Purple Reign

by Deane Morrison and George Barany

This "mid-week level" music-themed tribute was released within days of receiving some heart-breaking local news [Chanhassen, Minnesota—practically the backyard of its co-authors] which quickly took on national import [pictorial hint to the right]. After completing the puzzle (spoiler), learn more about the puzzle's theme by clicking here, or just spending a few microseconds searching the internet, perhaps while listening to this. However, you'll have to discover the puzzle's "Easter eggs" for yourself. This puzzle also appeared in the May 2016 issue of Natural Selections, as accessed here.

Click here to view or download the puzzle in PDF format; here to download it as a puz file; here to download it as an ipuz file [requires the free Puzzazz app to solve]; here to solve the puzzle interactively (thanks to Jim Horne); here for the solution. We thank Christopher Adams, Martin Ashwood-Smith, Steve Bachman, John Child, Michael Hanko, Eric LeVasseur, Robert Mark, and Kurtis Scaletta for their valuable insights and musical scholarship that considerably improved the puzzle over its original concept and implementation.

If you want to tell others about this particular page, refer them to
http://tinyurl.com/purplereignpuz

More puzzles here (all), here (music), and here (tributes).

E-mail barany@umn.edu to be added to a bcc distribution list.