Whew – TGIF for sure! Hopefully getting this out a day or so late doesn’t cause anyone distress – if so, my sincere apologies and I hope the puzzle was engaging enough to keep you entertained while you waited.

  • Title: Animal Exchange
  • Grid size: 15×15
  • Number of entries: 76
  • Difficulty: Medium Easy (my solve time: 6:38)

I had an inkling of what the theme would be from the title and figured it out on the first themer I got. Each themer takes an phrase that includes an animal and changes the animal word to another animal, making a new phrase which is clued punnily:

  • 17A: [Snoopy with no coat?]: BALD BEAGLE – A bald Snoopy would be quite cold up there on top of his doghouse, and would be easy prey for a bald eagle.
  • 30A: [Steinbeck book about guys with parasites?]: OF LICE AND MEN – I don’t think I’d enjoy that book as much as “Of Mice and Men.”
  • 38A: [Fred Penner song about a bug that “just couldn’t stay away”]: THE GNAT CAME BACK – I have no idea what this is so need to look it up… Ahh – I see. “The Cat Came Back” is a song by Fred Penner, who appears to be quite the entertainer.
  • 46A: [Zodiac sign symbolized by a chowder mollusk?]: ARIES THE CLAM – I’d get behind a zodiac that included a clam. But the one I’m familiar with is Aries the ram.
  • 63A: [Chewed by a slow-moving tree dweller?]: SLOTH EATEN – Hopefully you’d be able to catch it before it did too much damage. It’s bad enough to open your closet and find your clothing moth eaten .

A pretty straightforward solve, though there were a few hitches here and there. Had to compare my solve time to previous solves to see if this was Medium or Medium Easy; had a few Medium Easy solves over 7 min so felt this fit in there.

Canadian content:

  • 1D: [Wealthy fellow, or a coffee brand]: NABOB – While nabobs as wealthy fellows aren’t necessarily Canadian, coffee is.
  • 2D: [Singer Ross or Kraal]: DIANA – Easy to get from these iconic singers and I was pretty sure Diana Krall was Canadian (from Nanaimo). She’s the source of this week’s quote.
  • 3D: [To go, in Gatineau]: ALLER – Gatineau, QC is immediately across the Gatineau River from Ottawa.
  • 19A: [T.O Grey Cup seeker, briefly]: ARGO – The Toronto Argonauts have won the Grey Cup a league-leading 18 times and last won in 2022.
  • 25D: [Prov. led by the U.C.P.]: ALTA – From a couple of crosses I knew this was Alberta, but I had to look up the United Conservative Party.
  • 53A: [Senators home game fan, likely]: OTTAWAN – For a moment I was thinking of the old Washington Senators, but quickly realized I should look to the North American national capital further north.
  • 68A: [Car club letters]: CAA – Knew this one right off, and didn’t need “Canada” to be specified.

Other stuff:

  • 15A: [Fawcett with a feathered do]: FARRAH – If you are a male Of A Certain Age you or one (or many) of your friends had this poster in their room at some point.
  • 37A: [:”Heat of the Moment” band]: ASIA – Asia was one of the first major bands I saw live, at Merriweather Post Pavilion in [redacted].
  • 67A: [Harder to grasp, as a fish]: OILIER – I would have thought this would have been EELIER, which apparently is a word as well.
  • 39D: [“I’ll be darned!”]: GEE – I’m going to call this out every time I see it as a missed opportunity for Canadian content: if only the clue referenced the actress who played my favourite character in The Expanse.

Quote of the week:

“But the greatest thing about music is putting it out there for people to figure out. You want the listener to find the song on their own. If you give too much away, it takes away from the imagination.”
– Diana Krall