I'm Still So Bad With Names

The title is true! This crossword has given me the opportunity to meet and interact with so many people on a weekly basis, and I truly love that - it’s one of my favourite parts of this project. However, the chance of me holding on to that sweet name of yours more than briefly after we meet is fleeting at best, unfortunately. I’ve got my techniques (spreadsheets solve everything lol) but if I do ask for your name two, three, or four times, it’s not you, it’s me 😅

This week’s puzzle may feel familiar to frequent solvers - it’s a fresh take on one of my favourite past themes.

Discussion (and spoilers!) below the break.

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I'm Still So Bad With Names by Brandon Cathcart

Discussion

Call me a movie studio the way I just rehash old IP into new content. Some themes are just too fun to do only once, though! I’m looking at you, Bad Inventions.

Not much music in today’s crossword! We do have the crosswordese musician ETTA James, though - not only does she appear in many crosswords for her convenient name, but she actually makes great music too! Who’da thought. Maybe you recognize this song from some more modern sampling of it?

Today’s Theme

Today we see a repeat of a previous theme I loved. I noticed some celebrity names are comprised entirely of real words. So naturally, you might accidentally confuse their names with synonyms for the words that make up their names!

["At least that one guy does some good with his millions... What's his name... something like Invoice For The Hinged Entrances to Fenced Areas? Oh, I'm thinking of ___"] BILL (Invoice For) GATES (The Hinged Entrances to Fenced Areas), of course!

["Man, I love any movie that Flower Blossoming Not Too Far From Walt Disney World is in. No sorry, I mean ___"] ORLANDO (Not Too Far From Walt Disney World) BLOOM (Flower Blossoming)!

["Steal Every Paint Colour Mixed Together is a great actor AND a great musician. That doesn't feel quite right... Oh! I'm talking about ___"] JACK (Steal) BLACK (Every Paint Colour Mixed Together)!

Behind the Clues

13A. One of the defining early internet memes was that of Chuck NORRIS. Statements about his intimidating manliness, like ["Chuck NORRIS doesn't read books. He stares them down until he gets the information he wants."] bring back fond memories of lolcats and the like.

17A. [It takes 4-5 kg of olives to produce 1 litre of this] is OIL, so you better appreciate that olive oil next time you drizzle it on a pan or over a salad. It’s also appropriate to say that you ate about 17 olives per tbsp of olive oil you use.

35A. I’m a big chips guy, and that includes a love of DORITOs. I’ve never had [Chip with a contradictory "Flamin' Hot Cool Ranch" flavour] but I kind of want to. However, I was alerted by my test solver to the fact that a single Doritos chip is called a Doritos, not a Dorito, as per the company’s official stance on Twitter. I do not endorse this statement.

1D. Few games that came out of the Wordle mania have stood the test of time. I’m sure many have their devoted fan bases, but one that has stuck around is the [Daily game where you guess a country by its shape] WORLDLE. I’ve never been great at geography but I’ve heard it can be enjoyable if you’re a huge nerd.

12D. [Guy who's into cooking] is a type of crossword clue we call a “hidden capital” or something, I can’t actually remember lol. But the purpose is to hide a proper noun by putting it at the start of the clue. In this case, it’s not just some guy we’re asking for, but the name Guy, and this points to Guy FIERI, who is apparently a very nice person :)

31D. Two references to know in [Prolific Toronto-based crossword constructor Nicole or programmer Lovelace]. If you like crosswords, you might like those by Ada Nicole, a fellow Canadian constructor who is far more prolific than I. A true inspiration! The second reference is a good bit of crosswordese to know - Ada Lovelace.

I hope you enjoyed this puzzle!

Until next week,

Brandon

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