Mystery Mix 2024 Solution
Mystery Mix #5 has come to a conclusion. As such, I can now reveal the solution and announce the winner. This year’s contest had a lackluster start—only one submission came in before Christmas. I was beginning to wonder if anyone was playing, but a spate of entries came in during the week after, and we wound up with an exciting finish and our first repeat winner. Given that no correct answers were received before the deadline of Dec. 29, I was allowed, as per my rules, to issue a hint (another first) to those who had previously submitted guesses. That hint, and a few minutes more of thought, was all that my friend, Dan Browning, needed to discern the mystery commonality. Congratulations, Dan! This year’s trophy mug will look mighty impressive sitting in your office next to last year’s.
As luck would have it, only 45 minutes after receiving Dan’s winning entry, my grand-nephew, Jacob Moore, surprised me with his correct entry. I didn’t even know he was playing. His dad tells me that Jacob was driving home to Wiggins from Texas and playing the mix over and over when the answer finally came to him, just a hair too late. I regret that there can only be one winner, but let the record show that Jacob solved it without a hint. For that, he certainly deserves an honorable mention. As always, I thank all who took the time to look at this year’s puzzle. Now for the solution.
I’ve called this year’s mystery mix “Digit/Dig It” as each of the songs, with the exception of the first, contains a reference to one of the digits 1 through 9 either by way of the song’s title, its lyrics, or by the name of the performing artist. And even though that short, nonsense first track (the Beatles’ “Dig It”) doesn’t contain such a reference, it was provided as a substitute for the digit zero and as a clue to the overall theme. Thus, all ten tracks are presented in proper digital sequence. Here are the references:
“Dig it” by the Beatles [In Dan’s words “a song with zero musical worth”]
“Time in a Bottle” by Jim Croce: “you’re the one I want to go through time with”
“Father and Daughter” by Paul Simon: “as long as one and one is two”
“American Town” by Ed Sheeran: “feet are three feet off the ground”
“Shinin’” by Brad: “four on the floor at the sound of dawn”
“Bits and Pieces by The Dave Clark Five
“Six months in Kansas City” by Elvis Costello
“Superstition” by Stevie Wonder: “seven years of bad luck”
“Cruisin’” by Alabama: “Hello baby, I'll be by to pick you up at eight”
“Sweet Potato Pie” by James Taylor: “I’m walking on cloud nine today”
Daniel C. Browning, Jr., our first repeat winner, holding both of his trophy mugs. Dan, the 2024 mug will look mighty impressive sitting in your office next to last year’s—exponentially so, I might add. By the way, Dan tells me that he’s “awfully bummed” that he did not catch my bodacious digit/dig it pun.
(photo by Russell Lott, 2 Jan 2025)
A TERM TO PONDER
spate (noun): a large number of similar things or events appearing or occurring in quick succession.
Spate is from the mid-15c., “a sudden flood, natural outpouring of water,” especially one caused by heavy rains or a snowmelt, originally Scottish and northern English, a word of unknown origin. Perhaps from Old French espoit “flood,” from Dutch spuiten “to flow, spout” and related to the verb spout. The figurative sense of “unusual quantity, sudden or violent outburst” is attested from the early 1600s.
merriam-webster.com
etymonline.com
SONG OF THE DAY
“One” by Harry Nilsson (Aerial Ballet, 1968)
Written by Harry Nilsson in 1968, this song will be more familiar to many from Three Dog Night’s 1969 Top-Ten cover version. An interesting bit of trivia, Nilsson says he was inspired to write "One" from the rhythm of a telephone busy signal. According to Wikipedia, he made a call to his girlfriend and got a busy signal. He stayed on the line listening to the “beep, beep, beep, beep” tone, while writing the song. The “beep, beep, beep, beep” became the song’s distinctive opening and closing notes.