March MMMM

2024 MMMM notes:

Musical taste and experience vary. You may not have heard of some of the meta songs or bands, but they will always be gettable via an online search once you figure out what’s going on in the puzzle.

The first few metas will start off pretty easy. Difficulty will grow throughout the year, with a slight pullback in December.

Mega-Meta: There will once again be a mega-meta hidden in the 12 puzzles. This year’s mega-meta is a hit from the early 2000s.

Red Herring: The Red Herring returns for 2024. Guessing the red herring is worth 5 extra points, and it will work like other metas in that you only get one chance to submit. Use the appropriate box to the right. This year’s red herring is a song from the ‘60s that should be mentioned in the clues to the July puzzle, but isn’t.

You can enter your solution to the mega-meta in the box at the right at any time during the year, and the scoring is the same as last year: The earlier you solve the mega-meta, the more bonus points you get. Full details can be found in the Contest Rules.

Because 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. Click here (SPOILER ALERT) for the write-up on last year’s mega-meta (and here for the 2022 mega-meta).

Hints: The website will be updated with a hint to the meta solution Sunday night at 11pm, right after the contest closes.

Grand Prize Eligibility:: In order to be eligible for the Grand Prize drawing this year you will need to correctly solve the mega-meta before the mega-meta reveal puzzle comes out on December 24, and solve at least eight other metas. You also qualify for the Grand Prize drawing if you solve the mega-meta and 10 out of 12 of the monthly puzzles, even if you don’t solve the mega-meta early.