2015 Grand Prize Drawing

12 Jan

     New to the site?
← Click for an intro!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 2015 Mega-Meta is now closed and the results are in. A total of 115 people solved the mega-meta, 80 before the final puzzle came out. You can see the full write-up and solution here. I’ve also posted the 2015 Leaderboard. Congratulations to the 67 solvers who qualified for the grand prize drawing by correctly solving 9 out of 13 puzzles.

A big congratulations to the twelve solvers who went 13 for 13 in 2015: Gwinns, JanglerNPL, Veep, AK, Brent Holman, Jasters, Steve Williams, patanga, RPardoe, Paolo P, Golem, and Matt Gaffney.

I’m pleased to announce the 2015 Grand Prize Winner, selected by a point-total-weighted random drawing among people who solved at least 9 of 13 metas correctly in 2015. The winner is Dan Katz from North Attleboro, MA. Dan will be getting his choice of a free entry to this year’s American Crossword Puzzle Tournament or $100 cash. Congratulations Dan!

The 2016 MMMM will begin on January 19, 2016, and subsequent puzzles will come out on the first Tuesday of each month. Want to try it? If you sign up in the box to the right, you’ll get an email when each puzzle is ready.

Click + to see notes on the 2016 MMMM

2016 MMMM notes

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.

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

The 2016 contest once again features a mega-meta, hidden in the 12 monthly puzzles. The 2016 mega-meta will be harder than last year’s. You can enter your solution to the mega-meta in the box at the right at any time during the year, and the scoring is the same as last year: The earlier you get the mega-meta, the more bonus points you get. 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 2014 mega-meta).

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