Hockey Night in Canada

Sports! Sports! Sports! As the last-place team in my friends’ fantasy hockey pool (for now), let’s just say I know a thing or two about the ol’ stick puck. Just some good ol’ Canadian boys taking it from one end to the other, hip checking, high sticking, and you know we put in our best effort in the third but Anderson was feeling slow after his penalty earlier and Kucherov was playing well, keeping it tight, so we just couldn’t quite get the puck past in the net and we’ll get ‘em next time. It probably doesn’t help that I drafted my team based on how well they imitate their team’s goal horn (hey, if they don’t know it well, they aren’t scoring enough).

Like any trivia category, it’s good to have a few hockey tidbits in your back pocket to help you solve those pesky clues when they come up in puzzles. I’m not going to say that’ll help you with today’s puzzle, but next time a clue asks [Chicago Blackhawks’ goal horn], you’ll know it’s DUH DUH DAH DAH DAH DUH DUH.

Discussion (and spoilers!) below the break.

Play

Hockey Night in Canada by Brandon Cathcart

Discussion

I made two versions of this puzzle this week - the one you see here, then another where the revealer was CENTRE ICE instead of ICE. That felt better, but unfortunately the grid overall became more difficult and it ended up being less fun of a puzzle. Maybe I’ll release the rejected version as a bonus puzzle someday!

It was a notably low-music puzzle today, with one of two musical appearances being the theme answer PUBLIC ENEMY. Nothing wrong with a little anti-establishment 90’s hip-hop!

Today’s Theme

There are three starred theme answers here, with the 40-Across revealer [Centre ___ (26.5 metres from either net and a hint to the starred answers)]. This is, of course, centre ICE, and you’ll notice that each of the theme answers have the letters ICE right in the middle. Sorry if seeing those letters together is triggering right now - it didn’t bother me when I was making it, but it hits a little different in light of recent events.

Behind the Clues

10A. Maybe I’m showing my age with [2000s emo band whose name is an initialism], but hey, we all have our musical eras we’re fond of. AFI stands for A Fire Inside - that’s a perfect emo band name if I’ve ever heard it.

17A. I just got to see the Harlem Globetrotters when they came to Edmonton, and it was a great show. Naturally, I had to put a clue about them. [Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton (a former Harlem Globetrotter) was the second black person signed in this org.] is NBA, not a hard clue but a fun fact.

25A. This is a bit of lesser-known trivia, but one you’ll appreciate knowing. [Silent close-up magician Shin] is Shin LIM. I found him after he was on Penn & Teller’s Fool Us years ago, and his performance was incredible. Plus he’s Canadian! Very cool.

3D. I’ve had a soft goal of picking up a bit of ASL again (I used to know a handful [pun intended] when I was a kid). Two that I do remember are “please” and “thank you.” So now you know that if you [Say "please" by rubbing your tummy, e.g.], you are SIGNing with a bit of ASL.

22D. As I write this, I’m getting ready to play D&D tonight, so [Self-reflection question asked by many "chaotic neutral" D&D players] is top of mind. Maybe you play a perfect, clean, heroic game of Dungeons and Dragons, but pretty well every group I’ve been a part of has at least one character who has… ambiguous morals. “It’s what my character would do!”

28D. [Modern-day pyramid, for short] is a funny thing to think about. Egyptians built huge, incredible stone pyramids. We built MLMs. So we’re kind of the same.

I hope you enjoyed this puzzle!

Until next week,

Brandon