Spring has sprung here, the trees are rapidly leafing out, the pollen is filling the air, and the Pink Moon is in the evening sky. Time is flying by, but then again, it always is. I guess it’s just that our (my) perception of it passing quickly has intensified as I have more of it behind me. Enough wasting the time we have philosophizing – let’s get to the puzzle while we still have time!
- Name: By the Numerals
- Size: 15×15
- Entries: 74
- Difficulty: Easy (my solve time: 6:20)
“By the Numerals” had me scratching my head, as “by the numbers” is a common idiom for following instructions without deviating from them. I didn’t think much about what the difference is between “numerals” and “numbers” but it is the key to the theme: The themers all include a Roman numeral in place of a word in the phrase, which looks crazy, but when you replace the Roman numeral with the actual word for the number it represents, you get a phrase that makes sense:
- 19A: [Pooh’s place]: C ACRE WOOD – I had CA______ initially and thought California? Canada-something? Or caca… no, that would not pass the breakfast test. So I continued solving only recognizing later that Winnie the Pooh lives in the Hundred Acre Wood. And he’s pretty quotable, so there are two from him this week.
- 15A: [Top corporate earners]: FORTUNE D – I completely missed that this was a themer until deep in the solve when I went back to fill in blanks and I saw that I’d already filled this in from the crosses but missed that the gimmicky numeral was on the end. Every year the Fortune 500 lists the top 500 US corporations.
- 25A: [Alternative to Italian or ranch]: M ISLAND – Unlike 22A (see below) I thought this wasn’t a themer, and ran through all the salad dressings I could think of that started with MIS. It’s a short list (Miso tahini and miso vinaigrette are all I came across). Again, this one would have to wait until I got the gimmick, and came back, recognized it was a themer, and remembered Thousand Island dressing. Also Canadian content (see below).
- 38A: [Shoplifting, casually]: V FINGER DISCOUNT – This one initially baffled me as much as the previous themers, but then a light went on and I remembered the “numeral” in the title, and then the V made sense: Five finger discount.
- 47A: [Start-again spot]: SQUARE I – I’d figured out the gimmick by the time I got to this one, and saw that the Roman numeral was at the end, so got this right off and didn’t have to start from square one.
- 56A: [Object use for avoiding something, proverbially]: X FOOT POLE – Unless it’s the Grinch, a ten foot pole will be adequate to avoid something unpleasant.
- 65A: [Couple’s equal proportion]: L PERCENT – Fifty percent is as equal a proportion as you can get.
As I started I was unsure how difficult this would be. Most of the fill was straightforward, with a few head scratchers, but then the themers really threw me for a loop. I kept solving mostly randomly, working my way down the middle of the grid and back up the E side. Once I figured out the gimmick, it went fairly smoothly, except for the snags mentioned above. I liked that the themers were clued straight and that they weren’t indicated by asterisks – it added a little bit of a scavenger hunt feel to the puzzle, especially when I figured out the theme and had to go back and figure out what I had missed.
Canadian content:
- 5D: [Toronto college with an Iroquois name]: SENECA – Seneca Polytechnic has several locations around the Toronto area.
- 6A: [Canucks logo creature]: ORCA – The Vancouver Canucks have one of the best logos in the NHL in my opinion.
- 7D: [B.C.’s Royal ___ University]: ROAD – It’s Canadian higher education week here at ClassiCanadian Puzzles! Royal Roads University is located in Victoria, on what looks to be a beautiful campus overlooking the Strait of Juan De Fuca.
- 25A: [Alternative to Italian or ranch]: M ISLAND – The Thousand Islands are located in the St. Lawrence River between New York and Ontario. The dressing is claimed to be named after these islands, but that’s not completely settled.
- 31D: [A year in Montréal]: ANNEE – I wouldn’t mind spending a year in Montréal…
- 35D: [Alta. summer setting]: MDT – Mountain Daylight Time is observed in Alberta.
- 45A: [Orders SkipTheDishes]: EATS IN – I guess if you ordered from SkipTheDishes you could take it to a park and technically be eating out.
- 60D: [Hot times in Québec?]: ETES – Though I bet Québecois summers can be hot, I bet they’re still quite nice.
Other stuff:
- 22A: [Having glue-like properties]: COHESIVE – This was the last to fall, as I thought it was a themer and racked my brains trying to figure out what on earth 100 had to do with glue or what “hundred hesive” meant.
- 29A: [Blowout in a crash]: AIRBAG – An airbag is more of a blow up than a blow out, but then you wouldn’t get the misdirection to make solvers think of tires.
Quote of the week:
“People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.”
“Don’t underestimate the value of doing nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can’t hear, and not bothering.”
– Winnie the Pooh