Greetings!
Long time no see, my fellow ClassiCanadian solvers. Brian Tetreault (@DamnUWillShortz) glad to be here once again to fill in for Jeffrey.
“Go With the Flow” is the theme of this week’s puzzle: The four themes are common phrases that have had a word replaced with the name of a river:
- 20A [Idle drawing of a Chinese river?]: YANGTZE DOODLE – I think this was the cleverest one – I emitted a giggle on getting it.
- 27A [Speedy rafting feat on an Egyptian river?]: A NILE A MINUTE – I’d figured out the gimmick by the time I got to this one, already had the N from 30D, and so put the NILE at the end of the phrase. That cost me a few seconds…
- 45A [Brief sumup of a book featuring a Scottish river?]: ITS ABOUT TYNE – Only river I didn’t know right off the bat.
- 55A [Remark made on dipping one’s toes in a French River?]: I FEEL THE SEINE – Not quite sure Seine is a great substitute for “same” but I got the E and the I in the right order on first try so I’m happy.
Canadian content:
- 5D [____—Tremblant Ski Resort, Québec]: MONT – My brother and his family go skiing in Québec every year (well, not this year) and I believe this is the resort they go to.
- 7D [“Zut, alors!”]: MON DIEU – I imagine this is heard on the streets of Trois-Rivières and other Québec cities.
- 21D [“____ tete” (“Alouette” lyric)]: ET LA – I also imagine this is heard in pre-schools all around Québec.
- 22A [Competed against Penny Oleksiak]: SWAM – Penny was born in Toronto.
- 28D [Nick Nurse’s org.]: NBA – Nurse is the coach of the Toronto Raptors.
- 49A [Fleur-de-___]: LYS – The symbol of Québec. I always want to spell it LIS.
- 51A [Bloc Québécois leader _____-François Blanchet]: YVES – Luckily I knew 48D, 53D, and 54D and was able to figure out 52D with those.
- 64A [B.C.’s False and Fairy]: CREEKS – I was able to get this with just a couple of letters. I’ve spent a bit of time in BC so maybe I’d heard of them.
Other stuff:
- 2D [Dey court series]: LA LAW – You usually see “Dey” as the answer and “LA Law” as the clue.
- 9D [Reason to find another hotel, maybe]: NO ROOM – I really wanted this one to be BED BUG – ewwww!
- 11D [Studies over intensely]: BONES UP ON – My mind wanted this to be PORES OVER so bad, though I knew it couldn’t with “over” in the clue.
- 18A [D-Day setting in France]: NORMANDY – I was wracking my brain trying to figure out what “D-Day” would be in French. “D-Jour?”
Tip of the day: Do a little research and read the instructions before you purchase and install a waterproof awning or else you may end up with a huge bag of water hanging over you deck after a rainstorm. Don’t ask how I know this.