Attraction (Meta)

This meta was partly inspired by the Dire Straits song "Tunnel of Love", which explains why BOAT was clued with the words "low ride". Check out the music video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAirINwjaxE.

LOVED this one. Great graphic in the grid.

I went from In the Dark (Billy Squier 1981) to Upside Down (Diana Ross 1980) and Endless Love (Ross/Richie 1980)... until I finally saw the light at the end of the "tunnel"! ....I guess I missed the boat! :D Thanks, Ben. Happy Valentine's "week"!

I thought it was a house…… of love….or something like that. Finally figured out how to include attraction. Nice one, Ben.

Had to try Opposites Attract first (who doesn't love MC Skat Kat), but then realized where you were going with this once I saw the LOVE and BOAT. Thanks for the puzzle, Ben!

Well I lucked into this because I saw LOVE BOAT and the LOVE BOAT theme came out in the early 80's (late 70's). I saw the "magnetlike" shape and figured it was "attracting" the LO and VE above it - BRILLIANT, but wrong. "Hmmm, what is that Southern Hemisphere trickster up to..." then I saw the other LOVEs making a tunnel...TADA!!! I had some great other ideas (CARDIOVASCULAR ASBESTOS - Hearts on Fire, Frankie AVE/ALON "Fever", MATINEEIDOL ARON "Elvis Presley Burning Love". Luckily I saw the tunnel!!

Great construction

Yep. Never heard of the song. But had to visualize what it is and .....

I was thinking House of Love (but that's a band formed in 1986), Love Shack (1989), and then the image and BOAT finally suggested Tunnel of Love, but I was dissuaded at first because I was thinking of the Bruce Springsteen song from 1987. Tried it anyway, just in case there was an earlier version I wasn't familiar with - and there was.

LOL. I saw the title "Attract", and all the LOVE clinging it to it. And got it stuck in my head that the big black shape was a LOVE MAGNET (a song I never heard of, circa 1979.) Then I saw the BOAT and tried to enter THEME FROM THE LOVE BOAT in as many variations as possible. Then I focused on the 2 long across entries and tried LOVE ON THE RUN and TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN. A whack on the head from Ben helped me see the light at the end of the TUNNEL. Nice one, Ben - thanks for the remedial help!

I saw the visual pretty soon after filling the grid. Before solving I was worried that the shape was going to be a video game controller, which would be death for me. But instead it was a tunnel! Of love! With a boat floating through! And I knew the song from my years of spending too much of my spare change on these things called Compact Discs.

Well I’ll be darned, Springsteen did Tunnel of Love too.

Needed nudge #2 to solve the meta. Fun one thanks.

Thanks for the nudges!

Tunnel of Love is a Bruce Springsteen hit from 1987. Not the early 80s. Threw me off. I get the Dire Straits song of same name was released in 1980 but that’s a sort of obscure song in comparison and not even close to the Boss’s song in terms of cultural relevance…

Okay, well after submitting anything I could find on Billboard top 100 for 1980-1985 containing anything remotely related to LOVE or cars (my guess at the blob), I submitted your shove-nudge, et voilà. Google says it was released 1987 (not “early” 80s - so I think I would have gotten this by my chart-scan method but for that one word in the prompt. Still, this was a creative puzzle and I salute you getting the letters to do that!!

lol cute. definitely needed all the nudges, and even then took a second to see the LOVEs.