Let's Chillax

I feel like I should take a cue from this week’s title. There are two wolves inside me - one that is bursting with ideas, projects, and a desire to live life maximally; and a second that wants to just chill, play video games, and gaze upon a calendar that is blissfully sparse. YEGwords is a product of Wolf #1, which, for better or worse, is the dominant one these days. Which means:

1. I get to have fun sharing crosswords with people who enjoy them

2. It’s taking me literal months to get through just the first 2 seasons of “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” a show with 23-minute episodes

Let this week’s crossword be a reminder to slow down, spend time with friends, and try not to work too hard. And what better place to start than with a crossword puzzle :)

Discussion (and spoilers!) below the break.

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Let’s Chillax by Brandon Cathcart

Discussion

Today’s puzzle might’ve leaned on the harder side, so if it gave you some difficulty, you certainly aren’t alone! With longer theme answers, it can be more difficult to get clean, simple “fill” (or non-theme entries), often leading to a tougher solve. You don’t get better at puzzles without a tougher one here or there, so consider it my service to you ;)

I got to sneak in one of my favourite songs of all time this week, “Soul Meets Body” by Death Cab for Cutie. It gets stuck in my head every time.

Today’s Theme

Today’s theme clues are in italics, and all are split across two entries (for no reason but that some were too long otherwise lol). Each is a phrase relating to a place for relaxing, chilling out… but with a question mark at the end, meaning a bit of lateral thinking might help us. The clues and answers:

1A. With 5-Across, a place to hang? is a place to hang (up jackets) - a COAT RACK

14A. With 17-Across, a place to catch "Up"? is where you can watch a certain Pixar film - a MOVIE THEATRE

26A. With 33-Across, a place to kick back? is where you can return a pass - SOCCER PRACTICE

Behind the Clues

12A. I found out when making this puzzle that [The Government of Canada has a whole page online about making a "citizen's" one (that starts with "maybe don't" lol)]. This refers to a Citizen’s ARREST, which you can learn about at the link. I hope I never have to, and the government hopes I don’t either lol.

19A. [1/1000 of 1/60 of 1/60 of an hr] is a bit of math to work through, with the answer being 1/60 hr = min, 1/60 min = sec, 1/1000 sec = MSEC. Someone smarter than me probably knows why hours and seconds don’t follow our metric world, but that’s above my pay grade.

38A. A fun little question mark clue, [Ones that have fiery moments?] alludes to someone who has outbursts or angry tendencies - however, we mean literal fire in this case, as would be the case for PYROS.

7D. Few drinks are as versatile and customizable as the noble Caesar. [Garnish that makes a Caesar cocktail feel healthier (it's mostly tomatoes anyway, right?)] is CELERY, though it ranks relatively tame on the garnish potential. Most pictures of Caesars make me wonder - does anyone actually want this? lol

10D. Sometimes you watch an animal complete a task or reason their way through the world in a way that feels too human. I had this moment with octopuses a while ago that made it a lot harder to eat my beloved takoyaki balls… another is the [Bird considered to be among the most intelligent animals on the planet], the CROW. Watch a video of a crow crafting and using tools and tell me they’re just instinct-driven animals, I dare you.

34D/36D. A fun double clue to end our puzzle, we have two procedural TV shows:

[Long-running TV show whose Miami version opens with The Who's iconic "YEAHHH!"]
[Long-running TV show whose cast wear a lot of lab coats and scrubs]

Both are acronyms too, making them even more tied. The first, the iconic CSI, and the second, the iconic ER. Neither of which I’ve watched, and if I’m being honest, never will.

I hope you enjoyed this puzzle!

Until next week,

Brandon

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