As advertised, this month’s puzzle was a tricky one!

The first step is to notice that each line can be unscrambled to spell out the name of a country, plus 1 other letter (or number). The residual characters spell out the vague phrase “search 4 directon”. This, along with the 4 highlighted “E”s, and the hint that you could “find this country in the news” prompted some astute solvers to look only for the letters N, E, W, and S — the 4 directions. Using each E as a starting point, and traveling in the suggested direction until you hit another direction, spells out this month’s answer, TOGO. Congratulations to everyone who cracked this month’s puzzle!