Hello everyone – back home in Baltimore after a couple of whirlwind weeks that took me to Chicago, Tampa (last week’s mystery location), Cape May, New Jersey and Bucks County, Pennsylvania. I also accepted a new job, so there will be a change to my biography shortly. Other than all that, I am enjoying the good weather while it lasts and trying to catch up on my crossword backlog – so on to this week’s offering!
- Title: The Art of the Matter
- Grid size: 15×15
- Number of entries: 74
- Difficulty: Medium (my solve time: 7:40)
As I may have mentioned before, In my experience a punny title usually means a punny theme and that’s the case this week. The themers are common phrases starting with a word for illustration (“the ‘art’ of the matter”) and clued punnily:
- 19A: [Do slapstick illustrations?]: SKETCH COMEDY – You would have to be a pretty quick draw to sketch slapstick comedy.
- 32A: [Do stovetop illustrations?]: TRACE ELEMENTS – Make sure the elements on the stove have cooled before you put that tracing paper over them.
- 41A: [Do window dressing illustrations?]: DRAW THE DRAPES – Whatever you do, don’t draw *on* the drapes. I tried “blinds” and “curtains” before finally getting drapes.
- 56A: [Do zoological illustrations?]: DRAFT ANIMALS – I’ve seen some pretty nice draftings of horses, Clydesdales, and water buffalo.
I completed this puzzle just a few seconds faster than my average solve time so I rated it medium difficulty. My solve was fairly straightforward, solving down the W side then up the E finishing with a successful guess at 6D and 8D.
Canadian content
- 2D: [Returns recipient, for short]: CRA – I remembered from a previous puzzle that this was the Canadian Revenue Agency, and not a Certified Public Accountant.
- 14A: [“The Hub of Nova Scotia” town]: TRURO – While I’ve never been there, I’ve been other places in Nova Scotia so had seen it on the map in a fairly central location of this Maritime province.
- 16D: [“We” band, ______ Fire]: ARCADE – I’m more familiar with the songs on the albums “The Suburbs” and “Reflector” from this Montreal-based band but I’m starting to hear a cut or two from “We” on my local radio station.
- 17A: [Kim Mitchell’s “_____ Lanterns”]: PATIO – Born Joseph Kim Mitchell in Sarnia, Ontario, this is apparently one of his more popular songs.
- 33D: [Michael who played George Michael on “Arrested Development”]: CERA – Michael Cera was born in Brampton, Ontario. His mother is from Quebec and his father is Italian (from Sicily).
- 47A: [Sarah McLachlan hit written for her best friend]: ADIA – I’m surprised this isn’t a more common crossword entry with so many oft-used letters. In any event, it’s one of my favorite songs of all time. While I knew Ms. McLachlan was Canadian, I didn’t know she was born in Halifax.
Other stuff:
- 6A: [“The Owl House” character ___ Clawthorne]: EDA – Having never heard of this animated series, this was the last entry I got, with lucky guesses on 6D and 8D.
- 8D: [Indian housemaids]: AYAHS – I’m familiar with the Asian nursemaid “amah” so confidently had that in there for a while.
- 21D: [Chiding sounds]: TUTS – “Tsk” is seen much more frequently so that’s what I put in at first.
- 38A: [Poser’s practice]: YOGA – Was thinking of “poser” in the affected behavior sense, so needed all the crosses for the lightbulb to come on.
- 46A: [Cry from a frustrated Frankfurter]: ACH – Gotta remember that Germans say “Ach!” and Cathy says “Ack!” Nice crossing with 42D.
Quote of the week:
“We can’t be afraid of change. You may feel very secure in the pond that you are in, but if you never venture out of it, you will never know that there is such a thing as an ocean, a sea.”
– C. Joybell C.