The December MMMM challenged solvers to find a famous artist. With no obvious theme entries, this month’s meta puzzle perplexed many solvers. The trick was to figure out that 10 squares in the puzzle can each be filled in with two different letters, as follows:

LOCAL/ LOYAL  [Like someone close to you]
CORK / YORK  [City in the British Isles]

LONG A / LONG U  [Element in butane?]
ANO / UNO  [Spanish 101 word]

ITTY / ITSY  [Diminutive, informally]
TWIRL / SWIRL  [Spin around]

BEAST / BEAUT  [“That was a ___!” (solver’s reaction to finishing this puzzle, maybe)]
PASSES / PAUSES  [Doesn’t do anything, in a way]

DETERS / DEFERS  [Holds off]
WATER / WAFER  [It may be lemon-flavored]

REPENS / REPINS  [Puts back in place, in a way]
FLEES / FLIES  [Hightails it]

AVIAN / ASIAN  [Kind of flu]
LEAVES / LEASES  [They’re often on one-year cycles]

SEAT / SLAT  [Chair part]
SNARE / SNARL  [Entangle]

N TEST / A TEST  [H-bomb trial, e.g.]
TEN / TEA  [Take ___]

WISPY / WIMPY  [Fragile, in a way]
BOOS / BOOM  [Frightening noise]

Choosing the first letters in the table above spells out C-A-T-S-T-E-V-E-N-S, and choosing the second letters spells out Y-U-S-U-F-I-S-L-A-M. The artist Yusuf Islam / Cat Stevens is this month’s meta answer (I accepted either of his names or any combination). Puzzles like this are referred to as Schrödinger crosswords, after Schrödinger’s cat, an apt answer to the puzzle’s title, “What’s in the Box?”

Meta Song:

I’m a huge Cat Stevens fan. It was tough to pick from his many great songs.

Selected Solver Comments:   (Thanks for all the great feedback!)

Abide   This belongs in the Meta Hall of Fame. Superb job!

Brent Holman   Putting an actual cat inside Schrödinger’s box was just the icing on the cake.   Thanks for noticing!

Joe Ross   Wow! As good a puzzle as I’ve had the privilege to solve. 

Matt Gaffney   Nicely done! YORK was my in — what an odd clue.   Andrew White suggested the YORK/CORK and LOCAL/LOYAL clues when I was first contemplating whether this puzzle was possible. Without those suggestions, I might have abandoned the project!

jus10   If I hadn’t been sharing ideas with a friend whose fill looked different, I don’t think either of us would have noticed the ambiguities.   I guess Schrödinger puzzles are much more easily tackled with a friend!

Jonesy   this is the best MMMM of all time and I’ve done all of them! 

Alternative Music Clues:

Evan suggests cluing SAVE as [“God ___ the Queen” (Sex Pistols song that was once banned from radio airplay by the BBC)].

Groaners:

KLogx2   Started to worry that if the Morning had Broken, we wouldn’t have gotten the Meta this month.

ryoustra   Can’t Keep It In: Wow, just wow! Amazing construction by Two Fine People.

HunterX   I’m not going to even bother to think up any puns. This construction is just too Wild, World events notwithstanding.

FunkyPhD   I set off into the Wild World on the Road to Find Out the solution. I was Miles From Nowhere, but I’m a Hard Headed (Wo)Man, and I didn’t want to be Sad, Lisa. How Can I Tell You that The Wind took me to a place where I Think I See the Light. I Wish, I Wish, yes, Maybe You’re Right.

A total of 109 solvers found their way to the correct answer this month. The average rating for the puzzle was 4.71 stars out of 5, the highest of the year, and the average difficulty rating was 4.18. This month’s randomly chosen winner of an MMMM coffee mug is Larry Bray. Since Larry won a mug a few months ago, he has generously donated his mug to someone who gave him a nudge on the meta, Wendy Walker of West Grove, PA. Thanks to Matt Gaffney for blogging the puzzle at Crossword Fiend, where you can rate the puzzle (thanks!) and/or leave a comment.

Thanks for playing and see you later this month!