It’s been a busy August and it’s not over yet. I mentioned my annual Port Huron road trip last week; this past week was a big retirement/milestone birthday party (with a surprise musical guest!), and next weekend is my nephew’s wedding, another (relatively short) road trip. September looks mildly less busy, with a work trip and another road trip with my Dad. Weather-wise, it’s like September is already here – cool mornings, clear mild days, and few mosquitos (the treatment I did before the party may have something to do with that). I bet we’ll get at least one more week of muggy weather, but I won’t mind as much since we’re lucking out now. So let’s sit back and enjoy the waning days of summer, and take on this week’s puzzle.
- Name: Sole Purposes
- Grid size: 15×15
- Entries: 70
- Difficulty: Medium Easy (my solve time: 6:31)
I was almost certain that “Sole Purposes” would have something to do with shoes. I guess if the title was “Sole Porpoises” it would have a sea life theme. But I was right – The themers are two-word phrases where the second word has another meaning as a type of shoe; clued punnily to incorporate the shoe meaning:
- 14A: [Shoes worn when taking a soak?]: BATHTUB CLOGS – If your bathtub is clogged, you better get a plunger or a plummer. If it overflows, you may want to wear clogs.
- 25A: [Shoes worn while cleaning a carpet?]: VACUUM PUMPS – You would not use a vacuum pump to help clean up your bathtub overflow, but it would be useful in certain industrial or laboratory situations. I always thought the shoes were called pumps because they looked like pump handles, but the actual origin of the name isn’t known.
- 33A: [Shoes worn by a seasoned sailor?]: SALT FLATS – There are natural salt flats in Utah, and human-made ones in California and other places. There are a variety of flats ranging from ballet shoes to flip flops.
- 46A: [Shoes worn at the Kremlin?]: MOSCOW MULES – I’ve become a semi-regular consumer of Moscow Mules now that I have discovered a delicious ginger beer available nearby. I would probably step out of my mules after a few, so I think I’ll stick with sneakers or sandals.
- 58A: [Shoes worn in Dublin?]: IRISH BROGUES – An Irish brogue is a regional Irish accent in spoken English, characterized by distinctive pronunciation, often described as lilting or musical, with specific vowel shifts and changes in pitch. The name of an Irish brogue shoe comes from the Irish Gaelic bróg, meaning “shoe,” so I guess “brogue shoe” is redundant.
An interesting grid layout, with two big 9×9 blocks in the NW and SE, and longer entries for the themers made me think that this may continue the pattern of difficult puzzles we’ve seen over the last couple of weeks. But as I got into the solve, it went smoothly, even though there were several things that were new to me. It may have helped that I visited the Bata Shoe Museum a few years ago, so had a deep-dive into the history of a dizzying array of shoes.
Canadian content:
- 5D: [Flin Flon’s clock setting]: CST – Why have I never heard of Flin Flon before? This former mining community apparently now is “alive with arts, culture, and outdoor adventure,” and they observe Central Standard Time. Unfortunately, it appears they are also nearby by the awful wildfires this summer.
- 9A: [Bellows of “Ally McBeal”]: GIL – Gil Bellows was born in Vancouver and is known for his roles in “Ally McBeal” and “The Shawshank Redemption.”
- 10D: [k.d. Lang’s “Constant Craving” album]: INGENUE – k.d. lang was born in Edmonton, and “Constant Craving” was a breakout hit for her in 1992.
- 15D: [La Biche, La Hache or La Pêche]: LAC – I know I’ve seen reference to most, if not all, of these these lakes in previous puzzles, so got this one right off.
- 16A: [Ontario town 45 km west of Kingston]: NAPANEE – Napanee is on the east end of Lake Ontario, and is known for scenic views and riverside boardwalks.
- 16D: [Guelph-borne Campbell of “Scream]: NEVE – Neve Campbell has appeared in several other films and TV shows besides the “Scream” series, including “House of Cards” and “Mad Men.”
- 37A: [“The Sunday Magazine” host Chattopadhyay]: PIYA – Piya Chattopadhyay was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and has hosted “The Sunday Magazine” on CBC Radio One since 2020.
- 53A: [Ottawa Senators’ arena city]: KANATA – The Ottawa Senators have appeared here periodically, but I don’t think the location of their arena, Canadian Tire Centre, has been mentioned – it was new to me, and I had to work the crosses to get it.
- 57D: [The “A” in CARP]: ASSN – The Canadian Association of Retired Persons “advocates for financial security and better access to healthcare for older adults, and leads the fight to end ageism.”
Other stuff:
- 1A: [Aquarium cleaning solution]: ALGICIDE – I’ve seen “ALGA” as an entry in so many puzzles that I entered this as “algacide” and had to track down the misspelling later in the solve.
- 34D: [Bus. takeover]: LBO – I’m so used to a three-letter business related abbreviation being IPO that it took me a second to realize it was a “takeover” so therefore a leveraged buyout.
- 37D: [Like medium-rare steak]: PINKISH – I wish this was better understood by many restaurants.
Quote of the week:
“I was sad because I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet. So I said, ‘Got any shoes you’re not using?'”
– Steven Wright