Stars and Stripes

Answer: SEVEN NATION ARMY

By Ben Coukos-Wiley

The puzzle consists of a truncated and edited American flag. All fifty stars have been replaced by images, and a pair of numbers have been placed on each stripe. Also included are a set of fifty cards, each with one or more images and a seemingly random word or phrase as a heading. These cards are sorted by their heading word.

By looking at a few of the "star" images, we can see that they clue a two-letter state abbreviation. For example, an SD card clues SD (South Dakota), a doctor clues MD (Maryland), and Sandra Oh clues OH (Ohio). This makes thematic sense, as each of the stars on the flag represents one of the 50 U.S. states.

Further, we can also quickly notice that the image(s) on a card clue the name of one of the 50 state capitals. Some require addition or subtraction, such as when Bill NYE's name is added to Jessica ALBA's and the E is removed to make ALBANY. We can infer that we're supposed to match these cards with the stars on the flag as there is one per state, and capitals appear as stars on a map.

Below is a table with all fifty cards identified and explained

Capital	State	Explanation
Juneau	Alaska	June + Astronomical Unit
Salem	Oregon	Salem from RWBY
Augusta	Maine	August + A (YMCA)
Montgomery	Alabama	Montgomery Scott from Star Trek
Colombus	Ohio	Column - N (ASL) + bus
Raleigh	North Carolina	Ra + Vivien Leigh
Albany	New York	Jessica Alba + Bill Nye - e (constant)
Richmond	Virginia	Rich + Molybdenum + Neodymium
Boise	Idaho	Bo Burnham + i (number) + iPhone SE
Santa Fe	New Mexico	Santa + iron ore from Minecraft
Jefferson City	Missouri	Jefferson Memorial + City
Annapolis	Maryland	Anna Kendrick + Po (Kung-Fu Panda) + lions - "on" switch
Springfield	Illinois	Springfield from the Simpsons
Cheyenne	Wyoming	Che Guevara + yen + neon
Montpelier	Vermont	Mon (emblem) + toilet paper (TP) + Eli Whitney + ER (TV Show)
Hartford	Connecticut	H + art + Ford
Lincoln	Nebraska	Abraham Lincoln
Harrisburg	Pennsylvania	Kamala Harris + burgundies - undies
Indianapolis	Indiana	India + 2x Napoli logo
Providence	Rhode Island	Eye of Providence
Denver	Colorado	John Denver
Columbia	South Carolina	Columbia Pictures logo
Baton Rouge	Louisiana	Conductor's baton + Rouge the Bat
Madison	Wisconsin	Angry face + Iceland (country code IS) + "on" switch
Austin	Texas	Austin Powers
Des Moines	Iowa	Desmos logo - south + i (number) + NES (console)
Helena	Montana	Helena Bonham Carter
Charleston	West Virginia	Charles Dance + ton
Little Rock	Arkansas	A literal little rock
Tallahassee	Florida	Tall + a-ha (band) + south + the Holy See
Topeka	Kansas	Top + e (constant) + 1k + A (YMCA)
Salt Lake City	Utah	Salt + Lake + City
Lansing	Michigan	La (solfege) + N (ASL) + sing
Bismarck	North Dakota	Bismarck (Battleship)
Olympia	Washington	Olympia, Greece
Carson City	Nevada	Cars + "on" switch + city
Honolulu	Hawaii	Ho Chi Minh + no symbol + Lulu (League of Legends)
Frankfort	Kentucky	Frank (food) + pillow fort
Boston	Massachusetts	Boston Terrier
Phoenix	Arizona	Art of a phoenix
Concord	New Hampshire	Convention + power cord
Atlanta	Georgia	Poster for Atlanta (TV show)
Sacramento	California	Sacrament + Oxygen
Saint Paul	Minnesota	Saint Paul (Biblical figure)
Oklahoma City	Oklahoma	Oklahoma (musical) + City
Pierre	South Dakota	Pier + re (solfege)
Jackson	Mississippi	Jacks (cards) + "on" switch
Dover	Delaware	Dove + R (constant)
Nashville	Tennessee	N (ASL) + Ash Ketchum + Seville - iPhone SE
Trenton	New Jersey	Trent (Total Drama) + "on" switch

If we check the name of the state corresponding to each card - an important piece of information that has so far been unused - we find that they're the same length as the respective header word. For instance, both SOUTH CAROLINA and HIDE AND GO SEEK are 13 letters long.

