puzzle 10ish; meta: 20 min. (Matt)
 

Title: “What’s in the Box” by Pete Muller and Mack Meller
Prompt: The meta for this puzzle is a well-known artist.
Answer: Cat Stevens / Yusuf Islam

Lovely meta this month from Pete Muller and one Mack Meller. My hijinks antenna went nuts on this purported coauthor’s identify, since 1) It’s December’s puzzle, so huge trickery of any form can’t be put previous our meta-maestro; 2) it has the identical (4/6) enumeration as PETE MULLER, and a pair of.5: the 2 surnames are one mere letter aside, and three) I’ve by no means heard the surname “Meller” earlier than so might’ve been created to be used on this meta! Also, not a byline I’ve ever seen on a crossword. Adding all these issues up, I’ve this “Mack Meller” at a 51% probability of not present. We shall see…

Solved the puzzle, and one clue stood out so suggestively that I circled it for later ponderage. After ending the grid I didn’t see something apparent, so I went again to this clue — and the meta fell straight away. I had caught the rabbit, as they are saying over on the Muggles Forum.

The sus clue was [City in the British Isles] at 3-D for YORK. Several antenna-rattling points of it: York is in England, York is in/on Great Britain, York is within the U.Ok. None of these would’ve raised an eyebrow…however why specify that York is within the British Isles, which incorporates Ireland plus another outlying areas just like the Channel islands? I believed Schrödinger…was there a metropolis additional out in these British Isles that was one letter off? Aha! CORK, Ireland, popped into my head, and off to the races.

I put the Schrödinger C/Y in that sq., then went off seeking others. They have been:

1-A: [Like someone close to you] = LOCAL/LOYAL + 3-D: [City in the British Isles] = CORK/YORK
6-A: [Element in butane?] = LONG A / LONG U + 10-D: [Spanish 101 word] = ANO/UNO
11-A: [Diminutive, informally] = ITTY / ITSY + 13-D: [Spin around] = TWIRL/SWIRL
34-A: [“That was a ___!” (solver’s reaction to finishing this puzzle, maybe)” = BEAST/BEAUT + 26-D: [Doesn’t do anything, in a way] = PASSES/PAUSES. Very good! This was the final one I discovered, and I already had the reply so I knew I used to be in search of S/U, and I used to be fairly certain it needed to be in that part of the grid, and it nonetheless took me a number of minutes. Just couldn’t see the U in BEAUT.
35-A: [Holds off] = DETERS/DEFERS + 27-D: [It may be lemon-flavored] = WATER/WAFER. Nice clue to tie that pair collectively.
55-A: [Puts back in place, in a way] = REPENS/REPINS + 46-D: [Hightails it] = FLEES/FLIES
57-A: [Kind of flu] = AVIAN/ASIAN + 43-D: [They’re often on one-year cycles] = LEAVES/LEASES
78-A: [Chair part] = SEAT/SLAT + 61-D: [Entangle] = SNARE/SNARL
79-A: [H-bomb trial, e.g.] = N-TEST/A-TEST + 72-D = [Take ___] = TEN/TEA
80-A: [Fragile, in a way] = WISPY/WIMPY + 67-D = [Frightening noise] = BOOS/BOOM

The Schrödinger squares spell two names of an important singer/songwriter: CAT STEVENS, underneath which he turned well-known as a singer within the Nineteen Seventies, and YUSUF ISLAM, the identify he took after changing to Islam in 1979. Note that he was additionally born Steven Demetre Giorgiou, although we will forgive Pete and Mack for not making an attempt to Super-Schrödinger that identify in as nicely.

Lovely meta — and what concerning the Mysterious Muller Monthly Music Meta Maker, Mr. Mack Meller? He seems to be a Scrabble participant of observe, so we shouldn’t be shocked that he’s expert in one other area the place letters go in containers. So I hereby withdraw my suspicions relating to Mr. Meller’s existence…however I remorse nothing! Meta-solving rewards paranoia. I current my now 27-meta-long MMMM streak as proof of this.

4.85 stars. Bravo to the authors.