Reading Misprints

Happy Canadian Independent Bookstore Day (tomorrow)! And more specifically, in Edmonton, Happy Edmonton Indie Bookstore Extravaganza!

I’m no stranger to good books - I’d even go as far as to say I enjoy them. And while I am an avid supporter and user of the library, sometimes a book is so good you have to own a copy yourself, just so you can gush about it to friends when they happen to notice it artfully placed on the corner of your coffee table. And if that’s not what supporting your local bookstore is all about, then I’m genuinely at a loss.

This week’s puzzle is an homage to books everywhere, and quite a treat - if our usual puzzles together are a scoop of ice cream, this is the full banana split, with almost double the puzzle fun!

Discussion (and spoilers!) below the break.

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Reading Misprints by Brandon Cathcart

Discussion

It was fun to stretch the muscles a bit and do a full-size puzzle after doing so many midis! The last time I did was at the start of January, coming back from winter break. I had noted this theme idea at some point, but realized there weren’t enough very popular book titles with short enough names to fit a smaller grid. Honestly, maybe one day it’ll get a Sunday-special 21×21! Who knows…

Quite a few music references today, but I’ll showcase an incredible performance by Sha Na Na that I can’t watch without smiling :)

Today’s Theme

Today’s theme consists of four theme entries along with a revealer. Each theme entry is clued as a description of a story or book, and the revealer is 68-Across: [With 69-Across, no longer needing a script - or a description of 15-, 27-, 48-, and 60-Across]?

“No longer needing a script” is OFF BOOK, which is our hint to the theme answers - each is an “off” book, a.k.a. a book title that has been modified a bit, ranging from a letter off to a whole word.

[A group of kids are trapped inside a McDonald's, leading to savagery (and oil burns)] sounds kind of like Lord of the Flies… but in this case, it’s LORD OF THE FRIES.

[A coming-of-age story set in the American Civil War... The weather is getting more and more gusty, and our protagonist is so over it] starts out sounding familiar to those who know Gone With the Wind… But the second half suggests the answer, DONE WITH THE WIND.

[A dystopic story about the totalitarian Republic of Gilead, crafted entirely without the use of AI - truly the work of an artisan] drops details you may know from The Handmaid’s Tale, but the work of an artisan? That’s THE HANDMADE TALE.

And finally, [Our symbologist hero arrives at a museum in Paris... After a murder occurs, he finds an incredible jacket worn by a famous inventor] is hinting at Robert Langdon of The DaVinci Code, except finding a jacket? It’s THE DAVINCI COAT.

Behind the Clues

14A. Some movies you watch as a kid stick with you forever. [Willy in "Free Willy," e.g.] is ORCA, and as one of the first movies I remember owning on VHS, the cover image is burned into my memory. I don’t think I’ll rewatch it, though. Best hold on to memories of it.

20A. I love the Monty Hall problem. It’s a fun brain-bender that even some of my smartest friends can’t believe actually works - it feels like magic. But it’s math! [What the host does to a door in the Monty Hall problem] is OPENS, specifically after you make your choice, which makes all the difference.

31A. [Greta Thunberg, for one] isn’t ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVIST, nor is it WAIT SHE’S TWENTY-THREE NOW? Even though those are both correct, our answer here is SWEDE, a citizen of Sweden.

5D. I love the phrasing of [Change a friend's litter box, say] as the first image that pops in my head is a (human) friend using a litterbox. But no, obviously it’s your friend’s cat’s litterbox, since your friend asked you to CATSIT.

17D. [Bic's controversial line of feminine pens] will never not be ridiculed by me (and the rest of the internet). Bic FOR HER was seen as such a crazy, misguided move - but hey, I’m not a woman, maybe pens are really a man’s game?

47D. Interesting factoid for your next party - [Believers of a non-intervening God] are DEISTS, whereas believers of a God who actively meddles with the universe on an ongoing basis are theists. The more you know!

I hope you enjoyed this puzzle!

Until next week,

Brandon