"Sail On, O Ship of State!" March 7, 2025

[Joe Ross]

After reading Matt’s explanation it makes a bit more sense.

“I was looking at it like “here are five states” and then “UMIAK tells you which one of those to choose.” It’s a little different from the usual process but I didn’t think it was missable.
”

I just posted this too! where is his explanation? Cut Matt some slack :lol:

crosswordfiend.com (Diary of a Crossword Fiend)

That’s not Matt.

WSJ Contest — Friday, March 7, 2025
Posted on March 9, 2025 by @Conrad

(maybe 80% down the scroll)
@MattGaffney says:
March 10, 2025 at 9:15 am

I was looking at it like “here are five states” and then “UMIAK tells you which one of those to choose.” It’s a little different from the usual process but I didn’t think it was missable.

Did anyone not submit ALASKA?

[woozy]

Then the prompt should have been "The meta answer is one of the states".

Okay, I can see how late at night he might have thought that but in the light of day and in the eyes of others.... no, just no.

[HeyMikey]

After reading Matt’s explanation it makes a bit more sense.

“I was looking at it like “here are five states” and then “UMIAK tells you which one of those to choose.” It’s a little different from the usual process but I didn’t think it was missable.
”

crosswordfiend.com (Diary of a Crossword Fiend)

That’s not Matt.

WSJ Contest — Friday, March 7, 2025
Posted on March 9, 2025 by @Conrad


(maybe 80% down the scroll)
@MattGaffney says:
March 10, 2025 at 9:15 am
I was looking at it like “here are five states” and then “UMIAK tells you which one of those to choose.” It’s a little different from the usual process but I didn’t think it was missable.

Did anyone not submit ALASKA?

This reflects part of our solution process. Puzzle Buddy Jane thought we needed to find a nautical-themed set containing four of the five states and then we'd submit the excluded one. As in, "one of these things is not like the others". Four of the five states had battleships named for them, but a different set of four had submarines named after them. Umiak seemed to point to Alaska as the exception. Then we realized that 18d HEAR and 5a ALOUD also seemed to point to the I'LL ASK A / ALASKA connection and we took that as confirmation.

[DaveG]

Samsonite! I was way off!
Saw the themer answers, but missed the hidden state, less the first letter. At first I was intrigued by using the first letters of the words in the themers to create a state abbreviation, Leans Aside (LA), I'll Ask Around (using one A gave IA)... but No Walk In the Park and Octahedron really didn't fit, though I considered WI and OH there, but this wasn't tidy enough...

Then, I noticed State Abbreviations all over the place, so determined that what looked like our normal themers, may not be themers at all. And thinking about the phrasing of the title, Sail On, O Ship of State, it struck me as a sort of eulogy/ode to a since-decommissioned or destroyed naval ship. So I went through the grid, both East-West and North-South, and pulled every two letter state abbreviation, eliminating duplicates, and entered those into Excel as rows, and then determined the Class of Battleship each belonged to. From there, I created a pivot table, to get the values of each class. Based on the clue for the central answer "A score between -1 and +1 (Even Par), I determined I was looking for a loner, a result that yielded only a single entry, so I narrowed down the classes of retired battleships, that only had a single state entered. That gave me California, Colorado, Maine and Wyoming. California, Colorado and Maine are all in the grid, meaning they showed in my table as both a Ship and a Class, whereas Wyoming was the only Class of Ship, with a single former US Battleship named after a State that resulted. Ergo, my submission was "Wyoming"

My nit with the official answer is that an Umiak is far from a "ship"

Even if I had spotted the incomplete state names, I would have felt about as sure of a lock on Alaska, as I felt in Wyoming, due to a disparity between canoe and ship, if I were to even get to that point. Not sure I would have even googled Umiak, to be fair.

[krf]

Spent too much time looking a state postal abbreviations, but eventually got it. FWIW, there are 74 occurrences of 26 different postal abbreviations in the puzzle. For a while I thought it was going to contain all but one. Also thought it might contain all the states that surround the target state but those evaporated pretty quickly.

