January 2015 MMMM

20 Jan

Welcome back to the MMMM – and welcome new subscribers! The first contest puzzle of 2015 is now published – you can find it here. The meta for this puzzle is a song from one of the top rock albums of 1978. Enter your solution to the meta below, where you can also rate the puzzle and/or leave a comment.

Remember that googling is encouraged when solving metas…and is especially useful if you haven’t heard of the song!

Thanks to all those who sent in donations last week. The 2014 Tip Jar will stay at the bottom of this page until Sunday night.

Click + to see notes on this year's MMMM

2015 MMMM notes

In addition to the usual rock and pop metas, there will be at least one jazz and one classical meta this year.

Musical taste and experience vary. You may not have heard of some of the meta songs or bands, but they will always be gettable via an online search once you figure out what’s going on in the puzzle. (I expect the first two metas will fall into this category for some solvers.)

The first few metas will start off pretty easy. Difficulty will grow throughout the year, with a slight pullback in December.

I’ve started putting the meta text in the pdf and puz files, copying an innovation Peter Gordon started for his metas – thanks Peter!

The 2015 contest once again features a mega-meta, hidden in the 12 monthly puzzles. You can enter your solution to the mega-meta in the box at the right at any time during the year. The scoring for the mega-meta has changed a little bit. Full details can be found in the Contest Rules.

Because the reward is so large for getting the mega-meta before the final puzzle, there may be some tricks designed to throw solvers off the track, like last year’s red herring. Consider yourself warned. Click here (SPOILER ALERT) for the write-up on last year’s mega-meta (and here for the 2013 mega-meta).

You need to get 9 out of 13 metas to qualify for the Grand Prize drawing.

SEND IN YOUR ANSWER TO THE META:
E-mail address:
Answer:
Rating:          Difficulty:
Comment:
If I use your comment in the write-up, I will attribute it to your screen name. If you would like me to use your real name instead, please put it in the comment box.

Please don’t feel obligated in any way; but if you like, you can click on the Tip Jar icon to donate via PayPal. Everything you donate will be given to charity (Robin Hood Foundation or Math for America…please specify if you have a preference.) Thanks!