Welcome to August everyone. And looking at the thermometer it is emphatically August – I hope you are able to stay cool and that drought and wildfire are far away from you. Grab a cold drink and let’s solve this week’s puzzle.

• Name: Too Much Information
• Grid size: 15×15
• Number of entries: 76
• Difficulty: Easy (my solve time: 6:11)

“Hello, Department of Redundancy Department, how can I assist you?” The theme this week is one of my pet peeves – phrases that essentially say the same thing twice:

• 17A: [Verity, redundantly]: HONEST TRUTH – Is there any other kind of truth?
• 25A: [Nearness, redundantly]: CLOSE PROXIMITY – If you’re in proximity, you’re probably pretty close.
• 43A: [Guises, redundantly]: FALSE PRETENSES – Are there true pretenses? Asking for a friend.
• 57A: [Previous events, redundantly]: PAST HISTORY – I think there may be a genre of literature and film of future history.

A quick solve, and I figured out the theme as it came along. Only real snag was at 12D/19A where I blanked on 19A and still have no clue on 12D. Is that House of Commons? I was thinking of commons like the town square or green so the answer doesn’t make a lot of sense. Started to run the alphabet but the first letter got the congrats pop-up so yay.

Canadian content

• 7D: [Lake near Sicamous, B.C.]: MARA – “You know, Lake Mara, about halfway between Kamloops and Revelstoke.”
• 11A: [Levy not charged in Alta.]: PST – I guess Alberta doesn’t have a provincial sales tax.
• 13D: [Toronto’s mayor, or his political party]: TORY – I had several of the letters, so knew the political party but did not know the mayor of Toronto was John Tory.
• 32A: [Butter tart tidbit]: RAISIN – Now I’m hungry.
• 34A: [Born, in Baie-Comeau]: NEE – According to Google “[Baie-Comeau] has many popular attractions, including Parc Nature de Pointe-aux-Outardes, Boise de la Pointe St Gilles, making it well worth a visit.”
• 54D: [Leamington’s lake]: ERIE – Refreshing to see this clued from the Canadian perspective.

Other stuff:

• 20A: [Usually abbreviated list enders]: ETCETERAS – Clever use of this entry that I’m not sure I’ve seen before – see plenty of ETC entries, but not spelled out.
• 24D: [Losing tic-tac-toe line]: OXO – Nice to see this clued as something other then the kitchenware brand, and…
• 28D: [Winning tic-tac-toe line]: OOO – …fun to see it paired with this.
• 35A: [Lamb’s eyes, maybe?]: ORBS – Not sure why this is punnily clued (has a question mark) – I mean, lambs eyes are orbs, but specifying a lamb is kind of odd, so maybe I’m missing something?  Feel free to enlighten me in the comments below.
• 36A: [Neighbour of Mont. and Colo.]: WYO – I was hoping this would be ALTA or SASK but of course those wouldn’t fit. Then I realized Colorado doesn’t border Canada, so it had to be another state, and Wyoming it was.

I’m not a huge Star Trek fan, and I actually prefer The Next Generation over the original series, but Nichelle Nichols made a big impression on me and it was sad to hear of her passing this past week, so she’s the inspiration for this week’s quote.

Quote of the week:
“Science is not a boy’s game, it’s not a girl’s game. It’s everyone’s game. It’s about where we are and where we’re going. Space travel benefits us here on Earth. And we ain’t stopped yet. There’s more exploration to come.”
– Nichelle Nichols