"This Place Has Changed" August 12, 2022

[Janet]

Lago and Tunis, can't remember which was first. Durban was the last. I got fooled into thinking Dublin, but later saw the error of my ways.
Sitting here on just another mugless Monday.

[Janet]

I'd be interested to learn which city was the first that folks "saw." For me it was Durban.

"Fez" hit me first, followed immediately by "Lagos". I saw "Durban" as a possibility early on but dismissed it because I thought for some reason it was a minor city in Australia, not the major South African town.

Once I caught on that it was Africa, I looked up African cities. For some reason, the site I found spelled it Fes. I've been there before the pandemic, but I can't remember which way the Moroccans prefer. Possibly the Arabic spelling is the same either way?

[boharr]

Sitting here on just another mugless Monday.

This to the tune of Manic Monday?

[ZooAnimalsOnWheels]

I saw Lagos or Tunis first (can't remember which one, but seeing the second confirmed for me that the first wasn't an empty rabbit hole), and then found Accra quickly after that.

At that point I knew that finding the others would be easy because those three were all capital cities in Africa. And then when that didn't work I remembered that Lagos is NOT the capital of Nigeria. I got Oran and Durban through back-solving, although I then remembered Oran as being used in "A Sail of Two Cities" back on June 17, 2021, because I spent too much time on Google Maps looking for a city named "Orange" that was the right distance away!

[Susan Goldberg]

On the beach. I feel like the 5th Stooge for not solving this earlier.

At least you ended up with it! I am slap, slap, slapping myself because I had all the tools for the answer, but so completely overthought it that I ruined my own weekend.

[BarbaraK]

At least you ended up with it! I am slap, slap, slapping myself because I had all the tools for the answer, but so completely overthought it that I ruined my own weekend.

But do you at least have a good rabbit hole story to share with us?

[M and M]

I'd be interested to learn which city was the first that folks "saw." For me it was Durban.

Fez. Then Durban. Then long long long pause. Then Lagos, Accra, then square root (NO THAT WAS LAST WEEK) Tunis, another very long halt and frantic search of Google as we backsolve, concluding we can't use Kano, even though it is a major African city, as that gives us Afkica, and then finally a blast of trumpets for Oran.

[ReB]

I'd be interested to learn which city was the first that folks "saw." For me it was Durban.

Durban was first for me as well, followed by Lagos and then Fez. With three African cities and letters AFxxxA I knew the answer had to be Africa. Then it was just finding the other cities to confirm.

[Berto]

I'd be interested to learn which city was the first that folks "saw." For me it was Durban.

Me too!

[mlvilv]

I saw the substitution of Lagos for logos and raised an eyebrow, but that's where it ended. I never would have come up with all of those cities. I was trying to work out Dublin from Durban but that was it. I also never would have considered making a substitution in an actual location (Oman/Oran). And I further thought I was missing something bc Lagos was just part of one word. I feel like usually there's a reason for the combination of words in the long answer but it turns out none of them crossed each other, they were just stand alone words that got changed up. So I'm at a fat 0-3. This week coming up has got to be my week!!

[flaringnostrils]

Finally got one.

I'm glad I took some time to do the thing I never have.

[whimsy]

My journey:
Durban, Lagos, ummm -- something about Oman...>> gots to be AFRICA >> go back and puzzle out/back solve the rest.

I'm crediting my love of maps and that I do Worldle (Note the extra L -- although I also do Wordle too, of course) every day. ( https://worldle.teuteuf.fr/ )

[Collegetowngirl]

Totally missed it. I saw EASEIN in bottom corner and looked for Es, thinking maybe I could move/change their places.

Then amazed to see this specific stack of letters in two places in the grid! How could that be a coincidence!

ID
DI
EE

Spent a day in that hole trying to find any possible significance. Then started on headquarters of the mentioned companies. And yes the Greek letters.

