Hi all.
Jeffrey here.
“Ring Bearers” is this week’s puzzle title and the theme answers are all 25d [Flares of fashion suggested by 3-, 8-, 17- and 23-Down] – BELL BOTTOMS, i.e. all end with a type of bell.
3d [New York torchbearer] – LADY LIBERTY. Liberty Bell.
8d [Folk song also called “The Belle of Belfast City”] – I’LL TELL ME MA. Ma Bell, an old nickname for the phone company.
17d [Mexican food stuffed with “pollo”]– CHICKEN TACO. Taco Bell.
23d [“Coronation Street” constable]– CRAIG TINKER. Tinkerbell. Coronation Street is a British soap opera that has been on for over 10,000 episodes and has also been popular in Canada. My mother (me ma) loved the show.
Canadian content:
29a [Rimouski sky] – CIEL. Rimouski is a city in Quebec, Ciel is French for sky.
32a [Forbes called it “the Sportify of the ‘70s”] – K-TEL. You may be old enough to remember K-tel commercials, but did you know K-tel is a Canadian company?
44a [Butter ____ (Canadian treat)] – TART. “A butter tart is a small pastry tart, which generally consists of butter, sugar, syrup, and egg, filled into a flaky pastry and baked until the filling is semi-solid with a crunchy top.” – The Canadian Encyclopedia.
27d [Toronto mayor John] – TORY. He was also the most appropriately named leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative party.
35d [The ____ Times (paper whose logo is the Peace Tower)] – HILL. Parliament Hill. See last week.
Tip of the Week:
Most puzzles have theme answers going across, but it sometimes makes more sense to have them going down. That is the case here, so the bells can be at the “bottom.” The grid is simply rotated and otherwise no different.
See you next week!