Name that Airport

[HB-IHC]

Whoops, I forgot No.8. = Wyoming.
Remove the H from WHY and OH and the dynasty is the Ming dynasty.

...and just got No.8. ....... you sneaky little beggar, not a plough as in agriculture but a Plough as in astronomy, The Great Bear, Ursa Major....otherwise known as The Plough....

....and on the state flag of Alaska.

The Tennis playing Astronomer has a Tantrum O'Neal:


Sneaky little beggar?... you can't be Sirius!

New balls... please!!


The Poet waxes lyrical:

It's two out of two
for you, for you
but as for your latest
it's not the greatest

Neither beggar nor sneaky
You will never so find me
But here's some info
To make you think tho'

The Plough is not synonymous
With Ursa Major astronomicus
It is but just...
His bare bear butt!

(and tail )


The Problem Proprietor proclaims:

Maybe that's why the question was a bit of a "bum" steer for you?

[HB-IHC]

The Problem Proprietor pronounces:


24 States down for this airport... here's 6 more for you including one to help with the one you haven't solved so far (No1)


1. I have EF and an OB on my SF
2. Where All Nippon's cargo ends up?
3. Dixie's adversaries included Ruth
4. Hungary's airline shortage
5. I have a PT on my SF
6. Ferry 747-400 but miss the flat lands
7. Back the old horse to join a British motorway found around Switzerland


Guidance: same MO as before but, as usual, a progression as we narrow down the possibilities so some of these are a tad more cryptic than before. Assistance will be forthcoming if you're stuck.

[HB-IHC]

OK Guys, here's a lead into #1 and #5


These are straight forward of the type "5 F on a H" which is "5 fingers on a hand" but, unlike these more 'random' questions, you already know that the questions here have something to do with the 26 States to be eliminated.

Common to both is "on my SF" so, whilst "on" is operative, "SF" shouldn't be too hard to determine particularly given some of the previous questions given for this airport.

Solve "SF" and I'm sure you'll discover the answers soon enough.


Paul

[brianw999]

SF = State Flag. ?

[brianw999]

1. I have EF and an OB on my SF
Eagle Flying. Olive Branch.

= Illinois ?
................................................
3. Dixie's adversaries included Ruth
Ruth Scarborough opposed slavery in....

= Georgia ?
...............................................
5. I have a PT on my SF
Palm Tree.

= South Carolina ?
...............................................
7. Back the old horse to join a British motorway found around Switzerland

= Michigan. ( the old horse = nag. reversed = gan. British Motorway = M1, Switzerland = CH )
...............................................


Back soon.....hopefully.

[HB-IHC]

1. I have EF and an OB on my SF
Eagle Flying. Olive Branch.

= Illinois ?
................................................
3. Dixie's adversaries included Ruth
Ruth Scarborough opposed slavery in....

= Georgia ?
...............................................
5. I have a PT on my SF
Palm Tree.

= South Carolina ?
...............................................
7. Back the old horse to join a British motorway found around Switzerland

= Michigan. ( the old horse = nag. reversed = gan. British Motorway = M1, Switzerland = CH )
...............................................


Back soon.....hopefully.

The Probelm Proprietor pronounces:


Nice work Brian!

Before I give answer I'm aware that some may not have experience or fully follow the cryptic style and / or conventions so I'll make these points first.


In all cases, there will be nothing in these clues which isn't recognisable as common or offical knowledge. Examples:

(a) British motorways are coded Mn where n is a number, (b) "Dixie" is colloquial - it's what people in the deep South called the area - but it has come to be recognised, the world over, as the US southern States (and arguably esp. pre Civil War), (c) if I wrote "744" instead of 747-400, this is an internationally accepted convention, in airline timetables for example.

Other accepted cryptic clue conventions are, for example... using widely known substitutions such as NSEW for compass points, LR for left and right or internationally accepted codes (GB, F, D, CH etc.) or by using numbers and letters as interchangable... e.g. X is the Roman numeral for for 10, 1 for I (i) etc.


