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Creative Pictures Studios

First You Visit…

by Mark Gottlieb, Gaby Weidling (art)
Answer: 🕛

“Bikini Fatso,” and each of the items depicted by the drawings in this puzzle, were facetious ways that Donald Trump would mispronounce or misname countries, according to the March 3, 2019 episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Skip to 1:39 in this video:


https://youtu.be/_h1ooyyFkF0

The content of the pictures, the puzzle title, and the reference to how the countries “appeared on TV” in clue #29 reference this notion, and elements of the facetious Trump tweet point to this specific TV episode. The first sentence starts “Last Week,” the second sentence starts “Tonight,” the third sentence starts “And now this” (a recurring segue on the show), and there’s a reference to deporting the host (indicating that the host is originally from another country). In addition, the time and date of the tweet are the original air date of the episode, and the number of retweets & likes are 15,129 and 22,518 respectively—alphanumerics for the letters OLIVER.

“Bikini Fatso” was the alternate name for “Burkina Faso,” so this is a riff on the 2019 MIT Mystery Hunt puzzle “First You Visit Burkina Faso.” That puzzle was about cartography & geography; this is a trivia/logic puzzle.

The pictures are grouped into length, and alphabetically ordered within each group. In the order they appear, they are:

pic
#
Country Misname
1 Laos Lice
2 Tonga Toga

3 Angola Ankle
4 France Fence

5 Bhutan Button
6 Qatar Guitar
7 Lesotho Le Sofa
8 Monaco My Taco
9 Nepal Nipple
10 Palau Pillow

11 Grenada Grenade
12 Lebanon Lesbian
13 Poland Poo Land
14 Samoa Samosas
15 Senegal Seagull
16 Eritrea Urethra

17 Fiji Gay Water
18 Morocco Macarena
19 Mauritania Marinara
20 Netherlands Vag Lands

21 Barbados Barb’s Anus
22 Honduras Honda Rice
23 Kosovo Queso Bowl

24 Guinea Fat Hamster
25 Paraguay Pair of Gays

26 Botswana Butt Swallow
27 Liechtenstein Licking Time
28 Mauritius More Titties

29 Papua New Guinea Daddy Fat Hamster

30 Saint Kitts and Nevis Santa Kids and Norbit

31 Romania The Medium Gross Lettuce

32 Djibouti The One That Sounds Like a Butt

33 Rwanda Hotel for Dogs, No Wait, the Other One,
the One That’s Not for Dogs, Hotel That One

Solvers must use a combination of research and logic to reconstruct the itinerary. As stated, each country except one is visited, and no country is visited twice.

****************************************************

RESEARCH STEP

Here are all the possible answers for each travel step, with the visited country highlighted.

1. Start in Bikini Fatso (not pictured).
BURKINA FASO

2. Travel to one of the three countries (pic sum 58) that borders any country that borders the country you’re in (but doesn’t itself border the country you’re in).

SENEGAL [15]
MAURITANIA [19]
GUINEA [24]

3. Travel to a country whose capital has a one-word name with the same number of letters as the capital of the country you’re in and doesn’t contain a K or an S. Given the three options for the country you’re coming from, there are four possible destinations, with pic sum 71.

Senegal (Dakar, 5) → MOROCCO (Rabat) [18], LIECHTENSTEIN (Vaduz) [27]
Mauritania (Nouakchott, 10) → BARBADOS (Bridgetown) [21]
Guinea (Conakry, 7) → BHUTAN (Thimphu) [5]

4. Travel to a country whose calling code has two of the same numbers in the same position as the calling code of the country you’re in. (If a country is part of the North American Numbering Plan, ignore the 1 and use just the three digits that follow it as its calling code.) Given the four options for the country you’re coming from, there are seven possible destinations, with pic sum 84.

Morocco +212
MAURITANIA +222 [19]

Liechtenstein +423
GRENADA +473 [11]

Barbados +246
ANGOLA +244 [3]
LESOTHO +266 [7]

Bhutan +975
QATAR +974 [6]
NEPAL +977 [9]
PAPUA NEW GUINEA +675 [29]

5. Travel to one of the five countries (pic sum 131) whose currency is a franc of some sort.

SENEGAL (West African CFA franc) [15]
GUINEA (Guinean franc) [24]
LIECHTENSTEIN (Swiss franc) [27]
DJIBOUTI (Djiboutan franc) [32]
RWANDA (Rwandan franc) [33]

6. Travel to one of the two countries (pic sum 47) that features Spanish as an official language.

HONDURAS [22]
PARAGUAY [25]

7. Travel to a country whose flag has the same number of five-pointed stars as the flag of the country you’re in. Given the two options for the country you’re coming from, there are seven possible destinations, with pic sum 130.

