You’re the Boss

Happy New Year! I am finally able to take a break after more than a week of hosting family gatherings and having house guests. The cats are enjoying the quiet now that the house is back to some semblance of normal. And I don’t have to work today so there’s a good chance I’ll get the blog completed and ready to post before Barb sends to puzzle out to you all. Let’s take a look at the first ClassiCanadian puzzle of 2025.

• Name: You’re the Boss
• Grid size: 16×15
• Entries: 75
• Difficulty: Very Hard (my solve time: 11:37)

“You’re the Boss” didn’t give me much of a clue before solving as to what the theme might be, but once I got to the themers it became clear: the themers are all phrases (and a children’s book character) with another word (or non-word sound?) added to them which creates a slang term for “boss,” then clued punnily:

• 21A: [Boss of the Hundred Acre Wood?]: WINNIE THE POOHBAH – Winnie the Pooh is the classic children’s book character created by A. A. Milne in 1925. A poobah is satirical slang for a person who holds multiple public or private offices, may be in a high position or of great influence, and may be pompous or self-important. The term derives from the character Pooh-Bah from Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic opera “The Mikado.”
• 26A: [Gas station boss?]: TANK TOP BANANA – A tank top is a casual sleeveless shirt, usually close-fitting. It is named after tank suits, which are one-piece bathings suits that were popular in the 1920s. Top banana is a slang term used to identify a boss or the head of an organization. It originated in the burlesque theater, from a  popular comedy skit in which the leading comedian was given a banana after delivering the punch line. The act and joke were so widely known that the term began to be used to refer to the headline act in the show, and eventually made it into popular usage outside the theater.
• 49A: [Emulate the boss’s lingo?]: TALK BIG CHEESE – To talk big is to make grandiose statements or say you’re going to do something that isn’t backed up by actions. These types of people are said to be “all talk” with “and no action” left implied. The slang term big cheese apparently originates from the Persian or Hindi word chiz (चीज़), meaning “a thing” that was used in English initially to mean something fine or important (“the thing”) and eventually evolved to the dairy product.
• 58A: [Sidewalk crew boss?]: CEMENT HEAD HONCHO – Though I’m not familiar with the term, I’m pretty sure a cement head is someone without common sense, like a blockhead, bonehead, dummkopf, or [insert your favourite dense, hard substance here] head. Or it may be the device fitted to the top joint of a casing string to hold a cement plug before it is pumped down the casing during the cementing operation. Head honcho originates from the Japanese word hanchō, which means “leader of the squad, section, or group” and is roughly equivalent to the military rank of sergeant. The term became popular with U.S. soldiers during WWII and gained wider usage during the Korean War.

To start the new year Barb gave us a larger-than-usual (16×15) grid, and (at least for me) a few challenges that cost me a clean solve. Details on my problems with specific words are in “Other stuff” below, but two main areas hung me up: The areas around 28D/35A and 61D/63A. In the former, I knew 48A was either carats or karats, but both worked with 28D and I chose wrong. I also struggled with 23D, 25A, and really wanted 35A to be “aglet.” Those issues led me to not get the happy pop-up when I made guesses at both 61D and 63A, neither of which I knew (or in the case of 61D, have ever heard of). It was fascinating to investigate the meaning of these slang terms for “boss;” I encourage you to click on some of the links I included above and do your own deep dive. There are plenty more boss synonyms that weren’t used in the puzzle, most of them starting with “big” – maybe Barb will create another puzzle using those in the future.

Canadian content:

• 28D: [Blue Jays pitcher Manoah]: ALEK – Alek Manoah has played for the Toronto Blue Jays his entire time in the big leagues (since 2021) and has a career ERA of 3.34.
• 33D: [Angus Reid data]: POLL – The Angus Reid Institute is “Canada’s Non-Profit Foundation Committed to Independent Research.”
• 37D: [Pelee Island locale]: LAKE ERIE – Pelee Island is the largest island in Lake Erie and the southernmost populated point in Canada.
• 47D: [Toronto law school ___ Hall]: OSGOODE – Osgoode Hall is the law school of York University.
• 62A: [Juno or Emmy]: AWARD – The Junos are the Canadian Grammys.
• 64A: [“The Great One,” till 1988]: OILER – Wayne Gretzky played for the Edmonton Oilers until he moved to the Los Angeles Kings in 1988.
• 65A: [“The Magnificent One” Lemieux]: MARIO – Mario Lemieux played 17 seasons for the Pittsburgh Penguins and was born in Montreal in 1965.

Other stuff:

• 3D: [Overturn]: Similarly to 6A, I initially thought this was the more-commonly seen “upset.”
• 6A: [Trounce]: LICK – I knew it would be a tough solve when this answer didn’t turn out to be rout.
• 23D: [“… there ___ square”]: OR BE – I completely missed the reference here though I am very familiar with the phrase “be there or be square.”  I just couldn’t think of it with only the two bracketing words around “or be.”
• 25A: [Online payment method]: EPURSE – I am not a huge fan of “e-” formations used for online or “high tech” ways of doing things. Some I’m OK with or grudgingly accept: e-commerce, and even etail. But this one makes my naughty list particularly because it appears to have very limited usage in specific payment systems, so not in general use.
• 29D: [In apple-pie order]: NEAT – I initially thought Barb had committed a constructing no-no and used a very similar entry twice in a grid. As is usually the case, it was on me and I eventually realized “to a T” was not the right answer for this clue and therefore it didn’t repeat 19A.
• 34A: [Half of an Orkan greeting]: NANU – I realize as I get older that I should start including explanations for entries that had major cultural significance to me, but may be totally lost on younger generations. In this case, “nanu nanu” was the greeting that the alien Mork (from Ork) used on “Mork and Mindy.”
• 61D: [Be gutsy, in the sticks]: DAST – Oof, this one hurt. I had absolutely no idea on this and had to really search hard (DAST is an apparently widely-used web security testing method) to find that it is an archaic synonym of “dare.”
• 63A: [Cupid’s instrument, in Italy]: ARPA – I had a vague recollection of knowing this at some time, but then got confused when I thought “instrument” might not be musical, and may refer to Cupid’s bow (arco). And misspelling 39D and being completely lost on 61D didn’t help. ARPA also stands for “automatic radar plotting aid” for future reference…

Quote of the week:
“We have a tendency to exalt ourselves and to dwell on the weaknesses and mistakes of others. I have come to realize that in every person there is something fine and pure and noble, along with a desire for self-fulfillment. Political and religious leaders must attempt to provide a society within which these human attributes can be nurtured and enhanced.”
– Jimmy Carter (from his 1975 book “Why Not the Best?”)