Title: “Title Search”
Prompt: The meta for this puzzle is a song from 1969.
Answer: “Come Together” by the Beatles
As is often the case in a Muller meta, the identity of (or even existence of) theme entries in April’s MMMM weren’t clear at all right off the bat. We have the 12-letter BEATLESESQUE up top clued as [Reminiscent of the Fab Four], balanced on the bottom with the odd word EXCURSIONIST [Day tripper].
See the idea there? It took me a bit longer than I’d like to admit, but eventually I noticed what was going on. “Day Tripper” is of course a well-known Beatles song, and four other clues are as well:
25-A: [Revolution] = UPRISING
38-A: [Paperback writer] = NOVELIST. An unnecessarily specific clue, since there are of course hardback novels, so a bit suspicious.
44-A: [Taxman] = IRS AGENT. Same here, since there are of course female IRS agents, so again suspicious.
53-A: [Ticket to Ride] = TRAM PASS. I first parsed this as “tramp ass,” thinking it was some hobo-related slang of the 1920’s. Then I saw that it was TRAM PASS.
63-A: [Day tripper] = EXCURSIONIST, as mentioned above.
Taking the first letter of those five entries we get UNITE, which, were it a crossword entry, would be well clued by the 1969 Beatles song “Come Together.”
Other notes:
1-A: [TV station for “Cash Cab” or “Double Dare”] = GSN. Here’s crossword writer Mark Danna competing on “Cash Cab.”
31-D: [23andMe material] – DNA. I’ve always wondered whether the 23andMe people realized that the ‘and’ in their company name is DNA backward? I bet they did.
56-D: [Weight right here!] = SCALE. Admit it, you laughed. I did.
So that’s a tight little meta, and characteristic of Pete’s metas, especially over the past couple of years (lots of long fill that isn’t theme, which is sneaky!). 4.25 stars, and I’ll see you back here next month for May’s Muller Monthly Music Meta (MMMMM).
Thanks Matt!
339 correct this month.
WSJ metas, the MGWCC, a new kid, and still you find time to blog…
Much appreciated!
Pete
Anyone else want to UNITE? ?
Too much of a rush, and that song came right up on Google.
Unfortunately yes. After determining that the Beatles didn’t have a song named “Unite”, I found the Don Cherry song from the album Where Is Brooklyn?. It was enough of a click that I submitted it quickly, despite its obvious obscurity and not explaining any of the Beatles clues.
I kept looking for a song that was reminiscent of the Beatles (because…. Beatles-esque) and so I looked at all songs EXCEPT Beatles songs. Missed this one.
I also accepted “Get Together” by the Youngbloods, an (arguably) Beatlesesque song from 1969.
But you wouldn’t have accepted “ONE” by Harry Nilsson [big hit in 1969 for 3 Dog Night]? :-)
We have 4 Metas so far. Alessia cara has a finite discography. Yet I can’t imagine what the red herring could be!
I don’t get a 2d guess on that, do I? (Without earning points.) I had never looked for a red herring before, and didn’t send in a strong candidate.
Hi MTF
I wouldn’t accept “One” because [One] wouldn’t be an appropriate clue for UNITE. Sorry!
You can guess the Red Herring anytime before the end of the year.
Bryan, you’re not alone. I went down the “Beatlesesque” rabbit hole as well, before I just figured that the answer had to be a Beatles tune.