Happy in-between times everyone! I normally take this entire week off work, but I’ve used a bit too much vacation time this year, so am only taking a few hours off this week. It’s really quiet around the (virtual) office as you might imagine, but I’m able to get a lot of reading done and catch up on emails, so there’s that. Welcome to new subscribers – this week is somewhat more straightforward than most, but I’m sure Barb will throw us a few curveballs in 2023, so let’s dive in.
- Name: The Water is Rising
- Grid size: 15×16
- Number of entries: 79
- Difficulty: Very Easy (my solve time: 5:12)
I didn’t even think much about the title before starting the solve, but on reflection it brings to mind this song. As I mentioned above, it’s pretty straightforward with no real twists or gimmicks, although it is a slightly larger-than usual 15×16 grid and the themers are contained in the down entries. The longer down entries include circled letters that when read upward (“rising”) are bodies of water – “the water is rising:”
- 3D: [It makes Jack a dull boy]: ALL WORK AND NO PLAY – A pond is a small body of water surrounded by land.
- 9D: [“Pizza! Pizza” place]: LITTLE CAESARS – A sea is much larger than a pond and is often clued in crosswords as “vast expanse” or the like.
- 11D: [Slyly circumventing the law]: FINDING A LOOP HOLE – Many folks have a pool in their yard too cool off in the summer months.
- 21D: [Omicron origin]: GREEK ALPHABET – One’s mind immediately goes to the “Omicron variant” of the coronavirus disease, but thankfully this clue refers to the origin of the letter, not the ailment. And a lake is much larger than a pool but smaller than a sea, though the Great Lakes are quite vast.
It was a quick solve for me – even with the oversized grid I got my 5th fastest solve time on one of Barb’s puzzles. It helped that I got 3 out of 4 of the long themers right off the bat with only a little work to figure out how 11D started,
Canadian content:
- 13D: [McSorley or McFly]: MARTY – This one is double Canadian – Marty McSorley is a former professional hockey player from Hamilton who played for many teams (including the Baltimore Skipjacks); Marty McFly was played by Michael J. Fox who was born in Edmonton.
- 18A: [resident in the Maritimes]: EASTERNER – If you live in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, or Prince Edward Island you are an Easterner. Newfoundland is even further east, but I guess they get their own sobriquet.
- 20A: [“Mr. Hockey” Gordie]: HOWE – Gordie Howe, born in Floral, Saskatchewan, has some pretty impressive statistics from his hockey career.
- 24D: [Prov. north of Michigan]: ONT – Ontario is mostly north of Michigan, except where it isn’t.
- 64A: [Animal on a toonie]: POLAR BEAR – While I am familiar with the two-dollar coin, it never really registered to me that it depicts a polar bear.
Other stuff:
- 1D: [Window frame]: SASH – I put SILL in here first but quickly caught my mistake.
- 5D: [iOS “S”: Abbr.]: SYS – A minor headscratcher – I was trying to think what key shortcut or symbol or something else an “S” represented on an Apple device. Instead it is part of the Apple mobile device operating system.
- 45A: [Ultimate goal]: END ALL – This one also had me scratching my head a bit, until I remembered the common phrase “end-all be-all” and I guess it makes sense.
- 52A: [Fatherly figures?]: DAD BODS – lol
- 53D: [They’re rarely hits]: B SIDES – The B side of single records are rarely top of the charts, but there are some exceptions.
- 61A: [Flapjacks chain]: IHOP – I almost made this Candian content as I think “flapjacks” is used more in Canada than “pancakes” in the US, but maybe not.
- 68A: [Yo-Yo’s strings]: CELLO – This is a really clever clue.
Quote of the week:“
An optimist stays up until midnight to see the New Year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.”
—William E. Vaughan