Six Characters in Search of a Pop Song - July 2022

[CPJohnson]

I got it, with the hint, and with a push from Cinny. Spent way too much time on this. I was grateful for the hint, but mis-applied it until Cinny set me straight.

[pmxwords]

It looks like everyone has gotten the same number of points for solving it whether they have gotten a clue or not.

So far. I could see them coming back and discounting those email addresses that requested a hint a point after the puzzle closes. Who knows.

That is exactly what we will be doing.

[HoldThatThought]

I have expressed this opinion before, and I realize that there are solvers who come down on all sides of this issue.

If I was invited to a meeting of the greatest meta creators in all the world, and invited to address one single solvers' issue, I would say to the creators "Never lose sight of the fact that there is such a thing as too clever."

No matter how artistic and novel a meta mechanism turns out to be, no matter how elegant, there are only so many leisure hours in the week. Meta mechanisms that are more impressive than solvable have moved from pastimes to aggravations. The more hours I spend staring at a puzzle, the more loath I am to abandoning it; it's like a book that you can't stand, but have already invested 400 pages in, or a movie that you really should leave, but how can you do that after you have already committed two and a half hours. You walk away from that book annoyed with yourself and with the author. Interminable meta puzzles are the same.

Creators, there are probably 10 million ways you can craft a meta mechanism; of course they make sense to you, because you designed them. All those possibilities mean all those different pathways to explore; the decision tree goes on, into infinity.

That 23 people can solve a puzzle does not demonstrate its cleverness - it demonstrates that 500 people could not solve it, AND CAME AWAY MAD. Meta creation can not become a competitive endeavor to do something that will astound your meta creating peers with your brilliance, they should provide an hour's challenge for fans of the art form

Even the hint to this puzzle leaves dozens of fruitless paths to pursue. Those who have seen the hint know a) what I mean, and b) that having figured anything of the sort from the puzzle title, grid, and clues was near utter chance. To say that this one proved more difficult than expected honestly suggests that the author has lost sight of the size of the jungle.

Puzzles for challenge, not puzzles for tortuous and numbing time investment.

Sorry for the rant, but this "I have something that's going to blow their little minds" frustration has been building, as it seems that there is a race to the most astonishing feat of construction.

[Leslie]

I was very frustrated by this meta also, but I’m so grateful that Pete keeps making these puzzles for us (the overwhelming majority of which I love) that I’m not going to complain about the rare one that doesn’t work for me. I just have to discipline myself not to waste way too many hours tearing my hair out when it’s obvious I’m not going to get it!

[sheeparenotgreen]

Wow. I'm just not getting it. Got the hint, spent an hour+ on it....and still stuck

[benchen71]

Got it with the hint.

[sheeparenotgreen]

And thanks to @CPJohnson, I'm now in the land of the unstuck. YAY.

[HoldThatThought]

Don't get me wrong - I truly appreciate the time, effort, and creative genius of every one of the talented and brilliant people that put together these puzzles. I'm just expressing a concern that the creators may feel obligated to outdo themselves with a clever new twist every time.

I'm sure this mechanism isn't nuclear physics complex, but it sure seems as if it was presented with far too skimpy a hint. With a million possible things to consider, there wasn't much to point solvers in a useful direction.

Having spent several hours staring at it, I have now been granted a clue that promises nothing but another long look. Any reasonable time limit I might have set for this puzzle has run out. Absent some clever insight into how to apply the hint ( I'm sure this exists, and I'm just too frustrated to see it), the hint, taken absolutely literally, suggests at least 64 things to look at (and actually, twice that many). No thanks.

I don't expect to get every puzzle, and I certainly don't want them to be easy, I just don't want every puzzle to be 5% more clever than the last.

[kurtalert]

On the board. Dummy here was making the hint twice as hard as it needed to be. Once I backed off and took the easy route, the answer damn near jumped off the page at me. The answer was not one of the many rabbit holes I chased over the first 2 days, so I don’t feel bad that I took the hint.

I must say, I came up with some super clever interpretations of the original direction. I’m not a puzzle maker, but part of me almost wants to make a puzzle just to get to use the mechanism I came up with. LMAO.

[benchen71]

I must say, I came up with some super clever interpretations of the original direction. I’m not a puzzle maker, but part of me almost wants to make a puzzle just to get to use the mechanism I came up with. LMAO.

Do it! Crosshare makes it really easy. See this discussion for more tips.

[madhatter5]

Meta creation can not become a competitive endeavor to do something that will astound your meta creating peers with your brilliance, they should provide an hour's challenge for fans of the art form

100% agree. It took me way too long to understand this

[woozy]

was making the hint twice as hard as it needed to be. Once I backed off and took the easy route, the answer damn near jumped off the page at me.

That is the exact opposite of what everybody else is saying.

I seem to be making the the hint a third as easy as required and it is bloody impossible and gets you absolutely nowhere.

[twelvetones]

Got it with the hint, and by cross-referencing with the Rolling Stone list

[Joe Ross]

Received a reply re: The Hint. It isn't meant to be step-by-step directions, but a "hint." Of course! It works as that and fairly.

I'd give The Hint a Week 2.5 difficulty leading to a Week 5 meta solution, in combination.

Solving still gives a fantastic overall AHA! Those solving without The Hint are otherworldly & deserve huge respect.

- - - - - -
Previously posted to incorrect Topic.

Thank you @benchen71!

[MikeM000]

I got it with the hint and after a short while of figuring out its correct application (I tried to make it more difficult than it was). After the fact, I can see how someone with keen observation skills might have discovered the answer by concentrating properly on the grid and having it pop out at them.

[kurtalert]

I got it with the hint and after a short while of figuring out its correct application (I tried to make it more difficult than it was). After the fact, I can see how someone with keen observation skills might have discovered the answer by concentrating properly on the grid and having it pop out at them.

Yep. It reminds me of one of those static/snow optical illusions where you have to defocus your eyes in a certain way, and then... OH, LOOK, IT'S A SCHOONER!

(Obligatory: "It's not a schooner, you idiot, it's a sailboat!"
"A sailboat IS a schooner!")

[Joe Ross]

REMINDER: Do not post detailed information about the grid entries, things significant to the meta, nor solving strategies.

You know what spoilers are. Err on the side of caution, please. If in doubt, don't.

[Tina]

Not getting it, even with the hint.

[markhr]

Got it with the hint.
The path was a bit obscure without it.

[Wendy Walker]

I have just realized an upside to the frustrating hours I spent on fruitless Zoom Group Solves for this puzzle: I met some new-to-me Muggles and got to know others even better. I just sent a PM to a newbie describing this group as the most collegial on the entire internet, and that is no exaggeration. Love our community!