Honduras (5 stars) → PAPUA NEW GUINEA [29], SAMOA [14]
Paraguay (1 star) → ANGOLA [3], MOROCCO [18], MAURITANIA [19], SENEGAL [15], DJIBOUTI [32]

8. Travel to one of the four countries (pic sum 94) whose flag contains a triangle that touches its left edge but not its top edge.

ERITREA [16]
FIJI [17]
PAPUA NEW GUINEA [29]
DJIBOUTI [32]

9. Travel to one of the six countries (pic sum 88) that borders at least five other countries. (This includes all countries, not just potential travel destinations.)

LAOS [1]
FRANCE [4]
POLAND [13]
SENEGAL [15]
GUINEA [24]
ROMANIA [31]

10. Travel to one of the two countries (pic sum 38) with a national anthem whose title contains a word that translates to “freedom” or “liberty.”

SAMOA (“The Banner of Freedom”) [14]
GUINEA (“Freedom” or “Liberty,” depending on the translation) [24]

11. Travel to one of the four countries (pic sum 80) whose flag has vertical stripes but no five-pointed stars.

FRANCE [4]
BARBADOS [21]
GUINEA [24]
ROMANIA [31]

12. Travel to a country whose capital has a one-word name with the same number of letters as the capital of the country you’re in and doesn’t contain a K or an S. Given the four options for the country you’re coming from, there are five possible destinations, with pic sum 61.

France (Paris, 5) → MOROCCO (Rabat) [18], LIECHTENSTEIN (Vaduz) [27]
Barbados (Bridgetown, 10) → none
Guinea (Conakry, 7) → BHUTAN (Thimphu) [5]
Romania (Bucharest, 9) → LAOS (Vientiane) [1], PALAU (Ngerulmud) [10]

13. From its capital, stay at the same latitude and travel to a non-island country. (Each time you travel like this, you’re traveling to a country that is part of a continent. You’re going to its principal land mass, not to any disputed territories or far-flung offshoots.) Given the five options for the country you’re coming from, there are seven possible destinations, with pic sum 115.

Morocco → LEBANON [12]
Liechtenstein → ROMANIA [31], FRANCE [4]
Bhutan → NEPAL [9]
Laos → MAURITANIA [19], ERITREA [16]
Palau → GUINEA [24]

14. Travel to one of the two countries (pic sum 28) whose flag has a crescent moon on it.

NEPAL [9]
MAURITANIA [19]

15. Travel to one of the two countries (pic sum 61) with a national anthem whose title, in English, has more than two words, fewer than six words, and an exclamation point.

SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS (“O Land of Beauty!”) [30]
ROMANIA (“Awaken Thee, Romanian!”) [31]

16. Travel to one of the five countries (pic sum 97) that features English as an official language, and also features another official or national language whose name is a single word in which one vowel appears exactly twice, another vowel appears exactly once, and there are no other vowels. (If a language has multiple names, and one of them meets these criteria, it counts.)

LESOTHO (Sesotho) [7]
SAMOA (Samoan) [14]
FIJI (Fijian) [17]
BOTSWANA (Setswana) [26]
RWANDA (Swahili) [33]

17. From its capital, stay at the same latitude and travel to a non-island country. Given the five options for the country you’re coming from, there are only three possible destinations, with pic sum 54.

Lesotho → none
Samoa → ANGOLA [3]
Fiji → BOTSWANA [26]
Botswana → PARAGUAY [25]
Rwanda → none

18. Travel to one of the two countries (pic sum 29) with a 2-letter ISO 3166 code whose second letter is its first letter Caesar shifted up or down by 2.

NEPAL (NP) [9]
NETHERLANDS (NL) [20]

19. Travel to one of the five countries (pic sum 89) whose currency is a dollar of some sort.

PALAU (US dollar) [10]
GRENADA (East Caribbean dollar) [11]
FIJI (Fijian dollar) [17]
BARBADOS (Barbadian dollar) [21]
SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS (East Caribbean Dollar) [30]

20. Travel to one of the four countries (pic sum 72) with a national anthem whose title, in English, starts with the letter O.

