"A Puzzle Of Cities" by benchen71

[benchen71]

Nudges imminent, but a solvers update first:

frostyjhammer
Hector
Dorothy Crabtree

[benchen71]

Nudges, in order of increasing blatancy:

1. You need to focus on the Australian cities named in the grid.

2. The thing that is common to the clues for these entries is significant.

3. The location of the cities in the grid is significant.

4. Think of the grid as a map. Maps are often used to indicate the presence of buried treasure.

[TeamDoubleTow]

Even with all the nudges still not there. Submitted a WAG hoping to back solve... No dice.

[markhr]

With a slight nudge, I finally figured out the mechanism. It does make sense after all.
Clever puzzle from Ben, and educational as well.

[benchen71]

If you need an additional nudge,

5. X marks the spot!

[MikeyG]

No nudges yet - I think I might see a piece of the mechanism, but I have to chew on that for a bit here in the arvo (I should get Australian street cred for that).

[Cap'n Rick]

That drawbridge felt like a long walkabout across Australia, but I finally crossed it! Needed all the nudges plus Google, Wikipedia, National Geographic, a compass, a seeing-eye dog, and a vegemite sandwich, but I got 'er done! Fun geography lesson, Ben!

[minimuggle]

I fell in the moat but was pulled out by nudges. Fantastic puzzle.

[minimuggle]

I fell in the moat but was pulled out by nudges. Fantastic puzzle.

Edit: actually still waiting for confirmation .....I do think I've crossed the moat though.

[benchen71]

Updated solvers list:

Laura M
SJMcK
LisaT
markhr
BrennerTJ
Johnny Luau
Capn Rick
Dow Jones
BobJas

for a total of 32. Lower than usual, but not totally unexpected for a "week 4" level meta.

[benchen71]

And here's the solution to "A Puzzle of Cities"...

Sorry, not sorry, for re-using the "X marks the spot" mechanic!

My initial attempt to solve Matt's puzzle had me thinking that the cities were sort of geo-located in the grid. Then, perhaps there'd be some way to connect them which would then result in the answer city. But that was not the case, as we now know. But in this puzzle, I have geo-located the cites to approximately match their position on a map of Australia, indicated in the clues with the directional information. So if the grid is a map how do I find the meta answer? X marks the spot! Based on the grid position of the X, a quick look at a map of Australia should reveal the answer pretty quickly: there really aren't that many cities between Perth and Alice Springs! Knowing that the name of the city includes 4 of the 5 vowels should provide the confirmation. That, and the fact that Kalgoorlie is known for its gold mines, so X really does mark the spot where the treasure is!

(One unexpected complication is that the official name for Kalgoorlie is "Kalgoorlie-Boulder". But I have never heard it referred to that way! My guess is that Boulder was a very small hamlet that got swallowed up by Kalgoorlie as it expanded, and they added it into the name for some weird reason. Apologies if this made it harder than intended!)

[TeamDoubleTow]

Wow! It still took me a while to understand this because I still kept expecting the letters to come from the grid... And that my friends explains how I got no where! Very clever!

[benchen71]

I have to say I was really happy when this grid came together, especially since it retains rotational symmetry!

[Dplass]

Wow! It still took me a while to understand this because I still kept expecting the letters to come from the grid... And that my friends explains how I got no where! Very clever!

Yeah you definitely need Google Maps or equivalent to get the answer.

[rjy]

Nice construction, @benchen71, I enjoyed the journey to be sure, but didn’t quite make it to the destination. Needed the nudges, but landed at Gidgegannup instead. Oh well. But very cool concept, loved the creativity! I’ll get the next one -

[benchen71]

Nice construction, @benchen71, I enjoyed the journey to be sure, but didn’t quite make it to the destination. Needed the nudges, but landed at Gidgegannup instead. Oh well. But very cool concept, loved the creativity! I’ll get the next one -

Thanks, Ray. Gidgegannup is not a city and not close enough to Alice Springs, but it's definitely a good try!
This week's MOAT will be far more straightforward. I'm also doing MEOW this week, so lots of chances to get back into the meta-solving swing of things.