On a quiet October weekend, a crossword in the Globe and Mail's Weekender asks solvers to join two cocktail names into playful phrases, a small game of language and bar-cart lore. Behind it stand two Victoria friends whose long collaboration, begun in university days and carried from Ottawa back to the West Coast, shows how ordinary pastimes gather the threads of a life. A columnist unpacks the puzzle's pleasures, from a Taipei skyscraper climbed in record time to a fast-rising racket sport and a cryptic clue hiding a sleepy presidential reference. It is a reminder that even a trifle, carefull
Breaking Down the Globe's Weekender 'Mixed Doubles': Cocktail Puns, Cryptic Clues and a Cryptic Biden Anagram
Two cocktails, one silly clue, and a theme that takes persistence
Mark
Why does this puzzle's theme need lateral thinking?
Mimi
Because the six theme answers are invented phrases, each two cocktail names stuck together, and the clues only hint at what the mashup might mean.
Mark
What's the revealer?
Mimi
TWO FOR ONE DRINK SPECIAL at 105A, which tells you each answer is a pair of drinks.
Luke
Is it a good puzzle? The column calls the clues lovely, but that's the columnist's opinion.
Mimi
Fair. The column is an appreciation, so favourites like GREYHOUND SIDECAR and COSMOPOLITAN CAESAR are the writer's picks.
Mark
What's the story behind the constructors?
Mimi
David Karp and Aidan Brand met at the University of Victoria through a political science journal. Aidan says it took over four years to finish.
Luke
Though David's note calls it their first puzzle together, and the column also says it's his fourth for the Globe. Those aren't contradictory, but it's worth reading carefully.
Mark
And the cryptic clue?
Mimi
Biden anagrams to IN BED, which means retired. The word "unfortunately" signals the shuffle.
Luke
Worth noting the column explains the wordplay only; it doesn't say anything about the politics.
O Pulso
- A crossword's six theme entries demand that solvers know their cocktails, or at least guess their way through the bar menu.
- A hidden revealer at 105A, TWO FOR ONE DRINK SPECIAL, turns the grid into a puzzle about the puzzle itself.
- Constructors who took more than four years to finish the grid now see their first Globe collaboration reach print.
- Oblique clues about Alex Honnold, padel and a cryptic Biden riddle push solvers to look sideways for the answer.
- The columnist invites readers to compare notes on pickleball and Quebec hot chicken, opening the conversation beyond the grid.
On a quiet October weekend, a crossword in the Globe and Mail's Weekender asks solvers to join two cocktail names into playful phrases, a small game of language and bar-cart lore. Behind it stand two Victoria friends whose long collaboration, begun in university days and carried from Ottawa back to the West Coast, shows how ordinary pastimes gather the threads of a life. A columnist unpacks the puzzle's pleasures, from a Taipei skyscraper climbed in record time to a fast-rising racket sport and a cryptic clue hiding a sleepy presidential reference. It is a reminder that even a trifle, carefully made, can reward patience and shared laughter.
The Oct. 24 Weekender crossword is built on a playful premise: two cocktail names are joined into a silly phrase, and each phrase gets a witty clue. The Globe's Puzzle Pieces column opens with a spoiler warning, urging solvers to finish the grid before reading on, then walks through the theme and its more obscure drinks, from a tiki TEST PILOT to a mint-chocolate POLAR BEAR.
The constructors are David Karp and Aidan Brand, both of Victoria. It is Aidan's first puzzle for the paper and David's fourth. Their friendship began at the University of Victoria, where they worked on an academic journal, and continued through Ottawa hockey nights and a return to the coast. Aidan says the grid took more than four years, which he blames on fatherhood, and he gives David credit for the heavy lifting, with thanks to his family and to an editor who polished it.
The column highlights favourites such as GREYHOUND SIDECAR and COSMOPOLITAN CAESAR, along with a clue about Taipei's skyscraper, climbed by Alex Honnold in just over 90 minutes. It then closes with a cryptic clue whose answer, IN BED, hides inside the name Biden.
The puzzle in the Globe and Mail's Oct. 24 Weekender is built on a simple idea: take two cocktails, join their names, and write a silly clue for the invented phrase that results. The column that dissects it, Puzzle Pieces, opens with a spoiler warning. Solve first, read after. Clues appear in square brackets and grid entries in capitals.
The constructors are David Karp and Aidan Brand, both of Victoria. It is Aidan's first puzzle for the paper and David's fourth. They met at the University of Victoria, where Aidan was the founding layout editor of On Politics, an academic journal for political science students. David took over the role after Aidan graduated, then followed him to Ottawa, where the two stayed up late watching Canucks games, and later followed him back to Victoria. Aidan says it took more than four years to finish the puzzle, an excuse he attributes to being deep in his own DAD ERA. He thanks his wife, Heather, and their kids, and credits David with the heavy lifting on the grid. He also thanks Jess for polishing it to Weekender standard.
The theme revealer sits at 105A: [Happy hour offering, or a hint to this puzzle's theme], answered by TWO FOR ONE DRINK SPECIAL. The six theme entries are each made of two different cocktail names. Among the cocktails the column's author had to look up are a TEST PILOT, a tiki drink with several kinds of rum, and a POLAR BEAR, a mint-chocolate shooter made with peppermint schnapps and white crème de cacao. The author also learned that a CAPE COD is simply vodka and cranberry. Solvers get through with crossing letters, some cocktail knowledge and the oblique clues. The column's favourites are 51A, [Spot on a hog for a racing dog?], GREYHOUND SIDECAR; 64A, [Weapon that stops the undead in their tracks?], ZOMBIE PARALYZER; and 95A, [Worldly Roman ruler?], COSMOPOLITAN CAESAR.
Aidan says the hardest part was balancing notable cocktails against fun theme entries. He is pleased with the result, helped by Canadian staples like the Caesar and Polar Bear. He also slipped in other Canadian references in the clues, including the Tragically Hip, Shania TWAIN, K'naan and his beloved BC LIONS.
The columnist singles out several other entries. At 21A, [___ 101 (Asian skyscraper summited by Alex Honnold)], the answer is TAIPEI. The columnist can't watch extreme free-climbing and missed the January 2026 event. It was broadcast on a 10-second delay, though the delay turned out not to be needed: Honnold scaled all 508 metres in just over 90 minutes.
At 49A, [Nanaimo blues guitarist David, or a high-energy style of dancing], the answer is GOGO. The columnist notes that proper nouns can trip up solvers, but here the second meaning gives a way in. At 10D, a fast-growing squash-tennis hybrid whose name is almost spelled like a piece of its equipment, the answer is PADEL. The columnist hasn't tried even pickleball and invites readers to comment with their experience. At 26D, the columnist added the word "spherical" to the clue for the PEAS on a Quebec-style hot chicken sandwich, to help solvers unfamiliar with it, and now wants to find one to try.
The column closes with a cryptic clue from the Weekender Cryptic: 13A, [Biden unfortunately retired (2,3)]. One end of a cryptic clue is a definition and the other is wordplay. With only three words, "unfortunately" is a likely anagram indicator, so the fodder is either "Biden" or "retired." The answer length of two and three letters points to "Biden." The only two-letter word inside it is IN, and the remaining letters rearrange into BED. The answer is IN BED, which fits the definition "retired."
Citações Notáveis
The biggest challenge was striking the right balance between notable cocktails and fun theme entries.— Aidan Brand, constructor
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