"Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" - April 2020

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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Hector
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#21

Post by Hector »

I haven't gotten the mega-meta, but I did get the Red Herring!
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spotter
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#22

Post by spotter »

On the board! I was getting nervous after not seeing anything for a while. I'll have to start trying to find the mega meta or the red herring one of these days.
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Joe
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#23

Post by Joe »

I got step one, but now I'm stuck in the weeds.
Happy to give nudges. If you notice I've solved, please tell me about avenues you've explored so I can nudge you in the right direction and not off a cliff.
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KayW
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#24

Post by KayW »

spotter wrote: Tue Apr 07, 2020 9:52 pm On the board! I was getting nervous after not seeing anything for a while. I'll have to start trying to find the mega meta or the red herring one of these days.
Me, too! I haven't yet spent any time on the mega/herring but am impressed that so many have already solved.
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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Beth Tyrpin
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#25

Post by Beth Tyrpin »

I also got the Red Herring!
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ky-mike
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#26

Post by ky-mike »

Well, I submitted an answer. Time will tell if it is the right one.

On the leaderboard!
Last edited by ky-mike on Thu Apr 09, 2020 1:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Eric Porter
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#27

Post by Eric Porter »

I got it, but it took me way longer than it should have.

I got stuck in a nasty rabbit hole for too long. My initial idea was correct, but I was too blind to see it at first. :(

I see ky-mike got it right as well. The leaderboard stopped updating around 3pm PST Wednesday but was fine Thursday morning. Whenever this happens, I always worry that I got it wrong, which would have really surprised me for this one.
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anjhinz
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#28

Post by anjhinz »

Got this one -- still haven't attempted the mega meta yet but maybe it's time when my meta-queue finally thins out next week
FKelly
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#29

Post by FKelly »

Great puzzle and a great song.
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#30

Post by FKelly »

BarbaraK wrote: Tue Apr 07, 2020 7:23 pm I'm not sure I agree that the grid had to be as hard as it was
What was the alternative? When you consider the squares occupied by the theme answers and their style, it seems quite reasonable.
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ChrisKochmanski
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#31

Post by ChrisKochmanski »

Got the mega meta!

And rather kicking myself for not seeing it a month or so earlier.
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sharkicicles
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#32

Post by sharkicicles »

taking another look this morning, but so far I got nothing for this one. At least I got the WSJ and MG this weekend, I suppose.
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BarbaraK
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#33

Post by BarbaraK »

FKelly wrote: Fri Apr 10, 2020 3:55 pm
BarbaraK wrote: Tue Apr 07, 2020 7:23 pm I'm not sure I agree that the grid had to be as hard as it was
What was the alternative? When you consider the squares occupied by the theme answers and their style, it seems quite reasonable.
Having the last names in there was very clever, but if leaving them out would have made a cleaner grid, I think it would have been worth it. John, Paul, George, and Ringo are obvious enough on their own.

Also, some of the regular words in the grid could have had more straightforward clues, the aforementioned singers' blood type for one. The clues that could have been musical are fun to read in Pete's write-ups, but I don't need that many in the actual puzzle.
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BrianMac
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#34

Post by BrianMac »

Wow, I never even noticed the last names.
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BethA
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#35

Post by BethA »

I may have “pulled a Homer”. The first things that jumped out at me were MCCARTNEY and ALLMYLOVING. I submitted after double checking the year. Noticed during that that LENNON was also listed as a composer, and thought his name should be there. So after the fact, I found all of the other last names. Then, oh my, there were all of the first names, too!

Really I noticed STAR (not STARR), while solving, and thought the mechanism might be breaking up things across the black squares. I try to avoid solving the meta until I solve the grid, afraid I’ll go off on the wrong track without having the whole picture. But I try to be on the lookout while solving the grid, for things that might be worth pursuing later.

Happy the way it turned out, anyway!
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KayW
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#36

Post by KayW »

BethA wrote: Mon Apr 13, 2020 3:21 pm I may have “pulled a Homer”. The first things that jumped out at me were MCCARTNEY and ALLMYLOVING. I submitted after double checking the year. Noticed during that that LENNON was also listed as a composer, and thought his name should be there. So after the fact, I found all of the other last names. Then, oh my, there were all of the first names, too!

Really I noticed STAR (not STARR), while solving, and thought the mechanism might be breaking up things across the black squares. I try to avoid solving the meta until I solve the grid, afraid I’ll go off on the wrong track without having the whole picture. But I try to be on the lookout while solving the grid, for things that might be worth pursuing later.

Happy the way it turned out, anyway!
Thanks for pointing that out! I found Harrison, McCartney, John and Ringo along with All My Loving, but missed the remaining name parts until I read your post just now. I guess as part of my meta-solving strategy I should practice word-search puzzles more often. It seems like we've had a quite a run of those in metas lately - this one, the WSJ Between Meals, MGWCC Big Game, and Brian Mac''s bonus solution in Paper Anniversary. And I struggled more than I should have with every one of them.
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.
Leslie
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#37

Post by Leslie »

ChrisKochmanski wrote: Sat Apr 11, 2020 1:33 pm Got the mega meta!

And rather kicking myself for not seeing it a month or so earlier.
I definitely have the first step of either the mega meta or the red herring, which I actually saw last month but still haven’t been able to figure out what to do with. Hoping for some post-enlightenment!
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