Clues are presented in alphabetical order by answer. The answers are:
Clue | Answer |
---|---|
Town where the Eisenhower Presidential Library is located | ABILENE |
Lu and Chandrakasan innovation “___ on a chip” | BACTERIA |
Either end of a basketball or tennis court | BASELINE |
Runs | CAMPAIGNS |
“Middle East” Square | CENTRAL |
Zoid allegedly modeled after Godzilla | DEATH SAURER |
Prepare a Christmas tree | DECORATE |
Make, or make up | FABRICATE |
Military command center | HEADQUARTERS |
One who is not square | HIPSTER |
Aqueduct event | HORSE RACE |
Obstacle for Michelle Jenneke | HURDLE |
Deadlock | IMPASSE |
Tree whose berries are the predominant flavor in gin | JUNIPER |
With “The,” publication named for a surgical instrument | LANCET |
Cavalleria Rusticana composer | MASCAGNI |
In-camera special-effects technique | MATTE SHOT |
Fairway butter knives | ONE IRONS |
Hobbies or diversions | PASTIMES |
Sports participant | PLAYER |
Responded to a stimulus | REACTED |
Olympic race with four team members | RELAY |
Activity at the McGovern Institute | RESEARCH |
Marked with straight lines | RULED |
One S in SSRI | SEROTONIN |
Old Tjikko, e.g. | SPRUCE |
Rodent often found in trees | SQUIRREL |
Tree remnant | STUMP |
Bolivian capital | SUCRE |
More ill-natured and rude | SURLIER |
“An adventure 65 million years in the making,” e.g. | TAGLINE |
Not ours | THEIRS |
Temperature regulator | THERMOSTAT |
Square’s parent, in Flatland | TRIANGLE |
Diamond officials, for short | UMPS |
Like most green fruit | UNRIPE |
The puzzle’s title is the German word for steamroller, and alongside the mention of Fresh Aire in the flavortext is meant to clue the band Mannheim Steamroller.
In the town of Mannheim, Germany, there is an area called the Quadrate (also alluded to in the flavortext) where there are no street names. Rather, each block is identified by a coordinate letter and number (A1, A2, B1, etc.).
Clue answers can be paired as transadditions (UMPS/STUMP, RELAY/PLAYER, etc.). The flavortext also includes a transaddition (SUITE/CUTIES) along with the coordinate C1, meant to indicate that an C has been added in the first position.
Each pair of answers thus indicates a letter/number coordinate:
Clue 1 | Clue 2 | Coordinate |
---|---|---|
BACTERIA | FABRICATE | F1 |
RULED | HURDLE | H1 |
UNRIPE | JUNIPER | J1 |
RESEARCH | HORSE RACE | O2 |
REACTED | DECORATE | O4 |
RELAY | PLAYER | P1 |
SUCRE | SPRUCE | P2 |
THEIRS | HIPSTER | P3 |
MASCAGNI | CAMPAIGNS | P4 |
SURLIER | SQUIRREL | Q2 |
DEATH SAURER | HEADQUARTERS | Q5 |
TAGLINE | TRIANGLE | R2 |
MATTE SHOT | THERMOSTAT | R4 |
LANCET | CENTRAL | R5 |
ABILENE | BASELINE | S3 |
UMPS | STUMP | T2 |
IMPASSE | PASTIMES | T4 |
ONE IRONS | SEROTONIN | T5 |
Highlighting those coordinates onto a map of Mannheim (included below) reveals they are all contained within a 6×6 subsection of the map.
J11 | T1 | T2 | T3 | T4 | T5 |
H1 | S1 | S2 | S3 | S4 | S5 |
G12 | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 |
F1 | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Q5 |
E1 | P1 | P2 | P3 | P4 | P5 |
D1 | O13 | O2 | O3 | O4 | O5 |
These highlighted squares can be translated into Braille dots, spelling the letters (and the answer) BOXERS.