My apologies – due to (non-emergency) unforeseen circumstances, I was unable to post a full blog entry for this week’s puzzle – below is a brief report that I will add to later, . Updated to include Canadian content and a few other things.

• Name: Going Whole Hog
• Grid size: 15×15
• Number of entries: 78
• Difficulty: Very Easy (my solve time: 5:17)

“Whole Hog” made me think that the themers would involve different words or phrases related to pigs. However, the theme/gimmick is a very clever word ladder that starts with “nose” and ends with “tail” – and the revealer is “nose to tail” which is both a literal description of the word ladder and is a phrase used to describe making use of the whole animal, i.e., “whole hog:”

• 17A: [*Opposite of a schnozzola]: BUTTON NOSE
• 21A: [*Baseball great dubbed “Charlie Hustle””]: PETE ROSE
• 27A: [*Leas acting part]: TITLE ROLE
• 36A: [*Chop suey side, maybe]: EGG ROLL
• 47A: [*Leave lasting damage, with “on”]: TAKE A TOLL
• 52A: [*Stride with pride]: WALK TALL
• 59A: [*Waste-free diet… and the progression of the last words of the starred clues’ answers]: NOSE TO TAIL

The streak continues – another well-under-6 minute solve. I pretty much worked from NW to SE down the word ladder, though I didn’t really see it until I got to the revealer.

Canadian content:

• 5D: [Canadian sports buff’s channel]: TSN – I knew this one from when I was visiting Vancouver in the 1990s and wanted to see the America’s Cup races I had to find a bar that had a TSN subscription.
• 27D: [Trading place on Bay St.]: TSX – One would trade stocks at the Toronto Stock Exchange.
• 28D: [“South Park” adoptee from Canada]: IKE – I only saw a few episodes of this show when it first came out and it never really appealed to me so I needed all the crosses for this one.
• 39D: [New Canadian’s course: Abbr.]: ESL – Refreshing to see this clued from a Canadian perspective.
• 49A: [Opening anthem at Buffalo Sabres games, oddly]: O CANADA – I assume it’s played first when the Sabres are playing a Canadian team; the home anthem is played last. This is how it’s done when the Blue Jays play an American MLB team; i.e., every game not at Rogers Centre.

Quote of the week:

“A perfect method for adding drama to life is to wait until the deadline looms large.”
— Attributed to Alyce P. Cornyn-Selby