Greetings everyone; or I should say a tip of my hat to you…
I guess Jeffrey’s ”double-super-top-secret mission” got extended by a week, so Brian Tetreault here again as a 4th quarter sub. So once again you’ll get an American’s take on this classically Canadian puzzle – feel free to leave your corrections and complaints in the comments.

“A Change at the Top” is the theme of this week’s puzzle, and it took me a while to get how it was implemented – by replacing the word “hat” in common phrases with a specific type of head covering. I think it was quite clever and gave a few chuckles:
– 17A [How Miss Universe humbly asked for a favour?]: WITH TIARA IN HAND – The last one I got, since I couldn’t see 18D having no idea what 20A was.
– 27A [Headgear for a Parisian Cowboy?]: TEN GALLON BERET – Isn’t that a Prince song? Or more likely Weird Al Yankovic…
– 45A [Safety sign for nuns on a construction site?]: HARD WIMPLE AREA – I had the mental image but blanked on the word for what a nun wears.
– 57A [Without the slightest hesitation, in the Hebrides?]: AT THE DROP OF A TAM – This was the 1st themer I completed and “got” the theme.

Canadian content:
– 24D [Day count in “September”]: TRENTE – in Quebec, for sure. And my high school French helps out again.
– 32A [Vancouver or Cape Breton: Abbr.]: ISL – I knew this and have visited both, and I have a classmate who lives near Sydney, NS.
– 36D [Host of a “come from away,” for short]: NEWFIE – Had to look up “come from away” but I must of heard it at some point in my several visits to St. Johns. I’ve known “Newfie” for decades – from travels to Newfoundland as well as reading all of Farley Mowat’s books, especially “A Whale for the Killing” and “The Boat Who Wouldn’t Float.” Here they (and others) are on my bookshelf (along with a picture of my Pépère on his tractor).
– 46D [Think ______ (sign seen on entering Canada)]: METRIC – I don’t recall seeing these signs, but I’ve entered Canada more by ship and plane than by car, so maybe that explains it.
– 51A [British mil. honour]: DSO – Has been awarded to 1220 Canadians, so I’m calling it Canadian.
– 60D [Doug Ford’s prov.]: ONT – Somehow I knew this, maybe because of Doug’s brother Rob, who even made the news down here for his ultimately tragic antics.

Other stuff:
– 9D [Acting the matchmaker]: PAIRING – I would have used a wine and food related clue, but that’s just me…
– 16A [Countess Crawley on “Downton Abbey”]: CORA – For a minute I thought this was Canadian content – I forgot she was American and it was some other Canadian thing that played into the show (which I unashamedly loved).
– 20A [Pouch on a kilt]: SPORRAN – As mentioned above, had no idea on this one. Thought it might be Canadian (you know, Nova Scotia) but I guess not.

Tip of the week: Always get in writing the specific work a contractor is supposed to do, no matter how well you know the contractor, or how simple the job seems to be. Don’t ask how I know this, just trust me that I do.