Shameless Plug

Who doesn’t love to talk about things they love? I get excited when I get to recommend a great book or restaurant to a friend, and I’ve come to really enjoy suggestions from friends (though I’ve yet to watch more than a fraction of the 73 TV shows my friends have recommended to me - but that’s a time issue).

Of course, I’m no stranger to plugging things in my crosswords, whether it’s an offhand reference to something I like, or a command to scrap your evening plans and watch a movie I love. Granted, I don’t think those count as shameless plugs, just recommendations from one friend to another, and, unlike Wayne and Garth, I’m definitely not getting paid for them.

This week’s crossword is a little more shameless and a little more plug than usual - but don’t think that the fun and wordplay have taken a hit because of it!

Discussion (and spoilers!) below the break.

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Shameless Plug by Brandon Cathcart

Discussion

Despite being exactly what the title said (and you, dear reader, not really the target audience of said marketing tactic), I still think this turned into a very fun puzzle. In a few tricky areas of the grid, knowing the circled letter theme “helped me figure out some answers,” according to my faithful test solver. Now, time for an absolute banger (I don’t always love it when CBC Radio 2 plays the hits, but I thank them for putting this in rotation for a while!)

Today’s Theme

The full-width spanner in the middle of the grid [Some inbox subscriptions (you should sign up for YEGwords' one 😎)... Or an apt description of this puzzle's numerous circles] is NEWSLETTERS, or parsed differently, NEWS LETTERS, as in the letters in the word NEWS. Which is exactly what each circled letter is. Believe me, it was no accident - Ws and Ns aren’t the most common letters, so the grid design had to be intentional.

Behind the Clues

I liked a lot of clues this week - but I’ll keep it tight.

19A. I brought a little “bee lingo” into this crossword (I’ve been lightly fantasizing about having a bee hive in my backyard for a few years, so I’ve dabbled) and tried to soften it with an objectively great pun. ["Honey, I'm home!" (What bees probably say returning to these)] are APIARIES, or collections of beehives.

34A. Fresh off a split from Disney, Jeffrey Katzenberg formed Dreamworks, heard about Pixar making A Bug’s Life, then rushed to get his own competing bug movie out in a “first to market” race, which feels crazy but is true. That movie, the [Movie whoze release was weirdly a month before "A Bug's Life"], was ANTZ, and it had an absolutely stacked cast and but about half of what A Bug’s Life did at the box office. Ultimately, neither movie had much of a lasting impact, but I did learn that Steve Jobs, yes that Steve Jobs, was a chairman and majority shareholder at Pixar? Not sure how I missed that one.

35A. We love a question mark clue here, and if there’s one thing we all had in common, it’s that at one point, we were children (or still are). Growing up, you [Experience the ups and downs of childhood?], but as an adult, you can do that any time you like by playing on a SEESAW. Yeehaw!

6D. [Fire pit event, slangily, or making fun of your wimpy friend], a bonus long entry that was initially slotted in for its density of NEWS letters, and stayed because it’s hilarious. Grab those hot dog skewers (or notepads for jokes) and have yourself a WEENIE ROAST.

8D. Speaking of plugging things I like, [Critically-acclaimed French movie about a quirky young woman (fantastic, honestly, go watch it if you haven't)] is a pretty direct and worthy call to action. AMÉLIE is a fun, highly stylized movie that brings me a lot of joy. Turn on subtitles (or learn to speak French) and have a great evening.

23D. I’ve got some friends who are into WWE, and given my love of theatre, I feel like it’s something I could get into. However, I do know enough about wrestling to know that in WWE, they award an oversized, greatly impractical belt to the champs - so the answer to [WWE championship "trophies" are placed on them] is WAISTS.

I hope you enjoyed this puzzle!

Until next Friday,

Brandon