This was a late-night meta idea that I dropped into my meta notebook so that I could sleep without thinking about it. But I still thought about it! Then, in the morning, I worked out the mechanics and the meta answer, and then just went right on and did the grid, too - basically, to see if it was even possible. Then it made sense to finish it off. And now here it is, more than 12 months after that day! The answer to the meta is a 2-word phrase. Answer & explanation: https://www.xword-muggles.com/viewtopic.php?p=178302#p178302
Check out "The MOAT Mini Pack of Marching Bands" here: https://www.ephesusscroll.com/about/interest4.html. US$5 gets you 7 Marching Bands which, hard enough on their own, now contain metas too. And once again there's a mega-meta!
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Comments
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Took a couple of guesses, but finally got there. Not sure I see the connection to the title, but at least I have the answer. Thanks for the puzzle, Ben!
"Easy Listening" and "Middle of the road" are equivalent song descriptors.
hoover 4s · 7 months ago
Nicely done! Since there were six of them, at first I thought you might be trying to do something with Route 66. Then I saw MEDIAN down the middle of the roads and I noted the oddity of the BAND/BELT thing but didn't see how to put them together until I googled "phrases with median." (facepalm) This one's a solid click!
Mine shouldn't count as a solve, I'm just here for the comments. ;) I got a very hefty nudge (ok, they just told me the answer after I found MEDIAN). Not familiar with the term "median strip": where I live, we just call them "medians." Regardless, thanks for the listening playlist!
KayW 🤓5:03 · 7 months ago
Nice one! Tried ROAD MEDIAN first (haha I thought that might be a Strine phrase) before I got to STRIP
Berto 1s · 7 months ago
Hmm - the leap (for me at least) to get to “middle of the road” was a bit too far. But it’s fair, just maybe not a week 1 level fair!
DCBilly 🤓5:33 · 7 months ago
Needed the nudges to see the equivalence of Easy Listening and Middle of the Road (which pops into my head as a Pretenders song).
Laura M 🤓6:52 · 7 months ago
Nice! Almost tried "road crew" but I thought there might be more to it.
whimsy 🤓10:52 · 7 months ago
I think that was one of my many, many tries.
Qmark 2s · 7 months ago
Thanks Ben! No nudges used, but needed some trial and error on Crosshare to come up with "strip".
omnilynx 🤓9:12 · 7 months ago
Add me to the list of people who don't see how "easy listening" leads to "middle of the road".
Fun one to have as the last of my trips back in time. I had actually filled the grid long ago, but not had time to work on the meta. Needed nudges 4 & 5, but got there in the end. Thanks. :)