Hi all.
Jeffrey here.
“G-force” is this week’s puzzle title and the letter “G” has been forced over from the last letter of the first word to be the first letter of the second word in the theme answers.
18a [Getting’ a tan?] – GROWIN-G-OLD. Growing Old turns in to Growin’ Gold.
23a [Puttin’ Pops’ pops in the car?] – LOADIN-G-RAMPS. Loading Ramps is now Loadin’ Gramps.
37a [Baseball mitt that’ll never need replacin’?] – EVERLASTING-G-LOVE. Everlasting Love is now Everlastin’ Glove.
49a [Where the ship’s cooks might be playin’ some ten-pin?] – BOWLIN-G-ALLEY. Bowling Alley is now Bowlin’ Galley.
56a [Husband-to-be havin’ a meal?] – DININ-G-ROOM. Dining room is now Dinin’ Groom.
Canadian content:
14a [Holiday and Prestige, for two] – INNS. Or should that be in’ns? Prestige Inn is a chain of hotels in British Columbia. I stayed in one once when that was something you could do.
15a [Calgary Stampede event] – RODEO. I attended the Stampede once. I got stuck in a hotel elevator (not the Prestige Inn) with too many drunk Swedes to fit in one elevator, and none of them seemed to understand what “press the emergency call button” meant.
30a [C.P.P. recipients] – SRS. Seniors receive the Canada Pension Plan. You can collect at age 60 but you’ll get more if you wait until you are 65.
48a [YVR guesstimate] – ETD. Estimated Time of Departure. YVR is the code for Vancouver airport.
66a [Onetime “Maclean’s” columnist Mark] – STEYN. Maclean’s is a Canadian news magazine.
5d [Money, in Montréal] – ARGENT. That is what it is called in the parts of Montreal where they speak French. Where I grew up, it was called “money.”
23d [A part of that “je te plumeria,” in song] – LA TETE. Alouette is the song in’ question. La tete is the head. The song is about plucking parts of a bird. I don’t know why.
35d [Lisa LaFlamme’s network] – CTV. She is the anchor of the CTV National News.
39d [Montreal-born comic Mort] – SAHL.
60d [How not to pronounce the Z in LA-Z-Boy] – ZED. From now on, I will always call it La-Zed-Boy.
Tip of the Week
Never get in an elevator with a large group of drunk Swedes.
See you next week!