Mini (#025)

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As the Centre continues to get off the ground, we figured consistency is key! The goal will now be to have a puzzle out every Saturday, alternating between 11x11s and 7x7s!

Street Smarts - Ottawa (#024)

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The hockey cup mentionned in 22-Down was actually first conceived of by a Governor-General, who would've lived not too far from the New Edinburgh intersection recreated in this puzzle! That little tidbit was always a big hit with visitors, when I worked at Rideau Hall (workplace and residence of Canada's Governors-General) as a tour guide, as was the Governor-General Grey (football, not tea - that would be his grandfather).

…that’s about the extent of my sports knowledge, sorry.

I’m also quite limited in what I can say about actors. I first watched the Lion King in my last year of high school; and only saw the Lord of the Ring movies earlier this year. I did, yes, grow up under a rock.

The list of movies to watch has grown long, and continues to grow. The other thing keeping it in check is free movie screenings throughout the city, put on by groups like the public library or Pop-Up Cinema. If you’re looking for quality, low-cost entertainment and/or movie education, those are great places to start. That’s how I saw Fantastic Mr. Fox!

Canadian Wordsearch (#023)

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Tragically, I have not yet had the good fortune of visiting the city tucked into today's crossword, despite the charming alignment with my own name! One day, one day - when my wife and I can scrounge up the time (and the money) to make a trip that's not dedicated to visiting family!

A Farewell to Summer (Puzzle #022)

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For everybody going back to school, or sending kids to school - have a great school year! I personally am not in either situation, but join you in mourning the approaching demise of summer...

What better way to maintain a good mood, then, than crosswords? More specifically, to make silly wink-wink-nudge-nudge jokes *inside* crosswords, carefully lining up specific words across a single row...?

My actual favourite joke here, though, is simply including the word (16-Across) TUNA. My dear wife's nickname since childhood has been Tuna and, as you can imagine, every attempt she makes to shed that moniker means that it only clings harder to her. I'd like to think it's not all bad, though: please find below another joke I'm quite proud of, immortalized on a fridge magnet:

Personally, I think I'm quite funny. I'm lucky that, most of the time, she agrees with me!

Neighbourhood Puzzle - Ottawa (Puzzle #021)

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As the Centre finds its feet, we're trying something new: the version attached is a more softly Canadian puzzle, with a more clearly Ottawa-clued puzzle linked behind it! The idea is to have the front-page puzzles be accessible to all, while still offering a hyper-local puzzle for those who want to click through. This frees us up to reference an amusingly-named local hedge-trimming company (I've never used their services, so cannot vouch at all for them, but I've seen their signs scattered across towns) in 18-Across - or two events happening this weekend (a hot air balloon at 11-Down, or a car show at 14-Across), for anybody looking for plans!

Otherwise, my fun fact of this puzzle is about the mushroom family - the fact that portobello mushrooms, cremini mushrooms, and button mushrooms are the same species across different stages of maturity blows my mind!