Greetings from the Amtrak Capitol Limited somewhere in West Virginia on my way home from Chicago. Work trip delayed the blog this week – sorry to keep you all waiting so let’s get to it!
Name: Oh, geez!
- Size: 15×15
- Entries: 70
- Difficulty: Easy (my solve time: 6:30)
“Not Now!” last week and “Oh, geez!” this week – seems we’re getting a run of exasperated exclamations. I’ll be looking for “Not again!” next week 😉. Back to a regular theme this week – the themers are common phrases where the last word starts with a “C” but the “C” has been replaced by a “G” (“Oh, geez!”) and the resulting phrase clued punnily:
- 17A: [Where Santa’s suit got sooty?]: SCENE OF THE GRIME – If someone did it maliciously it would be the scene of the crime.
- 27A: [Aid if this puzzle gets ripped?]: CROSSWORD GLUE – An appropriate crossword clue for this entry.
- 41A: [Hoggishness at the Last Supper?]: APOSTLES GREED – I have memories of reciting the Apostle’s Creed at Mass back in the day, but don’t recall anyone hogging the host.
- 53A: [Eyewear for a myopic embryo?]: PRENATAL GLASSES – I would hope they get contact lenses while their mom is taking prenatal classes.
A pretty straightforward solve, even with the spotty cellular coverage and rocking of the train car. There were a few entries that I needed most of the crosses for, but no major holdups. The theme came to me after a while – I think I had to go back to the first one at 17A after getting most of the crosses before I saw it.
Canadian content:
- 3D: [Dialect of some Cape Bretoners]: GAELIC – While I knew some dialect was spoken in Newfoundland, I didn’t know about the Gaelic speakers in Nova Scotia.
- 4A: [P.M’s title of respect]: RT HON – The Right Honourable Prime Minister – I know this one from this ship. which will be on this camera later today on her way to Two Harbors.
- 7D: [Hockey’s Steve and baseball’s Mel]: OTTS – Refreshing to see this entry clued as someone other than Mel, although I’m glad he was mentioned as I was unfamiliar with Steve Ott until today.
- 28D: [Toronto’s Bloor or Yonge]: STREETS – Yonge Street appeared before in this puzzle and from that I know it’s the longest street in the world
- 36D: [Canada’s largest First Nation]: CREE – Another fact I know from it being included fairly often in this and several other crossword puzzles.
- 48D: [Yellowhead town west of Edmonton]: EDSON – I have no idea what “Yellowhead” means – needed all the crosses to get this one.
- 61A: [TV chef who wore punny aprons]: YAN – I would have missed this as Canadian had he not been included in previous puzzles. I was unaware of his aprons.
Other stuff:
- 21A: [Very-loud signs, in music]: FFS – I missed this solving, as I got all three downs no problem. But on review FFS caught my eye as it is shorthand for something else these days.
- 31A: [Murmur detector, for short]: ECG – I can never keep the different “E_G” tests straight, whether they’re ECG, EEG, or EKG. And until I reviewed the puzzle I didn’t realize EEG shows up at 26D.
- 39A: [Shaw’s middle name]: BERNARD – This one came to me instantly, though “Shaw” is a fairly common name. I guess there’s not that many who you know the middle name of.
- 46A: [Shaw’s first name]: GEORGE – OK, you don’t have to beat me over the head with it – he gets this week’s quote.
Quote of the week:
“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”
– George Bernard Shaw