It’s Thanksgiving Eve here in the US which apparently has become known as “Drinksgiving,” and appears to the be kind of a Thanksgiving counterpart to Christmas’ Tibbs Eve. Even if you’ve already celebrated Thanksgiving last month, join me for a glass of cheer this evening and let’s work on this week’s puzzle.
- Name: Triple Rhyme Time
- Size: 15×15
- Entries: 76
- Difficulty: Medium (my solve time: 7:00*)
*I forgot to restart the timer after it stopped so this is a guess
I knew exactly what this theme was when I read the title – the themers are three-word entries that all rhyme, clued punnily to make the resulting phrases make some sort of sense:
- 17A: [Barking in an animal shelter?]: POUND HOUND SOUND – I got back to this one later in the solve, and initially entered it with the 1st and 3rd words swapped. I soon saw that 9D was plural, so likely had to end in an S; also RISONFS at 1D made no sense (of course, neither does “sound hound pound” so…).
- 23A: [Have a crush on Pelosi who’s itching to go?]: FANCY ANTSY NANCY – I didn’t enter it wrong but my first guess was ANTSY NANCY FANCY. Luckily I already had 18D which I was sure of, so soon came to the right answer.
- 37A: [Where a sexy automaton sleeps?]: HOT BOT COT – This was the easiest to get – I think I had just the 1st and 6th letters in when I got it.
- 56A: [One who loathes a spud evaluator?]: TATER RATER HATER – Another one that came quickly – I think I had most of the first word in and the rest just came easily. For future reference a tater is also a nickname for a home run in baseball, in addition to being slang for potato.
- 63A: [More elegant ore seeker’s restaurant]: FINER MINER DINER – How would one evaluate the fineness of a miner? The amount of ore they extract during a shift? How well they clean up before going to a diner?
Even though I knew what the theme was going to be before even starting, it took me longer than I expected to finally get my first themer. I needed to get quite a few crosses before I finally got the first word, then I at least knew what the endings of the other words sounded like, and probably how they were spelled. So I started in NW as usual, but gradually worked my way to SE then circled back to get the W half of the puzzle. No major snags, though there are a few entries (called out in Other Stuff below) that I needed all the crosses and some guess work to get. I had to pause the timer to take care of an interruption, and when I started solving again I forgot to start it, so my 7:00 time is an estimate based on a rough guess of elapsed time and my perceived difficulty of the solve.
Canadian content:
- 4D: [Calgary ___ (supposed hangover cure with beer and clamato)]: REDEYE – I’d heard of a bloody Caesar but not this drink – boy do Canadians like their Clamato. Depending on how my Drinksgiving goes, I may give this supposed cure a try tomorrow morning.
- 40D: [“The Indian Church” painter Emily]: CARR – Emily Carr is probably the most famous Canadian painter. “The Indian Church” is displayed at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto and depicts a small church built by the local Nuu-chah-nulth tribe of the Yuquot community.
- 41D: [Winnipeg hockey team cheerer]: JETS FAN – The WInnipeg Jets are currently in 3rd place in the standings for the Western Division of the NHL.
Other stuff:
- 1A: [Horned zodiac beast]: RAM – I have completed about a dozen crosswords from several different sources in the past three days and I swear this entry was in at least half of them.
- 2D: [Keats, in a Shelley title]: ADONAIS – I had no idea on this one and it crossed two themers that I had the order of the rhyming words mixed up, so it was the last entry to fall. Me and poetry don’t get along well, so even if I had been required to read this poem in high school or college, I probably wouldn’t have remembered it.
- 12D: [Interrupted pairs, as J-K, in bridge]: TENACES – While I play card games fairly often, I have never played bridge, though I was mildly tempted to take the free bridge classes offered on the QM2 during my crossing last month. Writing this now, I don’t know if the answer is “tenaces” (?) or “ten-aces” (a ten and an ace are on either side of a Jack and and King, I guess?). I now see it’s the former, derived from Spanish tenaza, or pincers.
- 44A: [Snake with tail legs]: BOA – I was today years old when I learned boa constrictors have vestigial tail legs.
- 47D: [Like a chocolate teapot, per a saying]: USELESS – I’d never heard this saying but it is vividly evocative so I’ll try to use it myself soon. And of course someone had to investigate its literal truth.
Quote of the week:
“At Thanksgiving, all we have to worry about is whether we can wholeheartedly support A) roasted turkey, B) friends and C) gratitude. My opinions on these matters are unambiguous; I am in favor of them all.”
– Jon Carroll