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Re: "You're Surrounded" - September 25, 2020
Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2020 2:08 am
by C=64
There are, I believe, 28 state abbreviations in consecutive letters going across the grid and 33 going down. That was a lot of static until I took another look at KludgY.
Re: "You're Surrounded" - September 25, 2020
Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2020 3:26 am
by tigerfly222
Extra credit! Woo hoo!
This feels just like when the teacher hands back your essay and there's a gold star sticker on it.
Also feeling an extra dose of pride* since Tennessee is my home state! (And had I not submitted the correct answer this week, would also have felt an extra dose of shame.)
*thanks again, Mom
Re: "You're Surrounded" - September 25, 2020
Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2020 6:10 am
by MaineMarge
I got this one pretty quickly, after a brief stopover in AZ- The Red Herring State. As a rule, I try hard to find special hints in the 1A or 1D answers, and a big THANK YOU to Matt for pulling through this time with “KludgY”.
What a guy!! And what a country!
Re: "You're Surrounded" - September 25, 2020
Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2020 6:22 am
by Joepickett
I had said "Ashore I think" Well I thought wrong. Didn't lose any sleep over this one at least.
Re: "You're Surrounded" - September 25, 2020
Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2020 6:37 am
by CPJohnson
C=64 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 28, 2020 2:08 am
There are, I believe, 28 state abbreviations in consecutive letters going across the grid and 33 going down. That was a lot of static until I took another look at KludgY.
I started out looking at those abbreviations, too; I thought maybe all the states except one would be found in the grid (so 36A would be surrounded by all the other states). But, alas, that strategy yielded nothing except way too many Indianas and lots of missing states. Then I took another look at kludgy...
..
You're welcome!
Re: "You're Surrounded" - September 25, 2020
Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2020 7:29 am
by Colin
Darn - I missed a sitter! Totally stuck on two-letter state abbreviations but couldn’t make anything work - not even highlighting the many instances in expectation that a beautiful map of a state would appear, but alas.... nada! Knowing I was on the wrong track but not seeing the obvious, in a sudden fit of tangential thinking I went with MISSISSIPPI. Why?...
USS TATE (with space) is an alternative way to read the answer to 36A. USS Tate was a Tolland-Class Attack Cargo Ship in WWII, and was named after Tate County, MISSISSIPPI. USS Tate, like all ships are surrounded by water.
PS - Yes, I did use Google during my dying throes to learn about USS Tate.
PPS - Thank you Joe Ross for the Excel template (post #2). When stuck, it helps to refill the grid clearly and see different perspectives.
Re: "You're Surrounded" - September 25, 2020
Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2020 8:02 am
by MikeM000
C=64 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 28, 2020 2:08 am
There are, I believe, 28 state abbreviations in consecutive letters going across the grid and 33 going down.
This train of thought is why I thanked the people who said "ashore!" before 4:30 on Thursday...no way they could have done something involving all 50 abbreviations in that short of a time.
Did anyone get waylaid by the "4 Corners" states, and the fact the actual corner square was black in all 4? I expected those to have some mystical fill of U T A H or O H I O. The AZ didn't help. I couldn't get the actual answer without a nudge, yet I wondered if the W and E at the ends of WASTAGE were compass points tied to the AZ and the 4 corners....sigh.
Re: "You're Surrounded" - September 25, 2020
Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2020 8:07 am
by jenirvin
sanmilton wrote: ↑Mon Sep 28, 2020 12:09 am
otlaolap wrote: ↑Mon Sep 28, 2020 12:05 am
It is absolutely gorgeous that the eight states in the border of the grid are in exactly the same places as they are on the real map of the states.
I was just about to mention the same thing! Beautiful! Thanks again, Mr. G!
Ditto. I'm the kind of person that pumps that extra squeeze at the gas pump to get to a number that is symmetrical, or even, so this greatly appealed to me.
Re: "You're Surrounded" - September 25, 2020
Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2020 8:21 am
by MaineMarge
Hey Muggles! Since most of us ( except for the geography Mensas) have a map of the U.S. at hand, when we post today, let’s give a shout-out to our own state ( or country).
I can remember where some of the people are from some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time. No fooling.
You don’t have to read between the lines to see I’m from Maine- way up north, near Presque Isle.
Right now here in the North Country we are surrounded by heart stopping Autumn beauty
Re: "You're Surrounded" - September 25, 2020
Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2020 8:26 am
by ReB
I am so frustrated with my blindness, especially since I moved to Tennessee a year ago! This week is the worst, almost making me want to swear off metas.
I figured out the solution method almost immediately: the answer state would be "surrounded" by words containing postal codes represented bordering states, but just couldn't find a set. I identified a slew of various postal codes, but for some reason just didn't look more closely for first and last letters.
It's one thing when I don't have a handle, another when I know the solution method and just can't find the elements. Aaaaaaaaargh!
