MGWCC crossword: 11:23
meta: a couple of hours 
[4.42 avg; 6 ratings] rate it
G’day! It’s benchen71 here, filling in for joon. And, as it turns out, we also have a guest constructor filling in for Matt: Mike Graczyk, better known in meta crossword circles as MikeyG (see here for his regularly-occuring metas). MGWCC #916, a “week 4” puzzle, is called “Crack The Code” and comes with a prompt that tells us we are looking for a piece of advice. I took the PUZ path and was relieved to discover that the correct answers were included in the file. I didn’t rely on this but it’s always nice to know an answer is correct; and Google was definitely needed here and there. Also, as I went, I was intrigued by the entries with clues ending in brackets. This made it pretty clear they were the themers:
- 17A. {Web crawler that used Java every so often (Mid-Atlantic)} ALTAVISTA
- 28A. {Rocky of song (Appalachia/Midwest)} RACCOON
- 44A. {Anybody who loves Old Bay would travel here (Northeast)} MARYLAND
- 60A. {Any pieces of fool’s gold (Northeast)} PYRITES
- 73A. {He would be seen in “Quantum Leap” (Midwest)} STOCKWELL
But what to do with these themers? The bracketed parts are clearly referring to regions of the US. (Whenever it becomes clear that US-centric knowledge is required I get very nervous; sometimes what is obvious to US solvers is far less obvious to non-US solvers.) So I whipped out my trusty US state abbreviations and started scouring those clues. Sure enough, there’s one in each clue (bolded above). Well done, MikeyG, avoiding multiple abbreviations slipping in inadvertently!
Then it was back to Google to check whether the grid entry and state are related somehow. And yes they are! There’s a zip code for each:
- Altavista, VA = 24517
- Raccoon, KY = 41557
- Maryland, NY = 12116
- Pyrites, NY = 13677
- Stockwell, IN = 47983
We’re cooking with gas: we have our code – now we just have to crack it! Two methods occurred to me. First, Morse code may be involved because of
- 20A. {Morse morsel} DAH
So I started thinking about converting those numbers to morse code, and then only concentrating on the dashes. But this really didn’t seem feasible so I didn’t spend too long on this idea.
Second, what about taking the zip codes and cracking them into bite-sized pieces and then matching the results to those numbered grid squares? Now, that has potential! There are only 81 numbers in the grid, so I took the last themer first because there would be less possibilities:
- 47 9 8 3 gives ELOZ
- 4 79 8 3 gives ETOZ
- 4 7 9 8 3 gives EHLOZ
Those are not very likely as endings to our meta answer. I tried working with the other entries, but they had even more variations. And no piece of advice emerged out of the maelstrom of numbers and letters.
So I cracked and asked for a nudge from someone who had already solved. They told me that the zips can be applied to the entries. That could only really mean that the five numbers in each zip are used as indexes into the entries:
- 24517 ALTAVISTA = LAVAS
- 41557 RACCOON = CROON
- 12116 MARYLAND = MAMMA
- 13677 PYRITES = PRESS
- 47983 STOCKWELL = CELLO
Finding names and zip codes that work in this way must have taken quite a while; plus, they had to fit in the grid symmetrically. Kudos, MikeyG! What are we to do with these words? Fortunately, I recalled another clue referring to lava (because I had to Google it!) In grid order, these were:
- 3D. {Bow : cello :: pluck : ___} ZITHER
- 11D. {When repeated 5 times, song in “Mamma Mia”} IDO
- 38D. {One of two types of lavas} PAHOEHOE
- 64A. {Press agent?} IRON
- 79A. {Mel who could croon a tune} TORME
And there’s our piece of advice: ZIP IT. Nice tie-in with the zip codes, too. Well done, indeed, MikeyG! And well done to anyone who was able to solo-solve this intricate week 4 puzzle!
Hello! Thanks for solving and/or spending time with this enigma!
This puzzle started back in mid-late 2023 as a tribute to the late Bob Lodge, whose wild contest conundrums graced “GAMES Magazine” back in the day. I would stay after school at my high school library and pore over books, encyclopedias, and the Internet, attempting to find a glimmer of a clue that would propel me forward. (I think I got…one, maybe. Bob bested me far more than the other way around!)
