Don't Draw Any Conclusions

Happy Friday! This week I write to you from a friend’s house in Vancouver, which has made me reflect on the many paths life can take us in. Can you imagine if I lived in Vancouver and tried to start this publication here? YVRwords? Vancouswords? Yikes. We sometimes take for granted how fortunate were are to live in a city where the airport code is a pronounceable phrase - please take a moment to look up to the sky and thank the International Air Transport Association for giving us this blessing. 🙏

Also, wow! A sincere thank you to the enthusiasm you showed for the (first) You Can Make A Crossword workshop. It sold out its 15 seats over last weekend, raising $215 for the Edmonton Food Bank! Don’t worry if you missed it - I will plan a second date of it soon, likely in January, and you’ll be the first to hear about it here.

This week’s crossword is a return to wordplay form after last week’s goofy crossword by Jeff. There may be a few tricky sections, but don’t worry - you’ve got this, and have fun!

Discussion (and spoilers!) below the break.

Play

Don’t Draw Any Conclusions by Brandon Cathcart

Discussion

Don’t worry - if you felt this week and last week’s puzzles were trickier, you’d be right. While I love both of them (and if you were looking for a little more of a challenge, there you go), I feel the difficulty might have been creeping up lately. If that’s been tough for you, sorry! My suggestions for tougher puzzles:

• Try solving it with a friend or two!

• Put it down and come back to it - you’ll be surprised at how effective this is

• Treat it as an opportunity to learn some new things :)

One of the harder clues you might not have heard of is Jai alai - a niche but very cool sport. Here’s a rundown for you! (And tuck it into your brain - it comes up once in a while in crosswords)

Today’s Theme

The four longest across slots in the grid are the “themers” - three are starred theme answers, and the last is the revealer. Unfortunately, the theme answers don’t quite fit - that’s where our revealer, [A long way from being done... or a hint to the ends of 11-Across, 16-Across, and 31-Across] comes in. The answer to this is NO END IN SIGHT, so for our other theme answers, we have to remove the end of the word meaning “sight”…

[* Stick your head out from around a corner, say] is SNEAK A GLANC(E)

[* A good way to take it all in] is BIRDS EYE VIE(W)

[* Singular focus] is TUNNEL VISIO(N)

Behind the Clues

23A. Referencing the Barbie movie has become a bit of a staple in crosswords since its release, which is affirming of its cultural significance (as if it needed that lol). There were many notable names in that movie, two of which where [Simu Liu and Ryan Gosling, in a certain movie], who played KENS.

36A. Talk about phrases etched into your brain. ["___ from me, dawg" (Randy Jackson on American Idol)] is something I think about saying way too often, but bite my tongue because I don’t think it’s been cool since like 2006. IT’S A NO from me on retiring it completely, though.

42A. Finally, some good music! ["___' It Right" (Daft Punk song from Random Access Memories)] is DOIN’ It Right, and man, I don’t know what it is about this song. It’s simple and repetitive, but the way it builds, the laid back energy, it works for me.

2D. [Second point under the first point in a list] is a correct, though purposefully confusing, clue for you to parse. While lists vary, in this case, the list is numbered with lettered sub points, like many official documents. So the second point under the first point will be 1. b., or ONE B.

10D. Put me on record for saying I don’t like this, but sometimes, as a constructor, you have to do it. [Phishing or ransomware, perhaps] is ECRIME, as in E-CRIME, as in internet crime, and while I don’t like this “we can just put an ‘e’ with a word (or last bit of a word) and now it’s online” (emeet, evite, etail, looking at you). But hey, I tried taking it out but the grid was too constrained. Just know it’s a thing that you can do in puzzles.

32D. [Prefix with skeleton (the type that us humans have)] is a clue inspired by the beautifully weird Fringe show Anatomica: A Comedy About Meat, Bones, & The Skin You're In. If Amica decides to bring it back to the Edmonton Fringe next year, please go see it - it’s such a treat. The answer is ENDO, by the way.

I hope you enjoyed this puzzle!

Until next Friday,

Brandon