"Thinking Music" by benchen71

Can you storm the castle by getting across the MOAT? A weekly meta crossword constructed by forum member Ben (aka benchen71). These metas range from relatively easy to more challenging, depending on how many Australianisms he puts in them! Puzzles are posted in a new thread every Tuesday, with nudges appearing on Saturdays, and the solution coming out on Mondays. (At least, that's the plan. Given he lives in Australia, and they are so far ahead of the US time-zone-wise, things may get posted early!)
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Qmark
Posts: 461
Joined: Thu Aug 25, 2022 4:33 pm
Location: Ottawa, Canada

#21

Post by Qmark »

Crossed the MOAT...thanks Ben! Good one, eh...
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benchen71
Posts: 3400
Joined: Thu Jul 22, 2021 8:50 pm
Location: Melbourne, Australia
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#22

Post by benchen71 »

I'm slightly early with this, the first solver update, given that there is still one and a half hours until the conclusion of the first 24 hours. But I have a busy afternoon coming up, so here it is:

SeamusOL
LindaPRmaven
Schmeel
woozy
Dow Jones
Berto
Tom Wilson
Cindy Weatherman
Pair O Ducks
rjy
BarbaraK
Hector
boharr
Meg
jbird
lbray53
Pedro
KayW
JM
kymike
Cindy Heisler
Bird Lives
Tyrpmom
rayyandroid
DIS
Alex Sisti
Carolyn
kurtalert
Darrell
MatthewL
markhr
Andrew Bradburn
MrTheHan
ChrisKochmanski
Jaclyn
Laura M
DrTom
DebbieC
Sharkicicles
heidi
whimsy
JeffsPuzzles
JHSeeman
Johnny Luau
ReB
chslv
Ergcat
Qmark
SJMcK
Golem
lankratz
Kent
moron
Spid4567

Woo hoo! That's 54 successful solvers - which is amazing for what I thought would be a "week 2" puzzle.
Check out "The MOAT Mini Pack of Marching Bands" here. US$5 gets you 7 Marching Bands which, hard enough on their own, now contain metas too. And once again there's a mega-meta! :D
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HeadinHome
Posts: 1459
Joined: Sun Apr 26, 2020 9:06 am
Location: Charlotte, NC

#23

Post by HeadinHome »

Moat crossed - got delayed on the meta answer because of doing this on Crosshare. Wish there were a way to do Crosshare WITH all the grid and clues showing at the same time! (is there?)

Fun one, and easy breezy.
The other Wendy. :roll:
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benchen71
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#24

Post by benchen71 »

Another update for you:

JasonKB
Zoe
Joe
HeadinHome
Bbaack
THC
frostyjhammer
SewYoung

We're up to 62 now.
Check out "The MOAT Mini Pack of Marching Bands" here. US$5 gets you 7 Marching Bands which, hard enough on their own, now contain metas too. And once again there's a mega-meta! :D
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benchen71
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#25

Post by benchen71 »

Friday morning here in Oz which means it's time for the nudges! But first, a solver update:

Gutman
Mikey G
azonfrelli
K7
imontoo
Maria
Alex R

That brings us to 69.
Check out "The MOAT Mini Pack of Marching Bands" here. US$5 gets you 7 Marching Bands which, hard enough on their own, now contain metas too. And once again there's a mega-meta! :D
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benchen71
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#26

Post by benchen71 »

Nudges, in order of increasing blatancy:

1. There is a hint in the clue for 22D. Please don't try and find the band based on looking through a list of artists! Please do search the grid for names!

2. There are additional hints/allusions in 17A, 29A, and 62A.

3. If the only names in the grid don't mean much to you, perhaps the location of the hint in 22D gets you looking at a significant aspect of the grid.

4. If you're still stuck, do a letter frequency analysis on the completed grid (for example, https://boisvert42.github.io/mechapuzzle/)
Check out "The MOAT Mini Pack of Marching Bands" here. US$5 gets you 7 Marching Bands which, hard enough on their own, now contain metas too. And once again there's a mega-meta! :D
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CPJohnson
Posts: 1313
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 1:38 pm
Location: Kingsport, TN

#27

Post by CPJohnson »

Solved, with an additional nudge from @Cinny.
Cynthia
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ajk
Posts: 1721
Joined: Mon Dec 21, 2020 4:22 pm
Location: Colorado

#28

Post by ajk »

came back to this, as I was out of town last week. Got it sans nudges. Fun, thanks.
Check out this very cool project by many of your favorite muggles to raise money to fight cancer. You get a fun puzzle bundle and good causes get $. Win-win: Crosswords for Cancer
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Darth
Posts: 1080
Joined: Sat May 15, 2021 6:51 pm
Location: Champaign, IL

#29

Post by Darth »

Rocked the castle!.... :o Thanks, Ben.
images (33).jpg
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benchen71
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Joined: Thu Jul 22, 2021 8:50 pm
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#30

Post by benchen71 »

Last batch of solvers:

Taiga Watanuki
Jerry Miccolis
Cate C
CPJohnson
Tane
SJ
Sanne
ajk
Mr Tex
Darth
Oskar
Jeremy Smith

That's a total of 81! Good show, everyone!
Check out "The MOAT Mini Pack of Marching Bands" here. US$5 gets you 7 Marching Bands which, hard enough on their own, now contain metas too. And once again there's a mega-meta! :D
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benchen71
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Joined: Thu Jul 22, 2021 8:50 pm
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#31

Post by benchen71 »

Here's the solution to "Thinking Music":

IMG_20230619_084100_(500_x_1243_pixel).png

I know that some of you missed the diagonal. While that was the intended route, a solve is a solve no matter how you get there! And there were plenty of additional hints in the grid. :D

Check out "The MOAT Mini Pack of Marching Bands" here. US$5 gets you 7 Marching Bands which, hard enough on their own, now contain metas too. And once again there's a mega-meta! :D
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Jeremy Smith
Posts: 1164
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 5:45 pm
Location: Tampa Bay area

#32

Post by Jeremy Smith »

Another nice one, as usual, Ben! Thank you!
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