Before he passed, Bob and I conversed some via e-mail, and he always kindly, graciously answered my questions about puzzle creation and the like. I am always grateful for that.
What was cool with a Bob Lodge puzzle was that his passions shone through: chess, stamps, chamber music, and – of course – ZIP codes. Lots and lots of ZIP codes! I decided to create a meta with those at the center, and this is the result.
The actual behind-the-scenes machinery here was, believe it or not, pretty pedestrian and tedious. I imported the name of every US town into an Excel spreadsheet (a little over 40,000 ZIP codes are in use), poked around on how to make a formula that would extract each letter, and…got ready to scroll for about two or three hours, haha. (Friday night’s party night).
Due to the fact that a) the town needed to have a unique ZIP, b) any “0” produced an error and c) any digit larger than the length of the name of the town wouldn’t produce anything, it actually was pretty expedient to scroll through, ignore the noise, and chronicle any meaningful outputs along the way. Some others that didn’t make the cut:
CONCEPCION (TX), 78349, CINCO
COOPERSTOWN (PA), 16317, CROCS
COUDERSPORT (PA), 16915, CROCE
EVERTON (MO), 65646, ORONO
GENESEO (NY), 14456, GEESE
GRANVILLE (TN), 38564, ALVIN
GREENTOP (MO), 63546, TENET
MINOCQUA (WI), 54548, COCOA
MONTROSE (AR), 71658, SMORE
RAYMONDVILLE (MO), 65555, NOOOO (this was funny)
RIMFOREST (CA), 92379, TIMES
SEVERNA PARK (MD), 21146, ESSEN
SPICELAND (IN), 47385, CAINE
TERRACE PARK (OH), 45174, RATER
WITTENSVILLE (KY), 41274, TWIST
Each clue was meant to hide the state abbreviation of the respective state – and ONLY that state, explaining the odd reference to Java, say, in ALTAVISTA or the weird conditional wording of “would” for STOCKWELL (since “acted,” “appeared,” “could be,” “performed,” and “starred” all hide another abbreviation).
I had forgotten to put an omega-across entry for STATE with the clue “Each has a unique 2-letter Abbr. that can clue you into where you are.” While the mechanism has been in the till for a couple of years, the grid was made and edited over a few hours on Friday night. So per an extra signpost or two that could’ve been put into the grid, that’s on me (or ME).
I also do recognize, per the Bob Lodge tribute, that this reliance on Google pushed us a bit toward puzzle hunt territory (as opposed to straight-away meta). I can empathize with any who say that is less-than-ideal, certainly; based on the mechanism, it was simply unavoidable this time around.
The final meta answer is a pun (one of my passions, haha) but also an exhortation to myself to listen a bit more, at which I always strive to improve.
Here’s to many wonderful hours of solving into the new year! Happy 2026!
Mikey G
Thanks for giving the back-story, Mikey. I was fervently hoping that a computer had been involved in the search for themers! 😁
Puzzle: MGWCC; Rating: 4.5 stars
Interesting thing from your commentary notes, Mikey G:
EVERTON (MO), 65646, ORONO
Orono, Maine, is a picturesque college town in Penobscot County, home to the University of Maine, situated on the Stillwater and Penobscot Rivers near Bangor. Known for its blend of academic life, historic downtown, and outdoor recreation, it offers a walkable community with parks, trails, and local shops, while also serving as a gateway to Maine’s North Woods and Acadia National Park.
If anyone’s interested in GAMES, archive.org has the first 100 issues available.
https://archive.org/details/games_magazine?sort=-date
Puzzle: MGWCC; Rating: 4.5 stars
Very cool year-end meta, Mikey! This one stumped me until Tuesday night, but was really fun to figure out once I was on the right track. Had hopes that my town of University Place, WA, might spell something, but we have multiple zip codes that only spit out TIVRR, TIVRS, and TIVRV.
OK, I missed the inclusion of the state abbreviations and had come to the sad conclusion that the author was just bizarrely awkward at writing theme clues. Glad to hear I was wrong!