An even closer examination will expose some peculiar correspondances in the letter sequence of a state and its designated header word. For example, BABY BIB has 'B's in the same places that ALABAMA has 'A's. GANGWAY has 'G's and 'A's where INDIANA has 'I's and 'N's, respectively. Interestingly, the correspondance is not always one-to-one: every A in ARKANSAS has a corresponding L in LOBLOLLY, but not every L has an A.

What each of these instances have in common is that the letters that form a pattern in the state name are letters in that state's two-letter abbreviation. Every instance of a state abbreviation letter in the state's name coincides with an example of its "substitute" letter in the heading word. With this knowledge, we can unambiguously extract two letters per word.

Below we see the extraction from each word, ordered by the "star" images on the flag. This is a natural ordering seeing as we are using state abbreviations in this step, and the alphabetization of the cards implies we need a reordering. This chart also includes an identification and explanation for each "star"

#	Image Description	Abbr.	State	Word	Extraction
1	Natalie V. "Envy" Adams	NV	NEVADA	POLLUX	PL
2	Flag of Tunisia (country code TN)	TN	TENNESSEE	YAMMERING	YM
3	E in key of C (mi in solfege)	MI	MICHIGAN	OUTBURST	OU
4	SD card	SD	SOUTHDAKOTA	TETRAHEDRON	TH
5	The notes G A	GA	GEORGIA	RICARDO	RO
6	Eric Ny	NY	NEWYORK	COCKNEY	CK
7	The micronation Wy in the anime Hetalia	WY	WYOMING	EMPATHY	EM
8	Western Australia	WA	WASHINGTON	PIGEONHOLE	PI
9	Ma Rainey	MA	MASSACHUSETTS	REPREHENSIBLE	RE
10	Flag of Argentina (country code AR)	AR	ARKANSAS	LOBLOLLY	LO
11	Flag of Germany (country code DE)	DE	DELAWARE	VEGEMITE	VE
12	"Hello", a synonym for "hi"	HI	HAWAII	RECESS	RS
13	Seal of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs	VA	VIRGINIA	DAIQUIRI	DI
14	A logical OR gate	OR	OREGON	AMIGAS	AM
15	GMT, also known as Universal Time	UT	UTAH	ONUS	ON
16	ID card	ID	IDAHO	DWEEB	DW
17	Flag of Azerbaijan (country code AZ)	AZ	ARIZONA	REVIVER	RI
18	D# in key of C (ri in solfege)	RI	RHODEISLAND	GRACEHOPPER	GH
19	Microsoft logo	MS	MISSISSIPPI	TUBBUBBLERS	TB
20	Central America	CA	CALIFORNIA	RONALDINHO	RO
21	"OK" emoji	OK	OKLAHOMA	SKILLSET	SK
22	1,852 meters, or one nautical mile	NM	NEWMEXICO	EASYPEASY	EY
23	Mn (manganese) on the periodic table	MN	MINNESOTA	SETTHEORY	ST
24	Peace sign, the symbol of the Nuclear Disarmament movement	ND	NORTHDAKOTA	OXYGENMASKS	ON
25	A doctor of medicine (Medicinae Doctor)	MD	MARYLAND	ELDORADO	EO
26	Reversed alphabet missing the letters WV	WV	WESTVIRGINIA	LEPIDOPTERAN	LD
27	"Weird Al" Yankovic	AL	ALABAMA	BABYBIB	BA
28	(1 kg m^2)/(10^9 s^2) = 1 nJ (nanojoule)	NJ	NEWJERSEY	YESPLEASE	YP
29	CT scan	CT	CONNECTICUT	EQUINEARENA	EA
30	Sandra Oh	OH	OHIO	CHIC	CH
31	Public Address system	PA	PENNSYLVANIA	GAMEINFORMER	GR
32	"Me" in ASL	ME	MAINE	ASPEN	AN
33	W. I. Thomas	WI	WISCONSIN	ITTYBITTY	IT
34	Mo Farah	MO	MISSOURI	EDGECASE	EC
35	CO (carbon monoxide) molocule	CO	COLORADO	HABANERA	HA
36	Flag of the Cayman Islands (country code KY)	KY	KENTUCKY	REDALERT	RT
37	Compass pointing Northeast	NE	NEBRASKA	ERGATIVE	ER
38	Two letter "K"s	KS	KANSAS	OAXACA	OA
39	Mountain	MT	MONTANA	KNACKER	KC
40	Los Angeles County, California	LA	LOUISIANA	INUKTITUT	IT
41	AK-47 rifle	AK	ALASKA	AMANDA	AD
42	VII^II = IL (roman numerals)	IL	ILLINOIS	ELLERBEE	EL
43	One inch	IN	INDIANA	GANGWAY	GA
44	Nh (nihonium) on the periodic table	NH	NEWHAMPSHIRE	RHODODENDRON	RD
45	The mascot of Virginia Tech	VT	VERMONT	EPSILON	EN
46	T-X from Terminator 3	TX	TEXAS	JHOPE	JO
47	The U.S. Supreme Court Building	SC	SOUTHCAROLINA	HIDEANDGOSEEK	HN
48	FL Studio logo	FL	FLORIDA	NYANCAT	NY
49	(Unofficial) flag of New Caledonia (country code NC)	NC	NORTHCAROLINA	CLAIRAUDIENCE	CA
50	The vocaloid IA	IA	IOWA	KITE	KE

