I hope everyone had a nice Valentine’s Day – it signals that we’re now more than halfway through February, so be on the lookout for lambs or lions (I never remember which comes in and which leaves…). On with the puzzle!

• Title: Bend and Do the Downward Dog
• Grid size: 15×15
• Number of entries: 74
• Difficulty: Medium easy (my solve time: 6:26)

My first impression was “That’s an odd title” and I figured the theme would involve various yoga poses. But no, it is a literal description of the theme and gimmick – each of the four themers is clued straight, but the down entry intersecting its final letter “bends downward” and, though clued as something else, is a breed of dog:

• 12A/14D: [One assigning blame/Helpful tip]: FINGER POINTER – I was flummoxed here for a little while after getting most of the letters for 12A, thinking “FINGERER doesn’t fit” so I left it and continued on. When I finally got most of the crosses for 14D and filled it in, the lightbulb came on. The circled letters should have given me a clue earlier. While I am not a dog person, I have family members who are and they have had several pointers of different varieties.
• 24A/26D: [1972 Olympics swimming phenom/Sunflower brand found in Alberta]: MARK SPITZ – I was in 3rd grade for the ’72 Olympics so another clue for these answers that I learned then is “How do they fill the Olympic pool?” 😉 I was not familiar with this breed, of which there are quite a few varieties; I am even less familiar with the Albertan sunflower brand.
• 45A/46D: [Fashionista to follow/Volleyball lofter before a spike]: TREND SETTER -I had no idea what the answer to 45A was but luckily I got the crosses fairly quickly and knew 46D no problem having played a bit of volleyball in my day. .
• 47A/48D: [Vocal percussionist of hip-hop/Joe Louis or Joe Frazier]: BEAT BOXER – I knew exactly what the clue was looking for but the term for it escaped me. Luckily I knew the two famous boxers right away and that was the key to make me remember the term. I’ve always thought that boxers (the dogs) looked like boxers (the fighters).

I really like this kind of puzzle and especially liked the “aha!” moment when the gimmick dawned on me. The solve was pretty straightforward and really guided by the grid layout – I felt channeled into completing it counterclockwise.

Canadian content

• 10D: [Potato farming prov.]: PEI – I figured potatoes were grown in a province nearish to Idaho (Famous Potatoes!) so initially put in ALB and was surprised when it turned out to be Prince Edward Island.
• 13D: [Laugh, in Longueuil]: RIS – I knew the French word for laugh, but am ashamed to admit I didn’t know much if anything about Longueuil, Quebec. I shall have to remedy that next time I’m in Montreal.
• 20A: [_____ Ste. Marie (The Soo”)]: SAULT – Here I was last week lamenting that STE had not been clued as Canadian content; lo and behold SAULT appears in this week’s puzzle! I have a particular affinity for the Soo as it’s one of the more popular ship watching cameras on YouTube, though there’s not much activity there now (unless you like watching the snow and ice).
• 30A: [Home of Inuvik: Abbr.]: NWT – I knew it was in the north or west, and once I got 31D I knew the only one with a W in its abbreviation was Northwest Territories.
• 30D: [Canadian coffee brand in a green bag]: NABOB – I only knew “nabob” from the infamous quote of disgraced American Vice President Spiro Agnew. I like it much better as a coffee – it comes in cans too. This was the 2nd hardest entry for me, but the hardest crossed it (44A – see below) so it was tough.
• 37A: [Blue Jays, on a scoreboard]: TOR – As an avid fan of a baseball team in the same division as the Toronto Blue Jays, I knew this right off even though the Blue Jays are also the name of the athletic teams for a rather well-known university in my town.
• 40A: [Canadian folk/jazz singer Jill ______]: BARBER – I had _ARBER for the longest time and I think the B was the 2nd to last letter I entered in the grid (see 30D above & 44A below).

Other stuff:

• 9A: [Secular wedding hirees: Abbr.]: JPS – I initially wrote MCs in here thinking a secular wedding would have a Master of Ceremonies. Justice of the Peace didn’t occur to me until I saw that C would not work in an abbreviation for a Province (or Territory as it turns out).
• 36A: [Something to say to a doctor]: AAH – I think I’ve mentioned that I can never remember if it’s “AAH” or “AHH.”
• 44A: [Olive genus]: OLEA – Whew – no idea whatsoever on this one. I ended up with the lead letter of this entry as the only open square. I braced myself, entered “O” and did a little happy dance when I got the “Congratulations!” pop up.

Running up against my deadline so less “other stuff” this week – will try to have more next week!

Advice of the week:
“If you wait until the last minute, it only takes a minute!”
– Me, finishing this blog