We’re finally getting a little rain here which we need as my grass had pretty much turned brown again. This past weekend was quite nice, so I spent a lot of time working in the yard but not as much time as I wanted sitting on the deck. Let’s take a look at the puzzle and maybe I can get this blog posted at a reasonable time.
- Name: The Very Hungry Crossword Constructor
- Size: 15×15
- Entries: 68
- Difficulty: Medium Easy (my solve time: 6:34)
Well, Barb must have had the munchies when putting this grid together – the themers are all common (except one, at least for me) phrases that include a food item as one of the words, clued with straight one-word clues:
- 18A: [Bombed]: LAID AN EGG – I know chickens are pretty proud when they lay an egg, but I guess it’s not the same for humans. Apparently, while the term was popularized in 1920’s show business usage, it originally comes from sports, where if a team doesn’t score they get no points or runs, and the numeral “0” shown on the scoreboard resembles an egg (or “goose egg“).
- 23A: [Blab]: SPILL THE BEANS – I always pictured someone filling a bag of dried beans, which they overfill and beans spill out. However, apparently the origin goes all the way back to ancient Greece, referring to a secret voting method where different colored beans were used to cast votes for different candidates; if the bag tipped over the election results were revealed.
- 33A: [Snaps]: GOES BANANAS – I figured that the use of “bananas” for crazy mainly comes from the fact that bananas is a kind of funny sounding word. Others posit that it’s related to apes or monkeys, who are said to become very excited when tempted with bananas.
- 47A: [Think]: USE ONES NOODLE – I never really thought about why someone’s head is sometimes referred to as their “noodle,” but kinda thought it was similar sounding to noggin or another foodstuff like bean. Apparently it has nothing to do with the food, but comes from old English where “noddle” meant the back of the head.
- 53A: [Kaput]: HAD THE BUN – What?! I had never, ever heard this phrase or anything like it used before. I’ve heard kind of similar phrases like “bought the farm,” “bit the big one,” or more crudely “[redacted] the bed” but this is new to me and other Americans as well apparently.
I’m not sure a meal made up of eggs, beans, bananas, noodles and buns would be very traditional, it would certainly be filling and I’m sure if it was a “Chopped” basket a decent chef could make something interesting out of it. I really thought this would be as difficult as the week before last was – I started out not getting a lot of answers, not being sure with what I did get, and definitely putting in a few incorrect entries. But the themers bailed me out – once I saw what was going on it was pretty easy to come up with the phrase (except for that one…) and then it was mopping up and making some educated guesses.
Canadian content:
- 13D: [Mid-ranking RCMP]: SSGT – A Staff Sergeant ranks above a Sergeant and below a Staff Sergeant Major in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
- 28A: [The pride of Parry Sound]: ORR – Bobby Orr was indeed born in Parry Sound. I know I’ve previously mentioned that I think of this song when I hear his name and even used the lyrics mentioning him as the quote of the week.
- 50D: [Hockey’s Esposito]: PHIL – Phil Esposito was born in Sault Ste Marie, and played for the Blackhawks, Bruins, and Rangers between 1963 and 1981. His comment about Bobby Orr is this week’s quote.
- 53A: [Kaput]: HAD THE BUN – OK, so the Urban Dictionary says “had the bun” is a Canadian phrase similar to “had the biscuit” which is just as bananas to me. But I can see the logic – “had the biscuit” refers to the Catholic ritual of last rites, where a dying person is given a final communion service – which involves giving them a sacred wafer, which is essentially a biscuit. But it’s not a bun.
Other stuff:
- 2D: [Dessert with a cookie crust]: OREO PIE – We have our first OREO sighting since January 2024!.
- 38A: [Chin attachment?]: WAG – I had no idea what this meant so was scratching my head for a while until I looked it up. “Chinwag” means something like “chat;” “wag” is an attachment to “chin” to make the word – ta-da!. I see it better in 41D.
- 40D: [Car buyer’s fuel concern]: MILEAGE – I wonder if the imperial measures system ever fades away if this is one of those words that will evolve and people will forget its origin.
- 41D: [Chin attachment?]: ESE – “Chin” + “ese” = Chinese.
- 46D: [One docking a vessel]: MOORER – Well, it’s more likely to be a pilot or more specifically a docking pilot. What comes to mind first for me is Admiral Thomas Moorer, 18th Chief of Naval Operations for the US Navy, who was relieved by Elmo Zumwalt who has been an inspiration to me my whole career.
- 51D: [Rating for many Monday crosswords]: EASY – And, by my rating system, for about a third of ClassisCanadian Crosswords.
- 55A: [Realm in “The Lord of the Rings”]: ROHAN– I have an enormous cultural blind spot for LOTR, so this was and is a set of 5 random letters to me.
Quote of the week:
“Bobby used to play with the puck for 45 minutes and he let the rest of us use it for the other 15 minutes”
– Phil Esposito