I spoke too soon about the weather last week – the last few days winter showed it still had a few punches to throw with chilly weather here and snow not too far away. I won’t jinx things by remarking on the forecast but will keep my fingers crossed. On to this week’s puzzle…

  • Title: The Birds are Back
  • Grid size: 16×15
  • Number of entries: 79
  • Difficulty: Hard (my solve time: 9:34)

Being a Baltimore Orioles fan, and since the only Major League baseball team in Canada is the Blue Jays, and since Opening Day was just over a week ago I was hoping the title had something to do with bird-named baseball teams. But the theme is literally described in the title: the themers are two word phrases, one of which is a bird and the other is an anagram of that bird, clued punnily: 

  • 18A: [Is a polite host at a party for marsh birds?]: GREETS EGRETS
  • 27A: [Tennis wear for a “baby” bird?]: STORK SKORT
  • 40A: [Less loyal woodpecker?]: FICKLER FLICKER
  • 55A: [Chiropractor’s target on a long-billed wader?]: SNIPE SPINE
  • 65A: [Ptarmigans who flout the status quo?]: GROUSE ROGUES

I had a bit of a hard time with this one and not just due to the larger-than-usual size of the grid (though that surely added a few seconds to my solve time). It took a while to get the themers, even after I figured out the gimmick, and a few entries threw me for a loop. I wanted 34A to be “on as” for some reason, I had “data bases” for 5D for too long, and the whole area around 49A stumped me for a while. Finally, I didn’t get the “Congratulations!” pop-up and had to reveal the “error” – I had “E” in 40D/64A and the puzzle wanted “É” – I’ve never seen a puzzle that insisted on the diacritic! So that cost me some time as well.

Canadian content

  • 52D: [Suzuki’s “The ______ of Things”]: NATURE – David Suzuki has been the host of this popular CBC show since 1979.
  • 56D: [Grads given iron rings: Abbr.]: ENGRS – I didn’t know that in Canada graduating engineers are traditionally given an iron ring “as a symbol and reminder of the obligations and ethics associated with their profession.” Wikipedia has a fascinating write up on the ring and the ritual associated with it.
  • 63A: [Coups for Argos]: TDS – Touchdowns are indeed coups for the Toronto Argonauts CFL team.
  • 67D: [Large west coast campus: Abbr.]: UBC – I have visited the University of British Columbia several times and considered applying there for graduate school. I think the Museum of Anthropology on the UBC campus is one of the best museums of any type in the world.

Other stuff:

  • 21A: [Thrice daily, on an Rx]: TID – Not sure I’ve ever seen this, and I thought it would be “ter.”
  • 28D: [Coop find]: OEUF – Took a bit to get this one as there isn’t a clear indication that the answer is in French.
  • 34A: [Scheduled for, as a show]: ON AT – I was thinking of a show like a play or a trade show; it makes more sense if applied to a television show.
  • 35D: [Arrange, as a date]: TEE UP – Arranging a date is not what immediately comes to mind when I tee something up. Rather than scheduling something, in my mind it’s more setting something up to be ready to take action.
  • 40D: [Brides-to-be]: FIANCÉES – First time I’ve ever seen a crossword where you have to enter the letter with the diacritic. And it works with the cross (née) which is a pet peeve of mind when Ñ is used – the cross is almost always plain N.
  • 49A: [Ginseng kin]: UDO – This one really threw me for a loop, as I’d never heard of it and only vaguely know what ginseng is. Along with not really seeing 35D and being unsure of 42D, this whole area was trouble.
  • 60A: [Eighth part of a circle: OCTANT – While a sextant is better known, an octant is also a navigational tool, rarely seen these days.

 

Quote of the week:
“The remedy to boredom is curiosity.”
– Just saw it posted in the chat to a YouTube video