"Location Finder" - January 17, 2020

[Jacksull]

Good luck on the mug to those who were able to solve this one.

As I posted a few weeks ago, when stuck in the grid, go back to the clues. I did just that, and still failed to make a connection. My fault. It’s still a good rule.

Thanks, Matt.

[ccmac]

I guessed that order might be the answer based on the theme answers and puzzle title but I couldn’t figure out how to get there— so I didn’t submit it. Next time I’ll submit a guess!

[MajordomoTom]

Re: CLEANUP - I know it means batting fourth, but in today's heavy age of using cyber metrics, I know that they sometimes put the power hitter in third spot.

But I see that the term is used specifically for position #4.

My bad. I was out of ORDER on that one. I blame it on Middle FDA.

[Bob cruise director]

Made it to the beach after finally seeing the method.
Hopefully those left frustrated will keep at it -- it is doable.
Good luck to all on winning the mug!

And, #GoPackGo

Sorry about your Packers but they are getting hammered by the 49ers

Yeah, well... I really hadn't thought they'd get this far anyhow. But thanks for the sympathy.
BTW, tell me about your avatar. Mine is looking up the fabulous staircase in The Rookery in Chicago.

Mine is looking up at the lighthouse in St. Augustine, Florida

[Bob cruise director]

Among my other rabbit holes, I was led astray by the answer for 37D - DERP. Even after I got the cross letters and felt they were right, I had to google DERP to confirm that there was such a word. And SUP was also another rabbit hole. Finally I was led astray on 53D "Three before Thu.". Why three and not two or for or something.

I will be interested to see how this get written up in tomorrow's WSJ without taking up a full column of the paper.

[MillerXVerb]

For those who did not follow why "ORDER" was the answer to "Location Finder," the "ORDER" answer refers to the "order" of the letters that one must determine ("find") to "locate" the letters needed to solve the meta.

[MajordomoTom]

The "three before Thu." started me looking for ones, twos, threes, fours and fives in the clues.

I was able to find 1,2,3 and the 40s, but no obvious 5, so I looked hard before abandoning that empty rabbit warren.

The DERP was a confusing and new word for me and made me scratch my head to see if I could torture it into confessing the ORDER of the answer. But there was no PRED or anything like it in the grid (yes, I spent a fair amount of time looking at the grid and the clues for things backwards from other things in those areas), so ... another barren bunny cave.

Thx MillerXVerb (assuming this is your personal account/ID), that's how I ultimately interpreted the name of the puzzle. A path to, not a confirmation of, the solution.

[MajordomoTom]

AMBI and TRIO in the grid also caused some rabbit chasing ...

TAN/NAT, ODIN/IDOL, ROLEX/ELORO - lots of reverse words and portions of words ...

very cunning meta for this one, lots of rabbit trails to follow.

[MarkL]

Speaking of rabbit holes, I got stuck in a semi-serious rut looking at every "at," "on," and "in" searching for location clues. Live and learn.

Also, "derp" - in the greyhound world - refers to the dog's tongue hanging out, usually while sleeping.

Until next week!

[MarkL]

While I was finding numerous rabbit holes, did anyone else find the five airport codes hiding in the grid? STL, DAB, LEX, LAS and TRI got me distracted until I went to the clues and found Order. And ORD is another airport code! Just glad I figured it out in time, but I was floundering all over the place with this one!

That mechanism was used back in late 2017 and one I normally look for - along with state abbreviations. Not quite an obsession, but close!

[MarkL]

One final note, did anyone else ponder CARTIER as 'clean up time' for CATTIER just above it?

[Bob cruise director]

While I was finding numerous rabbit holes, did anyone else find the five airport codes hiding in the grid? STL, DAB, LEX, LAS and TRI got me distracted until I went to the clues and found Order. And ORD is another airport code! Just glad I figured it out in time, but I was floundering all over the place with this one!

That mechanism was used back in late 2017 and one I normally look for - along with state abbreviations. Not quite an obsession, but close!

And the answer to that one was BOS which I did not get but have flown in and out of several hundred times

[Julie O]

Once I figured this out, I was left wondering if Matt is looking forward to baseball season; as I will reference the batting Order to Find the position, or Location, of the player on the field.

[DrTom]

One final note, did anyone else ponder CARTIER as 'clean up time' for CATTIER just above it?

Interestingly enough I looked for another clean up time when I wondered if TIM (29D) was TIME cleaned up. Got me looking for other similar things (to no avail)

[DrTom]

Sorry about your Packers but they are getting hammered by the 49ers

Yeah, well... I really hadn't thought they'd get this far anyhow. But thanks for the sympathy.
BTW, tell me about your avatar. Mine is looking up the fabulous staircase in The Rookery in Chicago.

Mine is looking up at the lighthouse in St. Augustine, Florida

You know I THOUGHT that looked familiar. Climbed up there once many years ago. Great view but I'm sure it would be a harder hike now - it has no doubt gotten taller as I have aged.

[Scott M]

But how is ORDER a location finder?
Sorry, I don't get it.

I agree with Pookie. I got this one, and once I found the answer, I couldn't see how it could be anything else. But it took a bit of a stretch to relate ORDER to Location Finder. Maybe General Location would have been a better title?

[hcbirker]

But how is ORDER a location finder?
Sorry, I don't get it.

I agree with Pookie. I got this one, and once I found the answer, I couldn't see how it could be anything else. But it took a bit of a stretch to relate ORDER to Location Finder. Maybe General Location would have been a better title?

I think it means you have to find the location, then put it in order. All the starts of the themed clues used a different ordering system.

[KayW]

Sorry about your Packers but they are getting hammered by the 49ers

Yeah, well... I really hadn't thought they'd get this far anyhow. But thanks for the sympathy.
BTW, tell me about your avatar. Mine is looking up the fabulous staircase in The Rookery in Chicago.

Mine is looking up at the lighthouse in St. Augustine, Florida

Both are great shots! And I'm embarrassed to say I've been in both those buildings (though long long ago) and didn't recognize either. I guess I'm lucky to have solved the meta this week, because I'm obviously a bad photo location finder!

[gamera13]

I didn't get this one. I had a hard time even understanding the explanation of how to find the clues so I don't think I would have ever gotten it. Congrats to those who did!

[Bob cruise director]

If nothing else, this contest had the longest writeup I have seen in the paper.

Here is the writeup (with the line spacing as in the paper)
The contest answer is ORDER. The letters of the
second word of each theme answer begin a clue":
HERE begins 56-Across, PLACE 69-Across, AGE
19-Across, TIME 14-Across and Notice 68-Across.
Take the letter of each of those answers indicated
by the first word of the corresponding theme
answer to get the contest answer: the INITIAL
letter of Odin, the SECOND of ORGAN, the MIDDLE
of FDA, the CLEANUP (fourth, as in baseball)
position of ROLEX and the FINAL of QATAR.