This month’s MMMM challenged solvers to find a famous country song. The puzzle’s title, “You Should See the Other Guy!,” hints at a hidden masculine person. Could that be a missing “MAN?” Yes!

The grid’s six theme entries each have a corresponding entry in the grid that can be clued in the same way if “MAN” is combined with the other entry:

The first letters of these corresponding entries, colored in purple in the table above, spell out J-O-L-E-N-E, or “Jolene,” Dolly Parton’s iconic hit and this month’s meta answer. The lyric phrase “Please don’t take my man” serves as a fun confirmation of the meta mechanism.

Meta Song:

The Kindred Souls were in town for our album release along with our fabulous associate producer and recording engineer Katie May, and we got Martha McDonnell to sing the lead vocal. Enjoy!

Selected Solver Comments:

Burak O’Drama   Multiple aha moments, and everything tied together perfectly. This is my favorite kind of meta.   Mine too!

Byrdy   Wowwwww. Amazingly done. My favorite of the year so far.    Thanks!

Neville   It’s another one of those months where I’m really looking forward to the music video!

Bird Lives   Can’t wait to hear your cover — with you singing.   Sorry to disappoint, but Martha did a great job.

sym   Great aha moment when you realize the lyrics to the song describe the puzzle mechanism.

Alternative Music Clues:

pbfrommn suggests cluing TEASE as [“And she’ll ___ you, she’ll unease you” (line from “Bette Davis Eyes”)].

Evan suggests cluing THEO as [Hurts lead singer Hutchcraft] and AREA as [“___ Codes” (Ludacris song with the lyric “Now you thought I was just 7-7-0, and 4-0-4?”)].

Groaners:

Mikey G   Hello, Dolly!

Laurabrarian   I know you begged me not to, but I took your MAN … in order to solve the meta.

Jonesy   MANiacally difficult

mattyx   Adamant that that was demanding

joeobie   I’m begging of you please don’t take Le Mans

Streroto   MAN that was fun!

Totals this month:

225 correct, 25 incorrect

Rating: 4.51 out of 5 stars

Difficulty: 3.64 out of 5

Monthly mug winner:  Tom Callan from Casa Grande, AZ

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!