June 11, 2023 "On That Note" (META)

[benchen71]

I'm not a fan of Sunday grids (too much like hard work to get the grid filled!) But the meta was fun! Thanks, Evan.

[whimsy]

I too spent time on virtualpiano which I had not known existed. So, there is that. I was relieved to get the nudge that it was not necessary to use it. But I was actually a little disappointed. I was so close to "hearing" a song. Maybe we will see a puzzle like that in the future!?!

There is a song, and it is that song. But you need to go down instead of up. Even then, it is hard to recognize since virtualpiano plays everything in quarter-notes.

Came back here and found out I didn't have to go all musical; then tried the thing about the title I remember having in my head earlier today. (Why did I not follow through? Got me!) So yes, it was the first thing that came to mind when I read the prompt, and what do you know, when I tried going all musical again, it did ring a bell! - once I knew what I was listening for!

Also, I believe Josh once handed us something like this. I searched the MEOWs but couldn't find it. Turns out it was an MMM called The Sound of Music.
Which certainly does not take away anything from the double whammy excellence and elegance of today's puzzle! Thanks, Evan!

[ky-mike]

Wow. A fresh look this morning and the meta popped right out. Way overthought this one.

[hcbirker]

Evan always posts the solution the same day it publishes. Here's the link to the solution if you are not a WaPo subscriber:

https://crosswordfiend.com/2023/06/10/s ... 1-2023/#wp

[HeadinHome]

Huge and interesting grid, but smooth and not overly googly. My meta theory was insistent but fruitless... just couldn’t get it to make an answer. Used the link above to put me out of my misery. Ohhhhh…. uh huh. uh huh. That woulda been fun to spot on my own.

[Schmeel]

Evan always posts the solution the same day it publishes. Here's the link to the solution if you are not a WaPo subscriber:

https://crosswordfiend.com/2023/06/10/s ... 1-2023/#wp

Thanks! I ultimately managed to read Evan's solution on the Wapo site even though I'm not a subscriber. It seems that the article is behind a paywall, but when I deleted the cookies for the site I was allowed to get a few views of a few articles - probably until I hit the paywall once more and I'll need to delete the cookies again.

Great puzzle!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyl ... that-note/

[DrTom]

I was never going to get this one because I made an OCD error. Reading the solution I do see the elegance now but something that usually works to solve a puzzle did not here. Since some are still solving I will do it in ROT 13 therefore obviating even the inadvertent reveal of the mechanism.

V hfrq NYY vafgnaprf bs gur QB, ER, ZR, SN, FBY, YN, GV, fb jurerire gurl jrer V pvepyrq gurz naq hfrq gurz. Vg qbrf abg znxr sbe n tbbq fbat be n tbbq nafjre. Cyhf, fvapr fbzr unir ab yrggref nobir gurz be ner rira iregvpny, gur BA cneg qvq abg pbzr vagb cynl. V nqzvg V syhoorq vg naq vg jnf n tbbq zrgn, V whfg jvfu qhevat pbafgehpgvba naq grfgvat gur rkgen abgrf unq orra ryvzvangrq. Bu, jryy, qebcf vg sebz n 100% gb n 98%.

[Schmeel]

I think that's why the theme entries were starred, @DrTom. With such a big grid your issue would probably be tough to eliminate. That way there was an indication to narrow the search.

[ebirnholz]

@DrTom:

I was never going to get this one because I made an OCD error. Reading the solution I do see the elegance now but something that usually works to solve a puzzle did not here. Since some are still solving I will do it in ROT 13 therefore obviating even the inadvertent reveal of the mechanism.

V hfrq NYY vafgnaprf bs gur QB, ER, ZR, SN, FBY, YN, GV, fb jurerire gurl jrer V pvepyrq gurz naq hfrq gurz. Vg qbrf abg znxr sbe n tbbq fbat be n tbbq nafjre. Cyhf, fvapr fbzr unir ab yrggref nobir gurz be ner rira iregvpny, gur BA cneg qvq abg pbzr vagb cynl. V nqzvg V syhoorq vg naq vg jnf n tbbq zrgn, V whfg jvfu qhevat pbafgehpgvba naq grfgvat gur rkgen abgrf unq orra ryvzvangrq. Bu, jryy, qebcf vg sebz n 100% gb n 98%.

There is absolutely no way I was going to spend time trying to eliminate all other instances of the notes in the fill. If it were just a single note, maybe, but seven of them? RE, LA, and TI are such common bigrams that trying to avoid them everywhere would be an extremely difficult challenge that would not have been worth it. MI isn't the easiest bigram to avoid either. I had a hard enough time finding music-related theme answers that had a solfege syllable at the beginning and nowhere else in it -- trying to do the same thing for the entire grid outside the theme answers, while still keeping the puzzle as interesting and accessible as I could make it, would have been near-impossible. At the very least that would have taken me several more weeks to figure out and that's time I just didn't have.

[woozy]

I have to say, theme answer beginning with solfege syllable was certainly clear enough. No reason to solve *all* solfege note, indeed I'd never if think of such (Else what's the point of even having themers).

My difficulty, which was entirely on me, was being convinced singing the song was the way and having a little but not enough of the the skill, I was convinced that starting on a note and going down a note and up again seemed like "Doe a deer" (even though that clearly does just return but goes up by quite a bit mor) that I was *convinced* that was it and forced myself to believe the rest fit the tune as well.

Amazing what pig-headedness can do.