Matt Gaffney’s Wall Street Journal contest crossword, “Sail On, O Ship of State!” — Conrad’s writeup.
This week we’re looking for a U.S. state. There were five theme entries, each containing a state name after changing the first letter of the state:
WSJ Contest – 03.05.2025
- (U)TAH: O(C)TAHEDRON: [Cut gemstone, sometimes]
- (M)AINE: (G)AINEDACCESS: [Hacked into a computer network, say]
- (I)OWA: (N)OWALKINTHEPARK: [Tougher than you might think]
- (A)LASKA: I(L)LASKAROUND: [“Let me check on that”]
- (K)ANSAS: LE(A)NSASIDE: [Prepares to whisper to someone, say]
The changed letters spell UMIAK, a type of boat used by the Yupik and Inuit. That points to northern areas such as Greenland, Canada, Siberia, and Alaska… which is a U.S. state, but is also the fourth themer.
I found that odd, and wondered if I was missing something. I don’t think I am, so I submitted ALASKA. There’s a weaker case (IMO) for Vermont, based on a retailer I have never heard of. And why not prompt for a type of boat? I’ll withhold judgment until I see the answer. For those that don’t know: I have no idea what the answer is when I write metas up for Crossword Fiend. This is my 240th writeup per my Fiend dashboard, and I have almost always been confident that I am correct when submitting my post. Less so this time, so I hope that I am missing something. Solvers: please share your thoughts.
I’m running out of time for the deadline, so here’s a non-meta relevant song that I love.
I had the exact same experience! Submitted ALASKA, but with a side-eye.
+1
The switched-out letters (CGNLE) anagrams to GLEN C, referring, of course, to Glen Campbell, who had a hit with Wichita Lineman.
The answer is clearly KANSAS.
Matt Gaffney had, I thought, a rule not to use the answer as one of the clues. But we know “I don’t place a red herring.” has happened in the past (Unintentioned, but there it was). It’s become like the Pirate Code. More like guidelines, actually.
In the end, I decided not to submit.
Googling indicates that the umiak is the official state watercraft of Alaska. Based on “Ship of State”, I submitted Alaska too.
I just checked the pdf version of Monday’s WSJ crossword which indicates the Friday solution to be Alaska, just as Conrad wrote up.
I bet it was just too hard to find a phrase with any other A state in it. I can’t think of a phrase with LABAMA or RIZONA in it, and ARKANSAS includes KANSAS so that’s ruled out. I’m just surprised the prompt wasn’t for a type of boat instead.