puzzle untimed; meta: 40 min. (Matt)
 

Title: “Four by Fours” by Pete Muller
Prompt: The meta for this puzzle is a rock group.
Answer: SPLIT ENZ

October already? It would appear so. Pete’s problem this month is, nicely, Mullerian — no overt theme entries (judging by size), simply scan the grid together with your sample recognition powers set to 11 and see what pops out.

“Four by Fours” was the title, and with sixteen 4-letter entries within the grid I questioned if they’d kind two 4×4 magic squares. They didn’t, so I regarded for different concepts. Shading the sixteen four-letter phrases did the trick, as my mind on “rest mode” managed to seek out VIVA/CITY at 51-A and 71-D, after which off to the races. The listing of eight four-letter pairs forming eight-letter grid entries is:

VIVA/CITY (51-A/71-D)
RAVE/NOUS (1-A/48A)
THIN/KING (88-A/14-D)
BAND/AGED (86-A/5-D)
PLEA/SURE (9-D/63-A)
COVE/RING (17-D/10-A)
FEAT/HERS (23-D/75-d)
MODE/RATE (59-D/74-D)

Clearly not by probability, however now what? Second step was to note that every of those eight 8-letter phrases additionally seems in a clue. They are:

47-A: VIVACITY = ZIP
53-A: COVERING = LID
63-A: RAVENOUS = STARVE
66-A: THINKING = ISM
12-D: PLEASURE = NICER
31-D: MODERATE = EBB
38-D: FEATHERS – PLUME
39-D: BANDAGED= TAPED

So from the primary letters of these (ZLSINEPT) I anagrammed to the Eighties New Zealand band SPLIT ENZ, which each describes the meta mechanism (the 2 ends of every 8-letter phrase are cut up, u should reattach them). And I in fact grinned after I realized that along with their one massive hit, “I Got You,” in addition they wrote an execrable semi-hit known as “Crosswords,” which should’ve been Pete’s hidden cause for selecting this obscure-ish band as his meta-answer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rF4Tj2ODoP8

But no! Amazingly he was unfamiliar with this music, making SPLIT ENZ an particularly fortunate meta reply! I do know there’s a extra logical solution to order SPLIT ENZ than anagramming however I noticed the anagram instantly so by no means puzzled out the right route. And now it’s 11:03 and I must submit so somebody pls submit the meant path there in feedback.

4.50 stars, enjoyable. My streak continues! See you subsequent month.