Thoughts go out to our friends in the Maritimes, Newfoundland and Labrador dealing with the aftermath of Fiona; we’re bracing for the impact of Ian down south here this week. September is nearly over and I’m looking forward to a busy October and post-season baseball. So let’s get on and solve this week’s puzzle…
- Name: Front Line Workers
- Grid size: 15×15
- Number of entries: 72
- Difficulty: Medium Hard (my solve time: 8:14)
This was an interesting solve, and I really warmed up to it as I worked on it. The theme is kind of hard to parse, but I think I got it – the “front” of the themer is a worker, but an additional word is added on that makes another phrase if you remove part of the first word (the “front line worker”); they’re clued punnily. I’m not saying that well, but I think seeing the themers explained below will make sense:
- 20A: [Mortician for fellow mutts?]: UNDERTAKER DOG – An undertaker is a worker; add dog and remove taker and you have Underdog.
- 26A: [What a Wall Street trader drives?]: STOCKBROKER CAR – One can contend a stockbroker actually works; add car and remove broker and you get stock car.
- 44A: [A, B, C+ or D in Accounting?]: BOOKKEEPER MARK – Bookkeeper has three sets of doubled letters in it; add mark and remove keeper and there’s bookmark.
- 50A: [Drink order signals between martini mixers?]: BARTENDER CODE – A bartender is one of my favourite workers; throw in code and delete tender and you get UPC, er, I mean barcode.
This started out very hard for me – I had nearly no entries I was sure of until about a third of the way through the clues, then it started coming together, though I still hit a few snags. I guess I “started” in the NE but the real first foothold I got was around 21D crossed with 32A (I was a teenager when that movie came out so it made an, ahem, impression).
Canadian content:
- 1D: [Bearing the maple leaf, perhaps: Abbr.]: CDN – What could be more Canadian than sporting the maple leaf?
- 17A: [B.C. city with a signature “bar”]: NANAIMO – I’ve been to Nanaimo, but only passing through on my way to Tofino/Ucluelet (really!). I forgot that the Nanaimo Bar is a thing – I thought there was a famous watering hole there I may have missed.
- 33A: [Van. summer fair]: PNE – Pacific National Exposition? Yes.
- 47D: [Cross Country Checkup” radio stn.]: CBC FM – I was not aware of this program; was hoping it was a showcase of Canadian country music but alas…
- 62A: [Ont. rep at Queen’s Park]: MPP – Not sure where (or what) Queen’s Park is but pretty sure that’s where Members of the Provincial Parliament must meet.
Other stuff:
- 4D: [Item on which to burn music, once]: BLANK CD – I had CD BURNER stuck in my head for so long that it took a while to get that it was the object, not the actor that we were looking for.
- 8D: [The Bronx ball player, for short]: NY YANKEE – I despise the Yankees, but it looks like I’ll be at Yankee Stadium this weekend – to cheer on the Orioles.
- 11A: [Dress shirt button cover]: TIE – I kept picturing in my mind some sort of sleeve that fit over shirt buttons ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- 18A: [Just the two of us]: YOU AND I – Now that song is stuck in my head.
- 25A: [Eggs ____ beside toast?]: OR ON – Wut? Is this a Canadianism or something universal I’m unaware of?
- 59A: [“…___, I smell the blood of …”]: FUM – Like all of you, I had to run the entire line through my head to get this one.
Quote of the week:
“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
– Ferris Bueller