Explanation: Per the central themer, we will be taking TWOOUTOFTHREE - specifically, 2 letters out of each 3-letter entry (there are only 8, and that does seem a bit on the low side, especially for me, haha).
Each of the 3-letter entries (WAC, OUR, COP, UST (BLEH fill), NAE, IRA, BID, and ILK each form a state abbreviation when one letter is dropped. Per the symmetric themers, we will orient these in a way such that we start in SEATTLE's state of WA and end in CHICAGO's state of IL if we take a road trip through them: WAC, OUR, BID, UST, COP, NAE, IRA, ILK. The state abbreviations are WA, OR, ID, UT, CO, NE, IA, and IL; the leftover letters spell CUBS PARK, whose current name is WRIGLEY FIELD, the answer to our meta.
Fun fact: An early name of Wrigley Field in the 1920s was Cubs Park; I actually didn't know this when I made the meta and struggled to find a prompt that wouldn't completely give things away right away. There is a numeric connection, but it is a personal one: of the most beloved moments of my childhood was the summer of 1996, when my mom and I traveled cross-country for a month via Amtrak (in the picture!) from Colorado, where we lived, to Indiana, where I hang my hat today. All my family was back here, and it was great to visit them. I also saw my first Cubs game that year, and - of course - some player hit a home run when I was in line with my uncle to get concessions. Maybe we'll hit another home run this season, we'll see!
Cubs fan. ;) Fun solve, but I was sort of expecting a landmark along Interstate 80....and a 96 tie-in? I didn't find either, but I did learn that highway 96 violates the usual east-west direction for even numbered highways. Thanks, Mikey!
MatthewL 🤓10:08 · 2024-06-08T18:00:40.368Z
Wowza -- what a great, great meta! So many twists and turns (literally). Thanks for the puzzle, Mikey!
I K Snamhcok 3s · 2024-06-08T19:05:05.677Z
Poor Cubs! And they had looked sopromising earlier this season. All is not lost. Still 100 games to go!
I know, oooof. A long season, thankfully! Remind me of your team again! Tigers?
boharr 3s · 2024-06-08T19:15:55.827Z
Very nice puzzle. And fun! Thanks Mikey.
FrankieHeck 🤓12:09 · 2024-06-08T20:13:46.147Z
My first submission was incorrect...I used only the across entries for the states at first and got WA/OR, CO/UT, IA/NE. Those pairs of states seemed to be connected by interstates 5, 70, and 80, respectively, and 57080 is the zip code for Sioux Falls, SD. When I included the down entries and a less labor-intensive mechanism, I got a much more Mikey (and correct) answer :-)
Terrific. For a while I was sure that the journey was going to be the answer; I-90 connects Seattle and Chicago. Wasn't making any sense of the extra letters. But I-90 doesn't go the WA-OR-ID-UT-CO-NE-IA-IL route, it goes through the more northern states. Finally I realized that the journey was the ordering of the extra letters, and- well, duh, Mikey G the Cubs fan- Cubs Park... VOILA!
Should have known! I thought I-96 at first, and that is only in MI so DETROIT was a natural, than I saw the two cities and thought, somewhere in the middle but where. Then I saw all of the state abbreviations and tied it to "two out of three", but how to get them to spell something besides BACKSURP??? Hey. wait, what if I went State to State starting in Seattle (one of the abbreviations) and ending in Chicago (another abbreviation). As soon as I got CUBS I knew I was onto something, then I got crazy and entered CUBS PARK...stupid because everyone knows that is Wrigley Field (well now at least). Nice three or four step mechanism. I have been having a TERRIBLE time with metas so to get this multi-layered one was a real ego boost. Thanks Mikey.
Thank goodness for anagram solvers! The US road network is not my strong suit. :D
KayW 🤓7:20 · 2024-06-09T00:06:29.004Z
Excellent!!! But wait, you mean the name is not CUBS PARK?!?!? (LOL my first incorrect submission)
whimsy 21:09 · 2024-06-09T02:59:48.892Z
Yup, when CUBS appeared I knew I had it, but then I had to wriggle my way to the right answer.... so I wouldn't gum things up. And I promise not to post a picture of a kitty blowing bubble gum! This was a fantastic puzzle! Thanks, Mikey!
Qmark 3s · 2024-06-09T11:58:52.691Z
Super puzzle Mikey! Loved the way you constructed the road trip state by state from WA across to IL. Digging through some files recently, I found my ticket stub from the Expos-Cubs game I went to at Wrigley back in July 1998...great memories. I'm long overdo for a revisit.
Berto 1s · 2024-06-09T13:26:25.782Z
Took me a while to figure out the correct path of travel. Took a night to chew on it, and nice aha moment first thing. Glad I stuck with it. Thanks Mikey! Go Cubbies
Laura M 🤓11:41 · 2024-06-09T23:00:14.682Z
Excellent! Very well done.
lbray53 2s · 2024-06-09T23:19:45.582Z
I was sure that “sounds like a plan” meant we had to sound things out. BUT the only thing that seemed to work considering the state thing was IRANAE. IRONY. Well it was ironic.
Loved the real answer as a Cubs fan.
Although I was distracted a bit by the Oregon Trail possibility.
HeadinHome 🤓1:52 · 2024-06-10T02:40:21.076Z
RATS - I alway forget to check that contest box! ANYhoo… took me a while to unscramble those letters! At one point I looked at a map to see what the states had in common… if they were maybe all the Oregon trail ones (close, but no)…. That thought should maybe have tipped me off to the letter order as I looked. As it was, I just anagrammed and got BARKS CUP (like the AKC dog show, y’know?), RACK PUBS (best non-bespoke beer west of the Mississippi), and BUCS PARK (that would be Tampa Bay, if it existed). Had to google to confirm that Cubs Park was actually a thing, and the chewing gum location came right up!
Sitting on BCUPSRAK for 3 days, finally dug a little deeper. Nice one!
AZinDC 🤓13:05 · 2024-06-14T16:41:35.805Z
This was fun!! Loved following the map to get there.
hoover 2s · 2024-06-14T21:18:48.211Z
Like HeadinHome and Abide, I sat on those eight letters for a long time, frustrated because they didn't anagram to anything.
Carolyn 3s · 2024-06-14T23:12:51.377Z
Finally got around to solving this. I've been out of the country so I'm playing catch up. Loved it!
rjy 3s · 2024-06-14T20:28:36.388Z
Wow, Mikey! Like others, I sat on BKUPSKRA for the better part of the week. One more look before Saturday and there it was! So cool!
Meta World Peace 5s · 2024-06-15T02:56:56.096Z
I'm a baseball lightweight and the only alter ego I knew for Wrigley going into this puzzle was the "friendly confines"!
Such a nifty geographical technique to sequence those unassuming three-letter answers--awesome stuff.
syoustra 13:24 · 2024-06-15T15:14:03.289Z
Just got off a cruise, so jumped quickly to a few of the nudges ..... and started laughing out loud about halfway through identifying the letters.
Nice one! BTW - the markdown parser isn't playing nice with your HART clue (if you hover over HART here it looks fine, but if you look at the actual puzzle it's just "-to-" in bold), might want to see if you can get the blanks to show up.