"Follow the Directions! (2)" - October 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! (2)" - October 2019

#1

Post by BrianMac »

The answer for this meta is a famous song.

Good luck!
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Hector
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#2

Post by Hector »

Pleasant and kind of easy for October (aren't these supposed to get harder through the year?).
Leslie
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#3

Post by Leslie »

Fun one -- not too hard!
Laura M
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#4

Post by Laura M »

Glad it wasn't too difficult though, I'm still smarting (dumbing?) from MGWCC...
damefox
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#5

Post by damefox »

Agreed, pretty easy one this month. Little shout out to last month's in 58D, which made me groan.
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Cindy
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#6

Post by Cindy »

Easy solve. Now back to pgwcc.
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sharkicicles
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#7

Post by sharkicicles »

Pretty easy. I also got the mega meta as well... had the answer a couple months ago but waited to submit til now for some reason. :(
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BarbaraK
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#8

Post by BarbaraK »

Got it.

Guess it's time to quit licking my wounds from my mega meta red herring trauma and think seriously about that again.
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sharkicicles
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#9

Post by sharkicicles »

BarbaraK wrote: Tue Oct 01, 2019 2:00 pm Got it.

Guess it's time to quit licking my wounds from my mega meta red herring trauma and think seriously about that again.
I actually just emailed Pete asking what the mechanism for the red herring this year was... didn’t catch it before. It’s pretty dastardly. :)
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TMart
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#10

Post by TMart »

Got it. 2 for 2 today - relieved to know that Rich O'Malley didn't break my brain.
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FrankieHeck
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#11

Post by FrankieHeck »

That was so much easier than "Follow the Directions! (1)"
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KayW
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#12

Post by KayW »

FrankieHeck wrote: Tue Oct 01, 2019 5:54 pm That was so much easier than "Follow the Directions! (1)"
Agreed! I failed the original. I groaned when I saw the title of this one and hoped I somehow followed an old link. But smooth sailing to shore this time!

(Probably because the first time around I tried absolutely every way to follow directions except the one Pete had in mind!)

Now I have some time to turn my brain to the mega meta.....
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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FrankieHeck
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#13

Post by FrankieHeck »

KayW wrote: Tue Oct 01, 2019 6:15 pm Agreed! I failed the original. I groaned when I saw the title of this one and hoped I somehow followed an old link. But smooth sailing to shore this time!
I failed the original too. Thought I'd tried everything, but I had just tried everything except the *right* thing!
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hcbirker
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#14

Post by hcbirker »

That was fun and pretty simple. Thank goodness! (Heidi)
Heidi
GlennG
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#15

Post by GlennG »

Mega-meta solved. Haven't seen anything yet on the monthly...
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ChrisKochmanski
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#16

Post by ChrisKochmanski »

Ditto the many comments above: Fairly easy, and fun.

Now I really need to think through the mega meta. Seems like I should have it, but ...

And we have PGWCC, Peter Gordon contest puzzle, WSJCC, and MGWCC to come, right? Fun week!
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KayW
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#17

Post by KayW »

oh poop. I'm now 0 for 2 on the mega meta. At this rate I will have a negative score for the year :D
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.
FKelly
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#18

Post by FKelly »

There seem to be two plausible answers to "Follow the Directions! (2)". Perhaps, there's another meaning for the (2) in the title. The first answer I found used familiar encoding method and led fairly directly to a possible answer. It's a famous song for a certain group, but not a genre that Pete Muller has used before (at least that I'm aware of). So I kept looking and found another answer that used a different familiar encoding method and also led directly to a possible answer. This answer was of a genre Muller uses regularly. Are there two (2) possible correct answers to this meta?
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Jeremy Smith
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#19

Post by Jeremy Smith »

I haven’t attempted all the MMMM metas this year, but I’m glad I tried this one. Crunchy grid and an enjoyable aha moment.
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KayW
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#20

Post by KayW »

FKelly wrote: Wed Oct 02, 2019 3:28 pm There seem to be two plausible answers to "Follow the Directions! (2)". Perhaps, there's another meaning for the (2) in the title. The first answer I found used familiar encoding method and led fairly directly to a possible answer. It's a famous song for a certain group, but not a genre that Pete Muller has used before (at least that I'm aware of). So I kept looking and found another answer that used a different familiar encoding method and also led directly to a possible answer. This answer was of a genre Muller uses regularly. Are there two (2) possible correct answers to this meta?
I considered myself lucky to find ONE answer :) I did not see a second. If there is a second I'd bet it's inadvertent. But I know of at least one other time when a constructor allowed an alternate answer... the famous Matt Gaffney Border Crossings Maine/New Mexico kerfuffle.

https://blogs.wsj.com/puzzle/2018/06/07 ... st-june-8/

Perhaps lightning can strike twice!
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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