ANGOLA (“Onwards Angola”) [3]
PALAU (“Our Palau”) [10]
PAPUA NEW GUINEA (“O Arise, All You Sons”) [29]
SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS (“O Land of Beauty!”) [30]

21. Travel to one of the six countries (pic sum 116) that features French as an official language.

FRANCE [4]
MONACO [8]
SENEGAL [15]
GUINEA [24]
DJIBOUTI [32]
RWANDA [33]

22. Travel to one of the four countries (pic sum 76) whose flag has an animal on it. Don’t forget to check the backs of the flags!

BHUTAN (dragon) [5]
FIJI (coat of arms featuring a lion and a dove) [17]
PARAGUAY (lion on the back of the flag) [25]
PAPUA NEW GUINEA (raggiana bird-of-paradise) [29]

23. Travel to one of the four countries (pic sum 54) whose capital starts and ends with the same letter.

GRENADA (Saint George’s) [11]
POLAND (Warsaw) [13]
SAMOA (Apia) [14]
ERITREA (Asmara) [16]

24. From its capital, stay at the same latitude and travel to a non-island country. Given the four options for the country you’re coming from, there are eight possible destinations, with pic sum 136.

Grenada → DJIBOUTI [32], GUINEA [24]
Poland → NETHERLANDS [20]
Samoa → ANGOLA [3]
Eritrea → HONDURAS [22], SENEGAL [15], MAURITANIA [19], LAOS [1]

25. Travel to a country that borders any country that borders the country you’re in (but doesn’t itself border the country you’re in). As in step 13, don’t count any disputed territory as part of a country you might be traveling to; treat it as independent. Given the eight options for the country you’re coming from, there are nine possible destinations, with pic sum 151.

Djibouti → none
Guinea → MAURITANIA [19]
Netherlands → FRANCE [4], POLAND [13]
Angola → BOTSWANA [26], RWANDA [33]
Honduras → none
Senegal → none
Mauritania → GUINEA [24], MOROCCO [18]
Laos → BHUTAN [5], NEPAL [9]

26. Travel to one of the three countries (pic sum 37) whose capital city has a 4-letter name.

QATAR (Doha) [6]
SAMOA (Apia) [14]
FIJI (Suva) [17]

27. From its capital, stay at the same latitude and travel to a non-island country. Given the three options for the country you’re coming from, there are three possible destinations, with pic sum 48.

Qatar → MAURITANIA [19] 222
Samoa → ANGOLA [3] 244
Fiji → BOTSWANA [26] 267

28. Take the calling code of the country you’re in and label its digits ABC. Travel to a country whose calling code is a prime number with a tens digit that’s either double A✕C or half A✕C. (If a country is part of the North American Numbering Plan, ignore the 1 and use just the three digits that follow it as its calling code.) Given the three options for the country you’re coming from, there are two possible destinations, with pic sum 32.

Mauritania (222; A✕C = 4) → KOSOVO (383) [23]
Angola (244; A✕C = 8) → none
Botswana (267; A✕C = 14) → NEPAL (977) [9]


29. Travel to one of the seven countries (pic sum 145) in which the country and its capital have the same number of letters as one another, but their starting letters are neither the same nor alphabetically adjacent. (In this case, use the names of the countries as they appear on a map, not as they appeared on TV.)

ANGOLA (Luanda) [3]
POLAND (Warsaw) [13]
FIJI (Suva) [17]
PARAGUAY (Asuncion) [25]
BOTSWANA (Gaborone) [26]
MAURITIUS (Port Louis) [28]
RWANDA (Kigali) [33]

30. From its capital, stay at the same latitude and travel to a non-island country. Given the seven options for the country you’re coming from, there are only three possible unique destinations, with pic sum 71. One of those destinations can be arrived at from two of the Step 29 options, and one can be arrived at from three of the Step 29 options.

Angola → none
Poland → NETHERLANDS [20]
Fiji → BOTSWANA [26]
Paraguay → BOTSWANA
Botswana → PARAGUAY [25]
Mauritius → BOTSWANA, PARAGUAY
Rwanda → none

31. Travel to one of the six countries (pic sum 92) whose 2-letter ISO 3166 code is a legal Scrabble word.

LAOS (LA) [1]
TONGA (TO) [2]
ERITREA (ER) [16]
MOROCCO (MA) [18]
LIECHTENSTEIN (LI) [27]
MAURITIUS (MU) [28]

32. Travel to one of the five countries (pic sum 82) whose flag contains a circle but doesn’t contain an animal. Don’t forget to check the backs of the flags!

