This month’s MMMM challenged solvers to find a well-known song from the ’70s. The puzzle has four obvious theme entries, listed below:

BRACE YOURSELF
BRIGHAM YOUNG
BREWERS YEAST
BRIGHT YELLOWS

The first word of each themer starts with “BR,” and the second with “Y.” Now what? There’s one more simple yet hard-to-see step:

In a cryptic sense, “BR” AND “Y” spells out Brandy, the 1972 Looking Glass hit, and this month’s solution.

Meta Song:

I always wanted to learn this song, and this month’s MMMM gave me the chance. Kindred Soul regular Martha McDonnell did a great job on the vocal, and we were joined by Skip Ward, David Silliman, Eric Donnelly, and Andy Mac. Enjoy!

Selected Solver Comments:

Matt Gaffney   Outstanding little idea! So simple but so tough to see.   High praise coming from the meta master – thanks!

mpstable   BR & Y, a bit cryptic and tricky for February, but lovely click when it finally arrived.   “Lovely click” are two of my favorite words to hear from a solver.

NonnieL   Lord, I hate this song. Girl, he told you he’s not that into you. You need to MOVE ON!   

DawnM   I’m in the camp who likes this song.   Always can count on the MMMM audience to present both sides of an issue. Lots of strong opinions on this song!

Jon R   “Well-known” was definitely a stretch for this millennial. Took me looking at a list of 70s #1s that start with B to find the answer.

Paul Coulter   I assume you’re referring to Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl.) Or is it the Scott English song that wasn’t well known until Manilow recorded it as Mandy?   I just learned that “Mandy” was a cover. Wow!

Alternative Music Clues:

Eric H suggests cluing ARMED as [“___ Forces” (1979 Elvis Costello album)], one of my favorites of all time.

Chris Popp suggests cluing URGE as [___ Overkill (band that covered “Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon” on the “Pulp Fiction” soundtrack)].

BarbaraK suggests cluing BEEP BEEP as [Novelty song by the Playmates] and SEALS as [___ and Crofts].

Evan suggests cluing DRIED as [“Cut & ___” (Echo & the Bunnymen song from their album “Reverberation”)]

Groaners:

damefox   “Drink Recipe,” you’re a fine puzzle.

Jeneric   All answers can be found through the Looking Glass…

Tade   Hmmm. Br and Y as a drink recipe. That’s Bromine and Yttrium. Turns out Yttrium dissolves in water and reacts with bromine to form YBr3. Not my cup of tea.

djGrabko   BRainfood Yumminess!

mrlampo   When I solved the META, I found myself letting out a “Bravo! Yippee!”

Totals this month:

365 correct,  58 incorrect

Rating:  3.96 out of 5 stars

Difficulty:  2.95 out of 5

Monthly mug winner: Cliff Wagner from Weston, FL

Thanks to Matt Gaffney for blogging the puzzle at Crossword Fiend, where you can rate the puzzle (thanks!) and/or leave a comment.

Thanks to Tamara Brenner for the graphic.

Thanks for playing and see you next month!