"Dude, Where's My Car?" - April 22, 2022

[pipster]

I think this puzzle was difficult and fair, but not elegant. I would describe it instead as a bit forced. Most of the time, whether I get the meta myself or see the solution on Sunday night, I am amazed at how the constructor was able to create something so ingenious (and beautiful?) out of such a small grid. But when you have to take one letter from this thing, two letters from that thing, stir them up, and use words like HAZA and COCA to get to where you want to be, it doesn't have that same feeling of amazement at what the constructor pulled off.

[JoeS]

I hope to win a sticker next week. Natasha says she knows exactly where to put it.

[mikeB]

Two thoughts on the (for me) toughies. First, in my early days at this, I found that nothing beats the AHA moment. It is a great experience -- some have called it a rush. But where does that energy come from? I believe it comes from the very real possibility that I will not be able to solve a given week's puzzle. So, for me at least, it is the ones I can't solve that energize the reward for the ones I can. Second, most of the toughies teach me a lesson about the approach to solving. Put another way, they add to my experience base. I have great respect for those who are adept at solving the toughies, and I speculate that some of their ability arises from experience. Experience and Aha-energy are two benefits that accrue from the metas I cannot figure out, and I am grateful for them.

[Suzeq]

How many submissions and correct answers were there for the Daytona puzzle?

[flyingMoose]

How many submissions and correct answers were there for the Daytona puzzle?

That info is not posted yet. @MikeMillerwsj will do so when the Mug winner is verified - sometimes Monday, sometimes Tuesday.

[Inca]

It seems to me that feelings of discontent and frustration are common when we are involved in any challenge, and especially in meta solutions. The question is, is it beneficial to the community to express them? Some people like to complain that a meta is "too easy" when I am struggling. That can be discouraging.

One of the things that I greatly admire about this group, as a whole, is that complaints and negative remarks are rare. I think the overall positive attitude and comraderie are what makes this group special.

I agree with keeping comments as positive as possible and I do try to keep things that way. Having said that, I do understand when someone is frustrated, they feel the need to let off steam and express themselves....and where better than here with their friends. The part that is troubling is that we know the creators are on this forum as well...so it is not just a venting to your friends but the creators may take it as criticism and that is not fair. Whether I personally enjoyed the meta or not (of course I, like probably many others, have my preferences) the ideas and construction are amazing every time. And, the amount of solvers we always have here regardless of difficulty or "fairness" is equally amazing.

[robertyseward]

Like many others, I looked at the state abbreviations and the car brand, but didn't put the two together. So, late on Sunday, I went for a Hail Mary. My reasoning was that the answer was a car that was also an American city and was seven letters long (because there were seven car entries in the grid). There were three that I found, one being Daytona, and that is what I picked.

I haven't decided how I feel about a wild guess being right. Not really that satisfying. But I would still keep the mug if I got it

[Mister Squawk]

Some of my unsuccessful rabbit holes:

- Look for the names of the nearest national park to each city ("Dude, where's my car [parked]".)
- Look at the compass headings between each city pair
- Note that all of the theme clues include a temporal reference, either a year, range of years, or "recently". Try multiple combinations of constructions in numerical order. Did you know that "since 2005" comes after "in 2005" when doing this?
- Various ways to construct parking spaces from the pattern of the answers in the grid.
- Grill designs, like the Jeep.
- Many, many, many attempts to find the elusive postal codes in the grid. Saw both A-Z pairs, WA, NM, and numerous CO and CA but never made the connection with the manufacturer name.

I thought this was a great, challenging puzzle, and of course I'm irritated to have FAILED in my attempt to solve it.

But I do have a sour grape: The Dodge Daytona was not in any way a noteworthy car from past or present. It was a crummy K-car derivative sports coupe from the 1980s.

The noteworthy car to which which the puzzle answer refers is not a "Dodge Daytona" but a "Dodge Charger Daytona". That is, the car was a special variant of the Dodge Charger with a different nose and a big wing on the trunk lid.

[pjc]

Never did get this one; never occurred to me to do the manufacturer initialism.

I felt the numbers (mostly years) in the clues HAD to mean something, but I couldn't get anything from them. I got excited when adding them together got me five digits and I thought it HAD to be a zip code; but no luck

Was it fair? Well, people got it, so it was on some level. Too much of a leap for me, though.

[Ben B]

Argggggh. KAS 4 for us. We like so many others had all the pieces just could not find that click. Loved the puzzle and congratulations to all the solvers. This is why we come back each week.

[mheberlingx100]

On one of my worksheets, I had the state abbreviation and the manufacturer side by side, but I never made the connection.

I also gave a hard look at dock - coda (Dakota) and want - path (Pathfinder?), but directions indicated a car specifically so I abandoned these.

[AnswerPfinder]

Wouldn't you know it, I found myself driving behind a Hyundai Kona this afternoon and all I could think was: [Line famously shouted before "Silver! Away!"]

[MikeMillerwsj]

The contest answer is the Dodge DAYTONA. Seven cars in the grid are also cities; for each, find a four-letter grid answer using its make’s first letter plus its state’s postal abbreviation. For example, the H from Hyundai TUCSON plus AZ for Arizona leaves an A from HAZA. The others are MALIBU (CA+C=O: COCA); SANTA FE (NM+H=Y: HYMN); TELLURIDE (CO+K=D: DOCK); DURANGO (CO+D=A: CODA); SEDONA (AZ+K=T: KATZ); TACOMA (WA+T=N: WANT). The extracted letters, in order of the four-letter words’ grid numbers, spell the contest answer.