LAOS [1]
PALAU [10]
GRENADA [11]
LIECHTENSTEIN [27]
RWANDA [33]

33. Travel to one of the two countries (pic sum 45) with a national anthem whose title, in English, contains NOBLE.

MAURITANIA (“Country of the Proud, Guiding Noblemen”) [19]
BOTSWANA (“Blessed Be Our Noble Land”) [26]

****************************************************

LOGIC STEP

Here’s one possible path through the logic. Eliminated countries are struck through. Correct countries are highlighted.

Start with clue 33 and the 26-28 chain.

26. Travel to one of the three countries (pic sum 37) whose capital city has a 4-letter name.

QATAR (Doha) [6]
SAMOA (Apia) [14]
FIJI (Suva) [17]

This starts out with three possibilities. But Samoa is knocked out as a possibility here because Angola is knocked out as a possibility from #27.

27. From its capital, stay at the same latitude and travel to a non-island country. Given the three options for the country you’re coming from, there are three possible destinations, with pic sum 48.

Qatar → MAURITANIA [19]
Samoa → ANGOLA [3]
Fiji → BOTSWANA [26]

Again, this starts out with three possibilities. But Angola is knocked out as a possibility here due to the constraint in #28.

28. Take the calling code of the country you’re in and label its digits ABC. Travel to a country whose calling code is a prime number with a tens digit that’s either double A✕C or half A✕C. (If a country is part of the North American Numbering Plan, ignore the 1 and use just the three digits that follow it as its calling code.) Given the three options for the country you’re coming from, there are two possible destinations, with pic sum 32.

Mauritania (222; A✕C = 4) → KOSOVO (383) [23]
Angola (244; A✕C = 8) → none
Botswana (267; A✕C = 14) → NEPAL (977) [9]

Angola is a dead end. Although you can’t resolve this chain yet, you can narrow #27 down to Mauritania or Botswana.

33. Travel to one of the two countries (pic sum 45) with a national anthem whose title, in English, contains NOBLE.

MAURITANIA (“Country of the Proud, Guiding Noblemen”) [19]
BOTSWANA (“Blessed Be Our Noble Land”) [26]

This clue must also be Mauritania or Botswana. That means one of them is #27 and the other is #33. They can’t be the answers to any other clues.

With that information, you can resolve the 16-17 chain.

16. Travel to one of the five countries (pic sum 97) that features English as an official language, and also features another official or national language whose name is a single word in which one vowel appears exactly twice, another vowel appears exactly once, and there are no other vowels. (If a language has multiple names, and one of them meets these criteria, it counts.)

LESOTHO (Sesotho) [7]
SAMOA (Samoan) [14]
FIJI (Fijian) [17]
BOTSWANA (Setswana) [26]
RWANDA (Swahili) [33]

Botswana must be either #27 or #33. That leaves four options.

17. From its capital, stay at the same latitude and travel to a non-island country. Given the five options for the country you’re coming from, there are only three possible destinations, with pic sum 54.

Lesotho → none
Samoa → ANGOLA [3]
Fiji → BOTSWANA [26]
Botswana → PARAGUAY [25]
Rwanda → none

Lesotho and Rwanda are dead ends. Since Botswana must be #27 or #33, this pair must be Samoa & Angola.

You can definitively solve clue 10.

10. Travel to one of the two countries (pic sum 38) with a national anthem whose title contains a word that translates to “freedom” or “liberty.”

SAMOA (“The Banner of Freedom”) [14]
GUINEA (“Freedom” or “Liberty,” depending on the translation) [24]

Samoa is #16, so this must be Guinea.

You now have enough info to close out the 1-4 clue string.

1. Start in Bikini Fatso (not pictured).
BURKINA FASO

2. Travel to one of the three countries (pic sum 58) that borders any country that borders the country you’re in (but doesn’t itself border the country you’re in).

SENEGAL [15]
MAURITANIA [19]
GUINEA [24]

Guinea is #10. Mauritania is #27 or #33. This must be Senegal.

3. Travel to a country whose capital has a one-word name with the same number of letters as the capital of the country you’re in and doesn’t contain a K or an S. Given the three options for the country you’re coming from, there are four possible destinations, with pic sum 71.

