Hunt cover C 5/2/08 2:43 PM Page 1 Want towin a week in paradise? Want tohave some good,crazy fun? Joinus today,May18,at noon downtown for an adventure you’ll never forget. TWPMFor details,turn toPage16. MAY 18,2008 Magazine Template 4/28/08 12:38 PM Page 1 -BTU%BZT -FBUIFSEBZT .BZUIUI EBZTPGWFSZBUUSBDUJWFQSJDFT UPEJTDPWFS3PDIF#PCPJTiTBWPJSGBJSFw 8"4)*/(50/ 8JTDPOTJO "WFOVF /8 8BTIJOHUPO %$ 5FM 4"-& )0634 .PO4BU BN QN 0QFO 4VO .BZ UI UI GSPN /PPO QN XXXSPDIFCPCPJTDPN /PU UP CF VTFE JO DPOKVODUJPO XJUI BOZ PUIFS QSPNPUJPOBM PGGFS BOE EPFT OPU BQQMZ UP QSJPS PSEFST 5_18 contents 5/2/08 3:58 PM Page 1 May18, 2008CONTENTS (1) Read the instructions on Page 16. (2) Join us before noon downtown. (3) Solve the Post Hunt Puzzles before anyone else. 10 (4) Spend an expense-paid vacation for four in this little corner of paradise. STORY ON PAGE 16 FIRST THINGS FIRST 2 Editor’s Note 2 Cul de Sac 4 Second Glance 6 Date Lab 8 Then & Again 10 Making It 11 Editor’s Query 12 First Person Singular 14 Dilbert 34 DEPARTMENTS 44 Dining Thai Ki and Ping by Charlie Chiang’s 16 BY TOM SIETSEMA COVER STORY After winning the Hunt, 46 The Puzzle you’ll need five nights ‘It’s Not What It Looks Like’ 16 at a Florida resort. BY MERL REAGLE GO! 47 Significant Others BY DAVE BARRY, GENE WEINGARTEN AND TOM SHRODER Home Invasion BY JEANNE MARIE LASKAS Join the first-ever Post Hunt, and spend an adventure-filled afternoon that you’ll 48 Below the Beltway Teddy Stole need years of therapy to forget. NEXT WEEK My Panties IN THE MAGAZINE: BY GENE WEINGARTEN FEATURE When a man’s job is elimi- 34 nated, literally over lunch The Wild Man at the Center of the World hour, he becomes an explorer in the freakish world BY DAVID TAYLOR 12 of the unexpectedly unem- Washington’s Meridian Hill Park was once a ployed — and discovers what PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY WESTIN DIPLOMAT RESORT & SPA prime spot for the international meridian. An eccentric all of us may have to look poet made it the prime spot to build his cabin. forward to, after lunch. On the Cover: IIllustration by Otis Sweat Illustrations: Otis and Barbara Sweat Send letters to: 20071, The Washington Post Magazine, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071. Send e-mail to: [email protected]. The Magazine is available online at washingtonpost.com/magazine. EDITORIAL EDITOR: Tom Shroder; DEPUTY EDITOR: Sydney Trent; ARTICLES EDITORS: Sandy M. Fernandez, Lynda Robinson, David Rowell; SENIOR EDITOR: Bill O’Brian; SYSTEMS & SPECIAL PROJECTS EDITOR: Michael Bolden; STAFF WRITERS: Laura Blumenfeld, Liza Mundy, Lonnae O’Neal Parker, Tom Sietsema, Gene Weingarten; COPY EDITORS: Elizabeth Chang, Michelle Gaps; ART DIRECTOR: J Porter; PHOTO EDITOR: Evan Jane Kriss; ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR: Jennifer Beeson; CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Christina Ianzito, Paula Span, Wells Tower; EDITORIAL PRODUCTION MANAGER: Leslie A. Garcia; ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT: Daniele Seiss; ADVERTISING GENERAL MANAGER: Jenny Abramson; ADVERTISING PRODUCTION MANAGER: Julie Gunderson; BUSINESS MANAGER: Douglas S. Dykstra; ADVERTISING SALES REPRESENTATIVES: Diane DuBois, Anne Tackabery; ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT: Linda Baquet; ADVERTISING PRODUCTION: Leigh Updike Braun, Jackie Ellis, Kiara Kerwin, Tara Shlimowitz; ADVERTISING GRAPHIC DESIGN: Willie Joyner, Joseph Wadsworth; PHONES EDITORIAL 202/334-7585; MAIN ADVERTISING 202/334-5228, 5224, 5226; NEW YORK SALES 212/445-5050; ADMINISTRATION 202/334-6160; MAGAZINE MARKET 202/334-7031. Copyright 2008 The Washington Post, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071. FIRST THINGSFIRST Editor’s Note: By Tom Shroder UNT PUZZLE SOLVING 101. Class is loaded with clues, real and decoy. The Map is in session. also shows coordinates for pinpointing Hunt locations. In the You there in the back row. I heard that. And I’ve year of the golf tee Puzzle, the map coordinates consisted of a H heard it before. You took a look at the practice Puzzles number and a letter. on Page 26, and you said, “I’d never fi gure that out.” Bingo! 