XWord Muggles Forum

Sorry, KAS 11, for me.

I'll now declare myself off the couch. It was indeed the song I expected it to be. It took nudge #1 to get me there on the 'proper' path, even though I'd actually assumed the info in it was the right approach. Funny how the difference between assuming and really knowing can get me focused.

🛋

I’m more of Deadhead, classic rock guy. Even googling all the song titles and artists, I can’t make it work.

The meta answer appeared briefly in a show I watched last night. Show title in spoiler in case you want to check it out, but if you blink you'll miss the meta.

The Go-Go's documentary on Showtime, which can be accessed using a free trial. The meta has a roughly 2-second cameo.

Al Sisti wrote: ↑Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:57 pm

Richard B. wrote: ↑Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:41 pm Needed the nudges. Just wasn’t on my radar without them. Well constructed, Al. You have the knack.

In a moment of poor taste, in our last band job before the world shut down, we did "My Corona," parodying the Knack's only hit.

People have asked Weird Al to write/perform that but he has so far refused.

*** "Of Thee I Sing" Reveal ***

I was looking through my notebook where I had been writing down ideas for future metas, and I came across four words, with no explanation: Of Thee I Sing. Intrigued, I set out to solve the first part of the puzzle; that is, figuring out what I meant by that title. I finally decided I must have meant I was going to have a puzzle about tribute songs, and that each themed entry would imply a pairing of the singer and person/thing to whom he/she was singing.

For the primary mechanism, the first step was to notice that the first few letters of each of the long acrosses was the subject of a song, and either from memory or Google, come up with the name of the singer who sang a song to that person:

BEN – Michael Jackson (in the song “Ben”)
SLIM – Eminem (in the song “The Real Slim Shady”)
MARYLOU – Ricky Nelson (in the song “Hello, Mary Lou”)
SARA – Stevie Nicks (in the song “Sara”)
OLD MAN – Neil Young (in the song “Old Man”)

The initial letters of the last names letters spell JENNY, and the artist who sung of her was Tommy Tutone. (I also accepted the name of the actual singer, Tommy Heath).

My Easter egg nudges were:

41A: Call a number on the wall - PHONE
54A: “My number’s on the wall” – CALL ME
52A: In music, two tones played together – DIAD

And the following Down clues. The initial letters of the clues at “867-5309” spell out TUTONE
8. Turns of phrase
6. U.S. Grant, for example
7. The Four Seasons lead singer Frankie
5. "OMG, that was funny!"
30. Name shared by baseball greats Ott and Stottlemyre
9. Emile Giffard's 1885 creation, Crème de _____

(I really tried to have the numbered squares themselves hold T-U-T-O-N-E, but it would have required one clunky fill that would have earned me no end of flak from even people who like me… so I canned it).

Finally – an Easter egg I didn’t know was there until Peter Washington pointed it out – TUTONE is also spelled out in the central entry.

Hope you enjoyed it -- and from the comments, most of you did -- and thanks for continuing to do these (this was the 22nd one in our series!). Look for the 23rd tomorrow!

Wow. Well done and a KAS 5 for me.

I accidentally solved it from 42A, 52A, and 54A, then spent a lot of time trying to figure out the real mechanism. Translating telephone letters into numbers (ABC = 2, DEF = 3, etc), the initial letters of the clue for 8D, Turns Of Phrase, gives you 867.

This was fun. Thank you.
I did notice what was going on the the central entry, and that (with a couple of your easter eggs) pointed me to the answer (I knew the song). But then I had to go back on the couch to get the real mechanism. I didn't see that the initial letters of the clues at “867-5309” spell out TUTONE. That was really clever!

Totally missed the 867-5309 clues! Masterful!

C=64 wrote: ↑Sun Aug 09, 2020 11:26 am I accidentally solved it from 42A, 52A, and 54A, then spent a lot of time trying to figure out the real mechanism. Translating telephone letters into numbers (ABC = 2, DEF = 3, etc), the initial letters of the clue for 8D, Turns Of Phrase, gives you 867.

Wow...

I did check out the numbered squares, but not the clues. Great one.

Hector wrote: ↑Sun Aug 09, 2020 12:57 pm I did check out the numbered squares, but not the clues. Great one.

I came so close... just couldn't justify TTE as an acceptable answer. One thing I learned from the web site that Brian sent me to (where newbie constructors go to learn from the experts what to do and what not to do): Learn to let go.

Wow I missed the cluing numbers as well. Ya sneaky guy!

Great puzzle, Al.The only minor issue I had was that there are two popular songs about Sara. The first was obviously the Fleetwood Mac song Sara. Then there was also Sara Smile by Hall and Oates.

Al Sisti wrote: ↑Sun Aug 09, 2020 10:37 am
And the following Down clues. The initial letters of the clues at “867-5309” spell out TUTONE
8. Turns of phrase
6. U.S. Grant, for example
7. The Four Seasons lead singer Frankie
5. "OMG, that was funny!"
30. Name shared by baseball greats Ott and Stottlemyre
9. Emile Giffard's 1885 creation, Crème de _____

Wow - I missed that part. Phenomenal!