Now Where Was I? - August 20, 2022

[ricky]

Puzzle just went out to email list subscribers. Site update later today.

[ricky]

It's on the site now! Enjoy. Deadline is Wed, 8/24 at 12 pm EST.

http://www.lexicondevil.live/2022/08/pu ... -meta.html

[ricky]

Leaderboard as of 8/21 at 8 am:

[ChrisKochmanski]

Got it!

Though I was stuck in a rabbit hole — of my own determinedly fruitless making, of course — before seeing the way.

Thanks, Ricky!

[Abide]

Beautiful grid!
Will have to sleep on the meta….

[boharr]

Got it.

[lbray53]

Still working but flirting with the Wednesday deadline.

[lbray53]

Submitted an answer I came up with early and it was correct. I am looking forward to the full explanation as to why I am right.

[ricky]

Submitted an answer I came up with early and it was correct. I am looking forward to the full explanation as to why I am right.

Before I pick winners, is there anyone else who entered after Sunday 8/21?

I don't see this entry on my list. And in fact the list shows no entries at all after 8/21. So I'm wondering if something went awry in spreadsheet land?

[Abide]

I submitted either late Sunday or early Monday

[lbray53]

Submitted an answer I came up with early and it was correct. I am looking forward to the full explanation as to why I am right.

Before I pick winners, is there anyone else who entered after Sunday 8/21?

I don't see this entry on my list. And in fact the list shows no entries at all after 8/21. So I'm wondering if something went awry in spreadsheet land?

I believe that I made an error. I used the link for "Check your answer beforehand" and did not realize that I needed to submit on the form. I have since done that.

[ricky]

No problem! I will add you in.

[ricky]

Final leaderboard:

(finally remembered to shrink the image down before uploading it)

Congrats to winners FrankieHeck and LuckyGuest!

Solution (no grid screenshot necessary):

The answer was the US state I recently visited. There were three starred answers, all of which contained some sort of geographical reference:

MICHIGANOHIOWAR
SOUTHERNLIVEOAK
SCOTTISHFOLDCAT

But the unifying factor among these answers was that they are all enumerated (8,4,3) (or 8-4,3 for the first). 843 is the area code for coastal SOUTH CAROLINA, which is the answer.

The germ of this meta was realizing that SOUTHERN LIVE OAK - a tree I was seeing all over coastal SC - was 15 letters long and its 8-4-3 pattern was the same as the area code of the region where I was seeing all the Southern live oaks.

I played around a lot with making the answer the actual place I was in South Carolina - Hilton Head* - but I couldn't think of a way to do it that didn't involve additional long entries, which would likely need to run vertically and cross the 15s, and no entry I wanted to use was capable of crossing the 15s vertically.

I also wanted to work into the clue for OTIS that my route to and from Hilton Head ran right past the Otis Elevator Co. plant in Florence, SC, which is visible from the highway, but I couldn't figure out a way to do it that wouldn't reduce solving the meta to a single Google search.

*"But Ricky," you might say. "Don't you live in North Carolina? Why would anyone who lives in North Carolina go to South Carolina for a beach vacation?" Well, my in-laws and my brother-in-law and his family like to go to Hilton Head so it was a chance for my kids to see their grandparents and cousins. We all had a good time, but I don't recommend South Carolina in August to anyone who doesn't like to feel vaguely like a baked potato by noon each day.