COUNTRY ROAD

Imagine standing in Times Square and then walking west, through 14 states... all the way to San Francisco's Lincoln Park. Unimaginable? Not if you follow the Lincoln Highway.

Until a few years ago, I never realized that Times Square was the starting point of one of our nation's first coast-to-coast road — the Lincoln Highway. Nicknamed "Main Street Across America," it predates Washington D.C.'s Lincoln Memorial as a major memorial to President Lincoln.

The possibility of making a puzzle came about when MAINSTREET ACROSS AMERICA revealed itself as a 23-letter phrase (cue the "tingling feeling"). Road trip! I rarely make 23x puzzles, but took a chance on this one. Bottom line — a puzzle about a coast-to-coast, 14-state American highway had to be big, wide open and travel-worthy. The 23x23 landscape seemed perfect.

Keeping with the "big" theme, I was elated to work with four 23-letter entries sweeping across the grid in a coast-to-coast pattern. The 14 state abbreviations correspond to their approximate locations on a U.S. map (as close as one can get in a 529-square grid). Think abstract art.

Luckily, those big, 23-letter entries yield dividends: (a) a low-word count (170) and (b) a low three-letter-word count (30). These stats offer a chance to make an interesting fill, a make-or-break feature of any themed puzzle (I can't stand boring puzzle fills, and will rewrite a puzzle to within an inch of its life, if need be).

The puzzle bottom (148-A) revealed a directional twist (somewhat of an afterthought) — a way to simulate the direction of the Lincoln Highway as one travels from east to west coast. It's a sneaky surprise — like finding icing at the bottom of a cupcake. I hope you enjoyed today's cupcake-y road trip across the grid!

I accepted this puzzle by Liz in 2009 — holding it for four years until the Lincoln Highway Centennial, which occurs this month. Fortunately, most accepted puzzles don't have so long a wait. Next Sunday's puzzle, for example, took less than a week from acceptance to scheduling. Many factors affect the wait (or lack of one).

A tribute puzzle today, one which taught me something, filling in one of the many gaps in my sad knowledge of history and geography. Being an inveterate West-coaster, I had never heard of the LINCOLN HIGHWAY, but after looking it up I cringed at how famous it was. Not knowing it seems a bit like mixing up Wyoming and Wisconsin (hey, I was tired!).

As with most of Liz's puzzles, neat visual. I was vaguely aware that the circled pairs were all states, but after finishing and going to Google, I sat back, impressed that the placement actually reflected the path of the Lincoln Highway. Pretty cool!

Note her use of L-R (or mirror) symmetry. Liz is one of the few constructors who uses L-R symmetry regularly, and I love seeing it. Yes, traditionally xws have called for rotational symmetry because there's an inherent elegance and beauty to the symmetry, but I'm glad Will and others have adopted the stance that L-R symmetry is just as elegant. Note how this allows Liz to place LINCOLN / HIGHWAY wherever she wants, instead of it being in the middle row the grid, as would be required in a puzzle with traditionally symmetry (if she wanted to keep those answers together). The fact that she can offset LINCOLN / HIGHWAY allows her to 1.) place them toward the bottom to give them more impact as a revealer, and 2.) keep them out of the way of the 13 states, making for a much easier fill.

Liz has used L-R symmetry to come up with some of the most visually stunning puzzles during the Shortz era. Her holiday puzzles are always a treat, this gingerbread man one was particularly memorable for me.

Interesting to note that there has only been one instance of up-down symmetry in the Shortz era. I've sent Will a handful of up-down symmetry puzzles, and he's politely said that they just look too strange. It took me a while to figure out why that was, but now it makes a great deal of sense: if human eyes were arranged one atop the other, up-down symmetry would be commonplace. Sadly, the tyranny of left-right human eye placement may take some time to overcome.

(shakes fist at the universe)

Will's note this past week regarding how far fill has come in the past four years might be relevant today. There are so many constraints in the grid, what with four 23-letter grid spanners plus LINCOLN HIGHWAY and 13 states, which makes the construction inherently very difficult. There were enough entries like TREN, A DATE, CCCL, AGLET, NISI, EAR TO, ONE I etc. that it bogged down my solve a little. Overall though, always a treat to see Liz's byline at the top of a puzzle.