The beat goes on. The weather got a bit milder (thankfully still seasonal) this past week, but we’re about to get hit with several storms over the next few days. An ice storm is predicted for tomorrow, snow over the weekend, and another snowstorm likely next week. So I’ve laid in more firewood and am still keeping a wary eye on the furnace (which has behaved so far). Time to get someplace cozy and solve this week’s puzzle.
- Name: Bar Jokes
- Grid size: 15×15
- Entries: 76
- Difficulty: Very Easy (my solve time: 5:15)
“Bar Jokes” had me thinking of themers with clues like “A rabbi, a minister, and a priest walk into a bar. The rabbi says…..” but no luck. We’re talking about a different kind of bar here – the legal one. The themers are phrases clued punnily to twist the meaning of a word in the phrase from it’s original use to one having to do with the law:
- 17A: [Defendant’s failed court proceeding?]: HEARING LOSS – If you have hearing loss, you have a deficiency in your auditory system. If you did not get a favorable decision while standing trial, you have suffered a hearing loss.
- 24A: [Result of a too-small jury box?]: PEER PRESSURE – Peer pressure can lead to some poor life choices. A group of citizens who are empaneled to sit judgement on you are a jury of your peers.
- 37A: [Convicted one’s lengthy jail term?]: RUN ON SENTENCE – When writing a post for this blog, I sometimes catch myself going on and on, and on review before publishing the post have to edit my writing to break up a run-on sentence. I guess if you have been convicted and sentenced to a longer term in jail than you expected, that sentence would run on, and on, and on…
- 50A: [Court exhibit filled with helium?]: TRIAL BALLOON – A trial balloon is when you publicize an idea or proposal, often before a smaller audience, to see how it is received. Hopefully it’s not a lead balloon (or Zeppelin). I guess if Pennywise was ever brought to justice, part of the evidence at the trial would be a balloon.
- 59A: [Legal filing against a sun tanner?]: BATHING SUIT – A piece (or pieces) of clothing designed to be worn into the water for fun or sport is a bathing suit. If you file a lawsuit against someone who is sun bathing, I guess that would be another type of bathing suit.
Err, ummm, well… I can’t say I liked this theme that much. I guess the basic theme itself was OK – it’s reliably fun to change the meaning of something and then clue it punnily – but these just didn’t seem to land all that well for me. “Peer” is pretty loosely linked to the law, and it takes a stretch of the imagination to make “run-on” apply to punishment imposed by the law; i.e., you might refer to a harsh sentence, or one that is overly-long, but run-on seems clunky. Of course, it is entirely possible this impression is due to my current frame of mind, but let’s not go there. Having said that, this was a solid, if somewhat easy, puzzle to solve. There were a few spots that slowed me down, and I had to run the alphabet to get 44A/45D, but my solve time was in the 97th percentile of the 348 ClassiCanadian puzzles I’ve solved to date. The law is the inspiration for the choice of this week’s quote.
Canadian content:
- 8D: [B.C. classical musical grp.]: VSO – I had the “O,” and the first place I think of in BC is Vancouver, so the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra fit the bill.
- 12D: [Molson Canadian and Labatt Blue]: LAGER BEERS – I’m somewhat of a beer buff and while I haven’t had them recently, I have fond memories of enjoying a cold one of these beers while in Windsor, or Quebec City, or St. Johns. Of course in Halifax, it’s Alexander Keith’s all the way.
- 19A: [CFL three-pointers: Abbr.]: FGS – A field goal will earn you three points in the Canadian Football League.
- 44A: [Univ. in Antigonish, N.S.]: STFX– This is a completely new one for me. I have never heard of St. Francis Xavier University but it’s the top hit when you google STFX.
- 65A: [Actress Tremblay or Thompson]: EMMA – Emma Tremblay was born in Vancouver, BC, and is known for her roles in Elysium and The Giver.
Other stuff:
- 1A: [Throat woes, for short]: STREPS – This got me off to an awkward start, as pluralizing “strep” didn’t sit well with me. I guess technically “streps” is an abbreviation for streptococcus (also presented as “strep’s”) which is/are throat woes, but I don’t think “strep” can be pluralized.
- 2D: [“Star ___”]: TREK – This has got to be some sort of generational sorting test. I initially (and confidently) entered “WARS” in here. I posit that that solidly places me in Gen X. Whereas confidently entering “TREK” makes you a Boomer.
- 45D: [Popular anxiety drug, informally]: XAN – Had to run the alphabet for this one, and if I had something else wrong in the grid I would have been stumped. I guess this is short for xanax, but PAN looked fine to me, as would have BAN or CAN or DAN… or VAN.
Quote of the week:
“I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.”
– Thomas Jefferson
PS: As mentioned last week (but some may have missed it), I have an idea to create a blog entry that defines various crossword-specific terms I use in my posts. I could link to that post for specific definitions when I use them. Let me know in the comments below if you think that would be useful, and if there are any terms I should include in such a glossary.