The Big 158 (Puzzle #016)

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Happy Canada Day!

Canadian Wordsearch (Puzzle #015)

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One clue that unfortunately didn't make it through was for 23-Across, ORC, where I'd hoped to have something along the lines of 'Horde member, perhaps, in World of Warcraft': for the uninitiated, players in World of Warcraft are divided between the Alliance, led by humans, and the Horde, led by orcs. An ORC, therefore, would be a member of the Horde. As much as it would have amused me to pay tribute to my teenage years, I didn't think it would be fair to both pin the answer to a video game (as popular as WoW has been) while also hiding the capital letter of H by making Horde the first word.

That said, the Lord of the Rings - even if I only saw the movies well into my twenties - are another very solid franchise, and so I don't regret the final clue.

This puzzle is also the base of the Centre's guide for making a crossword puzzle - if you've ever been curious about trying your hand at constructing crosswords, you now have a step-by-step guide! (Of course, we recommend completing this puzzle first - the guide is nothing but spoilers!)

Neighbourhood Puzzle - Ottawa (Puzzle #014)

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My now-wife used to live in this part of town, and I had to the traditional IKEA pilgrimmage more than a few times to furnish my first student apartment, so I've been through the IRIS/GREENBANK intersection quite a few times over the years! Even though we now live more in the east, we're back in the area frequently enough, be it for IKEA suppers or for Lee Valley workshops!

On the puzzle itself, the fact that GREENBANK is just such a long word - and not one easily described on its own - meant that I had to break it up into GREEN and BANK. This led to an unusual three-block line at the bottom-left and top-right corners, but I think the lengthy answers at 3-Down and 10-Down make up for it! I especially enjoyed cluing 30-Across FUR baby (not that that's slang I would actually use, even if I weren't hoping to build up an aquarium); and the two [Place for a pupil] clues.

Canadian Wordsearch (Puzzle #013)

Neighbourhood Puzzle - Ottawa (Puzzle #012)