Happy Twixmas everyone! I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday (or however you spent last weekend) and are preparing for a good New Year. I’m working about half time this week and making a few short trips to see family and friends, but nothing too strenuous (I hope). With luck, I will finish this blog entry and have it queued up to post Wednesday afternoon; otherwise it may not go up until Thursday or Friday. Whenever you get to the puzzle, I hope you are able to relax and enjoy it.
- Name: Up Close and Personal
- Size: 15×15
- Entries: 78
- Difficulty: Medium Easy (my solve time: 7:02*)
I had no idea what the title meant or even what the theme was until well after I finished and was able to dig into the grid and suss it out. It’s actually a pretty clever constructing feat, and if I’d have picked up on it, it may have helped with the solve. The themers are paired entries one over the other in the grid, unrelated except that they both include the letters ONE which are placed one on top of the other in the grid – hence “one-on-one” or “up close and personal:”
- 17A: [Volume with numbered pages?]: PHONE BOOK – a punny clue, and I wonder if younger solvers even know what a phone book is?
Paired with: - 20A: [Ones forging new land]: PIONEERS – Pioneer comes from the old French for foot soldier (from peon (“a foot soldier”), modern French: pion), and particularly for groups of soldiers that would go out ahead of the rest of the troops to prepare the way.
- 19A: [Shaped like a dunce cap]: CONED – I initially entered “conic” which I would have caught if I got the theme during the solve
Paired with: - 21A: [___ Toons (animated series)]: LOONEY – I just found the entire “Looney Toons” catalog on HBO and have been watching them – amazing music and artistry (though some of the jokes and cultural references don’t age well). I was kind of surprised this wasn’t clued as Canadian content, but it’s spelled differently.
- 23A: [Penitents]: ATONERS – This entry is usually seen in grids as a verb (to atone), rather than a plural noun.
Paired with: - 25A: [Allotted during wartime, as food]: RATIONED – Thankfully it has been a while since food or any other supplies have had to be rationed in North America.
- 35A: [Words with “your business” or “the above”]: NONE OF – NOYB
Paired with: - 39A: [Actress Skye of “Say Anything”]: IONE – She’s arguably better known in crosswords (176 appearances in the NY Times) than she is as an actress (76 appearances).
- 48A: [Humerus or radius]: ARM BONE – You often see radius (or radii) in crossword puzzles as entires, but less often as part of the clue.
Paired with: - 55A: [Like a private conversation… or how eight word pairs in this puzzle are arranged]: ONE ON ONE – Also like some sportsball games.
Also paired with: - 59A: [Part of a fiery sermon]: BRIMSTONE – We’ve all heard the phrase “fire and brimstone” to refer to an impassioned speech. But what is brimstone anyway? Well, it’s just an archaic word for sulfur, from the Middle English brinston, probably from birnen (to burn) + ston (stone).
- 52A: [Clickable cash]: EMONEY – I am not a fan of “new” words that are just old words with “e-” tacked onto the front, but I guess they serve some purpose – especially in crosswords 😉
Paired with: - 58A: [Sierra ___, Africa]: LEONE – I lived on the west cost of the US for several years so my mind always goes to NEVADA first.
This was a harder solve for me than my time indicates – I had to look up 27D to make sure I had the correct letter, which wasn’t apparent because I had a fat-fingered typo elsewhere in the grid that cost me a clean solve
Canadian content:
- 6A: [VIA stop]: STA – VIA is the national passenger railroad in Canada, I guess roughly equivalent to Amtrak in the US.
- 9D: [Meech Lake ___ (1987 pact)]: ACCORD – I knew this because I had to look it up the last time it appeared in the puzzle a few months ago.
- 22A: [Cop unit based in Orillia: Abbr.]: OPP – The Ontario Provincial Police have their General Headquarters, their Central Regional Headquarters, and a detachment in Orillia.
- 24D: [Calgary-to-Edmonton dir.]: NNE – My mental grasp of Canadian Geography is getting better – I entered east-northeast in the grid without much thought. It helps that I’ve become a fan of this cat rescue organization in Edmonton.
- 27D: [“Insensitive” singer Arden]: JANN – Jann Arden was born in Calgary and is now also an author in addition to being a singer-songwriter. She’s the source of this week’s quote.
- 38D: [Key, in Québec]: CLE – Similar to in English, “clé” can also be translated as meaning “essential” or “fundamental.”
- 63A: [Pierrefonds pen]: STYLO – Pierrefonds was a city in SW Quebec; it was merged into Montreal on January 1, 2002, and is today part of the borough of Pierrefonds-Roxboro.
Other stuff:
- 1A: [___ Bubba bubble gum]: HUBBA – I used to love this gum – I remember the grape flavor was really intense.
- 9A: [Equally liposomal]: AS FAT – Took me a while to remember that lipo- means fat, and with a few crosses it didn’t slow me down too much.
- 27A: [Game, for Gaston]: JEU – ” Le jeu sont fait – the game is up…“
- 46A: [Hardened with work, as hands]: CALLUSED – I misspelled this as “caloused” and missed that I had three Os in a row in 42D.
- 64A: [Drive insert from memorex]: CDR – Also a military abbreviation for the rank of Commander.
Quote of the week:
“Words are big. They define who you are. They are permanent. I don’t think most people realize that. What you say is who you are. So try to be gentle on social media. Lift others up when you can, even if you don’t agree with what they have to say. Don’t always turn your words into weapons when you can just as easily make them doves.”
— Jann Arden