Senegal (Dakar, 5) → MOROCCO (Rabat) [18], LIECHTENSTEIN (Vaduz) [27]
Mauritania (Nouakchott, 10) → BARBADOS (Bridgetown) [21]
Guinea (Conakry, 7) → BHUTAN (Thimphu) [5]

Guinea and Mauritania have already been eliminated as options for #2. That leaves two options to match Senegal.

4. Travel to a country whose calling code has two of the same numbers in the same position as the calling code of the country you’re in. (If a country is part of the North American Numbering Plan, ignore the 1 and use just the three digits that follow it as its calling code.) Given the four options for the country you’re coming from, there are seven possible destinations, with pic sum 84.

Morocco +212
MAURITANIA +222 [19]

Liechtenstein +423
GRENADA +473 [11]

Barbados +246
ANGOLA +244 [3]
LESOTHO +266 [7]

Bhutan +975
QATAR +974 [6]
NEPAL +977 [9]
PAPUA NEW GUINEA +675 [29]

#3 can’t be Bhutan or Barbados, so the countries that match their calling codes are moot. Since Mauritania is #27 or #33, #3/4 can’t be Morocco/Mauritania. This must be Liechtenstein/Grenada.

(As an aside, you know from the dots under the pictures that Lesotho was a possibility for only two clues. They were #4 and #17, and Lesotho has been eliminated from both of them. That means Lesotho is the country that isn’t visited, and you can proceed with the definitive knowledge that each other country is visited. But you don’t need to realize that here in order to solve the rest of the logic puzzle; Lesotho simply never comes up again as a possibility.)

With Mauritania off the table, you can run together a couple more clues.

14. Travel to one of the two countries (pic sum 28) whose flag has a crescent moon on it.

NEPAL [9]
MAURITANIA [19]

Mauritania is #27 or #33, so this is Nepal.

18. Travel to one of the two countries (pic sum 29) with a 2-letter ISO 3166 code whose second letter is its first letter Caesar shifted up or down by 2.

NEPAL (NP) [9]
NETHERLANDS (NL) [20]

Nepal is #14, so this is Netherlands.

At this point, you can resolve the initial ambiguity.

26. Travel to one of the three countries (pic sum 37) whose capital city has a 4-letter name.

QATAR (Doha) [6]
SAMOA (Apia) [14]
FIJI (Suva) [17]

Samoa is #16.

27. From its capital, stay at the same latitude and travel to a non-island country. Given the three options for the country you’re coming from, there are three possible destinations, with pic sum 48.

Qatar → MAURITANIA [19]
Samoa → ANGOLA [3]
Fiji → BOTSWANA [26]

28. Take the calling code of the country you’re in and label its digits ABC. Travel to a country whose calling code is a prime number with a tens digit that’s either double A✕C or half A✕C. (If a country is part of the North American Numbering Plan, ignore the 1 and use just the three digits that follow it as its calling code.) Given the three options for the country you’re coming from, there are two possible destinations, with pic sum 32.

Mauritania (222; A✕C = 4) → KOSOVO (383) [23]
Angola (244; A✕C = 8) → none
Botswana (267; A✕C = 14) → NEPAL (977) [9]

Nepal is #14. This must be Kosovo, so #27 is Mauritania, and #26 is Qatar.

33. Travel to one of the two countries (pic sum 45) with a national anthem whose title, in English, contains NOBLE.

MAURITANIA (“Country of the Proud, Guiding Noblemen”) [19]
BOTSWANA (“Blessed Be Our Noble Land”) [26]

Since #27 is Mauritania, this is Botswana.

You can tackle the 29-30 string.

29. Travel to one of the seven countries (pic sum 145) in which the country and its capital have the same number of letters as one another, but their starting letters are neither the same nor alphabetically adjacent. (In this case, use the names of the countries as they appear on a map, not as they appeared on TV.)

ANGOLA (Luanda) [3]
POLAND (Warsaw) [13]
FIJI (Suva) [17]
PARAGUAY (Asuncion) [25]
BOTSWANA (Gaborone) [26]
MAURITIUS (Port Louis) [28]
RWANDA (Kigali) [33]

Botswana and Angola have been assigned. That leaves five options here.

30. From its capital, stay at the same latitude and travel to a non-island country. Given the seven options for the country you’re coming from, there are only three possible unique destinations, with pic sum 71. One of those destinations can be arrived at from two of the Step 29 options, and one can be arrived at from three of the Step 29 options.

