Happy belated blogiversary to me! It was just over a year ago today that I took over compiling this blog each week from the estimable Jeffrey Krasnick. I think I have only missed one or two weeks since then, though there have been several weeks where it was a close thing with my travel, technical glitches, or just procrastination. I thank you all for reading these missives and especially for commenting, and I thank Barb for the opportunity and for her gentle nudges and corrections when I miss a theme or definition. Enough looking back – let’s look forward to this week’s puzzle!

• Name: Think Negatively
• Grid size: 15×15
• Number of entries: 76
• Difficulty: Easy (my solve time: 6:23)

I loved the title for this puzzle even before I started solving it. First, I have a pretty well-concealed pessimistic side, so “thinking negatively” has an odd appeal to me. Second, and more importantly, I knew the title was a clue to the theme and was eager to find out just what it meant. It could have been anything from clues being the opposite to the meaning of the entry, to working a minus sign into the clue or entry somehow, or something else. As it turns out, it was the inclusion of “no” into a phrase turning it into a weird new phrase that was then clued punnily:

• 17A: [Illness affecting a roving bovine?]: NOMAD COW DISEASE – Mad cow disease was quite the scare back in the late 1990s and I guess is still something to be mildly worried about. But it seems exceedingly rare in North America. I loved the near-rhyme of “roving bovine” in the clue.
• 28A: [Person with occasional celebrity?]: PERIODIC NOTABLE – As a science geek since way back I am quite familiar with the periodic table.
• 50A: [Country leader who’s wet behind the ears?]: NOVICE PRESIDENT – Sometimes I wish we had no Vice President, and we certainly have had at least one novice President.
• 61A: [Nine-player team of setters and spikers?]: VOLLEYBALL NONET – NONET is a word you see somewhat frequently in crosswords, with its often-used letters. This one apparently could have been clued straight.

Back to solving in Across Lite on my trusty MacBook Pro so no odd platform drama this week. It was a pretty smooth solve working pretty much steadily from NW to SE. I don’t think there were any real snags – a few spots where I didn’t know an entry at first but got the crosses fairly easily or came back to it later. I’m actually kind of disappointed I didn’t get near a second-personal-best time (best is 3:47 which I will never come close to again; 2nd best is 4:45) because the solve seemed so smooth.

Canadian content:

• 23A: [Sea-Doo, for one]: JET SKI – I think “jet ski” is one of those brand names that has crossed over to be a generic term for a thing, like kleenex. Sea-Doo is a Bombardier Recreational Products company that is proudly Canadian.
• 40D: [Schedule, as holiday time]: BOOK OFF – I have never heard this used in the US, and not sure it’s used in the UK or other English-speaking countries so I’m calling this a Canadianism.
• 41D: [Fictional Prince Edward Island town]: AVONLEA – I just learned that Avonlea was a fictional town. Huh.

Other stuff:

• 1A: [Les Nessman’s workplace, on a ’70s sitcom]: WKRP – “WKRP In Cincinnati” was one of my favorite shows when I was growing up. I was particularly enamored with Jennifer and Bailey, but will never forget Les Nessman’s broadcast of the Thanksgiving turkey drop.
• 2D: [Door bell alternative]: KNOCKER – I can only think of this.
• 21A: [Bewitches]: DAMNS – I was not aware of this definition – only thought it was consigning to hell.
• 22A: [Kiev’s country: Abbr.]: UKR – Слава Україні!
• 38D: [Signed off on]: OKD – I have seen this spelled OKED and OKAYED but think this may be the first time I’ve seen it like this.

Quote of the week:
“Tears are the safety value of the heart when too much pressure is laid on it .”
     – Albert Smith