COOL S

There is a very good chance that if you are reading this newsletter, you know of (maybe by another name) the Cool S. A symbol that has appeared likely hundreds of times in the margins of school notebooks and maybe, just maybe, in several copies of the school’s French-English dictionary (don’t tell my teachers).

Three lines on top, three lines on the bottom, connect them - it’s a weirdly prevalent part of school culture for many people. In the Wikipedia article about it, they manage to describe the steps to drawing it in possibly the coolest way - using Cartesian coordinates. Can this S get any cooler?

It’s been years since I’ve drawn one (RIP) but this week, I’ve drawn one in grid form. And hey - maybe you should take a moment to draw one too. For old times’ sake.

Discussion (and spoilers!) below the break.

Play

Discussion

This is the most anti-crossword crossword I’ve made yet - but hey, this isn’t the New York Times. I make the rules around here.

This week’s puzzle had a lot of references in it - mostly, I feel like we stayed away from “trivia for trivia’s sake” and leaned into “trivia with fun connections and moments”. But it did get a little obscure at times, so hopefully it was either nostalgic, or at least doable lol.

Today’s Theme

The grid looks like a Cool S! Otherwise no official theme, making this possibly the first technically themeless puzzle. However, since we’re going back in time with the Cool S feelings, I put more niche-ish references from my childhood that we’ll dive into in today’s…

Tricky Clues

7A. Heathers (1988) is a cult classic and a big movie in our household. It’s my partner’s favourite movie, and you know what? It’s become one of mine, after watching it about 7 times now lol. It’s Winona Ryder in a dark teen comedy dripping with 80s vibes. Highly recommend. In an early scene, they go around gathering answers in what they call the Lunchtime Poll - so the answer here is POLLS.

15A. I was fortunate to have grown up with the first seasons of Spongebob Squarepants, and it was the show. And while there’s lots of lines and references knocking around the brain, today’s was about Dirty DAN and Pinhead Larry.

22A. [Low-___ (potato quality, as an img)] is likely worth explaining. On the internet, potato quality is a term from the early-ish internet that isn’t as widespread today, but has stuck around some. “Man, did you record this with a potato?” might be said if your image or video is low-RES.

2D. [One "minding the gap" at the Tube] is referencing the London transit system, which could point to COMMUTER, which fits, but in this case, I’m looking for LONDONER.

4D. Oh boy, here’s a reference I didn’t think I’d be making. [2009 web series "___ With Hats" about two animals getting into hijinks] is looking for LLAMAS With Hats (tw: cartoon violence), by the maker of Charlie the Unicorn. Caaaarrrrlllll…

29D - 37D. I just wanted to point out the section of this crossword I have named “The B Zone”. [Big ball bowling], [Barracks beds], and [Bout-ender, briefly] - 3 full back-to-back clues of only words beginning with B. What a treat this is, for everyone.

I hope you enjoyed this puzzle! And hey, I’m looking for guest constructors this summer - if you want to try making a puzzle, shoot me a message! It’s fun and I’ll give you a hand :)

Until next Friday,

Brandon