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Train Station

Kevin Wald

As suggested by the title, the cities mentioned, and the names "F. B. Delonge" and "Anna Berg," all these routes are to be traced on the board from the board game "TransAmerica" (created by Franz-Benno Delonge and developed by Team Annaberg). As hinted at by the phrases "oily characters" and "fatcats" (and more obscurely "Mardi Gras," i.e. "Fat Tuesday"), each of the resulting routes shows the structure of a fatty acid, with the "Ooh!" in the interview marking the COOH carbon, and double bonds indicated by the double lines on the game board.

In particular, in each structure shown, every double bond is either in a cis (/=\) configuration or a trans (/=/) configuration. The "killer gang" are the trans fatty acids (as further hinted by the fact that this is TransAmerica). Their statements are to be ignored.

The non-trans fatty acids are as follows (carbons are numbered in the standard manner, starting with the COOH carbon as 1):

  B: 18 carbons, double bonds after 9, 12, 15: ALPHA-LINOLENIC ACID
  D: 20 carbons, double bonds after 5, 8, 11, 14: ARACHIDONIC ACID
  G: 16 carbons, no double bonds: PALMITIC ACID
  I: 24 carbons, no double bonds: LIGNOCERIC ACID
  J: 14 carbons, double bond after 9: MYRISTOLEIC ACID
  K: 16 carbons, double bond after 9: PALMITOLEIC ACID
  M: 22 carbons, no double bonds: BEHENIC ACID
  N: 18 carbons, double bonds after 6, 9, 12: GAMMA-LINOLENIC ACID
  P: 18 carbons, no double bonds: STEARIC ACID

Each interviewee has breakfast and lunch on his/her journey; the carbons at which these occur are used as indexes into the names of the fatty acids:

  Breakfast Lunch
B 10 L 4 H
D 6 I 10 I
G 2 A 6 T
I 8 R 3 G
J 5 S 3 R
K 6 T 9 E
M 3 H 4 E
N 2 A 12 N
P 2 T 1 S

The LIARS THAT HIT GREENS, that is, the trans fatty acids that hit green cities on the board, are (in order by cities, north to south) C, H, E, and F, so the answer is CHEF.