4-T is a map coordinate. Clearly, the next step is to Wrong. Time and again, I’ve seen people who were positive go to that location. It becomes clear that was the right decision they’d get nowhere come up aces, supplying the key insights when you arrive to fi nd a huge leader board for a fi ctional golf that put their team over the top in solving a Puzzle. The secret: tournament, fi lled with the names of fi ctional golfers with their Just take it one step at a time. scores. Consider the golf tee Puzzle on Page 28. Hunt staffers All those numbers! Now you know you’re getting close. Very handed out tees. That’s all you had to go on. So, step one: Ex- often in the Hunt, when you get a list of options, each with a amine the tee. Plain, white … with the word “fore” printed on number, the trick is to fi gure out which of the options is the its stem. That’s obviously important. And since the solutions right one. In this case, fi nd the right golfer, and the number be- to all Hunt Puzzles are a number, fore is interesting because it side his name will be the solution. sounds like “four.” You fi nd no further hints on the leader board, so you still So, now you look at the numbers on a list of possible Hunt have nothing more than fore tee (or 4-T) to guide you. Is there clues, and you see that four is not there, which means that four a way to apply that to the names in front of you? Are there can’t be the answer. But you knew that — a Hunt Puzzle would four names that begin with a T? Maybe you could add all those never be solved that simply. scores together. So, think again. The “fore” isn’t in isolation, it’s on a tee! Put But no. There’s only one: Elliott Tarantino. Which, when it together, and you get fore tee. Another number! Alas, 40 isn’t you look at it for a minute, does appear to have … a lot of T’s. a possible solution either. One, two, three … four T’s to be exact. What else could “fore tee” mean? This is where you need to That click is the sound of the solution falling into place. consider another prime Hunt asset: the Hunt Map in the Mag- azine. The Hunt Map is an actual map of the Hunt area, and it Tom Shroder can be reached at [email protected]. Cul de Sac is online at washingtonpost.com/magazine. CUL DE SAC © 2008 RICHARD THOMPSON / DISTRIBUTED VIA UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE; OTIS AND BARBARA SWEAT ILLUSTRATIONS: BY OTIS SWEAT ILLUSTRATION 2 The Washington Post Magazine | MAY 18, 2008 Magazine Template 4/9/08 3:44 PM Page 1 Second Glance ETCHED IN STONE By Randy Mays The Carnegie Library building at Mount Vernon Square. Find the 12 differences between the original photograph, top, and the altered photograph, bottom. Puzzle answers are online now at washingtonpost.com/magazine and will be in the Magazine’s print issue next week. Degree of diffi culty: For answers to last week’s Second Glance, see Page 14. [moderate, advanced, extreme] ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPH BY RANDY MAYS 4 The Washington Post Magazine | MAY 18, 2008 Magazine Template 5/5/08 10:59 AM Page 1 Fusion of Comfort and Design. BOVA - The place for quality affordable contemporary furniture in the Washington DC area. Bova - 26 years in the US now with a 40,000 Sq Ft showroom in the Washington DC area - less than 3 miles from IKEA on US 1 12000 Baltimore Ave. Beltsville, MD 20705 p 301.210.5410 Mon-Wed: 10a-6p Thurs: 10a-8p Fri-Sat: 10a- 6p Sunday: 12p-6p Atlanta | Cincinnati | Dallas | Denver | Phoenix | Washington DC Date Lab A MAN, A WOMAN, TWO MOTORCYCLES — ACCIDENTS HAPPEN 7:30 P.M., VERMILION, ALEXANDRIA Salil: Marisa got to the restaurant fi rst and was at the bar when I arrived. She seemed attractive enough, but I didn’t feel any instant Oh, wow! She’s gorgeous. She was light-skinned with freckles. I tend to go for girls who have darker skin. Marisa: I’m into the tall, athletic guy next door. He was 5-foot-6, if I was lucky. But that doesn’t mean anything. I hate when people say, “He wasn’t my type at all!” Very few people get that positive connection right away. Salil: As soon as we sat down, she asked me, “Why do you think they set us up?” and my response was, “I have no idea.” Then she asked me if I ride motorcycles. When I told her I did, she said, “That must be it.” I had to hold back a laugh. I wanted to say, “Oh, I guess it wasn’t my hot body.” Marisa: I wasn’t sure why we’d been set up. He comes from a classically Indian family, and his fi rst marriage was arranged. MARISA GERTH, 39 SALIL MANIKTAHLA, 35 I’m an ex-military, motorcycle-riding female. That’s almost as Veterinarian IT Consultant feminist as you can get, so my initial reaction was, Why the heck Brag a I’m honest, friendly, well I’m as different a person did they put us together? Are they trying to see how bad the date little traveled and kinda cute. as you’ll ever meet. will be?’ Happiest Hiking in the woods on a With friends, outdoors, doing Salil: It bothers me that she assumed my family is classically moments beautiful day with my dogs something new with a drink in my Indian.