Angola → none
Poland → NETHERLANDS [20]
Fiji → BOTSWANA [26]
Paraguay → BOTSWANA
Botswana → PARAGUAY [25]
Mauritius → BOTSWANA, PARAGUAY
Rwanda → none

Neither Angola nor Botswana are options for #29. Netherlands is #18 and Botswana is #33, so they’re eliminated. That leaves Mauritius & Paraguay for this pair.

And now the 23-25 chain.

23. Travel to one of the four countries (pic sum 54) whose capital starts and ends with the same letter.

GRENADA (Saint George’s) [11]
POLAND (Warsaw) [13]
SAMOA (Apia) [14]
ERITREA (Asmara) [16]

Grenada is #4. Samoa is #16. There are two options left.

24. From its capital, stay at the same latitude and travel to a non-island country. Given the four options for the country you’re coming from, there are eight possible destinations, with pic sum 136.

Grenada → DJIBOUTI [32], GUINEA [24]
Poland → NETHERLANDS [20]
Samoa → ANGOLA [3]
Eritrea → HONDURAS [22], SENEGAL [15], MAURITANIA [19], LAOS [1]

Samoa and Grenada aren’t options for #23. Mauritania is #27. Senegal is #2. Netherlands is #18. That means Eritrea is #23, though #24 could still be Honduras or Laos.

25. Travel to a country that borders any country that borders the country you’re in (but doesn’t itself border the country you’re in). As in step 13, don’t count any disputed territory as part of a country you might be traveling to; treat it as independent. Given the eight options for the country you’re coming from, there are nine possible destinations, with pic sum 151.

Djibouti → none
Guinea → MAURITANIA [19]
Netherlands → FRANCE [4], POLAND [13]
Angola → BOTSWANA [26], RWANDA [33]
Honduras → none
Senegal → none
Mauritania →GUINEA [24], MOROCCO [18]
Laos → BHUTAN [5], NEPAL [9]

All options except Honduras and Laos were already eliminated as options for #24. You can’t get from Honduras to another pictured country. From Laos, you can get to Bhutan or Nepal. Since #14 is Nepal, this is Bhutan and #24 is Laos.

The 6-7 chain can come next.

6. Travel to one of the two countries (pic sum 47) that features Spanish as an official language.

HONDURAS [22]
PARAGUAY [25]

Paraguay is #30. This must be Honduras.

7. Travel to a country whose flag has the same number of five-pointed stars as the flag of the country you’re in. Given the two options for the country you’re coming from, there are seven possible destinations, with pic sum 130.

Honduras (5 stars) → PAPUA NEW GUINEA [29], SAMOA [14]
Paraguay (1 star) → ANGOLA [3], MOROCCO [18], MAURITANIA [19], SENEGAL [15], DJIBOUTI [32]

Paraguay was eliminated as an option for #6. Samoa is #16 or #26, so this is Papua New Guinea.

All the eliminations you’ve made leaves only one option for clue 22, then you can chain together some clues as a result.

22. Travel to one of the four countries (pic sum 76) whose flag has an animal on it. Don’t forget to check the backs of the flags!

BHUTAN (dragon) [5]
FIJI (coat of arms featuring a lion and a dove) [17]
PARAGUAY (lion on the back of the flag) [25]
PAPUA NEW GUINEA (raggiana bird-of-paradise) [29]

Bhutan is #25, Paraguay is #30, and Papua New Guinea is #7. This is Fiji.

8. Travel to one of the four countries (pic sum 94) whose flag contains a triangle that touches its left edge but not its top edge.

ERITREA [16]
FIJI [17]
PAPUA NEW GUINEA [29]
DJIBOUTI [32]

You just assigned Fiji to #22. Papua New Guinea is #7 and Eritrea is #23, so Djibouti is the only option left.

5. Travel to one of the five countries (pic sum 131) whose currency is a franc of some sort.

SENEGAL (West African CFA franc) [15]
GUINEA (Guinean franc) [24]
LIECHTENSTEIN (Swiss franc) [27]
DJIBOUTI (Djiboutan franc) [32]
RWANDA (Rwandan franc) [33]

You just assigned Djibouti to #8, leaving Rwanda as the only option left.

