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

[ricky]

Well, I know the answer, but I doubt that I'll submit. So far from a solo solve. It really is an incredible construction.

I Googled "Brooke Husic" and the only person who came up is a PhD in Chemistry from Stanford and is now at Princeton. Her picture does not look like the one in the first post on this forum. Incredible that in addition to her scientific career, she also creates all these puzzles? I took a look at the one she did for Lollapuzzoola and quickly concluded that it was way way out of my league.

That's Brooke. She is on another level.

[ricky]

I have two potential answers but neither of them feels right. Could I run them by someone?

[BarbaraK]

I have two potential answers but neither of them feels right. Could I run them by someone?

Sure! PM me

[Joe Ross]

I have two potential answers but neither of them feels right. Could I run them by someone?

You'll need it.

[HunterX]

I have an answer. But it seems odd. It works with the mechanism, and shows a nice construction elegance. So I'm thinking it must be correct. But it could also be missing something. (Or I could be missing something.)

I also have a second answer, which sounds like a product that could, theoretically, exist on the market. But it doesn't. And it doesn't use the "elegance" that my primary answer uses. So I've rejected it, though it makes me snicker a little.

[CrossedPurposes]

If anyone is around with the deadline fast approaching, I could use a nudge, or confirmation that I am pursuing a dead end.

[HunterX]

I have an answer. But it seems odd. It works with the mechanism, and shows a nice construction elegance. So I'm thinking it must be correct. But it could also be missing something. (Or I could be missing something.)

I also have a second answer, which sounds like a product that could, theoretically, exist on the market. But it doesn't. And it doesn't use the "elegance" that my primary answer uses. So I've rejected it, though it makes me snicker a little.

Okay. I'm not a big fan of this one. I have a few qualms about it.

But I'm awaiting beam up. So if the transporter reassembles me in one piece, I'll be good.

[lbray53]

Hmm... I just noticed something else in this one that makes it extra-clever. I think some of you had already seen it.

I can't wait to find out what this is. It has escaped me so far.

[ricky]

I also need a nudge ASAP. My answers were both wrong.

[Bird Lives]

Hmm... I just noticed something else in this one that makes it extra-clever. I think some of you had already seen it.

Please post it here ASAP, or rather ASANAP (after noon).

[MikeM000]

Was "State Car" the answer? On the Fiend that's what Joon came up with but there doesn't seem to be much confidence in his voice or backup from others...

[GTIJohnny]

Well he shows up on the leader board. STATE CAR implies to me a state vehicle as if you, say, worked for IDOT here in Illinois. ("I'm taking a state car to a job site on I-94").

Not really a vehicle you would drive to meander acrosss the country.

I spent 42 minutes on the Meta, then gave up.

[HunterX]

Was "State Car" the answer? On the Fiend that's what Joon came up with but there doesn't seem to be much confidence in his voice or backup from others...

Yes. And I also noticed (as did Joon and I'm sure others) that the state abbreviations are ONLY in the eight 5-letter words, which is impressive to say the least.

I also liked the linkage, or "chaining" of the state abbreviations, that tell you the order in which to put the letters. That was the "elegance" I was referring to before.

My alternate, funny, answer, was REST-A-CAT, which I came up with before realizing the "chaining" element. It's a cute idea and someone should come up with a product for it. (Portable, car-friendly litter box?)

I was not fond of the cluing. Way too "cute" for me, trying to be oh-so-clever. While clues like that are good, and I like their incorporation, I think she went a bit overboard with them. It made filling out the grid, at least for thick-headed me, unpleasant. And when you have to search online to fill in the crossing words to realize the clever answer, it's just a chore. Again, this might just be my issue.

It actually took me a while to start looking for the state abbreviations. They are a common, tried-and-true feature of some meta-puzzles. I just didn't think that would be the metanism at first, but decided to check them out when nothing else was working.

Also, did Brooke Husic take an official "Head of State" car around the country? Is she a diplomat? Or am I also clueless on some meaning of State Car that isn't the usual one? Had she found a way to put another themer in the center to start it off with an E, then at least it would be ESTATE CAR, which I understand is a British term for station wagon. This prompt-answer uncertainty made me feel I might not be correct in my answer.

So, impressive construction, to be sure. Nice "chain" leading to the answer, giving some fun to the solve. But not my favorite for reasons stated.

Thanks Brooke!

[patpatchica]

I am going to have to agree with @HunterX . This was maybe one of the most unpleasant grids I've ever done, but the meta construction was very nice. I did submit the right answer after anagramming those 8 middle letters and finding the state chains. Maybe I'm missing something, but the STATE CAR is a weird and unconnected answer other than the obvious that she traveled by car to states. Of course, that was a great answer compared to my first anagram attempt with TEA CARTS.

Aside from the cluing, it was a great construction! I enjoyed solving the meta! I'd love to see more metas from Brooke!

[Bird Lives]

Yes, the answer and the prompt were off the mark, but I still thought it was an impressive puzzle. Even if a State Car is a car owned by a state for employees to use when they have to drive some place on official business, it's highly unlikely that Brooke was driving one around the country (though Muggles of a certain age may remember Dinah Shore singing, "See the USA in your state-owned Chevrolet.")

Think of the challenge she set for herself:
1. create a chain of eight 5-letter words whose outside letters are state codes
2. each state must be usable as both the first two letters of a 5-letter word and as the last two letters of another 5-letter word
3, the eight sandwiched middle letters have to spell something.

That eliminates a lot of states. It also means that the sandwiched central letters will probably be high-frequency letters like E T A S (to get the C, she had to resort to part of a proper name in a foreign language). She also, I assume, wanted the STATE in the answer to echo the theme of states in the mechanism. The only alternative I can come up with is STATE MAP, with a prompt something like "What people used to use in driving on summer vacation," which jettisons the idea of going from state to state.

Here's my solution. (Joe has a better one, though he may be saving it for Matt to post on Friday.)
.

[Laura M]

Never did get a toehold on this one. (I felt like I deserved some credit just for solving the grid!) I actually thought that the path to solving was likely to involve geography and/or anagrams, two of my weakest points, so I gave up too quickly. Impressive construction!

[Joe Ross]

It was too easy for me to reject the answer, which I found without much difficulty and more quickly than I solved the grid.

I submitted something that wasn't buttoned-down, but better answered the meta prompt. That's the Week 4 nature of this meta, possibly: Accepting the illogic because it fits the mechanics.

Live & learn.

[Abide]

Extra elegance: there is no other fill in the grid with a state abbreviation— that means no LA, RI, MS, etc.

That definitely ratchets up the difficulty for construction constraints…

[Wendy Walker]

I really, really wanted it to be SMART CAR. But after double-checking the "interstate" letters and finding the very clever "chain" I knew it had to be STATE CAR -- even though I, like others, just don't get it. I took a deep breath before hitting "submit."

[KayW]

I noticed that the chain was not complete (presumably to give us the start and end points).
CO-s-MO
MO-t-OR
OR-a-MA
MA-t-IN
IN-e-AR
AR-c-DE
DE-a-NE
NE-r-VA

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.