Well guys, I ended up doing something like this which I am certain isn’t the best way. Seems like a lot of work just to get to the nugget. Could’ve sworn I’ve seen a simpler way but it’s escaped me all day. This is ugly and probably highly inefficient but it works. Please do let me know or point me to a better solution if you know one.
global $posts, $post;
if( is_front_page() || is_archive() ) {
$hide_pages = array();
foreach ($posts as $post) {
$hide_pages[] = ( empty( get_post_meta( $post->ID, '_prefix_hide_page', true ) ) ) ? '0' : get_post_meta( $post->ID, '_prefix_hide_page', true ) ;
}
if( in_array('1', $hide_pages, true) ) {
$hide_page="1";
}
}