I’m back from a nice but too short trip to “the upper left” where I ate way too much and got to see the ferry to Victoria a couple of times a day – I hope to ride it next time I visit. It’s been tough to get back in the swing of things at work, but at least it’s Wednesday so we’re on the downhill slope to the weekend.
- Name: Alien Invasion
- Size: 15×15
- Entries: 74
- Difficulty: Hard (my solve time: 8:49)
Wasn’t sure what to expect based on the title – maybe a space theme or some other weirdness. However it’s a pretty clever gimmick – a common phrase has the letters “ET” (ET = extra-terrestrial, or an alien) added to the end of it, creating a new phrase which is clued punnily:
- 17A: [Toy for a young astronaut?]: PET ROCKET: The clue provided a bit of misdirection, as I thought “astronaut” was related to the alien in the title. However, it’s just a pet rock with an ET added.
- 24A: [Sketches one’s bed cover?]: DRAWS A BLANKET – I was still drawing a blank on the theme when I started in on this one.
- 37A: [Explanation for losing money?]: HOLE IN THE WALLET – You might spend your money in a hole in the wall, but a hole in the wallet means it’s time for a new one.
- 51A: [Command to a crewmate on a sinking ship?]: PASS THE BUCKET – To pass the buck is to place responsibility for something on someone else.
- 61A: [Tracy Chapman song about a hastily-written insertion mark?]: FAST CARET – Tracy Chapman has been making a splash recently, after her performance at the Grammy Awards. Not sure “Fast ^” would have been quite the hit like “Fast Car” was.
This was my slowest solve time since October, and it felt pretty hard the whole solve. Took a long time to break in – made several attempts but never really started cruising until I had the grid about half filled in. Lots of long fill in addition to the themers added to the difficulty.
Canadian content:
- 22D: [Prov. parliamentarian]: MLA – A member of the legislative assembly is a provincial politician.
- 30A: [N.D.P, pre-1961]: CCF – Definitely had to look this up as I have little to no knowledge of Canadian political parties and had never heard of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation.
- 35A: [Alberta town famous for its corn]: TABER – I think this town has made an appearance here before, but I couldn’t remember it so had to wait to get the crosses – and it didn’t help that I had focaccia in 9D. Taber is indeed well-known for it’s corn.
- 69A: [Jeffries who hosted CBC’s “Good Rockin’ Tonite”]: STU – One usually sees this clued as the Simpsons character. Stu Jeffries was born in Richmond, BC.
Other stuff:
- 9D: [Panini bread]: CIABATTA – It’s unfortunate (for me) that focaccia fits in here nicely and messes up all the crosses except for the last letter.
- 23A: [Rapid rotation meas.]: RPS – Took me a few beats to get revolutions per second.
- 28A: [Men’s pricy shirt brand]: ETON – I really wanted to put IZOD in here, especially since I had the O from 25D and nothing else. I’ve seen ETON clued as the school and the jacket, but was not aware of the shirt manufacturer.
- 42A: [Islamic honchos]: EMIRS – I really wanted this to be IMAMS.
- 59A: [“Wicked Game” singer Chris]: ISAAK – My sister used to live in the same San Francisco neighborhood as Chris Isaak and she’d see him around all the time. He’s the source of this week’s quote.
Quote of the week:
“I remember listening to the radio as a kid and finding that the songs always made me feel more peaceful. Funny, but the more hurtin’ the music was, the better it made me feel. I think of that now when I write my songs. I may not be feelin’ the blues myself, but I’m writing them for other people who have a hard life.”
– Chris Isaak