Back at home this week – for those playing the “where was Brian?” game last week I was in San Francisco. I have a few trips coming up before the end of the year so maybe you’ll get the chance to play again soon. Unfortunately Barb had internet problems this week, so the puzzle got to me too late to complete it and the blog as I usually do Wednesday afternoon, so I’m posting this a day late.

  • Name: Where and When
  • Grid size: 15×15
  • Number of entries: 76
  • Difficulty: Medium Hard (my solve time: 6:43, but…)

I didn’t really see the theme until after I’d finished – it was a relatively quick solve (except for a couple of major snags – more on that below) and I kind of sped through the themers without really noticing them. As the revealer (67A) states, the themers all have a common “central feature” – three letters contained inside them are an abbreviation for a day of the week:

  • 17A: [Having a majestic presence]: STATUESQUE – I guess it’s a compliment to be compared to a statue… Tuesday afternoons sound nice.
  • 23A: [Marzipan nuts]: ALMONDS – To avoid gluten, we started using different types of flour in our baking and almond flour is quite nice, especially in cookies and cakes. I don’t like Mondays.
  • 26A: [Like burrito beans]: REFRIED – I never thought about it, but I guess the beans in many burritos are refried. I like Fridays, and I love this meme.
  • 35A: [Yellow bloom of the Mojave region]: DESERT SUNFLOWER – A small but pretty flower, especially when a lot of them are in bloom. I like Sunday mornings.
  • 49A: [Greeted a fellow dojo student]: BOWED TO – I guess it’s a tradition to bow to someone before you start fighting with them. I was born on a Wednesday so I am fond of that day. Also it’s hump day.
  • 51A: [“We’re neck and neck”]: ITS A TIE – “What’s that around your neck?” Everybody loves Saturdays.
  • 57A: [Final kick at the can]: LAST HURRAH – I’m not familiar with the idiom “final kick at the can” but I know this Thursday is my last hurrah of the work week as tomorrow is a holiday.

This was a fairly easy, except for two areas that cost me a clean solve: I though I had the cross of 58D and 66A correct and figured I could run the alphabet to get the cross at 38D/43A. After running the alphabet and not getting the “congratulations!” pop-up, my heart sunk and I scanned the grid for anything wrong. I found one typo in 57A, so corrected it and ran the alphabet again, sill no joy. So I reluctantly checked all letters and saw that “Pye” wasn’t the Poe character Arthur Gordon ___.

Canadian content:

  • 8D: [______ McLean, former host of “The Vinyl Cafe”]: STUART – I learned about “The Vinyl Cafe” around 2014 and listened to several episodes via podcast and enjoyed it. I was sad to hear of Stuart McLean’s death in 2017.
  • 28A: [Emily Carr’s favourite subject, maybe]: ART – I spent a bit of time in Victoria a few years ago and Emily Carr is big there.
  • 33D: [Ocean off Nfld.]: ATL – The Atlantic Ocean laps at the shores of Newfoundland.
  • 34D: [Grp. with Alouettes and Argonauts]: CFL – The Canadian Football League has these teams, but I’m still unsure what an “alouette” is.
  • 38D: [In Canada, it’s “dropped” before an election]: WRIT – I was totally clueless on this one and it contributed to my troubles with this puzzle. Is a “wait” dropped before an election? Maybe a “woit”? No idea about this.
  • 41A: [Grp. with skating Senators]: NHL – The Ottawa Senators appear to be having a rough start to the season.
  • 58D: [Service’s McGee]: SAM – Totally flummoxed by this one – I had in mind some sort of ritual like a church service, no idea it was referencing Robert Service.
  • 62A: [Levésque or Descartes]: RENE – René Lévesque served as the 23rd premier of Quebec from 1976 to 1985.

Other stuff:

  • 18D: [Some are lazy, some are black-eyed]: SUSANS – I knew this one right off since the Black-Eyed Susan is Maryland’s state flower. I have several of them growing in my yard – in areas that deer avoid, because contrary to what the internet says, they seem to be a delicacy for deer.
  • 43A: [Cashier’s wrist malady, e.g.: Abbr.]: RSI – I have never heard a repetitive strain injury referred to as an RSI. Well I guess now I have.
  • 66A: [Poe character Arthur Gordon ___]: PYM – Ashamed to say, as a resident of of the city of Poe’s final home and resting place, that I had no clue on this one.

Quote of the week:
“In Flanders Fields, the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.”
John McCrae