Well it’s officially spring and actually starting to feel like it. As a matter of fact, an ice cream truck just drove by as I am typing up this entry. Didn’t see any kids chasing after it, but I’m sure there will be before too long. While my ice cream truck chasing days are long gone, I am still regularly solving crosswords and now writing about it, so some things never change.

  • Name: Common Sense
  • Grid size: 15×15
  • Number of entries: 76
  • Difficulty: Medium Easy (my solve time: 6:56)

I didn’t have any pre-solve thoughts on how the title related to the theme – “Common Sense” can imply many things; could be various common things, could be human senses, could be something completely different. So I didn’t think much about it while solving. After the solve (and getting the revealer) it was clear that the themers are common phrases in which the first word is a brand name that has become a generic term for something:

  • 17A: [Superficial fix]: BANDAID SOLUTIONBand-Aid is still a registered trademark of Johnson & Johnson, Inc. However, it’s widely used in North America as a generic term for a self-adhesive bandage. And slang for taking minimal action to repair something: “Put a bandaid on it.”
  • 25A: [Utter shemozzles]: DUMPSTER FIRE – Dumpster was a registered trademark of the Dempster company from 1936 until 2008. The word “shemozzle” I had probably heard – the phrase “the whole shemozzle” rings a bell – but don’t think I knew what it meant until now. And don’t get it confused with the opening to the theme song for “Laverne and Shirley” – that’s “schlimazel.”
  • 43A: [Boring place that one might “blow”]: POPSICLE STAND Popsicles were invented in 1905 by an 11-year-old, and he trademarked the name in 1924. The origin of the phrase “let’s blow this popsicle stand” is still unknown to me after a bit of googling (I’m on a deadline) but I remember hearing and using it as a kid [redacted] years ago.
  • 56A: [Flexible contract provision]: ESCALATOR CLAUSE – Escalator was trademarked in 1900 by the Otis Elevator Company. Of all the themers, this was the one I didn’t know was a trademarked brand name. But after a little thought it makes sense – it’s too perfect to have just existed when the device was invented. I hope I’m never in a home buying situation when I need to include an escalator clause in a purchase contract.

Though my solve time is kind of on the quick side, this seemed harder than usual to me. I didn’t get the NW corner until nearly the end of the solve, and none of the themers came easily. Even when I got the revealer (63A/64A) about halfway through the solve it didn’t really help with getting the themers. It slightly helped with the first part (a brand name) but the remainder I had to guess at. So a very sporadic solve – started at top middle, worked diagonally down to SE, then hopped all over filling in things as I could.

Canadian content:

  • 48D: [Parliamentary ixnay]: VETO – I’m assuming this veto is exercised in Ottawa.
  • 62A: [T.O.’s home]: ONT – I learned early on that to sound like a local I should refer to Toronto, Ontario as “TO.”
  • 52D: [Swimmer on a Canadian coin]: LOON – Speaking of trademarks that are common words, the Royal Canadian Mint trademarked the name “loonie” in 2006.

Other stuff:

  • 1A: [Part of a Robin Hood costume]: ARROW – I kept wanting this to be a piece of clothing, but couldn’t think of the right word. I’m just glad “tunic” didn’t occur to me or I’d have put it in confidently and spent a nice chunk of time fixing it later.
  • 9D: [Seriously hardcore]: BADASS – I glad to see this word (or is it a phrase?) is getting more and more acceptable to use in crosswords.
  • 21A: [Vegetable also called gumbo]: OKRA – I’m quite familiar with okra as well as with gumbo (the Cajun dish) but didn’t know the vegetable could be called the same name as the soup.
  • 24D: [Positions between first and second: Abbr.]: RFs – At first I thought Barb made a mistake, and that the answer was SSs (shortstops), which are positioned between 2nd and 3rd. Instead it’s “right field” and while it’s debatable whether an outfielder can be said to be “in between” two infielders, with the crazy shifts managers have been using the past few years I guess it’s possible.
  • 25D: [Show thirst, as plants]: DROOP – I had DR–P and filled it in with DRY UP. So that had me scratching my head over 34A and 38A for a bit.
  • 39D: [Akin to a pancake]: AS FLAT – I love the fact that it’s been scientifically proved that Kansas is indeed flatter than a pancake.

Quote of the week:

“You show loyalty, they learn loyalty. You show them it’s about the work, it’ll be about the work. You show them it’s about some other kind of game, then that’s the game they’ll play.”
-Lt. Cedrick Daniels (Lance Reddick), “The Wire” Season 1, Episode 13