The second MMMM of 2025 challenged solvers to find a famous song and its singer. The 17×17 grid contains nine theme entries:

EUROBEAT
TIDAL FLAT
THREEPEAT
ALPINE GOAT
JET BOAT
AMEN TO THAT
MIAMI HEAT
EMPTY SEAT
STOOD PAT

As hinted at by the title, the beginnings (“heads”) and endings (“tails”) of the theme entries hold the key to solving the meta. “AT” appears as the last two letters of every theme entry, giving the song title portion of the meta: At Last. To receive credit, however, solvers had to identify which singer’s version of this famous song we were looking for. This is where the first letters of the theme entries come in, spelling out, in order, Etta James, whose 1960 recording of the song made it into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Meta Song:

Lindsay Marie sat in with some Santa Barbara musical talent for this fun cover of “At Last.”

Selected Solver Comments:

Laurabrarian   AT LAST my lonely days are over because I’m back to solving these after a two-year break!  Welcome back!

Niaomiya   Aww, this was our first dance song for me and my hubby at our wedding 27 years ago.  

MissaFissa   Very well put together, the best “AHA!” moment I’ve had with a MMMM!  

Silverthreads   This was my first META. Enjoyed it so much. 

saltydonut  This was my first time doing MMMM so it took me a while to figure out how the meta answers worked, but it was very fun!   Welcome to all our new solvers this month!

jim32809  One of my all time favorite records and rightly inducted into the Library of Congress registry. 

EvanPasion  This was a perfect puzzle to solve in the stormy weather going on in Northern California right now!   

Alternative Music Clues:

EricH suggests cluing DIRE as [___ Straits (“Sultans of Swing” rockers)], POLES as [“___ Apart” (1994 Pink Floyd song)], and LORNA as [Singer ___ Luft (Judy Garland’s daughter)].

shirk suggests the same clue for POLES and also suggests cluing ARDOR as [Swiss metal band Zeal & ___].

damefox suggests cluing PIP as [Chipmunk in the Disney musical “Enchanted”] and DIRE as [___ Straits (“Money for Nothing” band)].

pbfrommn suggests cluing GOEST as [“Whither Thou ___,” minor hit for Les Paul and Mary Ford in 1954], TAB as [___ Hunter, movie star whose recording of “Young Love” was a #1 hit in 1957], and AGITA as [Song performed by Nick Apollo Forte in the film “Broadway Danny Rose”].

Evan suggests cluing TIE as [“Black ___ White Noise” (1993 David Bowie album)] and EPCOT as [Florida attraction where you can watch the JAMMitors do percussion shows with trash cans].

Redhead64 suggests cluing GEL as [Collective Soul music video directed by David Cameron].

Groaners: 

mrlampo  I started on the wrong foot. I kept thinking if AT FIRST you don’t succeed …

JayDubbya After much pondering the answer revealed itself … well … you know.

Jwaan   Arhat format unseat neat orgeat nutmeat encoat!

Nikbar   I’d Rather Go Blind if I didn’t get this one!

Mike Berman   Drat, that great feat! Neat.

postrander   Thanks for the puzzle. Should be a prize for the last correct answer submitted.

Abide   The Etta Meta we’ve all been waitng for!

Baschoon   At last, my solve has come along–
My puzzled days are over,
Since I figured out the song…
(I hope not, see you next month!)

Totals this month:

467 correct, 108 incorrect

Rating: 4.40 out of 5 stars

Difficulty: 2.75 out of 5

Monthly mug winner: OsasElle

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!