From this step we get a 100-character message that spells out thirteen key terms. Each of these terms can be associated with one of the thirteen colonies ("Virginia is for Lovers", Georgia is the Peach State, etc.). Considering that the last step was to assign 50 states to the 50 stars that represent them, the thematically appropriate next step is to assign each of these terms (and their states) to one of the thirteen stripes that represent the thirteen colonies.

#	Term	State	Indices	Extraction
1	Plymouth Rock	Massachusetts	1, 9	PR
2	Empire	New York	4, 2	IM
3	Lovers	Virginia	4, 6	ES
4	Diamond	Delaware	5, 6	ON
5	Wright Bros.	North Carolina	4, 7	GB
6	Keystone	Pennsylvania	3, 7	YN
7	Old Bay	Maryland	6, 3	YD
8	Peach	Georgia	2, 1	EP
9	Granite	New Hampshire	3, 1	AG
10	Charter Oak	Connecticut	9, 1	AC
11	Citadel	South Carolina	3, 4	TA
12	Garden	New Jersey	6, 4	ND
13	Johnnycake	Rhode Island	5, 1	NJ

By simply assigning them in the given order and using the numbers on each stripe to index its term, we get the message "PRIME SONG BY NY, DE, PA, GA, CT, AND NJ"

This is obviously a cluephrase, but six state abbreviations have been substituted for the second half. The last (and perhaps trickiest) step is to figure out how it should be completed.

One tip-off is that so far the state associations of the thirteen terms have been completely irrelevant to the mechanics of the puzzle, meaning they probably come into play here. Indeed, if one looks at the thirteen states, they will find that New York, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Connecticut, and New Jersey are every other state in order. And if we have responsibly color-coded our spreadsheet, or we remember to check the flag, we can in fact see that those six states are THE WHITE STRIPES.

A quick google will confirm that The White Stripes are a band, and their most famous song is the classic banger SEVEN NATION ARMY - a prime song with a prime in the title.

Author's Notes

The idea for this puzzle came to me in the middle of a conversation with a friend. She was telling a story about dressing up as a stripe on the American flag for halloween, and humorously described exchanges she had with adults about which of the stripes she was, exactly. My mind went from "which stripe is which colony?" to "assigning them should be a puzzle mechanic" to "...and the answer is SEVEN NATION ARMY" within a couple minutes. I also quickly decided I would have the step before be assigning states to stars as a thematic precursor to the final step. But although the broad strokes of the puzzle were done within an hour, a working version of the puzzle didn't exist until a year and a half later.

The first big challenge was associating states with the stripes in an unambiguous way that also allowed indexing to get the final cluephrase. I wanted to force solvers to figure out which stripes were which state but didn't have a good mechanic that didn't allow solvers to skip the first step entirely. Fortunately I was saved from this quagmire by Jonah, who suggested I just give the list I wanted in order. I decided to use state-associated terms instead of states so that solvers were required to do the first half, and also so I could get the total to an even 100 letters. I quite like the associations we ended up with, though I think CITADEL could be better. And as a Marylander I am delighted I managed to get OLD BAY as our state term in the final version.

The star step was initially intended to be indexing as well, but I was dissatisfied at how soulless it seemed. I once again have Jonah to thank, as he offhandedly mentioned that having two letters per star was a bit like the state abbreviations and that put the extraction mechanism I ended up using in my head.

My reasoning for doing image identification for the stars was twofold: I had some fun ideas for how to clue specific states, and I wanted to force solvers to think about the state abbreviations so the extraction step would be more obvious. In the end I was forced to do some really contrived images for the more difficult states, meaning a lot more than I would've liked boiled down to mindless reverse image searching. In the future I think I won't attempt to tie every single member of a long list to self-contained images. A small easter egg in the star images is that among the stars are the flags of six countries or territories. Together with the U.S. flag it means we have seven nations, a small hint to the puzzle's answer.