Crossword Help Forum
Forum Rules

Thanks unclued... I feel better about my decision now. You’re absolutely right that the positioning of some of the states isn’t entirely accurate. Getting the majority of neighbouring entries to be adjacent, and everything else to be in the right position relatively, was frankly impressive enough. Full credit to Awinger for creating an incredibly clever and enjoyable puzzle.

Maybe (in a Listener first!) the preamble on this point was intentionally ambiguous to allow for some flex when marking the submissions. We’ll have to wait and see.

drxx - you are correct if the preamble is exact about the use of the word ACROSS. However, I had put the state in a position that reflected the two to the west of it.
Any ideas?

Most illustrations of the theme show the labels at the centre of each thematic area. The centre of the missing item is level with the border between the two to its left and slightly higher than the centre of the one to its right. I think this makes a case for the AP rather than the AT but agree it is slightly ambiguous.
I think the shading is less ambiguous. I can only find one solution with the correct number of cells and internal borders.

.............I have now changed my mind and agree with drxx simply because of that word across. I don’t think along and across are synonymous.

unclued - On the map I'm using all three seem to be on a level - I'm taking my line from the boundaries of the squares/part squares available, rather than letter positions (but they look to be roughly on a level too).
It's been a weekend of dubious endgames for me so far - and my recent performance hasn't been great, so I'm not pushing my version (and I don't send them in!).

smithsax - I have a theory about this extra item. I think it's simply a device to help the checker (JEG?).
It would take ages to check every single item in every submission - this way you only have to check this one, and the colouring, It'll save an awful lot of time.
If this is true, I think there will be some leeway regarding its precise position.

How about MN vertically between A and P? That would fit the closest geographically. I really think these ambiguous endings are most unsatisfactory.

I like this idea best unclued because it spells out DAMN. This is probably what Awinger said upon realising that this pesky constraint could not be overcome. And is what I am saying, now that I begrudgingly accept that my submission is almost certainly wrong

I'll go along with DAMN!

I agree there should be some latitude, but I think across just means between two cells and horizontally between A and P makes most sense to me. It should be due north of Iowa and level with the border between the Dakotas, so horizontally between the A and P can’t be marked wrong surely.