32. Travel to one of the five countries (pic sum 82) whose flag contains a circle but doesn’t contain an animal. Don’t forget to check the backs of the flags!
LAOS [1]
PALAU [10]
GRENADA [11]
LIECHTENSTEIN [27]
RWANDA [33]

You just assigned Rwanda to #5, so this must be Palau.

20. Travel to one of the four countries (pic sum 72) with a national anthem whose title, in English, starts with the letter O.

ANGOLA (“Onwards Angola”) [3]
PALAU (“Our Palau”) [10]
PAPUA NEW GUINEA (“O Arise, All You Sons”) [29]
SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS (“O Land of Beauty!”) [30]

Palau is now assigned to #32. Papua New Guinea is #7, and Angola is #17. This is Saint Kitts and Nevis.

15. Travel to one of the two countries (pic sum 61) with a national anthem whose title, in English, has more than two words, fewer than six words, and an exclamation point.

SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS (“O Land of Beauty!”) [30]
ROMANIA (“Awaken Thee, Romanian!”) [31]

Since Saint Kitts and Nevis is #20, Romania remains.

19. Travel to one of the five countries (pic sum 89) whose currency is a dollar of some sort.

PALAU (US dollar) [10]
GRENADA (East Caribbean dollar) [11]
FIJI (Fijian dollar) [17]
BARBADOS (Barbadian dollar) [21]
SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS (East Caribbean Dollar) [30]

Similarly, since Saint Kitts and Nevis is #20, this must be Barbados.

You have all the info you need for the 11-13 chain.

11. Travel to one of the four countries (pic sum 80) whose flag has vertical stripes but no five-pointed stars.

FRANCE [4]
BARBADOS [21]
GUINEA [24]
ROMANIA [31]

This has to be France.

12. Travel to a country whose capital has a one-word name with the same number of letters as the capital of the country you’re in and doesn’t contain a K or an S. Given the four options for the country you’re coming from, there are five possible destinations, with pic sum 61.

France (Paris, 5) → MOROCCO (Rabat) [18], LIECHTENSTEIN (Vaduz) [27]
Barbados (Bridgetown, 10) → none
Guinea (Conakry, 7) → BHUTAN (Thimphu) [5]
Romania (Bucharest, 9) → LAOS (Vientiane) [1], PALAU (Ngerulmud) [10]

Guinea, Barbados, and Romania were eliminated as options for #11. Since Liechtenstein was used in the other clue about countries whose capitals have the same number of letters, this is Morocco.

13. From its capital, stay at the same latitude and travel to a non-island country. (Each time you travel like this, you’re traveling to a country that is part of a continent. You’re going to its principal land mass, not to any disputed territories or far-flung offshoots.) Given the five options for the country you’re coming from, there are seven possible destinations, with pic sum 115.

Morocco → LEBANON [12]
Liechtenstein → ROMANIA [31], FRANCE [4]
Bhutan → NEPAL [9]
Laos → MAURITANIA [19], ERITREA [16]
Palau → GUINEA [24]

#12 is Morocco. The only country the latitude line intersects is Lebanon.

Assigning France to #11 also boils some other clues down to one remaining option.

9. Travel to one of the six countries (pic sum 88) that borders at least five other countries. (This includes all countries, not just potential travel destinations.)

LAOS [1]
FRANCE [4]
POLAND [13]
SENEGAL [15]
GUINEA [24]
ROMANIA [31]

The last option left is Poland.

21. Travel to one of the six countries (pic sum 116) that features French as an official language.

FRANCE [4]
MONACO [8]
SENEGAL [15]
GUINEA [24]
DJIBOUTI [32]
RWANDA [33]

This must be Monaco.

Similarly, assigning Morocco to #12 leaves only one choice for #31.

31. Travel to one of the six countries (pic sum 92) whose 2-letter ISO 3166 code is a legal Scrabble word.

LAOS (LA) [1]
TONGA (TO) [2]
ERITREA (ER) [16]
MOROCCO (MA) [18]
LIECHTENSTEIN (LI) [27]
MAURITIUS (MU) [28]

Finally, this has to be Tonga.


TELEGRAM

Laid out into the telegram grid, that looks like this:

The indicated letters from the zigzag itinerary spell USE UNUSED IMAGE AS MAD FOLD-IN.

The unused country is LESOTHO; the unused image is “le sofa.” When you perform the fold-in, using the vertical lines of the frequency box under the picture as your guidelines, you’re left with 🕛, the 12 o’clock emoji.