I’ve been quite busy and am running a little behind today so let’s just jump right into this week’s puzzle.
- Name: Seeing Double
- Size: 15×15
- Entries: 74
- Difficulty: Easy (my solve time: 6:03)
I did a puzzle in the past week that had a similar title and the theme used repeated words or something like that, so I had that in mind when I started. However, this puzzle has a very different theme – the themers are common phrases with one of the letters in the first word of the phrase repeated, making it another word, then the phrase is clued punnily for the new meaning:
- 17A: [Helsinkian actor’s delivery?]: FINNISH LINE: Tomi Kristian Smeds is the first name that came up when I googled “finnish playwright” so he would probably write a Finnish line for an actor from Helsinki. I don’t know if he is also a competitive runner, but if so, he may be found running to the finish line.
- 24A: [Barista’s evening meal?]: LATTE FOR DINNER – This one had me flummoxed for a while until I got the theme and saw that the original phrase was late to dinner. I would definitely be late to dinner if we were just having lattes, because I’d stop on the way home for a burger or something more substantial.
- 35A: [“Gesundheit or “Doppelgänger,” e.g.?]: BONN MOT – Those are indeed German words, though I guess someone French is identifying them. But I don’t know if either would be considered a bon mot.
- 48A: [Nacho dip made from wreath boughs?]: HOLLY GUACAMOLE – “Holy guacamole, that would be awful!”
- 57A: [Ocean destination for cake lovers?]: DESSERT ISLE – Now that’s a cruise destination I’m on board (ha!) for. Much better than a desert isle, which is cartoon cliche.
Back to quick solves again after a month or so of relatively slow ones. It would have been faster if I had figured out the theme/gimmick sooner. I had that other puzzle in my head, and also initially thought there was some international thing going on (Finn, Bonn). There were a few potential snags that I somehow avoided – lots of less-familiar-to-me longish fill like 3D and 61A, some odd shorter or partial phrases – but otherwise quite smooth.
Canadian content:
- 30D: [Toronto-based fin. giant]: RBC – The Royal Bank of Canada is a big one in T.O.
- 46A: [Little kiss, in Québecois]: BEC – While I had seen this word used for kiss before, I only now learned it is Québecois.
- 47A: [TSN topics: Abbr.]: ATHS – Athletics (and athletes too, I guess) are the main programming on The Sports Network. I’m trying to figure out how to get access to it here in the States to watch The Brier starting this weekend.
- 52D: [Montreal subway]: METRO – Also the name of the Washington, D.C. subway system.
- 65A: [Bluenose pronoun]: SHE – This one took me a little while until I realized “Bluenose” referred to the ship. While it’s really best to refer to inanimate objects using neuter pronouns, years of habit are hard for me to break, so I still often use “she” and “her” when I talk about ships.
Quote of the week:
“One never reaches home, but wherever friendly paths intersect the whole world looks like home for a time.”
– Hermann Hesse (from “Demian“)