My notepad for your entertainment

[Cindy N]

I got a late start on the grid, an even later start on trying to solve. It was Sunday morning before I was able to actually to look at things. I had the ERIE/EERIE as a starting point, as that was one letter off, just needed five more but that just didn't happen. But, while searching through the grid, I did notice notice a different way to go.

I started out with LAGOS, my second was actually ACCRA surprisingly enough (I think it must have been an entry in another puzzle and stuck with me), followed quickly by TUNIS and then my fourth was DUBLIN (yep, fell for that one as well). It was still only one letter different, but the pattern was slightly different. I had been thinking country capitals, but then caught myself with Lagos. OK, reconfirm, yep, they are all the largest cities in their respective countries. I started scrolling through a list of "most populous cities in countries" looking for more.

It was now mid-afternoon Sunday and I knew I wouldn't be able to make the Sunday Muggle's Zoom call so I reached out to a fellow Muggle and asked for confirmation that I was at least not falling down another hole. Yep, I was, but that my concern over the change in the pattern was valid.

I finally found them all, having to backsolve for the final letter when I had A?RICA. Of course, old spelling, FEZ. And that's when it finally dawned on me that all of the cities were there. Duh!

[MaineMarge]

I was busy gardening in the great geographic place of Aroostook County, Maine this week, and Don’t know much about Geography , so never got beyond Lagos on my own.

My place on earth has changed a lot over the years

[MikeM000]

I'd be interested to learn which city was the first that folks "saw." For me it was Durban.

Fez. Then Durban. Then long long long pause.

Me too. I thought it might be a rabbit hole and walked away, then 10 minutes later "Logos is just like Lagos!" jumped into my head and I came back to it. Needed to google "major African cities" to make page 1.

[flyingMoose]

Over on Crossword Fiend, Matt responded to a few comments, even barking back. He comments occasionally but not often.

And how do I do a hyperlink? In this case, a link hidden behind rather than following "Crossword Fiend." I tried some stuff but perhaps not the right stuff.


--------answer to @flyingMoose's coding question--------
Coding for the above hyperlink:

Code: Select all

[url=https://crosswordfiend.com/2022/08/14/wsj-contest-friday-august-12-2022/#more-140506]Crossword Fiend[/url]

[TeaJenny]

I'd be interested to learn which city was the first that folks "saw." For me it was Durban.

I saw LAGOS first. Then, I thought, "Hmm... isn't there a city in Australia called DURBAN?" Google said that, no, it is in South Africa. So, two cities in Africa can't be a coincidence, right? Then, I spotted FEZ and knew I had found the mechanism.

[flyingMoose]

Over on Crossword Fiend, Matt responded to a few comments, even barking back. He comments occasionally but not often.

And how do I do a hyperlink? In this case, a link hidden behind rather than following "Crossword Fiend." I tried some stuff but perhaps not the right stuff.


--------answer to @flyingMoose's coding question--------
Coding for the above hyperlink:

Code: Select all

[url=https://crosswordfiend.com/2022/08/14/wsj-contest-friday-august-12-2022/#more-140506]Crossword Fiend[/url]

Thanks!!

[C=64]

Over on Crossword Fiend, Matt responded to a few comments, even barking back.

I can accept Matt's stance that the mechanism was straightforward, but (as we have demonstrated in this thread) there were sooooo many unintentional red herrings in the grid that I couldn't see the consistency in the mechanism until after I had been nudged and backsolved my way into it.

ACURAINTEGRA alone could have held
AC[+C]RA[-INTEGRA]
AC[+C-URAINTEG]RA
A[-CURAINTE]GRA
[-AC]U[+K]RAIN[-T]E[-GRA]
and the near backwards ARGENTINA, crossing ITINA.
INTEGRA anagrams to TANGIER, a city in Africa, and then there are more desperate anagrams like IRAN, which spanned both words in the entry, or a backwards-swap-out-one-letter ARUBA.

No sour grapes; it was a fine mechanism, but if you don't see it quickly, you're sifting through a lot of chaff.