22. Unlikely getaway car alternative?: ESCAPE GOAT. Scapegoat.
24. Time left in an online auction?: EBAY WINDOW. Bay window. ORIEL.
36. Civil rights legislation?: EQUALITY CONTROL. Quality control.
52. Serengeti stampede?: ELAND RUSH. Land Rush.
67. Three-hanky films?: EMOTION PICTURES. Motion pictures.
83. Bong for special occasions?: EVENT PIPE. Vent pipe.
97. Big place to fool around in?: ESTATE OF AFFAIRS. State of affairs.
112. Eve?: EDEN MOTHER. Den mother.
115. Midnight sail?: EBON VOYAGE. Bon voyage.
It'd be cool if every theme entry is indeed a game. We've seen an E adding to the end with "E-tail" as a title.
Bold upper left/lower right design from Gary. Hard to pull off cleanly.
Across:
1. Immense: WHOPPING.
9. Spurred (on): EGGED.
14. Starts of many names: CAPS. Capital letters, right?
18. Procedure enforced locally: HOUSE RULE. Great fill.
20. Magician's cry: VOILA.
21. Certain something: AURA.
26. Utmost degree: NTH.
27. River-to-sea connection: ESTUARY.
29. Policy that includes higher menu prices: NO TIPS. Tipping is not a common practice in China and Japan.
30. Stitches: DARNS.
33. Meadow mom: DOE. EWE too.
34. Zest: GUSTO.
41. Many a Middle East native: ARAB.
44. Craved: LUSTED.
45. Bowling ball material: URETHANE. TTP and Boomer can tell you more.
47. Hood's weapon: GAT.
49. Where to get down: EIDER.
50. World view, perhaps: MAP.
55. Multidisciplinary strength-training program: CROSSFIT.
57. Guitarist Paul: LES.
60. Tell a thing or two: EDUCATE.
61. B'way need: TKT.
62. Under pressure: ON THE SPOT.
66. "The Plough and the Stars" playwright: O'CASEY.
70. Red choice: CLARET.
73. Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb, e.g.: CO-ANCHORS. Hoda's name is very grid-friendly.
74. Single circuit: LAP.
77. Supremely spooky: EERIEST.
79. Bit of legal advice: SUE.
80. Promise that one will: PLEDGE TO.
86. Beast of burden: ASS.
87. Shower: AIRER.
88. Certain house mem.: SEN.
89. Emmy-winning creator of "Six Feet Under": ALAN BALL. Wiki says he also created "True Blood".
93. Solvent: AFLOAT.
94. Thames academy: ETON.
100. "Take Me Home, Country __": John Denver hit: ROADS.
102. Simple sack: COT.
103. Court figs.: ATTYS.
104. Take the heat off?: DISARM.
107. Early Yankee nickname: BAMBINO. Boomer told me he was enjoying "Babe". I said "The pig?". "What pig?". Turns out he was watching "The Babe".
109. "Rhoda" production co.: MTM.
119. Auto race signal: FLAG.
120. Pried (into): NOSED.
121. Glues: MUCILAGES. New word to me.
122. Daly of "Judging Amy": TYNE.
123. "The Teflon Don": GOTTI.
124. Climbing plant features: TENDRILS.
Down:
1. Word spoken during pouring: WHEN.
2. Throng: HOST.
3. Bad pun response: OUCH.
4. Ad about being green, briefly: PSA.
5. Zip: PEP.
6. Wrath: IRE.
7. "Cat Scratch Fever" musician: NUGENT (Ted). Not familiar with the song.
8. Shiny print: GLOSSY.
9. Boston suburb: EVERETT. What's it famous for?
10. Elapse: GO BY.
11. Supermodel Carangi: GIA.
12. Nevada copper town: ELY. Also new to me.
13. "The light __!": DAWNS.
14. Synagogue singer: CANTOR.
15. Quattro maker: AUDI.
16. Support, with "up": PROP.
17. Words of wisdom: SAWS.
19. Down: EAT.
23. 16th-century English architectural style: TUDOR.
25. Whit: IOTA.
28. Top of the line: A ONE.
30. Takes out: DATES.
31. A and O, but not E, I or U: ALERS. American Leaguers. A's and O's. We also have 40. MLB scoreboard letters: RHE. Runs, Hits, Errors.
