January 2014 MMMM (First Contest Puzzle)

Welcome back to the MMMM! The first contest puzzle of 2014 is now published – you can find it here. The meta for this puzzle is a rock hit from 2000 that would make a good theme entry. Enter your solution to the meta below, where you can also rate the puzzle and/or leave a comment. If inspired, you can suggest a clue for the meta theme entry in the comment box, or suggest an alternate theme entry / clue combo. I’ll highlight the best ones in the write-up.

The 2014 contest once again features a mega-meta, hidden in the 12 monthly puzzles. You can enter your solution to the mega-meta in the box at the right. Solvers who send in the correct answer to the mega-meta before the final puzzle get lots of bonus points, as explained in the Contest Rules. The metas won’t get too tricky until later in the year. But since the reward is so large for getting the mega-meta before the final puzzle, there may be some tricks designed to throw solvers off the track. Consider yourself warned.

Thanks to all of you who sent in feedback. I’ll summarize in the write-up next week. And thanks to all those who sent in donations last week. The Tip Jar will stay at the bottom of this page until Sunday night.

Please don’t feel obligated in any way; but if you like, you can click on the Tip Jar icon to donate via PayPal. As I don’t plan on ever making money on this site, everything I collect will be used to reimburse contest expenses. Anything left over will be given to the crossword community at sites like xwordinfo.com. Thanks!