64. Change Your Tune

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Hello hello! I'm savoring this time off and having a blast as a Cubs fan: we've just won 8 in a row, which is our biggest winning streak since 2016! (I wonder what else happened then.) Also a shout-out to the Orioles, who have been so fun to watch and a great story this year.

Again, I've already used my one baseball meta limit this summer, haha. Onward!

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1. Puzzle #63 answer: SINGULAR

Correct entries: 47 (this also has the all-time record for correct answers, including multiple guesses, at 68%!)

Shortest explanation: There are 26 columns in the puzzle, which correspond to the letters A through Z. In 18 of these columns, the corresponding column's letter appears twice (and is double trouble, since we don't want those!). The remaining 8 columns only have one instance of their key letter: these 8 letters anagram to SINGULAR, the only single word that can be anagrammed from these and the answer to the meta.

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2. Leaderboard:

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3. This is the fifth week in July (fifth Saturday, anyway - well, now Sunday!), and this is certainly a Week 5. I've tried to give some signposts along the way, so the wheels don't spin too much out of control! But that's part of the joy/frustration of the toughest puzzles, I guess!

Nudges along the way will be posted here. Good luck, and may all your solves be beautiful!

Mikey G

The answer to the meta is a 6-letter word.