I forgot to wish everyone a happy June last week, so here’s Happy June to you a week late! I started my new job this week so time is flying by as I attend meetings, meet new co-workers, and drink form the firehose of knowledge that comes along with a new job. So let’s get to this week’s puzzle:
- Title: Working for the Weekend
- Grid size: 15×15
- Number of entries: 74
- Difficulty: Medium Hard (my solve time: 7:34)
Barb called my attention to the title when she sent me the puzzle as she was afraid it might be too obvious, but I was completely oblivious to the theme until I got to the revealer, which is likely one of the last clues most solvers will read (except for you start-in-the SE weirdos) so it provided a nice “a-ha!” moment for me. All the themers are common phrases where the first syllable is phonetically one of the letters in the “joyful cry” Thank God It’s Friday or TGIF:
- 21A: [Classroom favourite]: TEACHERS PET – I guess I knew this wouldn’t be POP QUIZ, but didn’t catch on that what we were looking for here was “T.”
- 30A: [Fictional spirit uncorked by a fisherman]: GENIE IN A BOTTLE – Gee, I never guessed that we were looking for “G” in this one.
- 40A: [Stirring suspicion, skepticism or surprise]: EYEBROW RAISING – “I” completely missed this, and this was the 2nd most difficult themer for me to get, after…
- 51A: [Fizzes]: EFFERVESCES – This one cost me a clean solve and upped my difficulty rating a notch or two. I had the word “effloresces” stuck in my mind and couldn’t make it fit (duh), so ultimately had to check to see what I had wrong. Missing the tense in the clue for 48D exacerbated the problem.
- 65A [Joyful cry found phonetically in the first syllables of 21-, 30-, 40- and 51-Across]: TGIF – the self explanatory revealer.
While I didn’t really struggle with the solve at first, it just felt a little “off” to me. And then I had the troubles with the final themer. I probably could have figured it out without checking the grid, but I was running a little late and got impatient. So while my time is actually slightly faster than my average solve time, which means I would have normally graded Medium or even Medium Easy, I called this one Medium Hard, as I imagine I won’t be the only one who had problems with 51A.
Canadian content
- 18A: [One of four on Québec’s flag]: FLEUR DE LYS – I always forget whether it’s “du” or “de,” and whether it’s “lis” or “lys.”
- 33D: [Ian & Sylvia’s surname]: TYSON – Needed all the crosses to get the last name of this folk duo that was popular in the 60’s and early 70’s.
- 45D: [Unique First Nation of Canada’s prairies]: MÉTIS – I have heard David Ridgen refer to this First Nation in his excellent podcast, but I didn’t know exactly how it was spelled. So I learned something!
- 47D: [Argonaut or Alouette]: CFLER – I thought the pairing of these two terms was odd, then remembered the Canadian Football League.
- 49A [Bell Centre or Rogers Place]: ARENA – As a baseball fan I’m familiar with Rogers Center, but not Rogers Place, and was completely unaware of Bell Centre.
- 61A: [Nunavut peoples]: INUIT – Inuit appears frequently in crosswords so this was fairly easy to get.
Other stuff:
- 1D: [Laze around]: LOAF – If you see this clue, it’s either this or LOLL.
- 9D: [Notes bewfore Mi]: DO RE – Tip for Scrabble players: all the “notes” are valid 2-letter words.
- 25A: [Hardens with use]: ENURE – I always have to think twice about whether this starts with an E or an I. I also read three different websites that tried to explain the difference and I still don’t know which to use when.
- 43A: [Orpheus’s strings]: LYRE – I knew this right off as I used to live within walking distance of a large statue of Orpheus at Fort McHenry.
Advice of the week:
Before you go to use a transit pass that you haven’t used in over two years, check to make sure it’s still valid or at least bring a back-up pass.