# Puzzle - ordering of US States **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 12, 2002, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puzzle-ordering-of-us-states/123573 "2002-08-12T18:21:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2003, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puzzle-ordering-of-us-states/123573/181 "2003-05-30T03:31:22Z")
I like the idea of it being based on the expansion of some business. A lot of businesses incorporate themselves in Delaware which is #1. The remaining states seem to follow an approximate regional pattern. ---
**Author:** ![Doc\_Trauma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Doc\_Trauma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doc_Trauma)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2003, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puzzle-ordering-of-us-states/123573/182 "2003-05-30T04:24:17Z")
Delaware was the first state to allow legal briefs to be submitted on CD-ROM…do other states do that now? ---
**Author:** ![muttrox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a8b319/32.png) [@muttrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muttrox)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2003, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puzzle-ordering-of-us-states/123573/183 "2003-05-30T12:02:01Z")
Please read through the entire thread. There are already a great deal of hints in there. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puzzle-ordering-of-us-states/123573/184 "2003-09-26T06:57:23Z")
[Anyword On this?](http://lex.net/puzzle/) ---
**Author:** ![SnoopyFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d07c76/32.png) [@SnoopyFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnoopyFan)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puzzle-ordering-of-us-states/123573/185 "2003-09-26T12:05:56Z")
The website hasn’t been updated since March. I’m thinking the guy that made it has abandoned it or something. ---
**Author:** ![SentientMeat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SentientMeat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SentientMeat)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2003, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puzzle-ordering-of-us-states/123573/186 "2003-10-01T11:05:05Z")
Just read the thread - I’m a sucker for these things. So, something that _happened_. Perhaps sports, perhaps baseball from that list: the “colourful pitchers” gag I liked. Order of first _something_ by a black baseball player? Or at least a _famous_ player, like Babe Ruth’s home runs or something? ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2003, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puzzle-ordering-of-us-states/123573/187 "2003-10-01T14:51:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SentientMeat \* > \*\*So, something that _happened_. Perhaps sports, perhaps baseball from that list: the “colourful pitchers” gag I liked. > > Order of first _something_ by a black baseball player? Or at least a _famous_ player, like Babe Ruth’s home runs or something? \*\* I doubt it, as most states do not have a baseball team. ---
**Author:** ![muttrox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a8b319/32.png) [@muttrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muttrox)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puzzle-ordering-of-us-states/123573/188 "2007-06-06T13:23:07Z")
I wonder what the answer to this was. Three year bump! ---
**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puzzle-ordering-of-us-states/123573/189 "2007-06-06T13:26:03Z")
A lot of people spent a lot of time on this puzzle and got nowhere. Not only that, the puzzle seems to have disappeared after 15 or 20 states. My feeling is that the answer is too obscure or something too personal to the puzzle author for anyone to have a realistic chance of guessing it. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puzzle-ordering-of-us-states/123573/190 "2007-06-06T13:47:11Z")
The [website for the puzzle](http://www.lex.net/puzzle/index.html) hasn’t been updated for over four years. No word on how much they received in ‘charitable donations’ or which charity benefited. The whole thing seems rather fishy. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puzzle-ordering-of-us-states/123573/191 "2007-06-06T14:00:31Z")
It would be ridiculously easy to just put up a fake puzzle like this, wouldn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puzzle-ordering-of-us-states/123573/192 "2007-06-06T14:11:43Z")
[QUOTE=bordelond] It would be ridiculously easy to just put up a fake puzzle like this, wouldn’t it? [/QUOTE] What if there really is a third -gry word? ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puzzle-ordering-of-us-states/123573/193 "2007-06-06T15:04:32Z")
Is there a crop that is grown in all 48 contiguous states that is not grown in Alaska or Hawaii, such as soy beans? I am going to lean towards ‘per capita’ as part of the ranking. Someone earlier posted ‘most chickens per capita’. Don’t rule that out. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puzzle-ordering-of-us-states/123573/194 "2007-06-06T17:40:59Z")
Let’s see. 48 or 50 states Geographic clustering Sounds like the ratification order of a Constitutional amendment somewhere between 1912 to 1959 and easily available on Wikipedia. Alaska and Hawaii would then be 49 and 50 respectively when they attained statehood. Let me check . . . Dammit! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puzzle-ordering-of-us-states/123573/195 "2007-06-06T17:52:04Z")
No one’s come close in 5 years? That’s mighty suspicious in itself. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puzzle-ordering-of-us-states/123573/196 "2007-06-06T18:12:27Z")
I did a Wikipedia article on this puzzle back in 2003. Nobody ever updated it with a solution or new information. Somebody later decided to delete the article, apparently enforcing the unofficial rule of “anything I don’t want to know about isn’t important.” ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puzzle-ordering-of-us-states/123573/197 "2007-06-06T19:18:50Z")
I think it’s the list of states where Donald Eugene Ivens was last sighted. It’s all making sense now. ---
**Author:** ![Bob55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Bob55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob55)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2007, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puzzle-ordering-of-us-states/123573/198 "2007-06-07T03:51:38Z")
How about “States least likely to care about this puzzle”? ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2007, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puzzle-ordering-of-us-states/123573/199 "2007-06-07T07:15:14Z")
It’s pretty hard to search for this in a thread and maybe someone has already mentioned it, but do you think this will have no answer such as the “14 k of g in a fpd” puzzle? Now that I think of it, about 25 years ago, George Thorogood and the Destroyers played in 50 states on 50 consecutive days. Would this be the order in which they toured? And maybe (to make it tougher - as if it weren’t already) the order would have the stipulation that only contiguous states are allowed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puzzle-ordering-of-us-states/123573.md?page=9)