Welcome to May everyone! While the weather is fairly nice here in Baltimore, western Maryland is getting snow. They say Maryland is the USA in miniature, with a little bit of everything – ocean, bay, mountains, big cities, small towns, etc. – but I didn’t think that extended to the weather. No matter the weather, I hope you can find time to start your day with a tasty puzzle this week.

• Name: What’s for Breakfast?
• Grid size: 15×15
• Number of entries: 70
• Difficulty: Easy (my solve time: 6:05)

Not much hidden in the title – the theme is a list of potential breakfast choices:

• 1A: [Breakfast choice #1: Baked fare]: MUFFIN – This was the last themer I got, and one of the last of any entries I got. While the theme was pretty obvious from the start, for the life of me I couldn’t think of a baked breakfast item – had “Danish” stuck in my head for a long time.
• 18A: [#2: Folded fare]: OMELETTE – While this is my preferred spelling, I have usually seen it as “omelet” in puzzles. Historical data bears this out: the NY Times puzzle has included “omelette” 36 times vs. 177 times for “omelet.”
• 28A: [#3: Dimpled fare]: WAFFLES – There is nothing like a stack of hot a crispy fresh-made waffles with butter and syrup pooling in the indentations… yum.
• 33A: [#4: Egg-dunked fare]: FRENCH TOAST – I wonder what the French call it – probably American Toast.
• 41A: [#5: Mushy fare]: OATMEAL – I rarely eat oatmeal as it’s own dish, but usually make a hybrid dish of oatmeal…
• 54A: [#6: Flat fare]: PANCAKES – Yes – oatmeal pancakes are a frequent Sunday breakfast dish.
• 61A: [#7: Flaky fare]: CEREAL – I guess Frosted Flakes and Special K and the like are flaky, but not these (though they are pleasently crispy, until they sop up the milk).

I’ll have a #2 with cream cheese and smoked salmon, and a stack of #6 with maple syrup, and a side of… wait, no back bacon?!
I saw a lot of white space when I first opened the grid, and a little bird had hinted to me that this one might be tough, so I was a bit worried when I had trouble breaking into the NW. But I soon started getting random entries and soon settled into a nice rhythm, moving generally counter clockwise around the grid, and returning to mop things up, ending with 6D, with which I am unfamiliar.

Canadian content:

• 19A: [Roughriders’ prov.]: SASK – Easy to enter this one this week because the Saskatchewan Roughriders were in a clue for last week’s puzzle.
• 24A: [Collecting the C.P.P, maybe]: RETD – If you are collecting from the Canadian Pension Plan you are probably retired.
• 39D: [Jully Black sang it with the lyric “our home on native land”]: O CANADA – I was unaware of this singer, but will check out her website with I believe has a video of her performance of “O Canada”.
• 52D: [Dream, in Drummondville]: REVE – Yes, but do you dream of being in Drummondville?

Other stuff:

• 2D: [Like shunned servings, maybe]: UNEATEN – Maybe the muffin was unappetizing?
• 4D: [Woodstock music genre]: FOLK – I had “rock” in here for a long time, and I think for good reason.
• 6D: [Virtual dog or cat on a kid’s website]: NEOPET – Apparently I’m of a generation that was not exposed to this web game.
• 7A: [Seafood-filled shell]: FISH TACO – The clue is deliciously (ha!) deceiving – I initially was thinking of something like a clam or oyster. Also, maybe it’s the fact that I was primed by the theme, but there seems to be a lot of eating-related fill in this puzzle; wonder if that was intentional or just a happy coincidence?
• 37A: [Eat like a horse]: GRAZE – At first I thought it was something like GNASH, but then I mentally pictured how a horse eats and realized it was something more gentle. Another eating-related entry.
• 58A: [Totally trounced]: ATE ALIVE – More eating-related fill.

Quote of the week:

“Does anyone know where the love of god goes / When the waves turn the minutes to hours?”
-Gordon Lightfoot