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“Because” was crowned 2013’s word of the year this past weekend. You might not want to click on that story if you haven’t solved today’s puzzle as I took a couple seed entries from the list of notable words. Because neologisms.
Thanks to all who were able to give to the year end drive. The outpouring of support was colossal. I am moved. Our randomly selected donor who wins a complementary years subscription to the AVCX (as well as one of my books) is Robert Brown of Colmar, Pennsylvania. Congrats, Robert.
Share the puzzle. New one on Thursday.
Got crushed in the NW…sigh…
Fairly stated as a “hard” puzzle. A little out of my wheelhouse with the themed clues shading toward the trendy side of au courant, at least for my aging sensibilities.
Thanks Brendan. Satisfying puzzle, very hard. I had an advantage, because the CBC show “As It Happens” did a broadcast last week about the Word of the Year and related findings, so I had a bit of an advantage on at least one seed word.
I have a beef with 22A Son, north of the border. Should have been Sont (which makes the clue basically unusable, of course). They are = Ils sont. “Son” has other meanings in French: as possessive adjective it means “his” or “her” (her father = son pere); as noun it means “sound” (baissez le son = turn down the sound).
I am not aware of any use of “son” equivalent to “are”.
Spanish, not French – “son” is Spanish for “are,” and the US is north of the border from a Mexican’s perspective.
The Dave Clark Five weren’t in the same league (or division) as the Fab Four, but their “Because” stands head-and-shoulders above the Beatles’. (Not that the latter were trying very hard with this one.) I’d read recently, but haven’t confirmed, that Lennon envied their skill at harmonies.