Welcome to December everyone – I hope 2024 has been good to you and you can enjoy the last few weeks before diving into a new year. My December is/will be going by quickly. This post is delayed as I had a work trip to Seattle that kept me busier and more off-line than I anticipated. I was able to squeeze in a brief dinner meet-up with my brother, but otherwise was mostly confined to a conference room and meetings with colleagues. Next week is another set of meetings, closer to home, then the following week is our quarterly meeting of the bigwigs, so I will be going full steam until just before Christmas. I hope to take a few days off around Christmas and New Years, but we’ll see. Let me get to this weeks puzzle before Barb sends me next weeks. 😉

• Name: Driving Around
• Grid size: 15×15
• Entries: 72
• Difficulty: Hard (my solve time: 8:23)

Once again, I read the title “Driving Around” then jumped into the puzzle and completely forgot about it. I had a brief reminder that there was a theme when I got to the revealer at 53A, but then just kept plugging away until I finished, not without a few snags. It didn’t help that the themers were not placed in the longer Across entries as usual, but were ringed around the edge of the grid – hence Driving Around. The themers are all models of automobile but clued straight as the original meaning of the words:

• 1A: [Puma’s other name]: COUGAR – The Mercury Cougar model was most commonly associated with two-door coupes, it also was offered as a convertible and a hatchback, as well as other mid-size configurations. It was produced from 1967 to 2002.
• 7A: [“Moonlight ___” (Beethoven work)]: SONATA – The Hyundai Sonata is a mid-sized car first sold in 1985 and continuing production to this day.
• 13D: [Orchestral opening]: PRELUDE – The Prelude was a sports car produced by Japanese car manufacturer Honda over five generations from 1978 to 2001. It appears to be making a comeback in 2026.
• 17D: [Metronome clicks, e.g.]: TEMPO – The Ford Tempo was a two-door coupe and four-door sedan produced by the Ford Motor Company from 1984 to 1994. I initially was fooled by the plural “clicks” in the clue and entered TEMPI.
• 38D: [Sophocles title character]: ELECTRA – The Buick Electra was a full-size luxury car manufactured and marketed by Buick from 1959 to 1990, over six generations. The Electra served as the flagship Buick sedan line through its entire production and was offered as a two-door sedan, two-door convertible, four-door sedan, and five-door station wagon. I’m not familiar with the work of Sophocles, but I had heard of “Mourning Becomes Electra” not that that helped.
• 42D: [___ Holiday (celebration on the first Monday in August)]: CIVIC – The Honda Civic is one of the all-time best-selling automobiles in the world, with over 28 million units sold since 1972. As a holiday, it’s also Canadian content.
• 53A: [Motorcycle adjunct]: SIDECAR – The revealer – all the themer cars are on the sides of the puzzle. A motorcycle sidecar is attached to the frame of a motorcycle to provide an extra seat or cargo capacity. It’s also a classic cocktail.
• 62A: [Ladybug or boll weevil]: BEETLE – The Volkswagen Beetle is one of the oldest and most recognized automobiles ever produced. Originating in pre-WWII Germany as the “peoples car,” it was produced until the late 70’s or early 80’s, then reintroduced in 1998 and sold in the US until 2019. There are rumors of a new electric version, but nothing official.
• 63A: [Willed property]: LEGACY – The Subaru Legacy is a mid-size car built by Japanese automobile manufacturer Subaru since 1989 as their flagship car. It is unique for offering all-wheel drive as a standard feature.

Steady if somewhat slow solve; no major snags though there were a few patches I had to revisit to straighten things out, and a letter I had to change to get the clean solve. SW gave me the most trouble as I don’t think I’ve ever heard the song and have no idea who 42A is, and 43D and 44D escaped me for a while (and 43D may be a cluing error).

Canadian content:

• 12D: [“Moth to a ___” (The Weeknd and Swedish House Mafia song)]: FLAME – “Moth to a Flame” is a song by Swedish house supergroup Swedish House Mafia and Canadian singer-songwriter The Weeknd. It was released on 22 October 2021.
• 14A: [NDPers, as a unit]: THE LEFT – The New Democratic Party is on the liberal (but not Liberal) side of the political spectrum, colloquially referred to as The Left.
• 34A: [CBC’s “The Fifth ___”]: ESTATE – The Fifth Estate is a CBC show that provides documentaries from Canada and beyond. It appears to be similar to POV and Frontline in the US.
• 42D: [___ Holiday (celebration on the first Monday in August)]: CIVIC – Civic Holiday is named as a reference to municipalities, because this day is not mandated as a public holiday across Canada by the federal government, but rather established by regional or local governments.
• 46D: [Soul of Québec?]: AME – Âme is indeed “soul” in French.

Other stuff:

• 30A: [Rotten coward]: DASTARD – While I knew this as the root of dastardly, I imagine some may have thought it started with a B.
• 42A: [“Body Party” singer]: CIARA – Nope – never heard of the singer or this song.
• 43D: [Travelling by Hertz]: IN A CAB – Unless there is a Canadian taxicab company with that name, I believe you’d be in a rental car if traveling by Hertz.

Quote of the week:
“On the starboard hand of every woe, there is a sure delight; and higher the top of that delight, than the bottom of the woe is deep.”
– Herman Mellville, from “Moby Dick”