Think Locally, Set Globally

If you grew up in Ontario in the 1980s like I did and you're tackling this Saturday's Globe and Mail cryptic crossword by the great Fraser Simpson, you'll notice two things that other solvers might miss. 

The first is a blatant and, to me, very welcome political commentary in 8 Down: 

"Done with Ford," I snarled (3, 2) 

As with any great cryptic clue, you don't have to know who Ontario Premier Doug Ford is to solve this riddle, which is an anagram. But there's a whole other level of satisfaction if you do. Doug Ford, is the brother of the internationally notorious, and now deceased, crack-smoking Toronto mayor Rob Ford. Among the many, many things Doug Ford is enacting as the newly elected Ontario Premier that are infuriating Ontario residents (especially teachers, which Fraser Simpson is, parents, and anyone else who cares about the education of an entire generation of fellow residents) are extreme cuts to education funding. Experts predict these will have profoundly negative effects on students.

Ontario high school students, like cryptic crossword setter Fraser Simpson, are snarling "Done with Ford!" Photo credit: Roberto Machado Noa/LightRocket via Getty Images

As I've blogged about before, here and here, cryptic crosswords have a long and interesting history of serving as a vehicle for political messages. This is not surprising: setting cryptic crosswords is a form of creative writing, and writers have long found wonderfully creative ways of asserting their political stances, including, more recently in the U.S., the use of an acrostic in the resignation letter of the U.S. President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, and the creation of a special two-part "The Writers Resist" episode of the Dear Sugars podcast. 

Now, the Ontario budget cuts are making headlines across the country; you didn't have to grow up in Ontario in the 1980s to appreciate it. But if you did -- if you were a student during the Mike Harris era like I was -- you will be feeling an especially maddening sense of déjà vu.

The second clue that shoots right to the heart of 1980s Ontario kids is 26 Down:

​Bruno's roomie at Macdonald Hall voices displeasure about start of term (5)

Again, you don't need to have read the iconic Gordon Korman young adult series to solve this clue, which involves a homophone.

​But if you did, it will be a thrill to see the main characters mentioned in an internationally distributed puzzle; to catch a cultural reference so many others will miss. Here in Canada, we are so flooded with cultural references from the U.S., especially given how globalized things have become, that it's rare and lovely to see an authentic provincial cultural reference.

​I loved (and still love) the delightfully far-fetched adventures of Bruno and his roommate at their fictional Ontario boarding school of Macdonald Hall so much that I kept all the books. I still have them on my bookshelf, ready to read to my kids once they're old enough.

My daughter learned about recycling and reusing at her daycare this week. A tagline for the environmental movement is "Think Globally, Act Locally". 

Culture typically works the same way, though perhaps to our detriment. We make art, we practice culture, here, in our studios, in our homes, but unless we take measures to tune it out, the vast majority of the cultural information we receive is global. My friend and fellow writer Derek once argued that when we are all inundated with the same cultural references, we become homogenous in our creative thinking. I have thought about that for a long time. It's why I think it is so important to not just see the blockbuster movies and read the best-selling books, but to explore local art exhibits, seek out TV shows and films with smaller distributions, discover authors we have never heard of, buy foods from local shops and not just chain grocery stores.

Thank you, Fraser Simpson, for flipping the script, and bringing local Ontario cultural references to the world with today's puzzle.