"How Contrary!" - December 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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"How Contrary!" - December 2019

#1

Post by BrianMac »

The final puzzle of MMMM 2019 is available. The answer is a famous band.

Have fun and good luck!
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Al Sisti
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#2

Post by Al Sisti »

Submitted my answer, but leaderboard still shows no correct solvers, so...

(a few minutes later)... whew! I'm on.
Last edited by Al Sisti on Tue Dec 03, 2019 2:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Hector
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#3

Post by Hector »

Fun one. Still missing a piece, though I sussed the answer.
Laura M
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#4

Post by Laura M »

I hate it when I get the aha but still can't quite connect to the solution! I have a guess at the answer, but some of the pieces are missing or don't seem to fit. Tricky.
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Hector
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#5

Post by Hector »

The last piece only just now came to me. Never would have got it without backsolving. This one, too, is likely to skew Boomer/googling-pro.
Laura M
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#6

Post by Laura M »

I backsolved one piece, corrected one misassumption, and everything fit well enough for me to submit. (Still missing one piece though!) The leaderboard hasn't updated, though, so I'm on tenterhooks, whatever that means...

Update: Yay!
Laura M
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#7

Post by Laura M »

Hector wrote: Tue Dec 03, 2019 4:37 pm The last piece only just now came to me. Never would have got it without backsolving. This one, too, is likely to skew Boomer/googling-pro.
Finally backsolved that last piece, whew! I think it must have been the same one. Google never turned it up when I was trying to forward solve.
Tom Wilson
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#8

Post by Tom Wilson »

I sorta kinda see it - and am in awe of Peter's cleverness and artistry - but a few clouds and cobwebs are keeping me from the mic drop. Time for a frigid walk in the fresh Pennsy air, telling myself "Patience, patience," with every step.
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Cindy
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#9

Post by Cindy »

Nice one but parts were kind of obscure for me.
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ChrisKochmanski
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#10

Post by ChrisKochmanski »

Got it. Ditto much of the above. Had to google some, then back-solved a bit, then the final missing piece just came to me, which was a nice "aha."

Fun close to MMMM 2019!
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KayW
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#11

Post by KayW »

Laura M wrote: Tue Dec 03, 2019 4:43 pm I backsolved one piece, corrected one misassumption, and everything fit well enough for me to submit. (Still missing one piece though!) The leaderboard hasn't updated, though, so I'm on tenterhooks, whatever that means...

Update: Yay!
My sentiments exactly! I'm still missing one piece, but got enough to backsolve the meta and I'm on the leaderboard so it was right. Now to see if I can figure out that one missing piece...


...10 minute update: post-enlightenment, courtesy of google. Yay!

(1 across) loved the meta, and a few items in particular I'll mention after the deadline.
Last edited by KayW on Tue Dec 03, 2019 10:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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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#12

Post by FrankieHeck »

Oh, man. I started out thinking, "Wow, this is really fun!" Then I took a couple wrong turns and went partway down a rabbit hole...finally pulled myself together and figured it out. I look forward to a good night's sleep with no metas haunting me.
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Beth Tyrpin
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#13

Post by Beth Tyrpin »

Did I ever get off track. Picked it back up and got it in no time. On to PGWCC. Well, maybe tomorrow.

*I originally thought the antonyms were hidden in the clues. White, living, heads, initial (final) and air were.
Last edited by Beth Tyrpin on Tue Dec 10, 2019 1:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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TMart
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#14

Post by TMart »

Finally powered through it late last night - seems like it shouldn’t have been that hard. Like others, I had to backsolve a piece of it. I also had one piece wrong that I should have known, until I stepped back to review - too much Google turning up obscure info that fit when the better answer should have been obvious, but once I corrected that, it all fell into place. This was a good one to end the year.
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Cindy
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#15

Post by Cindy »

Backsolved here as well.
damefox
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#16

Post by damefox »

Not seeing past step 1 of this one. Well, most of step 1 I think. Ugh, a truly depressing meta week for me.
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BarbaraK
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#17

Post by BarbaraK »

Looks like I'm in good company with this one. Pretty confident that I have the idea for the first step and have 3/4 of it, but got stuck there.

I think I need a break after 4 days burrowing through MGWCC rabbit holes, so I set this one aside for a bit and will go back to it later.
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hcbirker
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#18

Post by hcbirker »

Well that was quite the Google fest! Still can't figure out one piece, but I had enough to figure it out. Number 100 on the board.

Edit: Found the missing piece. Quite sneaky Pete!
Last edited by hcbirker on Wed Dec 04, 2019 9:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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#19

Post by LesY »

Beam me up...to the shore...or something.

Really enjoyable. I got the first several quickly, then the next two with some googling. The last one danced through my head last night, like a vision of sugarplums, but I didn’t grab it. This evening it came to me with full force, and then immediately the meta, in less than 5 minutes. Funny how meta-solving works. I endorse Barbara’s idea to step away from it for a while.

Impressed Pete used a couple of these!
Leslie
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#20

Post by Leslie »

My experience is a bit different from what others have described. I’m pretty sure I have all the pieces, including one very tricky one and others that were quite obscure to me. But I can’t figure out what to do with them, which seems to have been the easy part for others, even when missing a piece. So either I’m missing something obvious or I’ve gone wrong somewhere.
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