Each question will have at least 2 clues. Of course, you have a head start because you already know that the final answer is a State, but each question is very carefully written so that you can arrive at the answer by logic and / or a bit of lateral thinking.

As usual, I'll give questions which depend only on English which you would need to post on these forums or, if necessary, which is easy to follow from an on-line dictionary etc. and I'll try to give aviation related content which isn't highly technical or specialist.

All cryptic clues have the answers encoded (encrypted) within them and will often have major clues at their start and / or end.

FYI, my responses will be very detailed to try and help everyone join in, if they want to. Some clues will be easier than others so feel free to only attempt what you can at any point.


Now to answer you and flesh out the explanations, Brian...


SF is, indeed, "State flag"...


1) I have EF and an OB on my SF

You are close on this but whilst the eagle on Illinois' flag has it's wings aloft, it is resting on a rock.

A major indication is the structure of the sentence. Unless your first language is something like Polish, you wouldn't say "I have eagle flying and an olive branch..." (although my Dad might have! )

Of course, I could have made a typo but I confirm that the question is written correctly, so the answer isn't Illinois.


3) Dixie's adversaries included Ruth

You're approach to this one is excellent but the answer isn't Georgia.

Check the question again. A major clue here is "Dixie's adversaries" while Ruth is an (important) secondary figure.


5) I have a PT on my SF

As you say, the solution is "I have a palm tree on my State flag" and South Carolina is correct.

I confirm that the airport you are looking for is not in South Carolina.


7) Back the old horse to join a British motorway found around Switzerland

Well worked and the correct State. Here's an interesting thing about cryptic clues. Very often we don't need to solve them perfectly to arrive at the correct answer (and that's perfectly acceptable!)...

Michigan has two Is in it, so the motorway is the M11 rather than the M1.

Why is this important to notice?... because the clue tells you the word exactly and you could solve it even if you hadn't heard of Michigan.

a. "a British motorway found around Switzerland" puts "M11" around "CH" giving you the "Michi"

b. "Back the old horse to join" puts "nag" (an old horse) backwards "to join" something else.

It could be Ganmichi... but you know it's a US State so it must be Michigan. Also, "back" is used to also point the "gan" to the back of the word so, by deduction, if you didn't know the word, you'd probably look up "Michigan" before "Ganmichi". Either way, you'd find it with a little digging into a dictionary.

I confirm that the airport is not in Michigan.



Cheers, Paul

[brianw999]

1) I have EF and an OB on my SF

Missouri ?

Eagle Feathers and Olive Branch inset into the centrepiece.

3) Dixie's adversaries included Ruth

Are we by any chance talking baseball here ?

[HB-IHC]

1) I have EF and an OB on my SF

Missouri ?

Eagle Feathers and Olive Branch inset into the centrepiece.

The Problem Proprietor proclaims:

Correct text ("I have eagle feathers and an olive branch on my State flag"), incorrect State.

The (relatively small) coat of arms on Missouri's flag depicts a Bald Eagle grasping olive branches (and arrows) in its talons.

Although you could make this complicated (branches means at least two therefore it must at least have one, eagle feathers could be attached to the eagle), that would just be devious for the sake of it and, in this case, because I've also stated this is a straight forward clue, it would be deliberately misleading.

Take it as read... straight forward, follow the rules of English grammar.

3) Dixie's adversaries included Ruth

Are we by any chance talking baseball here ?

The Problem Proprietor proclaims:

Well, you've "followed through" wonderfully well Brian... the State? (it's ALL in the question)

[brianw999]

I'm going to make a guess here based on something in the original picture.

Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky International airport.

[HB-IHC]

I'm going to make a guess here based on something in the original picture.

Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky International airport.

Correct!... what kept you?

Would you like to explain what you see?

[brianw999]

It's the only one from the possible list that has a "Chick Fill A" outlet.

[HB-IHC]

It's the only one from the possible list that has a "Chick Fill A" outlet.

Tada!


