At first, I was a bit mystified by Tuesday's puzzle. One expects a theme on Tuesdays, and theme answers are the long ones, right? But the grid is devoid of long entries - just one 9-letter and a couple of 8's. What to do, but to just get down to it...
Easy going for the most part. As a Canadian born in May, there were a few gimmes for me: I do my part to make ONTARIO our most populous province; NOVA Scotia was easy, and despite my utter ignorance in most things jewelry-related, I do know my birthstone's an EMERALD. (I will accept the misspelled LITERS for "Soda bottle units" 😁 )
I blew through the central 9-letter entry, barely registering that it was the revealer : "CVS rival... something something about the perimeter", for which I had enough crossers to write in WALGREENS. It was only after completing the puzzle and sitting back that I twigged to what was going on - the grid is entirely rimmed with types of green - a WALL of GREENS if you will: JADE, PINE, SAGE, the aforementioned EMERALD, FOREST, MINT, LIME, MOSS, SEAFOAM and JUNGLE. So neat!! Once again quelling this vague feeling I get sometimes, that one of these days we're going to run out of themes.
With respect to the venerable MARTINI: I have it on good authority that its preparation must involve stirring and not shaking, so as not to bruise the gin. "But what if it's a vodka martini?" you ask. To which I respond, the door's right over there...
Cheerio!
-philbo
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