[Bobj]

I was on vacation in Alaska and there were a bunch of kayaks for rent at one of the stops. I started chatting with a cute girl and asked her if she wanted to go on a kayak trip with me. What I heard her say was, "You? Me? Ack!" I walked away dejectedly.

Only after this puzzle did I realize that she was just correcting my use of the word "kayak"

I should add that I'm not complaining. A few years later I first met the woman who would become my wife as she was preparing for some Hawaiian-themed party. Among her first words to me was, "Wanna lay?" At least, that's how I heard it.

[Bird Lives]

(Imagining what I'd say if it was me and not Matt.)

It was not a disastrous snafumiak.
Constructors can have bad days toomiak.
Not a ship but a boat?
What the hell, it’ll float.
And the answer’s a grid word? So suemiak.

[MajordomoTom]

After reading Matt’s explanation it makes a bit more sense.

“I was looking at it like “here are five states” and then “UMIAK tells you which one of those to choose.” It’s a little different from the usual process but I didn’t think it was missable.
”

What about the MI in UMIAK?

UMIAK
UMIAK
UMIAK

[sjm]

I also submitted the correct answer without feeling overly great about it. I am curious, though, about the multiple posts I've read above that refer to "not following the rules" of a meta... are there actually rules? I would have thought that part of what makes these puzzles fun and challenging is precisely the fact that there are no hard and fast rules!

[Penny_Keatley]

Like many of you, I was unsure about this one for a day or so before finally submitting the right answer. Here is how I, with the help of my nephew, got comfortable with this solution: (1) I'm looking for a state; (2) the words "ship of state" are in the title, (3) It cannot be a coincidence that I found a type of ship (umiak), (4) UMIAK is a ship of (or from) the state of Alaska --> the answer must be Alaska. Good enough for me!

[The XWord Rabbit]

There’s a big difference between a train taking the wrong track and one going completely off the rails. Such is your Rabbit’s problem with Mr. Gaffney’s “Sail On, O Ship of State!” puzzle. Much to his regret, he missed last Friday’s Zoom call, and it must’ve been a doozy.

The tsunami of posts started early and you Muggles have been everywhere, man.



No nominees this week, but plenty of honorable mentions:

Our reliable Cruise Director Bob was one of many to find Umiak headquarters in Vermont (Post #263). After that he did more serious thrashing around, including hull numbers on battleships, the years the states involved were admitted into the union, and a bit of anagramming, of course. Way too much LITFTATT for your Rabbit, but a noble effort, nonetheless.

Yoda66 did much the same, particularly involving the boardgame Battleship (Post #291). Here, too, your Rabbit salutes your effort, but alas, there was nowhere to go.

Mister Squawk boarded the USS IDAHO but also had lots of company. (Post #255).

And finally, a shout-out to Madison_c for a valiant premiere effort (Post #252). Welcome to the wonderful world of Muggledom!

Given the outpouring of responses this week, your Rabbit thought of ending with a video of someone singing “North to Alaska”. He searched awhile but finally decided on this classic K-TEL ad parody from SCTV. (While it doesn’t specifically mention that song it must be in there somewhere, and yes, that’s Rick Moranis doing the voice-over.) Until next week, then.

[JeanneC]

I’m sure there were enough correct answers (me too) for a mug this week. At least I can keep my hopes up for a while!

[Big Mac]

Convinced myself that the letter “A” sort of looked like a ship, and therefore was significant given each theme answer state had at least one letter A. There was an “A” in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th positions in the theme answers, and each of those had a missing first letter. I thought maybe that could imply that there was a missing first letter “A” in the meta answer, and perhaps a missing final letter A as well in the 7th position? Arizona fit the bill. Plus the USS Arizona had historical significance.

This is what happens when you stare at a puzzle for too long!

[steveb]

I also submitted the correct answer without feeling overly great about it. I am curious, though, about the multiple posts I've read above that refer to "not following the rules" of a meta... are there actually rules? I would have thought that part of what makes these puzzles fun and challenging is precisely the fact that there are no hard and fast rules!

We often say that the only rule is that there are no rules. I agree with you that that's what makes the puzzles interesting.

