Six Characters in Search of a Pop Song - July 2022

[LesY]

Solved. Love Wendy’s comment above.

[Cindy N]

I asked for the hint and with the first thing I found I knew the entire answer. When the solution is posted, I will tell you how incredibly stupid I felt once I realized what was going on.

[stmv]

I finally caved and asked for the hint. With the hint, I solved it pretty fast. But it left me feeling that I never in a million years would have gotten it without the hint, even though I had vaguely thought of something like the hint along the way.

Even with the hint I feel like I'm missing something. The board just updated, there I am at #110, but I still don't really understand how one was supposed to figure out the metanism without having a huge amount of luck. Maybe there's some hidden elegance there that I'm overlooking?

I still feel a lack of closure. I will be very interested to read the write-up on Sunday to see what the intended path to the solution was.

[gpj73]

We are completely stuck after two hours, even with the hint. Would welcome any nudges…

[woozy]

.....

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

.....

Before I had solved this I was inclined to dismiss the above as a grouchy overstatement. But now that I have solved it (with a giant shove down a staircase) I fail I have no choice but to shout "BAD PUZZLE!", whack it on the nose with a rolled up newspaper, and throw it out the back door for the rest of the afternoon.

[KayW]

Solved with hint

[m5rammy]

I have not seen the hint, nor solved the meta yet.
Today I was listening to The Moth Radio Hour, and Esther Ngumbi was telling her story and said "[something in the grid that cannot be posted here]".
Is this a sign? Why this story today?
I listened closely, but I am no closer to solving.
There is still hope.

[ricky]

I battled with this puzzle for days, determined to get it without the hint. Gave up, got the hint, had the answer in 5 minutes. I was making several defensible, common-sense assumptions about what meta constructors do and don't do that would have completely prevented me from finding the answer without the hint.

[HoldThatThought]

I was magnanimously nudged, and am more than willing to pay it forward. Circle paddlers are welcome to apply.

[FKelly]

With "The Hint" and a ...ahem... clarification from @CPJohnson, I managed to crawl out of the mud hole and clean myself off.
Sort of like boot camp for the mind, complete with instructions that are good enuf for government work. Yo!

In case you want to know "How To Do A Burpee The Right Way" check this out


OK troops, now we're square with the basics of the burpee. Next up, prep for August when the heat really gets turned up:

[runart]

I am in Finland traveling back home to the US today. Even with the hint I haven't been able to solve this thing. Am I interpreting the hint incorrectly? Not sure I can even stare at it anymore. I would greatly appreciate a nudge if anyone sees this before I board and officially throw in the towel. Thanks!

[burak]

I didn't start this early enough so I asked for the hint. It still doesn't make any sense to me. There are only certain options and they are impossible, unless I have to think outside the box yet again.

I don't think I'll enjoy/admire this one even after I read the solution.

[HoldThatThought]

Hey, I confess to being a bit savage in my earlier comments - as I did make certain to note, I truly admire and respect our meta creators, and I am grateful for the opportunity to pit my wits against theirs.

This was not one of Pete's best, and I'm sure it was just one of those "seemed like a good idea at the time" judgment errors - like the far too many that have dominated my life. I try to learn something useful from my mistakes, and I am sure that Pete will, too. I look forward to enjoying even more amazing mechanisms in the future, buoyed by lessons learned from this one.

For those still suffering, this one presents an awfully large ask, relative to the universe of possible mechanisms, and reasonable interpretations of the title, the overt hint in the clues, and even the bonus hint, AND, it violates a convention that I'm sure many of us use to narrow our choices. I look forward to hearing what the constructor has to say, but, again, I always admire and appreciate the work that goes into every one of these puzzles.

[woozy]

On the other hand.... The fact that after being shoved down the stairs I was able to solve this and that with extra nudges everyone I know succeeded, makes me conclude that although "AND, it violates a convention that I'm sure many of us use to narrow our choices" is certainly correct, there is another of a restriction and a pointing elsewhere that one could do it anyway (at least I don't know of any-one who couldn't).

Still, I'm hitting it with a newspaper and scolding "BAD PUZZLE" at it.

[iggystan]

Didn’t solve, didn’t ask for the hint. Oh, well.

[HunterX]

Got it with a nudge from @HoldThatThought, with whom I entirely agree regarding this puzzle.

Can't say it'll ever make it to my list of favorite meta-puzzles. But hey... I couldn't do what all these creative, intelligent meta-constructors do to give us such wonderful puzzlers each and every week! And after about 50 years of playing music, I'm also not nearly as competent, and certainly not as accomplished, a musician as Pete either! So I'll just tip my hat and say "Thanks!"

Now to get some work done until the next puzzle. I spent WAY too much time neglecting what I should have been doing on this triple-meta-weekend. (The WSJMGWCCMMM weekend that is.)

[MMe]

Can someone please post the hint now that it's too late to submit?

[BarbaraK]

Can someone please post the hint now that it's too late to submit?

Now that the deadline has passed, Pete has it on his website:

https://pmxwords.com/2022-puzzle-7-six- ... song-hint/

[Joe Ross]

[MMe]

Huh, I'd thought of POLITE->POLICE because of King of Pain, and BREATH as well at a different time. Oh well!