Back home and no travel on the horizon for at least a month so looking forward to hunkering down at home and with friends and family for the holidays. Speaking of which, how did it get to be less than three weeks to the end of the year! It still feels like April was last month, though I’m sure as I review the year I’ll be reminded how much was packed into it. Well, we have two more puzzles after this one before New Year’s, and they’re not going to solve themselves, so let’s get going.
- Name: Hail Caesar!
- Grid size: 15×15
- Number of entries: 68
- Difficulty: Very Easy (my solve time: 5:19)
I was hoping the title meant the theme would be that classic Canadian cocktail the Bloody Caesar, but no luck and now I want one. The theme was unclear until I got to the revealer, then it was obvious – the letters of the first words of the theme entries all consist of Roman numerals:
- 15A: [Public administrators]: CIVIL SERVANTS – The first word consists of the Roman numerals 100-1-5-1-50, though not in a way that actually makes a single number. I’ve been in the military and civil service for my entire adult working life, so I feel seen.
- 23A: [Not-hot nacho dip]: MILD SALSA – 1000-1-50-500. I think I’ll have chips and salsa along with my Bloody Caesar.
- 35A: [Lay’s cucumber-flavoured snack]: DILL PICKLE CHIPS – 500-1-50-50. OMG – I love these – my favorite flavor of any kind of chips. I also love deep fried dill pickles and this place has the best I’ve ever had. Something else to enjoy with my drink.
- 47A: [Enjoy the wet bar]: MIX A DRINK – The only themer that can be parsed as an actual number: 1009. And maybe with this entry the Bloody Caesar makes an appearance…
Usually puzzles with fewer entries (Barb’s average is around 70 for a 15×15 puzzle, this one is 68) are harder, since there’s more “white space,” i.e., longer entries. But this was a quick solve for me, in my top-5 fastest. But it didn’t feel too easy, and there were several entries where I needed most of the crosses. Not sure it would have been much easier to get the themers if I knew the theme earlier, they were clued straight and fairly easy to get. I like the grid layout – it’s visually appealing and looks orderly.
Canadian content:
- 25D: [Giller Prize nominee]: AUTH – An author is nominated for the Giller Prize, which is a literary award given to a Canadian author of a novel or short story collection published in English the previous year.
- 45A: [Iroquois name of a Toronto college]: SENECA – Seneca College is a college with a career-focused curriculum.
That’s all I found for Canadian content – let me know in the comments below if I missed anything.
Other stuff:
- 6A: [Bart’s cry after “Ay!”]: CARAMBA – I always want to spell this “carumba.”
- 27D: [Wiesel or Saab]: ELIE – I knew Elie Wiesel, but Elie Saab was new to me. Elie Wiesel is the source of this week’s quote, and this site has several other thought-provoking quotes from him.
- 31D: [Opposite of dn.]: ACR – A crossword related crossword clue and entry!
- 36D: [Mauna Loa spew]: LAVA – Nice to see LOA in a clue rather than one of two possible answers for “Mauna ___.” The volcano has been quite active lately.
- 37D: [Winter fishing openings]: ICE HOLES – I considered counting this as Canadian content, but I know there are many ice fishers in the US, particularly in Minnesota.
Quote of the week:
“The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.”
– Elie Wiesel