The first MMMM of 2025 challenged solvers to find a famous singer. The slightly larger-than-normal 16×16 grid contains four main theme entries, whose last words (as hinted at by the puzzle’s title) hold the key to solving this month’s meta:

THE SOUL OF WIT
WOUNDED KNEE
OFF-LABEL USE
CIGARETTE TIN

Sounding out the last words sequentially yields Whitney Houston, this month’s meta answer. Another hint towards this meta mechanism was provided by the unusually verbose and specific clue for FORE at 40-Down: [Homophone of the number of homophonic three-letter entries in this grid]. There are just four three-letter entries in the grid, from top to bottom:

HAO
WIL
EYE
NOH

Sounding these out in order yields “How Will I Know,” Whitney Houston’s double-platinum hit from 1985, and this month’s cover song.

We had an amazing turnout for this puzzle, with 796 total correct answers, smashing the previous MMMM record of 612! We’d like to extend a warm welcome to all of our new solvers, and encourage those folks new to meta crosswords to check out these resources on metas: our info page, the Matt Gaffney/WSJ guide, and the WSJ’s interactive tutorial.

We’d also like to shout out some of our lightning-fast solvers this month, with JanglerNPL leading the pack at an impressive 2 minutes. Hector wasn’t far behind at the 4-minute mark, followed by Docison, LL, and Mikey G at 5 minutes. Congrats!

Meta Song:

Last October the band played a bill in Cleveland with Hey Monea, and we talked the Monea brothers into doing an MMMM cover with us the next day. Our fabulous videographer, Chris Morgan (who was also filming our shows and managing the tour), unfortunately didn’t get a chance to back up the video immediately. Of course that was the one time the video file got corrupted! Since the audio was saved separately, we were able to use it and Chris ended up creating something at least as good. Curious? Check it out below!

Selected Solver Comments:

mikem   So glad you’re back for 2025!   Us too!

jmb   I am rookie, first-timer, retired teacher! Had fun!  

Logan D   My first ever MMMM, great first puzzle!  

Capt D  First Meta! Once I looked at your past puzzles to see how you think, and read the title of this puzzle, it wasn’t too hard.  

Ehingsbe Just learned of this via WaPo. Cool – thanks!   Welcome to all the new solvers this month!

Sam  I love January, because it means I can actually get the meta.   

gpagano  How many “I Will Always Love You” will we get? At least 50?   Not quite that many, but plenty!

Rocklouder2424   I still remember how stunned I was by the pure brilliance of her vocal on How Will I Know when I heard the isolated studio track that was circulated on the internet a while back. Just a one of a kind special talent.   Agreed!

Birdy  Can’t believe I only discovered these amazing puzzles this week… The construction of these puzzles is top notch, but the editing is just sublime. I’m totally obsessed and hope to be able to shake y’all’s hands at ACPT.   I’ll be there this year, and so will Mack. Please come say hi!

Alternative Music Clues:

Evan suggests cluing SAIL as [AWOLNATION song that sounds like it should be a yacht rock song], TENSE as [“Present ___” (Pearl Jam song that isn’t about grammar, despite its name)], and RENO as [Loverboy frontman Mike who shares his last name with a Nevada city].

pbfrommn suggests cluing IDLE as [Eric ___, actor and comedian who sings “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” at the end of Monty Python’s “Life of Brian”] and OCEANS as [1000 ___, 1999 Tori Amos single].

damefox suggests cluing EVIL as [“___ Woman” (ELO hit)] and EYE as [“___ of the Tiger”].

Chris Popp suggests cluing ANNA as [Singer/songwriter Nalick with the hit “Breathe (2 AM)”].

Easynow suggests cluing TGIF as [“Last Friday Night (___)” by Katy Perry].

Pete Mitchell suggests cluing SAIL as [“Come ___ Away” (Styx hit)] and IDLE as [Eric who sings “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life”].

shirk suggests cluing SAIL as [“___ Away,” Randy Newman song] and WOUNDED KNEE as [Buffy Sainte-Marie protest song “Bury My Heart at ___”].

Groaners: 

FrotzNPL  eye wale law Waze luff ewe

JoeStrummer  Eye won ad ants width sum bawdy!

Tyler Hinman   What was Whitney Houston’s favorite type of coordination? HAND-EEEEEEEEEEEEEEYE-EE-EEEEEYYYYEE

Quiara   Saving all my love for metas with two paths to the answer!

merlinnimue   thane queue peat fore ann ice mehta pause ill

Mikey G   How will I know / If I solve this puzzle / I say a prayer / With every submission

Totals this month:

796 correct, 164 incorrect

Rating: 4.14 out of 5 stars

Difficulty: 2.17 out of 5

Monthly mug winner: Chas B

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!