I made my annual trip to Port Huron, Michigan – just across the St. Clair River from Sarnia, ON – last weekend. Still didn’t have time to cross the bridge, but I did take a boat tour of the river and we sailed very close to the Sarnia shore so I guess I was technically in Canada. On to this week’s puzzle.
- Name: Temp work
- Grid size: 15×15
- Entries: 70
- Difficulty: Very Hard (my solve time: 9:04)
“Temp Work” makes you think about employment – folks who are hired for short term work or to augment regular staff during crunch times or for a special project. However, that line of thinking will not help you here. Rather than being short for “temporary,” temp is short for “temperature” and as we see from the revealer, the themers are all things that are “hot,” but hot has a different meaning for each themer:
- 20A: [Water bomber target]: FOREST FIRE – A forest fire is definitely hot in the original sense of the word.
- 25A: [“Con carne” spice source]: CHILI PEPPER – A chili pepper is hot in the sense of spiciness. I like spicy food and am growing several different varieties of peppers in my garden and plan to make my own hot sauce.
- 46A: [Broken down vehicle, perhaps?]: CHOP SHOP CAR – A car that’s been to a chop shop has been stolen and illicitly disassembled to sell its parts for profit. A “hot car” is slang for a stolen car.
- 53A: [Tyra Banks or Naomi Campbell]: SUPERMODEL – These ladies are hot in the sense of being extremely attractive.
- 66A: [20-, 25-, 46- and 53-Across are examples of this ]: HOT STUFF – The revealer.
There’s lots of white space in the grid which means long entries, so I knew it would be a tough one. No particular entry or area of the grid gave me trouble, just that the fill was a level more difficult than usual. I was also completely thrown by the title and it took me a long time to figure it out. I almost emailed Barb to ask if it was a placeholder title until she came up with the “real” one. Very clever.
Canadian content:
- 19A: [5,959 m. for Mt. Logan]: ELEV – Mt. Logan is the highest mountain in Canada, with an elevation of 5,959 meters or 19,551 feet.
- 24A: [Canadian star of “Star Trek”]: SHATNER – I had completely forgotten that William Shatner was Canadian – he was born in Montreal. He gets this week’s quote.
- 25D: [Gov’t spy agcy.]: CSIS – The Canadian Security Intelligence Service investigates activities suspected of constituting threats to the security of Canada and reports on these to the Government of Canada. They may also take measures to reduce threats to the security of Canada in accordance with well-defined legal requirements and Ministerial Direction.
- 40A: [Surname of six NHL brothers]: SUTTER – The Sutter brothers (Brent, Brian, Darryl, Duane, Rich and Ron) all played in the NHL in the late 70’s and early 80’s.
- 51D: [Calgary’s supposedly haunted ___ House]: DEANE – In addition to being a restaurant and event venue, the Deane House is supposedly “a hub of ghostly activity for over a century.” 🙄
Other stuff:
- 11D: [Adam and Eve on ___ (egg style)]: A RAFT – I don’t think I’ve ever heard this before, though I’m mildly familiar with diner slang.
- 43A: [Forgot to carry the one, say]: MISADDED – I couldn’t remember if you “carry” numbers in addition or division…
Quote of the week:
“A tree you pass by every day is just a tree. If you are to closely examine what a tree has and the life a tree has, even the smallest thing can withstand a curiosity, and you can examine whole worlds.”
– William Shatner