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

[MarkWoychick]

Posted too soon in my day - will try to get my facts right and then post again

[mheberlingx100]

all 7 are US cities in states in the US west.

I submitted Tahoe (as in Tahoe City, CA).

I thought about that as my Hail Mary but the directions stated “car” so went with Mustang. I(ch) + owe+ coca = Iacocca, father of the Mustang.

[iggystan]

I actually had figured the answer was Daytona, but couldn’t make it fit because of NM vs MN (didn’t think that worked). Didn’t submit, so no mug for me. Did anyone else notice that Edsel actually appeared in the grid (start at 22A)?

[TeaJenny]

Ugh!!! I had all of the pieces, but never made the connection. I'm going to call this one SAD (simple and difficult). It seems so simple now that I see the solution, but I was beating my head against the wall all weekend.

*Shakes fist vaguely in Gaffney's direction.*

I mean...wait til next week!

[sjm]

Did anyone else have Lincoln Continental as a response? The arrangement of the city names in the grid has the continental divide in the middle, with towns to the East on the left, and towns to the West on the right. Also, the middle three place names, with "TH' USA" across the middle, form a dead ringer for the Lincoln logo. Also, the letters for Lincoln can be found within the logo. Oh well!

[anaerobe]

The answer is EDSEL

“Where’s My Car?” indicates that the key lies in the cars’ locations in the grid. Highlight those locations, and the solution becomes obvious.
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Car puzzle 500.jpg

Always thought the Edsel grill looked like a toilet seat.

I started down that same road with Jeep, but it wasn't a good fit.

[rosiegirl]

I was working toward the answer, but like others was tripped up by transposed letters in some of the clues. I kept walking away in frustration. Maybe if I had stuck with it I would have finally seen the light...but then again, maybe not. Congrats to all those who were successful!

[hunkra]

Shenanigans! I call shenanigans!

H+NM + Y = HYNM and not NM. Transposing or anagramming the postal abbreviation is not withing the realm of reasonable manipulation for such few number of letters.

(Seriously. I stumbled over the multitude postal abbreviations for CA and CO [didn't know what to do with them but I saw them] and kept stumbling over MN and thinking it was NM backwards which is to general to rise any thing above randomness. )

With those few letters and imprecise mechanics make this mechanism little more than random noise.

This is exactly the reason why I didn't solve this meta. I got stuck on this multiple times and finally gave up!

[ship4u]

The answer is EDSEL

“Where’s My Car?” indicates that the key lies in the cars’ locations in the grid. Highlight those locations, and the solution becomes obvious.
.
Car puzzle 500.jpg

You made my jaw drop and my heart sink for a second. Shame on you, my friend!!!!

[Onaquest]

Ditto me. It was beyond me to transpose the second AZ and NM, even though I keep looking at them and I had all the car makers written down in front of me. Doh.

[Janet P]

A KAS 5 for me.
But Thursday is very near;
Nearer than I'd like!

[vandono]

The answer is EDSEL

“Where’s My Car?” indicates that the key lies in the cars’ locations in the grid. Highlight those locations, and the solution becomes obvious.
.
Car puzzle 500.jpg

You made my jaw drop and my heart sink for a second. Shame on you, my friend!!!!

Me, too! I was just staring at it thinking, "omg i was never going to get that!" (Although I did try to make the grid pattern into a hood ornament or marque. And the Down cars made me thing of the Mustang tri-color badge.)

[anaerobe]

Did anyone notice the locations were all mountain towns? I considered MERCURY MOUNTAINEER, although I wouldn't consider the Mountaineer a noted American car. Apologies to any members of the Mercury Mountaineer Fan Club, of course.

[Joe Ross]

Did anyone notice the locations were all mountain towns? I considered MERCURY MOUNTAINEER, although I wouldn't consider the Mountaineer a noted American car. Apologies to any members of the Mercury Mountaineer Fan Club, of course.

I have to ask: Was an Ashton Kutcher movie shown in yesterday's bar?

[drbockel2]

This was a no for me.

[ReB]

I was on the trail with the three pieces (manufacturer, state postal codes, extra letter) in my hand at various times, but had absolutely not enough time this weekend to put the three together at the same time. But at least I was on the trail...

[katnahat]

When I first saw the grid, I thought the solution would be Edsel. It was notable for being such a flop. Once I lined up the theme answers, the state names and postal code and the make names in Excel, I saw the familiar letter combinations from the grid. Thanks, Joe, for providing the spreadsheet every week.

[ship4u]

I thought about that as my Hail Mary but the directions stated “car” so went with Mustang. I(ch) + owe+ coca = Iacocca, father of the Mustang.

I wanted the answer to be Mustang but I couldn't make it work.

When the mechanism revealed Daytona, it made perfect sense. The Daytona is notable for being the first NASCAR ever to hit 200 miles per hour which was a big milestone at the time. The name being taken from Daytona Beach, Florida, fits the pattern of cars being named for places. Lastly, Daytona Beach was an early center for auto racing and still hosts the Daytona 500.

[anaerobe]

Did anyone notice the locations were all mountain towns? I considered MERCURY MOUNTAINEER, although I wouldn't consider the Mountaineer a noted American car. Apologies to any members of the Mercury Mountaineer Fan Club, of course.

I have to ask: Was an Ashton Kutcher movie shown in yesterday's bar?

Nope. And believe me, I would know. I was there all day.........

[atom]

Kudos to all who got it! I thought about both state abbreviations and car manufacturer, but never together! I also couldn't help but keep circling back to the “America car” I found in the puzzle…