New York Times, Tuesday, August 8, 2023

I wanted to create a puzzle that invoked the same sort of road trip-y state-to-state movement that has defined so many of our family vacations over the years. In the initial draft that I submitted, I created a vertical design element in the center of each theme answer so that the STATE LINES were literally represented, separating each of the postal codes. It doesn't look like my little doodles made it into the final copy, but that's okay — I still had a blast making the puzzle.

I was a little hesitant about ANGK(OR) (WA)T being a distraction, as none of the other theme entries are actual places, but the NYTXW crew apparently didn't share my hesitation (which is a good thing because I did not have a viable back-up at the ready!).

State postal codes are so overdone that it often seems impossible for yet another one to get published. Yet Zachary innovated in an engaging way, playing on STATE LINES by abutting two states that touch each other in real life, at the end of one word and the start of another, as in ROYAL FLUSH. We've adjusted the grid below to show the four heavy lines in the print version. We've also highlighted the adjoining states to ensure no one misses what's happening.

My deficiencies in geography are well-documented, as when I mixed up Wisconsin and Wyoming once, much to my wife's amusement/horror. This Seattleite does know that Oregon and Washington touch, but Kansas and Colorado? Even after spending a lot of time in Indiana, where my mother-in-law lives, I'd have to sell my soul to the DEVIL INCARNATE to figure out any other possibilities off the top of my head.

(Thanks, Google maps! Google already owns my soul, anyway.)

Even after studying the US map, I was mystified by STARBUCKS COFFEE. Isn't Kansas to the east of Colorado, not the west? Is my geographic idiocy because I've been looking at the map upside down all these years?

Of course, only the most anal of pedants would require 100% geographical accuracy in this concept. It should be enough that ALabama and FLorida touch, yet I'm hardly a COMPANY MAN when it comes to themes. I'd have loved four great finds that also exhibited correct geographical relative positioning, like BOTANICAL GARDEN and such. Could even have run some vertically, like PARLOR CAR.

Maddening overanalysis aside, I enjoyed the creative extra level that elevated from the wasteland of postal codes themes. Impeccable gridwork, too.