Hi all.
“By Cracky!” is this week’s puzzle title and each theme answers gets a “BY” added at the end with humorous results.
17a [Sport in which the term “Hail Mary pass” is meant literally?] – PRAYER RUGBY (Prayer rug)
25a [Guy cooking dinner for his wife?] – GRUB HUBBY (Grubhub). Grubhub is a food delivery service which is available in Canada.
37a [Failed to identify a blue-footed bird?] – DIDN’T SAY BOOBY (Didn’t say boo)
50a [Enter kitty in the 100-meter dash?] – RUN A TABBY (Run a tab)
59a [Pokey’s overweight, sunburnt sidekick?] – BIG RED GUMBY. I believe Wrigley’s Big Red gum is still sold in Canada but I haven’t checked in many years. Gumby and Pokey was a long running clay-animation series.
Canadian content
63a [Home prov. of “Bud the Spud“] – PEI. Prince Edward Island. An argument can be made that Stompin’ Tom Connors is the greatest Canadian singer ever.
4d [Street in Toronto’s financial district] – BAY. Equivalent to New York’s Wall Street.
6d [To be, in Terrebonne] – ETRE. Terrebonne is a Montreal suburb.
10d [Blue Rodeo song that begins: “Don’t tell me I’m wrong”] – TRY. More great Canadian music.
Tip of the Week
Well, more of an observation than a tip. This puzzle has 18 B’s, an unusually high amount.
See you next week. By-Bye!
This theme went right over my head. Of course I enjoyed working on it anyway.
Thanks for the blog, Jeffrey.
Hi Gary. This puzzle was originally called “Getting By” but the title had to be changed because another puzzle creator had recently used that title on a similarly-themed crossword. Perhaps that title might have tipped you off to the theme a little easier. Glad you enjoyed it anyway.
By cracks, I’ll get it next time!
Thanks for the note, Barb.
Auto corrected for By cracky!