If you were stumped by this one, you're not alone! This was one of our most challenging contests ever. We had 953 entrants, and just under 30% correctly found their way to the solution, well below our usual level around 75%. (Your correspondent was among the other 70%.).

A lot of guesses for MUSTANG (75) and TAHOE (74), plus TOWN CAR (42), PACIFICA (28), CONTINENTAL (18), DELOREAN (15) and many others.

Congrats to all the clever Muggles who cracked this one, and to this week's winner, June Vogel of (appropriately) Santa Fe, NM!

[Joe Ross]

Congrats to all the clever Muggles who cracked this one, and to this week's winner, June Vogel of (appropriately) Santa Fe, NM!

HYMN... Something doesn't seem 'right' about that....


CORRECTION:
HMMM... Something doesn't seem 'right' about that....

[ship4u]

I agree with keeping comments as positive as possible and I do try to keep things that way. Having said that, I do understand when someone is frustrated, they feel the need to let off steam and express themselves....and where better than here with their friends. The part that is troubling is that we know the creators are on this forum as well...so it is not just a venting to your friends but the creators may take it as criticism and that is not fair. Whether I personally enjoyed the meta or not (of course I, like probably many others, have my preferences) the ideas and construction are amazing every time. And, the amount of solvers we always have here regardless of difficulty or "fairness" is equally amazing.

I've never been a fan of public ranting as a way to "let off steam." I also don't like when parents allow their kids to "express themselves" with public tantrums. I prefer not to watch commentators ranting on TV. I think we should try to express ourselves with intellect rather than raw emotion.

It is one thing to point out that, say, the puzzle constructor should have added a clue to suggest that we consider the car manufacturer as part of a mechanism. It is entirely different to say the solution was not "fair," or to suggest that the constructor was up to something nefarious.

[JeanneC]

Congrats to the mug winner and all who solved.
PS-What brain food do you guys eat for breakfast in the morning?

[ship4u]

It's one thing not to win when the odds are 2,000 : 1 but quite another not to win when the odds are 285 : 1! Doggon it. Well, Thursday will be here before ya know it.......

[madhatter5]

I agree with keeping comments as positive as possible and I do try to keep things that way. Having said that, I do understand when someone is frustrated, they feel the need to let off steam and express themselves....and where better than here with their friends. The part that is troubling is that we know the creators are on this forum as well...so it is not just a venting to your friends but the creators may take it as criticism and that is not fair. Whether I personally enjoyed the meta or not (of course I, like probably many others, have my preferences) the ideas and construction are amazing every time. And, the amount of solvers we always have here regardless of difficulty or "fairness" is equally amazing.

I've never been a fan of public ranting as a way to "let off steam." I also don't like when parents allow their kids to "express themselves" with public tantrums. I prefer not to watch commentators ranting on TV. I think we should try to express ourselves with intellect rather than raw emotion.

It is one thing to point out that, say, the puzzle constructor should have added a clue to suggest that we consider the car manufacturer as part of a mechanism. It is entirely different to say the solution was not "fair," or to suggest that the constructor was up to something nefarious.

If I may chime in here for a sec, as a constructor I would definitely prefer people gave me their honest opinion of a puzzle rather than always say it was fun regardless of whether it actually was. It helps me improve as a constructor, and it makes the true praise far more enjoyable as I know it is truly deserved.

[Barney]

Congrats to the mug winner and all who solved.
PS-What brain food do you guys eat for breakfast in the morning?

I eat rabbit pellets.

[DrTom]

Wow! People please let's all be friends. This was a good puzzle but certainly not a great puzzle. There was far too much wiggle room. It was very noticeable that Arizona and HAZA had to be related, I had several of the 4 letter words chosen, BUT I could not whittle it down to 4 letters because I did not think to use the manufacturers (I used the models). Why did I not, because there were duplicates and that is VERY uncommon. I also looked for a different Telluride for the same reason. I've skied there so I know the one in Colorado, but unfortunately in my "solve the meta" panic I googled and Telluride Wyoming came up - don't know why.

Anyway yes it all came together, but it was not as neat as usual.

I also agree with Madhatter. One of the worst things one can do is give false praise. If we were leaving the house and my wife had on something unflattering and she asked and I said "Looks fine!" and it wasn't and someone noticed (or worse I agreed with them) I would never hear the end of it. On the other hand, the time to tell her that is not as we walk through the door of the event "Hey that dress really makes you look frumpy".

There is an old saying that I really like: If you like what I did tell others, if you didn't, tell me!"

Don't bash the constructor or the puzzle in an online forum because the anonymity allows you to be more cutting. PM or e-mail the constructor and tell them what you did or did not like. If it is a valid complaint (and believe me many are) then they can make sure it doesn't happen again. I've had some early "oops" moments and because they were pointed out they didn't happen again. I have also had some "artistic license" moments and if people did not like them I chalk that up to them. Be honest, but be fair, and have those conversations with the maker not the collective.

Tom