"It's Not You, It's Me" (Meta)

That was hard to do!

I found the first name and based on that, the answer. I can’t backsolve the last name.

Thanks, Al. And Merry Christmas.

Yup, pretty tough grid.

I may have taken a short cut but I went with the S as an initial. There were 3 obvious possibilities and I didn't see any letters forming a diamond, or kittens puppies and babies. But if the entry for Amateur ended up being NEWBIE, there could have been trouble!

Thanks, Al. I'm putting you on Santa's list.

And I thought Neil Young was old! Fun meta, thanks!

Hmm -- Just had a thought: "Breaking" UP is hard to do? I'm going with that! :)

Neil Diamond cause... it's in the shape of a diamond? ... Nope.

Neil Young... because ....well, one can always encode Young somehow and "Forever Young"? .... Nope.

Neil Sedaka because ... well, when I google "singer songwriter Neil" it comes up?.... YEP!!

Okay, .... now to backsolve.

Nice one!

Oh! And now I get the title! (after trying SMENPORCH, and EQMEIPYOUNT, etc)

Finally got it. Well done, Al. Good cluing—I especially liked 24D.

I got the Neil like most everyone else and then realized that the title is commonly used for "breaking up", which is what we did to get Neil. It was then easy to get to "Breaking up is hard to do" by Neil Sedaka.

Thanks for the puzzle, Al - great clues and fill, and a satisfying solution (got it with my third Neil)

Cute!

A little googling went a long ways for this too-young solver, and now I have a new song stuck in my head! Love seeing Andre Norton included in a puzzle, too.

Thanks, Al! I also guessed Neil Diamond first.

okay but it’s ALSO a Neil DIAMOND! Connect the NEIL letters! (I’ll see if I can figure out the Sedaka trail… all I know for sure is Neil.)

I got the first name right away, but it took me a minute to get the "breaking UP". He is one of my favorite singers and this song was played over and over in my house. A few years ago he made a kid's book "Waking Up is Hard to Do" using this Melody. My granddaughters (and I) loved it. Great meta.Thanks, Al!

But you made it look easy...

My first guess, for already stated geometrical reasons, was Neil Diamond. I commented on the Tuesday night Muggle call that I kept thinking of George Costanza using that "It's not you, it's me" line when he broke up with the chopstick-hairdo girlfriend and did some quick Googling. Success! A great pop tune.

I was 90% sure it was Diamond, and then tried Young when that didn't work (although I thought "It's Not You" in the title might be intended to steer us away from him). I still had Sedaka in mind but at that point I thought I was completely off base and should wait to be 100% sure. The nudges got me there, although the meta title also makes me think of "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You," which Neil Diamond wrote for The Monkees :-) Happy Holidays and thanks for the puzzle!

As usual, the clever cluing full of the personality we have come to know and love. (so is the meta… a classic Dr. Tome). Thanks, and Merry Christmas!

OOPS!! I tabbed back to the wrong Crosshare board! Go do Dr. Tom’s fun Christmas MEOW. ( :

Add me to the solid NEIL DIAMOND contingent because of geometry… and like woozy, went to YOUNG and only later took a stab at SEDAKA. Got the backsolve from comments here and from a subsequent muggle nudge.

Odd that UP is the operative word here when the lyrics are so chock full of DOWN dooby doo DOWN DOWN

Thanks, Al… Merry, Merry, Happy, Happy all!

Finally…Got “NeiL” but then I misinterpreted a nudge and was led astray for a bit! Sorry for the guesses! Good one!

Al - this is a VERY cool meta. I gotta ask... was it hard to do?

On the second try. First try before nudges I tried Neil Diamond because 42A referenced talc as 1 on the Mohs scale, and diamond is 10 on the Mohs scale. When that failed I tried several iterations with google and then I posted "with a wing and a prayer".