[SewYoung]

I submitted NEVADA at the eleventh hour. If you climb up 23D EVENPAR beginning mid way, you have NEV, change the E in the 23 block to A, and follow to the 24 and 25 blocks for D and A giving you NEVADA. As in the five meta answers, you formed a state name by substituting one letter in the grid answer. There also was a ship named the USS Nevada. NEVADA is at least as worthy an answer to this meta as ALASKA.
I saw UMIAK but did not recognize it as a word nor did it occur to me to google it. I’m sure I’ll now see that word in everything I pick up to read.

"I saw UMIAK but did not recognize it as a word nor did it occur to me to google it. I’m sure I’ll now see that word in everything I pick up to read."

I think there is a word for that, learning new word or seeing something for the first time, and then seeing it or a reference to it right after. I don't remember what that word is, but I will probably see it in print in the next day or two.

[SamKat9]

I think the "AK" in "UMIAK" prompted me to Google the word even though I was sure at the time it probably wasn't anything. I remember thinking "what if it's a kind of boat, like a kayak?" When I saw that it really was, I figured it had to be the path to the answer, and the only answer I could make work with it was ALASKA (though I did come across the Vermont outfitters, and I think that would have been my second choice). Based on more recent WSJ "controversies," I decided just to submit ALASKA.

[CptnCodon]

I submitted NEVADA at the eleventh hour. If you climb up 23D EVENPAR beginning mid way, you have NEV, change the E in the 23 block to A, and follow to the 24 and 25 blocks for D and A giving you NEVADA. As in the five meta answers, you formed a state name by substituting one letter in the grid answer. There also was a ship named the USS Nevada. NEVADA is at least as worthy an answer to this meta as ALASKA.
I saw UMIAK but did not recognize it as a word nor did it occur to me to google it. I’m sure I’ll now see that word in everything I pick up to read.

"I saw UMIAK but did not recognize it as a word nor did it occur to me to google it. I’m sure I’ll now see that word in everything I pick up to read."

I think there is a word for that, learning new word or seeing something for the first time, and then seeing it or a reference to it right after. I don't remember what that word is, but I will probably see it in print in the next day or two.

I think it's called the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon or frequency illusion
.

[DannyWalter]

The meta was fine, the answer was fine, what bothered me was the title. Aha! I am looking at names of ships, not states! Ship of State, how clever! Short work from here. Woulda been. Connecticut shipyard, NY shipyard, Ohio class, Virginia class, nothing locked in. Honing in on the rabbit, until - It Was Gone. UMIAK? Alaska? Submitted because I had nothing else, wishing it was wrong.

Fine answer to a different puzzle. Something like, "Paddle on, O Boat of Deep Obscurity!"

[SewYoung]

I submitted NEVADA at the eleventh hour. If you climb up 23D EVENPAR beginning mid way, you have NEV, change the E in the 23 block to A, and follow to the 24 and 25 blocks for D and A giving you NEVADA. As in the five meta answers, you formed a state name by substituting one letter in the grid answer. There also was a ship named the USS Nevada. NEVADA is at least as worthy an answer to this meta as ALASKA.
I saw UMIAK but did not recognize it as a word nor did it occur to me to google it. I’m sure I’ll now see that word in everything I pick up to read.

"I saw UMIAK but did not recognize it as a word nor did it occur to me to google it. I’m sure I’ll now see that word in everything I pick up to read."

I think there is a word for that, learning new word or seeing something for the first time, and then seeing it or a reference to it right after. I don't remember what that word is, but I will probably see it in print in the next day or two.

I think it's called the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon or frequency illusion
.

Told ya I'd see it soon...

[Colin]

Got UMIAK quickly and didn’t know what to do with it at first. The central clue “NO WALK IN THE PARK” had me convinced the next step was about state and/ot national parks. Googled how many of each, and found one state with no National Parks… eureka! But alas, ka then found a second, so that wasn’t going to be it. Onto State Parks… Alaska has over 120, so clearly the numbers were not going to work there either. Then, like Bob, found all the US Navy warship and submarine numbers, but no joy.
Finally, found out that UMIAK was actually a boat used in Alaska and settled for that. Was very pleased, and somewhat surprised, to see that it was correct!