“I got it (I got it),” wrote many of the 101 correct solvers in their comments this month.  How did they get it? They found a song with a number in its title from each of the seven theme entry artists: 9 Crimes from DAMIEN RICE, Six Pack from BLACK FLAG, Eight Miles High from the BYRDS, Take Five from DAVE BRUBECK, Seven Seas of Rhye from QUEEN, Three Little Birds from BOB MARLEY, and Oh, Pretty Woman from ROY ORBISON. Put them in the order given in the clues and you get this month’s meta answer: 867-5309 / Jenny by Tommy Tutone (which features the repeated lyric “I got it”).

A number of solvers thought the puzzle was on the easier side this month. The average difficulty rating was lower than the last few months at 2.98 out of 5. People liked it, giving it the second highest rating of the year at 4.07 stars out of 5.

I liked that the albums you chose have more than one numbered song in most cases, to throw off finding the right answer. Also, the Roy Orbison curveball (No hits that year) gave me a little pause. All in all, a good time, writes gpagano.

Loved this, and figured it out once I stopped trying to use the numbers as an index. Very very nice use of Orbison’s “Oh”, writes weijus.

Nice curveball on the Roy Orbison answer. Who knew the full name was “Oh Pretty Woman…”? Well, I guess you did, streams John T.

Brilliant meta! (It probably helped that my wife’s name is Jenny, and she taught this song to our 5-year old daughter), writes Johnny Luau. 

The original version of this puzzle used a 17×17 grid and had all the songs in order. It looked like this:

It used “Absolute Zero” from STONE SOUR instead of an “oh” song and had to use LIONEL RICHIE (instead of the COMMODORES) for “Three Times a Lady.” I really wanted to use the WHITE STRIPES’ “Seven Nation Army” but ultimately decided that the grid you saw was a bit better.

Two solvers have submitted correct answers to the mega-meta, vraal and jeremiahsjohnson. Congratulations to both of them! As explained in the contest rules, anyone else who correctly guesses the mega-meta before October 1 (when the October MMMM is published) will get equal credit to these guys. A total of 35 solvers have perfect records so far (8 out of 8) and have already qualified for the grand prize drawing at the end of the year.

This month’s winner of a free MMMM coffee mug is Mike C from Staten Island, NY. You can find Matt Gaffney’s write-up at Crossword Fiend.

Groaners: Muller, Muller, who can I turn to? / You give me puzzles I can think hard to, writes FrotzNPL

I’ve got your number, writes Howard B.

This 26 second clip from jefe made me laugh.

Clues that could have been musical: Francis Heaney suggests [Rock critic Dave] for MARSH.

Todd Gross suggests [Colorado town where C. W. McCall served as mayor] for OURAY. I didn’t know that!

Next month’s puzzle will come to you on Tuesday, October 1. Thanks for your comments and feedback, and thanks for playing.