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By Robin Diets and Laina Lomina
Answer: MISFIT MATHEMATICIANS

First, the solver needs to figure out the hexagonal drop quotes. They are all song lyrics with one color word changed. Then they need to identify that the replacement color comes from the list of “XKCD colors”:

Order Solution to Hex Quote Original Lyrics Original Color XKCD color
1 I’LL MEET YOU BEFORE THE DEW HAS LEFT THE NASTYGREEN LEAVES “Sweet Hallelujah” fern nastygreen
2 BLUEBERRY, CHERRY, APPLE, PUMPKIN AND PURPLISHBROWN CALL ME FOR DINNER HONEY I’LL BE THERE “Country Pie” plum purplishbrown
3 THE PRIEST WAS THERE WITH YELLOWISH HAIR RELIGION BY HIS SIDE “Song X” sandy yellowish
4 THERE’S A WEALTH OF HAPPINESS AND ROMANCE, ALL IN THE SLIMEGREEN AFTERNOON “All in the Golden Afternoon” golden slimegreen
5 AND BRIGHT SKIES TO PICNICS ON WARM JULYS TO DEEP GREENYYELLOW AUTUMNS AND WINTER GOODBYES “Time Flies” umber greenyyellow
6 BUT MY COLOR COMES BACK; ONCE YOU GO BRITISHRACINGGREEN YOU NEVER GO BACK “Black Sheep” black britishracinggreen
7 WHAT A DREAM I HAD PRESSED IN ORGANDY; CLOTHED IN CRINOLINE OF SMOKY MIDNIGHTPURPLE “For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her” burgundy midnightpurple
8 YOU ARE THE ONE MY YELLOWYGREEN GO-GO-GIRL; SHE LIKE A SHOW GIRL DELIGHTFUL DOLORES “Maria Magenta” copper yellowygreen
9 MOONLIGHT USED TO BATHE THE CONTOURS OF YOUR FACE, WHILE UGLYBROWN HAIR FELL ALL AROUND THE PILLOWCASE “Empty Chairs” chestnut uglybrown
10 ALL ALONG THE WATERFALL WITH YOU MY DIRTYPURPLE EYED GIRL “Brown Eyed Girl” brown dirtypurple

Here are the relevant colors and the RGB values pulled from “the list of XKCD colors”:

Color Hex R G B
black #000000 0 0 0
britishracinggreen #05480D 5 72 13
brown #653700 101 55 0
burgundy #610023 97 0 35
chestnut #742802 116 40 2
copper #B66325 182 99 37
dirtypurple #734A65 115 74 101
fern #63A950 99 169 80
golden #F5BF03 245 191 3
greenyyellow #C6F808 198 248 8
midnightpurple #280137 40 1 55
nastygreen #70B23F 112 178 63
plum #580F41 88 15 65
purplishbrown #6B4247 107 66 71
sandy #F1DA7A 241 218 122
slimegreen #99CC04 153 204 4
uglybrown #7D7103 125 113 3
umber #B26400 178 100 0
yellowish #FAEE66 250 238 102
yellowygreen #BFF128 191 241 40

Once both colors are identified, consider the colors around the hex itself. The colors are Red, Green, and Blue. For each hex, if you subtract the corresponding component (r, g, or b) values of the original from the replaced color, you will get two positive values from 1 through 26. These can be converted to A-Z bigrams.

Orig. Lyric XKCD Color Hex Color 1 Hex Color 2 RGB Value - XKCD Color 1 RGB Value - Orig. Color 1 Diff. 1 RGB Value XKCD Color 2 RGB Value Orig. Color 2 Diff. 2 Both Diffs Bigram
fern nastygreen RED GREEN 112 99 13 178 169 9 13,9 MI
plum purplishbrown RED BLUE 107 88 19 71 65 6 19,6 SF
sandy yellowish RED GREEN 250 241 9 238 218 20 9,20 IT
golden slimegreen GREEN BLUE 204 191 13 4 3 1 13,1 MA
umber greenyyellow RED BLUE 198 178 20 8 0 8 20,8 TH
black britishracinggreen RED BLUE 5 0 5 13 0 13 5,13 EM
burgundy midnightpurple GREEN BLUE 1 0 1 55 35 20 1,20 AT
copper yellowygreen RED BLUE 191 182 9 40 37 3 9,3 IC
chestnut uglybrown RED BLUE 125 116 9 3 2 1 9,1 IA
brown dirtypurple RED GREEN 115 101 14 74 55 19 14,19 NS

The answer, read from top to bottom, is MISFIT MATHEMATICIANS.

Solved grids: