Well, March is definitely Marching – it was spring-like warm yesterday and there’s the chance of snow tomorrow. Maybe I put away the snow shovels a bit too early… In any event, on to this week’s puzzle.

• Title: Stick With It
• Grid size: 15×15
• Number of entries: 76
• Difficulty: Medium (my solve time: 7:34)

Whew – looks like we’re back to normal difficulty this week. My solve time was nearly exactly my overall average. Well, normal difficulty at least for the puzzle, but maybe not for the theme, which I am still trying to figure out. Maybe if I list what I believe are the themers it will come to me: 

• 18A: [Carrying a “piece”]: PACKING HEAT – The title “Stick With It” should be  a clue to the theme, but I’m not seeing it – is a gun ( a “piece”) a kind of stick?  Or is “It” a clue – if the letters I and T are removed do you get another phrase? Nope, and “Stick with It” would mean you leave them in, right? No luck here; onward.
• 24A: [Lightning event]: ELECTRICAL STORM – A very nice grid-spanning entry, but still no idea on the theme. Is a stick a sort of lightning rod? There is an I and a T in this entry, but that doesn’t appear to be the theme. Heat and Storm are the names of sports teams – maybe that’s the theme, but how does “Stick With It” relate to that?
• 36A: [She’s her little rink star’s biggest fan]: HOCKEY MOM – Aha – Hockey stick! But, how does that work with the other themers? I don’t see any hockey relationship there.
• 48A: [Precision bombings]: SURGICAL STRIKES – Another nice grid-spanner, but still flummoxed on the theme. Got a real head scratcher going on here. All the themers are two words, maybe that’s something?
• 56A: [Soup with lamb and barley]: SCOTCH BROTH – I didn’t even know what scotch broth was, and I still don’t know the theme. I will appeal to my gentle readers – what am I missing?  Please enlighten me in the comments. It’s probably something blindingly obvious that I just can’t see.

I was afraid this day would come – I’d solve the puzzle and either not know what the theme was or, worse, get it wrong. Well I can’t get it wrong if I have no idea what it is! Even as a themeless-to-me it was a smooth solve, pretty much N to S with only a few circle-backs to fill blanks and check for an error. No real head scratchers in here (other than the theme) and obscure entries were fairly crossed.

Canadian content

• 12D: [Grande ______, Alberta]: PRAIRIE – I have never been to Alberta, though I’d love to visit as I hear it is beautiful. Grand Prairie is also known as “Swan City” due to its proximity to the migration route and summer nesting grounds of this bird.
• 17A: [The Red Cross or CARE Canada, e.g.]: NGO – I’m familiar with the Red Cross, but didn’t know about CARE Canada. They appear to be a non-governmental organization with a worthy purpose.
• 22A: [Ont. capital and environs]: GTA – Toronto is the capitol of Ontario, are the surrounding area is the Greater Toronto area.
• 52D: [P.M’s title of respect]: RT HON – I’ve never understood what Right Honourable means but I assume adding “right” to “honourable” is super respectful. I tried to read the Wikipedia page for it, but started to fall asleep (jk).

Other stuff:

• 2D: [Sharp-boned, as a jaw]: ANGULAR – For some reason after I got the first letter I wanted to put AQUILINE inhere. That means something kind of different but is used in reference to the nose as well.
• 10A: [HIV cousin]: HEP B – I’d heard of hepatitis B and C, but I didn’t realize Hep B was related to the human immunodeficiency virus. I had a C in at first as I also didn’t know who the commissioner of the NHL is (but should have known Bettman was more likely than Cettman).
• 30A: [Ukranian singer who covered “My Heart Will Go On”]: ERIA – It was nice of Barb to clue this entry for the singer of this video as a tribute to Ukraine. It is also a type of silkworm, and that would have been quite a head scratcher for me; I’ve also seen it clued as “suffix with ranch.”
• 32D: [Highest offer?]: DON – Quite a funny clue, though it took me a while to get it.
• 37D: [White parts of tai chi symbols]: YINS – Yins is also a pronoun used in the Pittsburgh region.

Quote of the week:

I do believe that in order to be a successful negotiator that as a diplomat, you have to be able to put yourself into the other person’s shoes. Unless you can understand what is motivating them, you are never going to be able to figure out how to solve a particular problem.

– Madeleine Albright