MGWCC #738 - “All Over the Map” by Brooke Husic

[MarkWoychick]

I started down a wrong path that eventually led me to the answer - I noticed WHERERU and RUNSBY had the same letters at the beginning and end, and I also found SIS and ISOTOPE. From there, I found a couple of the actual theme answers and was able to put it all together. In the end, a couple of wrong turns got me to the right one.

[Bird Lives]

One of my rabbit holes was to find a word that would complete the chain:
VA-?-CO
The only word I could find was VASCO, as in VASCO DA GAMA.
Now, he definitely was ALL OVER THE MAP (and beyond it, for his time). But he is hardly likely to be of use on a road trip today.

VASCO was a Virginia-based oil company (like Texaco, Amoco, Sunoco), whose two filling stations spanned the state from Norfolk in the east to some tiny town in the west that may actually have been in Kentucky. Their slogan was "Don't get gas, get VAS." Their iconic gas station attendant (like the "Men of Texaco") was the VAScular surgeon. I'm not sure why they never rose to the ranks of Gulf or Cities Service.

[Joe]

Until I figured out the correct mechanism, my first attempt at anagramming led me to CASTRATE. What an unpleasant trip around the country that would have been.

[MountainManZach]

To me, the only real problem was the prompt. STATE CAR isn't (to me) a very in-the-language phrase, and google directs me to cars for heads of state, which didn't seem like the author would use on their road trip! That said, it was the prompt that had me thinking interstate highways from the drop. And as @HoldThatThought said, looking for state abbrevs is a reasonably obvious thing to try, though I too fail to do this as the weeks get late.

Free idea for meta constructors: I really wanted the words to reference an actual interstate, then use that interstate number to extract the answer. eg. GALA --> I-59. No idea how hard that would be to construct but seems... very.

[BrennerTJ]

Follow the rainbow...

[HoldThatThought]

We've been told that this was the constructor's first published meta, and it was a good first published meta. I think Matt was a bit more forgiving at the editor's desk than he might have been for a less well known contributor, and - let's just say that - as expected, and as it should be for a first puzzle - there are lessons to be learned. I look forward to Brooke Husic Meta #2.

[HunterX]

Can someone explain how "EDS" is an answer to "Post offices"? That's the one (of many) "cute" clue that I couldn't understand.

[markhr]

Can someone explain how "EDS" is an answer to "Post offices"? That's the one (of many) "cute" clue that I couldn't understand.

I interpreted that as jobs (offices) at the [Washington] Post => Editors.
That's one way to make sense of that. I could be wrong, though.

[HunterX]

Can someone explain how "EDS" is an answer to "Post offices"? That's the one (of many) "cute" clue that I couldn't understand.

I interpreted that as jobs (offices) at the [Washington] Post => Editors.
That's one way to make sense of that. I could be wrong, though.

Thanks. That works for me. Another tick of the "too cute" box on my score sheet. (I'll stop complaining now. It doesn't feel good to complain. Especially not here in this wonderful forum.)

[pgw]

Free idea for meta constructors: I really wanted the words to reference an actual interstate, then use that interstate number to extract the answer. eg. GALA --> I-59. No idea how hard that would be to construct but seems... very.

I made one sorta like this. Puzzle here, solution here. See the solution writeup for whether it was hard to construct (it was).

pgw

[pgw]

Also, I really really liked Brooke's puzzle.

[Abide]

Free idea for meta constructors: I really wanted the words to reference an actual interstate, then use that interstate number to extract the answer. eg. GALA --> I-59. No idea how hard that would be to construct but seems... very.

I made one sorta like this.

pgw

Thanks for posting this. When reading the original post, I remembered someone had done a similar meta. Daunting effort and great write-up!

[Al Sisti]

Free idea for meta constructors: I really wanted the words to reference an actual interstate, then use that interstate number to extract the answer. eg. GALA --> I-59. No idea how hard that would be to construct but seems... very.

I made one sorta like this. Puzzle here, solution here. See the solution writeup for whether it was hard to construct (it was).

pgw

Shoot, man; you stole my thunder! (I was going to reply with that puzzle, which blew me away)

[mattythewsjpuzzler]

I thought that given this was a week four, there was one more step. If you look for cars named after states, there are really only two:
- Ferrari California (not really a multi-state touring vehicle!)
- Chevy Colorado - which makes more sense

Ultimately submitted statecar but thought the final step may have made sense.

[MikeM000]

Not (really) meta-related but what the heck does this mean?

17D: Nice morning we have here!
MATIN

[MMe]

Not (really) meta-related but what the heck does this mean?

17D: Nice morning we have here!
MATIN

Nice is a city in France, and MATIN is French for morning.

[MikeM000]

Not (really) meta-related but what the heck does this mean?

17D: Nice morning we have here!
MATIN

Nice is a city in France, and MATIN is French for morning.

Thanks; I've seen dozens of French words in crosswords but never that one; and I've seen dozens of Nice-French hints like that but just did not pick up on it.

[MajordomoTom]

I had Emmy Nom and EMS - which I took to be short for Embassy Post.

DNF on this one.