So Nice, We'll Say It Twice

Redundancy is important in a lot of things. Some are physical, like safety systems in elevators and planes; others are verbal, like how if you actually want to reach me on the phone, you have to call me 2-3 times. In language, sometimes we use it for clarity (if I don’t say we should “plan ahead”, maybe you’ll think we should plan after it’s done?) and sometimes it means we’ve been talking in circles for the last half hour and Sandra will you please stop saying the same thing over and over and WILL NOBODY CALL THIS MEETING TO A CLOSE???

In today’s puzzle, we’ll explore these ideas alongside our usual batch of puzzle-y word fun!

Discussion (and spoilers!) below the break.

Play

Discussion

I really held myself back with the music references this puzzle - I did end up with a few, but it was rife with potential musical nods. ELLIE Goulding and Foo Fighter’s song LEARN TO Fly were two cut clues. I am glad I kept this Timabaland classic, though, so you can relive the best that 2007 had to offer.

Today’s Theme

The long themed answers (16A/17A, 21A, and 31/32A) highlight phrases where we’ve added redundancy, sometimes warranted but usually not. The phrases LCD (liquid crystal display) DISPLAY, SIN (social insurance number) NUMBER, and ATM (automated teller machine) MACHINE are often phrased as such, repeating the last word of the acronym!

Tricky Clues

20A. It’s time for your Roman numerals exam! Knowing them comes in handy when solving some crosswords. I = 1, V = 5, X = 10, L = 50, C = 100, D = 500, and M = 1000, so 107 is CVII.

24A. Here at YEGwords, we love any sport that is named after its primary and secondary defining objects. Basketball, baseball, football, you name it (honorary mention to ping pong for being named after a sound). Anyway, Sammy SOSA is one of those random names I heard when I was young and never forgot, though as I’m writing this, I realize I also know Babe Ruth. Well, I guess [The only baseball player I know] was a lie.

34A. This is one of my favourite clues. [Stealing someone’s heart, technically] reminded me of this classic video from The Onion (Content warning: human organs). It’s just as funny to me 17 years later. Maybe it’s love, but maybe it’s THEFT.

6D. [Big in France?] isn’t too misleading of a clue, but I like the phrasing of it. Of course, this isn’t referring to something being popular over there, but GROS, the French word for “large”.

18D. More acronyms?! Yes, and another one that I’m sure people make redundant. PCBS, or Printed Circuit Boards, are hidden in all the electronics you use every day! We should all take a second to say “Thanks, PCBs”.

24D. Another fun but tricky clue near the end of the grid. Hopefully you realized [Something keeping you up at night?] wasn’t talking about a too-realistic dream or all your most embarrassing moments, but something physically keeping you up off the floor. That could be one of the many SLATs in a common bed frame.

I hope you enjoyed this puzzle!

Until next Friday,

Brandon