK
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#14

Post by BarbaraK »

Aha! Finally! This was a Kas 2.5 for me - equal parts feeling smart for getting it and dumb for taking so long.

I was also quite distracted by that oh so red herring Chris mentioned.
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BrianMac
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#15

Post by BrianMac »

Great meta! I didn't see the red herring Barbara and Chris are talking about, but I did try to force an answer one way before realizing it was simpler than I was making it.

Now onto the MGWCC, which sounds like it may be a bit trickier than a usual week 1, then back to PGW, on which I remain lost.
FKelly
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#16

Post by FKelly »

Got the July meta.
Have an idea as to what the mega meta is. Avoided some red herrings. Can't think of anything else to check, so probably will submit it.
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BethA
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#17

Post by BethA »

I had my wild guess all ready, but took one more look while eating breakfast this morning, and was finally able to drag myself to the correct MMMM shore, sputtering and waterlogged...what a relief!

I’m the lucky 113th solver! 😀
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FrankieHeck
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#18

Post by FrankieHeck »

I've been trying to follow the directions, but I've come up empty-handed. I didn't discover this puzzle till mid-April, so I'm out of contention for the grand prize. Takes the pressure off, anyway. I hope I'm not TOO mad at myself when I see the solution!
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TMart
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#19

Post by TMart »

I was on the right track, but didn’t spend enough time over the holiday weekend to get the final step. Oh well - I’ll just go back to lobbing in bad answers to the mega- meta since I’m out of contention now since I also joined late this year.
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KayW
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#20

Post by KayW »

KAS 5 for me - I was in the same boat as TMart. And Matt Gaffney! per the write-up in crossword fiend:

https://crosswordfiend.com/2019/07/07/m ... ta-july-4/

So I take solace there. I was trying to follow all sorts of paths using those directional letters in the 11 key answers, but it never occurred to me to plot compass points at the edges of the grid. Kudos to the few, the proud who managed to find the path to the solution!
Contest Crosswords Combating Cancer (CCCC) is a bundle of 16 metapuzzles created to help raise money for cancer-related charities. It is available at CrosswordsForCancer.com.
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