Going Dutch

We’ve had a pleasantly cool (for August) week or so, and it’s been relatively dry so I’ve been able to spend lots of time out working in the yard, sitting on the deck, and enjoying family and friends. I hope the same for you. Next weekend I’ll be competing in Lollapuzzoola in New York City – let me know in the comments if you’ll be there and let’s meet up! If you have any questions about competing in crossword puzzle tournaments, feel free to ask in the comments as well. If you want to practice or pretend you’re competing, print out this week’s puzzle, set a countdown timer for 15 minutes, and solve as quickly – and accurately – as you can.

• Name: Going Dutch
• Grid size: 15×15
• Entries: 78
• Difficulty: Medium Easy (my solve time: 6:57)

“Going Dutch” makes one think of divvying up the costs among a group for a meal or event. It could also be about travel to the Low Countries, or things from The Netherlands. The theme is mostly related to the first meaning in that “splitting the bill” is the revealer, and the themers are two entries in the same row where circled letters indicate the last name of a famous person named “Bill” – which is “split” by a black square separating the entries:

• 20A: [Alabama speedway locale] and 22A: [Easily set off]:  TALLADEⒼⒶ⬛️ⓉⒺⓈTY – The Talladega Superspeedway is “one of the fastest and steepest [banked] in NASCAR.” You are said to be testy if you are “easily irritated by minor matters.” Bill Gates is one of the richest people in the world; if we went out to dinner I would hope he’d pick up the tab.
• 35A: [Airhead] and 37A: [The past, from a female perspective]: NITⓌⒾⓉ⬛️ⒽⒺⓇⓈTORY  – Nitwit probably comes from nit (something small) + wit (intelligence). I think we can do with a bit more herstory in our retelling of the past; the word has been in use since the late 1800’s. Bill Withers wrote many hit songs, including “Ain’t No Sunshine“, “Lean on Me“, and “Just the Two of Us.”  Although he could probably afford it, I’d be glad to split the bill with Mr. Withers.
• 43A: [“Take a chill pill”] and 45A: [Supervisor’s suck-up]: CALMDOWⓃ⬛️ⓎⒺSMAN – Telling someone to “calm down” usually has the opposite effect in my experience. Nobody likes a yes man, except maybe his boss. I have had the privilege of seeing Bill Nye speak at a couple of events and I would gladly pick up the tab for both of us if we went out to dinner. He gets this week’s quote.
• 54A: [“Eats Shoots & Leaves” title subject] and 57A: [Words to a newbie, or a waiter]: COMⓂⒶ⬛️ⒽⒺⓇES A TIP – “Eats Shoots & Leaves” is “a book for people who love punctuation and get upset when it is mishandled.” I’m usually silent when leaving a tip, but am glad to share knowledge with folks new to my area of expertise, sometimes prefaced by “Pro tip: …” Bill Maher can pay for his own stinking meal and eat it alone for all I care.
• 69A: [With 70- and 71-Across, go dutch or how to solve the words formed by the circled letters]: SPLIT THE BILL – The revealer.

While my solve time was relatively quick, this puzzle seemed harder to me than last week and I was surprised to come in just under 7:00. There were several things I flat out didn’t know (12D, 27D, 34D, 42A, 50A, 58D) and others where I thought or entered something incorrect (10D, 11D, 24A, 26A). The crosses mostly saved me and luckily the natick at 34D/50A was pretty easy to guess as there was a high probability they ended in a vowel and E was pretty likely. This is a great theme and well-executed, IMHO – lots of theme, a three-entry revealer, and interesting fill.

Canadian content:

• 12D: [Browning who landed the first ever quadruple jump]: KURT – Kurt Browning was born in Rocky Mountain House, Alberta. He landed the quadruple jump during the 1988 world championships.
• 27D: [Mauve hue, in Mascouche]: LILAS – Mascouche is a suburb of Montreal, located on the Mascouche River within the Les Moulins Regional County Municipality.
• 29D: [Compete against Summer McIntosh]: SWIM – Summer McIntosh was born in Toronto and just a few days ago won her fourth gold medal at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore.
• 34D: [Former Ontario premier Kathleen]: WYNNE – Kathleen Wynne was born in Toronto and served as 25th premier of Ontario from 2013 to 2018.
• 44D: [Role for Martin Short in the upcoming series “The First Shots”]: DR FAUCI – Martin Short was born in Hamilton, Ontario. Dr. Anthony Fauci was born in Brooklyn, New York. It will be interesting to see how Martin Short portrays him.
• 65A: [Early Hudson’s Bay Co. commerce]: FUR TRADE – Until it began liquidation in March 2025, the Hudson’s Bay Company was the oldest continuously operating company in North America, having been chartered on 2 May 1670.
• 67A: [Pt. or P.E.I.]: ISL – Prince Edward Island is the smallest province, and the only one entirely made up of an island.

Other stuff:

• 17A: [Follow a job opportunity, maybe]: RELOCATE – This is seen in crosswords much more frequently in its abbreviated form, RELO.
• 24A: [Teeny fraction of a min.]: PSEC – A picosecond is 0.000000000001 (10^-12) of a second. I initially entered NSEC, as that is much more frequently seen in crosswords.
• 39A: [“Merry,” in a Basque ball game]: ALAI – This entry is seen frequently in crosswords due to all those vowels. But it’s usually clued as [Jai ___]. I have never seen this clue used before so I learned something – the complete name translates as “merry festival.”
• 50A: [Crinkly gauze fabric]: LISSE – Whew, that’s a deep cut. Not sure it would have been any easier if clued as [Town in the Western Netherlands].
• 51A: [Product producers: Abbr.]: MFRS – I guess that’s an abbreviation for manufacturers, but all I see is MFers.

Quote of the week:
“Science is the key to our future, and if you don’t believe in science, then you’re holding everybody back. And it’s fine if you as an adult want to run around pretending or claiming that you don’t believe in evolution, but if we educate a generation of people who don’t believe in science, that’s a recipe for disaster. We talk about the Internet. That comes from science. Weather forecasting. That comes from science. The main idea in all of biology is evolution. To not teach it to our young people is wrong.”
– Bill Nye