Well, August is starting to August again – hot and sticky with the threat of afternoon thundershowers. I can handle it as I know September is just around the corner. My whirlwind trip to New York City last weekend for Lollapuzzoola was fun – nice train ride up and back, a late lunch after the tournament, and a long walk down Broadway were highlights. Unfortunately my performance in the tournament was disappointing – I ended up 188 out of 449 in my division; I had been hoping to finish in the middle of the pack or slightly higher as I did during the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament earlier this year. I gotta just keep solving as many puzzles as I can – so let’s get going with this one.
- Name: On the Take
- Grid size: 15×15
- Entries: 74
- Difficulty: Very Hard (my solve time: 14:09)
I didn’t give the title much thought before starting the solve, but it probably wouldn’t have been much more help than I got from the solve itself. “On the Take” refers to the themers all being synonyms or slang for “taking” something; they are placed around the edges of the grid, so the big help was getting the revealer “sideswipe” – words that mean “swipe” arrayed around the “sides” of the grid:
- 1A: [Cook by simmering]: POACH – To “poach” something also means to take it illegally, usually used in the sense of illegal hunting.
- 6A: [Chiromancer’s reading material]: PALM – A chiromancer is a fancy name for a palm reader, who is essentially palming the money of gullible people, in the sense of taking it in a way that will not be noticed.
- 10D: [One of many in cargo pants]: POCKET – If you put something in your pocket while shopping and leave without paying for it, you’re shoplifting.
- 15D: [One whose accent is emulated annually]: PIRATE – This one took me forever – I kept trying to think if it was traditional to mimic Santa, or St. Pat or some other holiday icon. I forgot about International Talk Like a Pirate Day, which I have definitely mentioned here before.
- 37D: [Leaves-in-the-breeze sound]: RUSTLE – I’m eagerly awaiting when the leaves on the trees in my yard change color, dry up, and start to rustle in the breeze. To rustle is also to steal live cattle or other livestock; you are free to rustle (or poach) the deer in my yard anytime.
- 43D: [Weightlifter’s clean-and-jerk alternative]: SNATCH – A snatch is a method of lifting weights where the barbell is lifted from the ground to overhead in one continuous motion, as opposed to the clean-and-jerk where the barbell is picked up and brought to the chest; after a pause the arms and legs are extended to lift it above the head with a straight elbow and held there until a buzzer is sounded. While the weightlifter is doing this, you could probably snatch their pocket book or wallet, but you better run fast.
- 63A: [Shaving mishap]: NICK – A nick is a small cut such as from a razor when shaving, or when working with sharp materials like glass. To nick something is an informal way of saying someone took something without permission, particularly in British slang.
- 64A: [Feel too tight, maybe]: PINCH – Pinch is slang for to steal, usually small items, e.g., ones that you could grab with your thumb and a finger.
- 35A: [Type of car accident suggested by this puzzle’s outside words]: SIDESWIPE – The revealer.
Oof – judging by solve time, this was the second hardest ClassiCanadian puzzle I’ve ever solved. It felt hard from the get go, as it took me a long time to get a foothold. Also, the grid layout had lots of unconnected sections, so even once I broke in, I still had to do so in other spots. NE gave me the hardest time – I drew blanks on several entries, and I really need to commit the Hebrew calendar to memory. The cross at 35D/44A hung me up for a while as well – I guess SPT is an abbreviation for seaport, and I expected 44A to be abbreviated, but I think unit is the full word. Nice to be challenged and to eventually work things out.
Canadian content:
- 4D: [Page’s “Juno” costar]: CERA – Elliot Page was born in Halifax; they co-starred with Brampton, Ontario-born Michael Cera in “Juno.”
- 10A: [Shape of the Northwest Territories license plate]: POLAR BEAR – While I’m sure I’ve seen pictures of the NWT license plate, I don’t think I’ve ever seen one in the wild. I have, however, seen an actual polar bear in the wild.
- 31A: [Vancouver weather word, often]: RAIN – Vancouver is #4 among Canadian cities in total annual rainfall and #2 in most rainy days.
- 38D: [Canadian medical invention]: INSULIN – Insulin was discovered by Sir Frederick G. Banting, Charles H. Best and J.J.R. Macleod at the University of Toronto in 1921.
- 46D: [Object in many Emily Carr paintings]: TOTEM – Emily Carr painted many images of totems in her effort to document First Nations villages in British Columbia. She gets this week’s quote.
Other stuff:
- 14A: [“Well …, that’s ___ subject” (witty words)]: A DEEP – I had no idea what this could be other then “a sore” but that didn’t seem very witty, so here we are.
- 20A: [Rap sheet listing]: PRIOR – I kept trying to make “charge” fit in here, or come up with another word for “conviction.”
- 25A: [“I’ve told you ___ thousand times!”]: NO A – All I could think of to fill the blank was “ten.”
- 9D: [“Ditto” sayer]: ME TOOER – I kept wanting “mimic,” or “aper,” or some other word for copycat to fit in here..
Quote of the week:
“It is wonderful to feel the grandness of Canada in the raw, not because she is Canada but because she’s something sublime that you were born into, some great rugged power that you are a part of.”
– Emily Carr