Solution: Poly Lines
Answer: PARTNER DEBATES
Written by Adeline Wong
This puzzle is about musical songs that use polyphony (sometimes known as an all-skate, or a Massive Multiplayer Ensemble Number). Each graph depicts one song, with each musical line (a character or group of characters, listed as they appear in transcripts) given a line on the graph. These lines all follow a few useful rules:
- Sung lines are curved; spoken lines are straight.
- When one or more graph lines are crossing, one or more musical lines are being sung in counterpoint.
- When one or more graph lines are compact and adjacent, one or more musical lines are being sung in unison.
- When one or more graph lines are near each other, but not crossing and not adjacent, one or more musical lines are being sung in alternation.
Using this information, as well as the characters' initials provided by the graph legends, solvers can identify each of the polyphonic songs and their missing character. The table below includes some distinguishing features that can help with identification of the individual songs. (Songs are also ordered alphabetically to help with this, but since there are only two in the first half of the alphabet, this is somewhat less useful.)
| # | Song | Characters | Distinguishing Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | All for the Best (from Godspell) |
Jesus Judas ENSEMBLE (many) | Mostly a duel duet between two J's, with some chorus additions at the end. |
| 2 | Christmas Bells (from Rent) |
Homeless People (x5) SQUEEGEE Man Soloist Vendors (many) Collins Angel Mark Roger Cops (many) Mimi Junkies (many) The Man Benny Maureen | Truly massive cast, two separate all-skate sections that involve separate (though not distinct) sets of people |
| 3 | Non-Stop (from Hamilton) |
Burr Hamilton Ensemble (many) Women (many) Angelica Eliza Men (many) WASHINGTON | Duel duets between Hamilton and Burr, spoken monologue from Burr in the middle section |
| 4 | Notes / Prima Donna (from The Phantom of the Opera) |
Firmin ANDRE Raoul Mme Giry Meg The Phantom | Solo from the Phantom, two separate sections (the break between "Notes" and "Prima Donna", as denoted by the dotted line) |
| 5 | One Day More (from Les Misérables) | JEAN Valjean Marius Cosette Eponine Enjolras Javert Thenardiers (x2) Students (many) | This is pretty much the iconic polyphonic number—in addition, we have the unusually-named ensemble group of Students |
| 6 | Prologue: Into the Woods (from Into the Woods) |
Narrator Cinderella Jack Baker BAKER'S Wife Stepmother Florinda Lucinda Little Red Riding Hood Jack's Mother Witch Cinderella's Stepfather | One character (the narrator) who only speaks and never sings, solo section from the Witch, LRRH for Little Red Riding Hood |
| 7 | Tonight (Quintet and Chorus) (from West Side Story) |
Jets (many) Sharks (many) ANITA Tony Riff Maria | J and S ensembles (that open the song!); this is also one of the quintessential polyphony examples |
Matching the song to its associated emoji at the bottom of the puzzle, then indexing the song title and its missing character, yields the fitting answer PARTNER DEBATES.
| Emoji | Song | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 🎵 | NOTES / PRIMA DONNA | ANDRE |
| 🔔 | CHRISTMAS BELLS | SQUEEGEE |
| 🥇 | ALL FOR THE BEST | ENSEMBLE |
| 🌃 | TONIGHT (QUINTET AND CHORUS) | ANITA |
| 🚫️ | NON-STOP | WASHINGTON |
| 📆️ | ONE DAY MORE | JEAN |
| 🌲️ | PROLOGUE: INTO THE WOODS | BAKER'S |
Author’s Notes
This puzzle is a spiritual successor to many similar puzzles that have come before—as one testsolver put it, "it's one of those 'What the hell is this graph?' puzzles". Past examples include the original Plotlines (MH2011), Line Plots (GPH2019), and Run the Gamut (MH2023). It seemed inevitable that someone would eventually extend this genre to music, so I decided, why not do it myself?
Even more polyphonic songs that I wish I could have included in this puzzle are: Quartet at the Ballet (from Anastasia), Bring on the Monsters (The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical), Who I'd Be (Shrek: The Musical), and His Work and Nothing More (Jekyll & Hide).