I know you like a challenge and some grey matter excercise... do you want the answers to the last lot of questions or do you want to work on them privately (via PM) Brian... or, of course, neither??

[brianw999]

Well, I was getting pretty bogged down so let's have them here for all to share.

[HB-IHC]

Well, I was getting pretty bogged down so let's have them here for all to share.

Cool... the two you were about 1mm away from:


1) I have EF and an OB on my SF

"I have eagle feathers and an olive branch on my State flag" ... Oklahoma


3) Dixie's adversaries included Ruth (cryptic)

Dixie's adversaries in the Civil War were the Yankees (colloquial terms for Southern States and the North East), so the first piece of information is "Yankees" (because the clue says "adversaries").

As you were heading... baseball... (the very famous) Babe Ruth played for the New York Yankees, so we have all the links to ultimately give New York.

If you didn't already know that the answer was a State, I might have supplied that as additional info. and reworded slightly to make sense e.g. "Dixie's adversaries had Ruth in a state" (although this could be taken as "Ruth" as an anagram also!)


2 and 4 are slightly different but connected in their logic. Arguably, US aviation buffs would find the answers a little easier to get to and I was going to suggest 4 next and I would have given guidance...


4) Hungary's airline shortage (cryptic)

Hungary's (major) airline is Malev and, if we ask: "Malev's shortage", we can get the IATA code "MA" (Malev's abbreviation)... just as we do with BA, DAL etc.

What State could MA be?... postal code MA = Massachusettes

Again, I would rephrase along the lines of "Hungary's airline shortage is in a state!" if you didn't already have the clue that it is a State.


2) Where All Nippon's cargo ends up? (cryptic)

Usually, a clue with a question mark asks for a little lateral thinking to make a connection but includes a number of possible connections which are red herrings in themselves but which are often a little amusing (usu. only when solved!)

The question can be seen to work on a number of levels... asking if All Nippon's cargo (all) gets sent "here" or perhaps if All Nippon carry all their cargo (because if it's their cargo it might "always" end up on their planes - which, as you know, it doesn't) or even if all Japan's (Nippon's) cargo "ends up here" etc.

However, they're all red herrings which spice these questions up and the lateral part is to keep it simple. All Nippon's IATA code is NH and, as we know, the postal system in the US uses standard zip codes. NH is also the postal code for New Hampshire.

So, asking "Where NH cargo ends up?" points us towards the answer. Cargo for NH ends up in New Hampshire (depending on whether the courier is efficient or not!).

If this was a difficult general clue for someone I might leave it unaltered (and they would know how many letters it had if it were in a crossword) but, if I was to rephrase to give a State as a clue it would go along the lines of "The state of All Nippon's cargo?"


6) Ferry 747-400 but miss the flat lands (cryptic)

This one needs some aviation knowledge but also a little about connected themes. Pointers would have been supplied.

747-400 operators are many but "Ferry", being at the start, is important.

As you know, Virgin Atlantic operate 744s with names taken from the media: Hot Lips (M.A.S.H.), Tubular Belle (Mike Oldfield (Tubular Bells)), Pretty Woman (Roy Orbison and, laterly, the film which possibly took it's name from RO's song) and a host of other puns and media connections.

And, because it's cryptic, this isn't actually about ferrying an aircraft but missing flat terrain...

Brian Ferry (Roxy Music) released Virginia Plain (G-VTOP) so, when you "miss the flat lands" (the plain) you're left with Virginia.


I probably wouldn't give this to someone who wasn't a civil aviation buff.


OK, hope you've enjoyed these... well done, especially on 7... I thought that would cause much more difficulty but then it's impossible to really judge that when setting.


Congrat's for solving the airport location, and it's over to you Captain!


Happy New Year


Paul

[brianw999]

Oklahoma = HANGING eagles feathers...jeez, it's so obvious now !!

New York was halfway typed, I just didn't get as far as posting.

The others I would not have got without a lot of help. All I can say is.... Thank God the southern states have a thing for fried chicken !!!

Now then....let's see.....

It may be a few days before I get this up and running.