20/20 Vision - Solution

Written by Brian Shimanuki

Answer: UNIVERSO

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This crossword can be filled normally and has a rebus bigram in each row.

1
S
2
H
3
A
4
M
5
S
6
T
7
A
8
GE
9
D
10
A
11
N
12
A
13
P
U
M
I
14
C
15
E
16
I
R
A
N
17
I
18
A
SI
A
M
19
RU
L
E
S
O
N
20
L
A
S
E
D
21
R
A
M
A
22
E
U
R
O
V
IS
23
I
O
N
24
O
25
P
E
N
U
P
26
I
L
L
27
S
28
H
29
AL
L
O
T
30
C
31
I
32
T
33
A
D
E
L
34
IT
E
M
35
P
O
36
E
37
M
38
S
39
A
R
O
N
40
S
T
41
D
42
R
A
43
I
D
44
L
U
AU
45
W
A
Y
N
46
E
47
R
E
48
N
E
49
L
U
50
C
E
N
CY
51
S
I
X
52
T
Y
FI
F
T
53
H
S
O
N
G
54
NO
55
T
R
E
A
L
56
A
L
I
E
57
S
O
A
58
R
59
S
60
L
IE
U
61
M
C
62
A
N
63
C
L
64
E
65
T
N
U
T
66
A
S
S
67
A
I
68
S
C
69
I
70
M
A
71
CH
E
T
E
S
72
S
N
73
A
K
E
S
74
E
R
AT
75
C
76
O
77
N
T
ES
T
78
R
79
O
T
T
E
80
R
81
D
82
A
83
M
84
U
R
A
L
85
A
86
R
87
C
A
DE
88
H
A
I
R
D
O
89
BE
A
L
E
90
N
E
V
E
U
91
A
U
G
E
A
N
92
S
L
A
Y
93
F
I
L
M
94
S
AM
B
A

The concentration of music related clues as well as the puzzle title hints at the theme, which is given by the 3 rows with the longest entries as EUROVISION OPEN UP SIXTY-FIFTH SONG CONTEST ROTTERDAM. The sixty-fifth Eurovision was supposed to be held in Rotterdam this year but was cancelled due to Covid-19. (It is in fact planned to remain in Rotterdam for 2021.)

Eurovision 2020 Logo

The bigrams are country codes of Eurovision participants (yes, including Australia, which has been a participant since 2015). By taking the number of hearts next to each row and indexing into the song submitted by the country in 2020, we get the phrase SONG SUNG IN SPANISH.

BigramCountry2020 SongHeartsLetter
GEGeorgiaTAKE ME AS I AM8S
SISloveniaVODA2O
RURussiaUNO2N
ISIcelandTHINK ABOUT THINGS15G
ALAlbaniaFALL FROM THE SKY12S
ITItalyFAI RUMORE5U
AUAustraliaDON'T BREAK ME3N
CYCyprusRUNNING7G
FIFinlandLOOKING BACK5I
NONorwayATTENTION5N
IEIrelandSTORY OF MY LIFE1S
CHSwitzerlandRÉPONDEZ-MOI3P
ATAustriaALIVE1A
ESSpainUNIVERSO2N
DEGermanyVIOLENT THING2I
BEBelgiumRELEASE ME6S
AMArmeniaCHAINS ON YOU2H

This clues the only song predominantly sung in Spanish, which is the answer UNIVERSO. (Russia's "Uno" counts in Spanish but the rest is in English.)

Author's Notes

AFAIK, the conception for this puzzle was the first of any in this hunt. I wrote something similar for a couple friends on teammate in summer 2019 (using Eurovision 2019). I completely redid it based on 2020 and the given answer, and I think it turned out even better. I hope this can be a homage to everything we haven't been able to do this year (though I have seen a lot more online hunts happening!).