Things That Go Bump in the Night

It’s been a busy but exciting week over here! While I’m trying to get ready for a nice li’l summer vacation, I’ve also been

• Interviewed by the CBC! I had a great time talking to Jessica on Radio Active.

• Getting some great local businesses to help sponsor the print crossword (if you’re a great local business, hit me up!)

• Working on some other crosswords - you can find my bespoke Edmonton-themed crosswords in free Edify magazines around the city, and soon another place I can’t talk about quite yet 👀 (tune in next week)!

• And of course, bringing you fresh crossword action here, in my no-holds-barred high-flying cage match of a puzzle publication where rules are meant to be respected, then broken (ideally with a folding chair to the back).

So what have I got for you this week? Something that, like most weeks, is a complete change of topic from my rambling intro. Grab the baseball bat you keep under your pillow, it’s…

I’ve cooked up a real scary crossword for you this week… if you’re scared of fun themes, that is. Maybe don’t do it under your sheets late at night with only a flashlight to see the page… unless you think you can handle it.

Discussion (and spoilers!) below the break.

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Things That Go Bump in the Night by Brandon Cathcart

Discussion

You can’t say YEGwords isn’t multigenerational - while it leans to my millennial roots, I got to put both Rush and Rico Nasty in the same crossword; The Hunger Games and “touching grass”. I ask for a vast array of knowledge in these crosswords and I thank you for indulging me in that.

Today’s Theme

Groan-inducing wordplay takes the forefront of this theme, with the title Things That Go Bump in the Night being the revealer. Each of the theme answers have the word “night” in them, and night “bumps” upward for one of the letters. LADIES N^I^GHT, NI^G^HTMARES, FLY BY NI^G^HT, and NIG^H^T SCHOOL. These answers are things that go ^bump^ in the “night”. Get it? Are you groaning yet?

Behind the Clues

6A. I’m not sure entirely why, but [Big arms or big vocal chords] being PIPES gives me a lot of joy. I do love the idea of calling your arms pipes, and I do love an “or” clue… I’m not sure. I just like it every time I look at it. The IG post linked above is gold, by the way. Moody soundtrack, immediately defensive description, it’s perfect.

16A. Did I get you? Did you blow air out your nose? [Bill you pay for some software?] is a classic “hiding a proper noun as the first word” misdirect, of course (mis)leading us to Bill GATES. I guess technically you don’t pay him directly, at least I don’t. Still fun.

41A. I was really happy to include ARMPIT HAIRS as a full-spanning entry in this puzzle. You don’t get to write that phrase out every day, and I’m glad you sat down and did it with me.

4D. Hopefully you have a good imagination, but don’t overthink things. [An arm for a dirtman (it's like a snowman, but I didn't want to put a winter clue in my summer crossword)] confused my faithful test solver, but just imagine you make a snowman out of dirt. Dirtman. No, not that Dirtman.

19D. This trivia is lesser known but I still wanted to include it. [Host Nwadiwe of nerdy game show "Um, Actually"] is IFY Nwadiwe of Dropout TV and other comedy things I’m sure. He’s got great energy and a scarily encyclopedic knowledge of anime and other such niche things - I always enjoy seeing him pop up on my corner of the internet.

33D. Big movie recommendation if you’re looking for your next 2000’s nostalgia flick. SHAOlin Soccer is a fun ride, and even though it doesn’t pass the Bechdel Test, it has an 89%/84% Tomatometer/Popcornmeter on Rotten Tomatoes. It sounds like I made that sentence up, but I didn’t, I swear.

I hope you enjoyed this puzzle!

Until next Friday,

Brandon