Puzzle: MGWCC; Rating: 5 stars
didn’t make it past step one but WOW that’s a cool meta
I thought the reason for “every so often” in 17A was that “Java every so often” could be a cryptic clue for AA, which is the other type of lava, so it’s an alternative answer to 38D. So all I had to do was find the cryptics in the other themers…
I didn’t understand the point of the bizarre theme clues until chatting with a friend afterwards. I don’t think that part was really necessary with the regions given. (And in my view the DINO clue is equally weird.) Great concept otherwise though.
I broke through just by Googling the theme answers together; amazing how often that works.
I literally googled all five themers together while making the puzzle and was happy when some hits came up! (This post is now the first, haha.) I figured that was a good in if need be, since the locales are obscure. (That obscurity led Matt and I to brainstorm parenthetical regions; it rendered the state abbreviations an afterthought, but I’m okay with that!)
Congrats on the solve!
Quit an interesting meta. Ultra clever (and difficult).
I have a beef with this:
28A. {Rocky of song (Appalachia/Midwest)}
So, that’s KY.
Here is the thing — No single U.S. state is officially classified as both an Appalachia state and a Midwest state in standard geographic or federal definitions.
So, that is just wrong. The KY in the clue is part of Appalachia in the east, and it borders the Midwest state of Indiana, but is not a Midwest state.
It’s a small point, but it greatly bothered me.
I never made the leap to Zip Codes. I was looking for what these might have in common.
Kentucky and Indiana are part of the Ohio River Valley, as the river forms their shared border.
Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, New York, and Maryland (I’m including this last one from the grid, because it’s clue is a themer) all have a river, or rivers, that drain into the Ohio River watershed (which is larger than the Ohio River Valley).
That hung me up for so long that I used my quantum of solving time up and had to move on to real life stuff.
I note that the regional hints are otherwise correct, and they are all midwest and east of there. The fact that the Ohio River flows in a predominantly westerly direction overall had me thinking “Go West.”
My apologies for that oversight, as it did adversely impact your solving, and I appreciate your kind words. The fact that all the states in question do end up near the Ohio River is, itself, another wild coincidence, and I would have loved if all five states could have been spread out as evenly as possible across the country!
A great meta. I saw the state bigrams in the clues quickly enough, but I spent a lot of time grinding the idea that they appeared in other clues:
38-A laVAs
56-A SpiKY
57-A aNYone
65-A funNY
16-D makINg (or any of many other clues with “in”, notably 8-D having it many times)
I spent a lot of time trying fun things like funNY => funKY, yucCA => yucKY, rocKY => rocKS, jaVA => jaDE/jaIL. Or finding alternate answers to the theme entries (Baidu/Bing, Balboa, Bars, Bakula), or to those other 5 (Aa, aloe/agave, adages, ahaha, ?), or looking for reduplications (aa, har-har, dan-dan).
I’m sad for missing the Altavista => lavas connection, since I definitely realized how strange 38-D was. The alternate answer “aa” was hard to move past, and I only ran my script looking for words containing other words for the fill rather than clues; I haven’t made a list of all the words in the clues for a while. I don’t know why I didn’t just search up the answers with the states given that the states were only in the clues. I did read up on Altavista to see where it was founded–just half an hour away! I think I also missed the “code” connection since I thought it was just referring to the 2-letter postal abbreviations. I did suss out the oddity in the clues for 3-D and 64-A but didn’t make the 5-letter connection, and was looking more to 16-D and 57-D. With guest constructors I have less of a sense of what is unusual.
I liked the humorous clues; they were generally more adventurous than Matt’s: DRY, IPA, REMOTE, CARP, RED (smart!), TENSE. It was a fun experience overall.
Puzzle: MGWCC; Rating: 5 stars
I don’t comment all that much anymore but i have to here. What a brilliant meta! It reminds me of some of Matt’s from a while back that were multi-week solves. I don’t know how (ok you said exactly how, but still) you can possibly do it. Thanks for sharing your talent and dedication with us! (I got nowhere close with this)