Though near the end, I did spot a curiosity that fits the clue to 36A: MAINE (MA + I [Roman numeral for "one"] + NE)
Re: "You're Surrounded" - September 25, 2020
Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2020 8:43 am
by Tom Wilson
This Pennsylvanian had the mechanism, but not the wherewithal to fully implement it. I, too, got bogged down in a three-day hunt for 49 postal abbreviations that would, by elimination, yield a mug-winner. By Sunday night, all I had (aside from beer nostalgia) was a gridful of squiggle ... so I tossed a Hail Mary well past the opposite shore and submitted Hawaii, where "You're Surrounded" by nothing but the beautiful Pacific. No mug there, but the mention of water is bringing some much-needed rain to my parched burg, where the riverbed is all too visible. So there's that.
Have a great week, all!
Re: "You're Surrounded" - September 25, 2020
Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2020 8:52 am
by whimsy
Colin wrote: ↑Mon Sep 28, 2020 7:29 am
Darn - I missed a sitter! Totally stuck on two-letter state abbreviations but couldn’t make anything work - not even highlighting the many instances in expectation that a beautiful map of a state would appear, but alas.... nada! Knowing I was on the wrong track but not seeing the obvious, in a sudden fit of tangential thinking I went with MISSISSIPPI. Why?...
USS TATE (with space) is an alternative way to read the answer to 36A. USS Tate was a Tolland-Class Attack Cargo Ship in WWII, and was named after Tate County, MISSISSIPPI. USS Tate, like all ships are surrounded by water.
PS - Yes, I did use Google during my dying throes to learn about USS Tate.
PPS - Thank you Joe Ross for the Excel template (post #2). When stuck, it helps to refill the grid clearly and see different perspectives.
Yup. Some people were ashore. Some were on the Love Boat. I was on the USS Tate reporting to Rear Admiral Bunz' rear.
Re: "You're Surrounded" - September 25, 2020
Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2020 9:13 am
by 802puzzler
Wow, I thought I was ashore, but not on the same island as y'all! After highlighting all the consecutive 2-letter state abbreviations, and coming up with zilch, I honed in on the clue for 36A: "if ONE were here..."
So I gathered the first letters of all answers in cells that have a 1 in their number.
1 = K
11 = N
21 = M
31 = I
41 = E
51 = A
61 = A
I dropped the first and last letters "surrounding" the (scrambled) state of MAINE.
I thought this was too easy, and when people were using the word elegant, I knew I'd washed ashore on the wrong landmass!
Re: "You're Surrounded" - September 25, 2020
Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2020 9:15 am
by KayW
The
had some built-in help courtesy of WSJ this week...
Re: "You're Surrounded" - September 25, 2020
Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2020 9:17 am
by Jb321123
Like a kid on Christmas Day, I eagerly await the email announcing me as a mug winner. Alas, yet to happen. For anyone who has won, when do they send out the email? I know the announcement time varies as I guess they wait for acknowledgement from the winner. I was just curious how quickly they email the winner.
Better than any email from the prince needing help claiming his inheritance!
Re: "You're Surrounded" - September 25, 2020
Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2020 9:30 am
by Big Mac
Didn't have enough time to stare at the grid over the weekend. Was on the right track with state codes but needed more one good stare session to seal the deal. Alas.
Re: "You're Surrounded" - September 25, 2020
Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2020 9:40 am
by JoeS
After coloring in all the two letter state abbreviations in neon yellow, Natasha and I decided there must be a construct related to the game of Battleship, as I interpreted 36A clue to mean immediately surrounded on all sides by enemy water craft. But we were simply left with a hot mess of yellow, and nothing decodable from the grid spaces immediately around 36A. I even looked at the 4 corners, but failed to look at letters on the midpoint of the 4 sides. In desparation at 11:56, launched the MAINE on the flimsy reasoning that it was a five letter battleship, a US state, contained 3 other state abbreviations (MA, IN, NE) and the Roman numeral I. The lesson I learned, again, is not to overthink it. Nice construct Matt.
Re: "You're Surrounded" - September 25, 2020
Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2020 9:43 am
by LesY
802puzzler wrote: ↑Mon Sep 28, 2020 9:13 am
Wow, I thought I was ashore, but not on the same island as y'all! After highlighting all the consecutive 2-letter state abbreviations, and coming up with zilch, I honed in on the clue for 36A: "if ONE were here..."
So I gathered the first letters of all answers in cells that have a 1 in their number.
1 = K
11 = N
21 = M
31 = I
41 = E
51 = A
61 = A
I dropped the first and last letters "surrounding" the (scrambled) state of MAINE.
I thought this was too easy, and when people were using the word elegant, I knew I'd washed ashore on the wrong landmass!
This is a really clever idea for another meta. pgw-esque.
Re: "You're Surrounded" - September 25, 2020
Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2020 9:58 am
by Annabelle
I was on the right track with the state abbreviations. But didn't get back into the grid to find the ones needed. Just put I in the center of MD and was in the MIDdle, or so I thought. Swimming back to the boat ...
Re: "You're Surrounded" - September 25, 2020
Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2020 9:58 am
by OGuyDave
On another beer-related note, I would have gotten 44D much faster if the clue had been
Response when asked what your relationship is to a guy you're sharing a Fosters with
in a Brisbane pub.
had some built-in help courtesy of WSJ this week...