Hi all.
Jeffrey here.
Some themes are subtle and may not be noticed by solvers. Others, like today, should be pretty obvious. “A One and a Two” is this week’s puzzle title and the theme answers all have the middle consonant doubled in the second word. But you knew that already.
18a [Pen enclosing the Great Barrier Reef?] – CORAL CORRAL.
24a [Bread burgled from a German bakery?] – STOLEN STOLLEN.
36a [One trimming a sharpshooter’s hair?]– SNIPER SNIPPER.
51a [Doing an employee evaluation on a narc?]– RATING RATTING.
59a [Crooner Michael’s COVID-safe circle?]– BUBLĒ BUBBLE. Canada’s own.
More Canadian content:
63a [Toronto arts magazine] – NOW.
66a [Efile recipient] – CRA. Canada Revenue Agency. EFILE is when you use a tax preparer. NETFILE is when you do it yourself.
33d [“That’s Hockey” TV channel] – TSN.
50d [A “Battle of Alberta” hockey team] – OILERS of Edmonton, battling the Calgary Flames.
52d [Part of P.E.I.: Abbr.] – ISL. Prince Edward Island.
Mystery solved Department:
10d [Google hits booster, in webspeak] – SEO. Search Engine Optimization. Every time I write my blog, there is a SEO score out of 100 listed. I never knew what that was until now. Today’s post is 83/100. Is that good?
Tip of the Week:
Once you figure out the theme, it can be very easy to solve the remaining theme answers. The second halves of the theme answers are instantly known once you get the first word.
See you next week!