The Globe and Mail crosswords: Breaking down the Weekender’s ‘Governing Principles’ crossword, cryptic clues and more | Canada Voices

Hello puzzle people! I’m Jess, The Globe and Mail’s puzzles and games editor. Welcome to my new weekly column, Puzzle Pieces, where I’ll take a deep look at our Weekender crossword and share a note from the constructor(s). I’ll also share my favourite clue each week from Fraser Simpson’s Weekender Cryptic.

There will be spoilers, so don’t read this until you’ve solved the Saturday puzzles. If you’re a seasoned solver, some of my explanations may be obvious to you, but my goal is to help even brand new solvers increase their appreciation of the puzzle.

Throughout the column, you’ll see me using the standard crossword conventions of putting entries in CAPITAL LETTERS and clues in [square brackets].

Favourite moments in today’s crossword

Governing Principles is a long-distance collaboration between Jeffrey Martinovic, a recent engineering graduate of Western University, and Mark MacLachlan, the dean of science at the University of British Columbia.

My top highlights include 84D, where [Source of inflation?] is not a financial measure but an AIR PUMP, and 88D, where [Call from down under?] is not a phone call from your Australian friend, but a BUTT DIAL. There are also clever clues that aren’t hinted with question marks, such as 82A [Cause of some head-scratching], which indeed describes LICE (ask me how I know).

Mark and Jeffrey also sprinkled in plenty of Canadian content, including nods to José Bautista’s iconic BAT FLIP (1A), a Reach for the Top contestant who’s SMART (25A), and, at 107A, the fondly remembered DAVE Cooks a Turkey for Vinyl Cafe fans.

Crosswords have themes?

Before we dive into today’s theme, let’s define what that even means. A themed crossword is not like a theme party, with topical content sprinkled around everywhere. In the “crossworld,” we use theme to mean something closer to gimmick.

Sometimes you might be able solve an entire puzzle without noticing the theme at all, if it’s fairly simple. In other cases, the theme involves some trickery, and it can be hard to finish the puzzle without sorting the whole thing out.

Typically, a crossword has a set of “theme entries” that appear in the longest Across slots; in a 21×21 puzzle (the size of our Weekender) there could be seven to 10 of these. They usually occupy symmetrical positions, one above for each one below, and their clues are often made to stand out in some way: they might have asterisks or be written in italics, or their wording might just be a little wacky. You might also see circled or shaded letters in the theme entries in the grid.

Breaking down today’s theme

In today’s puzzle, you probably grasped what was happening easily. It hinges on an old wordplay favourite: puns.

The title Governing Principles is a nod to what’s going on. In this delightfully silly puzzle, Mark and Jeffrey have reimagined seven common terms as being related to the Canadian government. The question marks on the theme clues tell you to look for wordplay.

The first one, at 23A, is [House of Commons leader who isn’t secretly recording conversations?]. Someone secretly recording conversations might be wearing a wire, so one who isn’t might be a WIRELESS SPEAKER.

At 39A, the clue [Government-sanctioned Jell-O making?] conjures up some funny images. The answer is CROWN MOULDING, naturally.

The clue at 47A has a bonus pun, where [One who suspects a senator is about to propose?] plays on proposing to give us MOTION SENSOR. “I sense you have a motion to put forth, madam. The floor is yours.”

The rest proceed the same way. At 64A, a [Fundamental document legislating hair and eye colour?] is a GENETIC CONSTITUTION, and at 85A, [Toothbrushing and exercise practices that vary by electoral district?] are RIDING HABITS (that’s my favourite). And so on through 93- and 113A.

A note from our constructors

“Jeffrey approached Mark about a puzzle involving puns on Canadian government terms. We brainstormed a list of different possible theme entries, and then built and filled the grid collaboratively. We were pleased to include some colourful extra fill, such as BUTT DIAL, AIR PUMP, FREE WIFI, YEAH RIGHT, ACNE CREAM and SOLAR CAR. Finally, we discussed our clue ideas over a laughter-filled Zoom meeting. We hope you had as much fun solving this puzzle as we did making it!”

Cryptic clue of the week

We’re lucky at the Globe and Mail to have an exclusive cryptic by Toronto’s Fraser Simpson every week. If you’re not a cryptic solver, give it a try – it’s incredibly satisfying once you get the hang of it. Start with Fraser’s primer on cryptic solving.

My pick from this week’s puzzle is 30A: [New diet candy’s sold to many at the same time (10)]. The “(10)” is the enumeration; it tells us we’re looking for a ten-letter word.

As we know from the primer, half of the clue is a straight definition and the other half is wordplay … but we don’t know which half is which, or where the split is. Is the definition “New diet”? Just “New”? Or is it at the other end: “many at the same time,” or even just “time”?

Eventually we remember that “new” can be an anagram indicator, i.e., an instruction to rearrange letters. Any word like different, wrong, cooked or novel can perform this function, suggesting “use these letters, but in a different way.”

Next, we notice that “diet candy’s” contains ten letters. Aha! Our answer must be a ten-letter anagram of “diet candy’s.” That leaves the clue’s remaining half, “sold to many at the same time,” as the definition. I am terrible at anagramming in my head, but with a few crossing letters we work out that “diet candy’s” rearranges to SYNDICATED, which perfectly matches our definition.