32. Relieve (of): RID.
34. Soccer game highlight: GOAL.
35. Long bones: ULNAE.
36. Campaign sign word: ELECT.
37. Idiosyncrasy: QUIRK.
38. FAA overseer: USDOT. US Department of Transportation.
39. Stanley of the NHL?: CUP.
42. Mexican waters: AGUAS.
43. Sew with temporary stitches: BASTE.
46. Sign on the back: ENDORSE.
48. Nonbinary gender pronoun: THEY.
50. Perfect, as a collectible coin: MINT.
51. Web site: ATTIC.
53. Il __: Mussolini: DUCE.
54. Some appliances: RCAS.
56. Place to soothe the sole?: FOOT SPA. Very popular in China.
57. Horne and Dunham: LENAS.
58. "College Football Live" channel: ESPNU.
59. Item on a rack: SPICE.
63. Sob syllable: HOO.
64. Scot's "Crikey!": OCH.
65. Features of some 'Vettes: T-TOPS.
67. 2000 title role for Julia: ERIN.
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68. Happen upon: MEET.
69. Results of Googling: URLS.
70. Cuckoo clock quartet: CEES.Cuckoo clock.
71. Bank construction: LEVEE.
72. Ain't like it oughta be?: AREN'T.
74. "Vive __!": LE ROI.
75. "I did not think to shed __": "Henry VIII": A TEAR.
76. Freighters' destinations: PORTS.
78. Like some floors: TILED.
81. "Portrayer" of Duck Dodgers: DAFFY. Read more here. First time I heard of Duck Dodgers.
82. Southwestern lizards: GILAS.
84. Screen or bomb: PASS.
85. Rhinitis-treating MD: ENT.
86. South American greeting: ALO. Have yet to see NI HAO in a LAT puzzle.
90. Owner of Grey Goose and Dewar's: BACARDI.
91. Speck: ATOM.
92. Leave alone: LET BE.
93. Time in a personal ad: AFT. Afternoon.
95. Anaheim's county: ORANGE.
96. Result that's expected: NORM.
98. Spread apart, as police during a search: FAN OUT.
99. Hospital stat?: AT ONCE.
101. Surrounded by: AMONG.
104. Slick: DEFT.
105. Without serious thought: IDLY.
106. Penn name: SEAN. Sean Penn.
107. Root often pickled: BEET. So good. I have a weakness for pickled food.
108. Tech giant based in Armonk, N.Y.: IBM.
109. Star followers: MAGI.
110. Neutrogena shampoo brand: T GEL. Many YouTubers have raved about this shampoo.
111. Jumble: MESS.
113. Excessively: TOO.
114. V-J Day president: HST.
116. Beaujolais, par exemple: VIN.
117. From the past, as a story: OLD.
118. Pirate's cry: YAR.
C.C.
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteThis one was pretty easy...except where it wasn't. I wound up with two empty cells to score a double DNF. I just couldn't see that second O in the HOO/CO cross. And I perhaps could have WAGged the L for that A_O greeting, but didn't. My Brazilian coworkers used to say OLA (sp? Lucina?) in greeting. Ya got me, Gary. I know an LAT constructor. Bet she could sneak NI HAO into one of her puzzles. Of course, Rich might sneak it back out. Thanx, C.C.
C.C., I am not sure how you missed Ted Nugent and his anthem CAT SCRATCH FEVER . It has been popular in the rock world for 40+ years.
ReplyDeleteEVERETT was always known for being near Boston, in fact it could have become NATICK in the puzzle world. But it is IN TRANSITION .
Thank you, Gary and C.C.
I thought this was an outstanding puzzle. Great pun-ny theme and answers, and some interesting fills. Perfect Sunday challenge!
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteClever puzzle construction.
Where is everyone? Guess it’s still early.
88 across? Who is that in the House? A certain house member is not a (sen) senator...?
ReplyDeleteJ-vt, don't mind me, I thought Zimmer and Grady were the best and hated Francona. I think Redsox upper management has been lousy. Then again Pinky Higgins kept Don Buddin around for years- why? He was his s-i-l. And then there was Dr Strangeglove*
ReplyDeleteAlso.. -T, I mentioned cutting out for Church? Ser. was "demise of the American family"
I'm at a new diner. Ah, the smell of burnt toast in the morning. I just had to mention "NO TIP(ing)S" -talk about"demise" as in workers.
I knew EBID WINDOW had to be wrong. I was so happy to finally grok EIDER(down)
Lemonade, Picard also can talk EVERETT. It's actually a City but outside of being named for Edward . He delivered a lengthy,splendid speech one day which was followed by the Gettysburg Address. Talk about upstaged.
I also overlooked TGEL. When I see a clue that's in the popular domain my brain freezes. I don't buy brand names but use the generic TGEL.
WC- FIW btw
* Dick Stuart whose 40 home runs couldn't make up for the errors
Loved the puzzle. FIR. Accidentally hit a key that lost my blog. Maybe I will reconstitute it later.
ReplyDeleteMusings
ReplyDelete-Some monopoly games have HOUSE RULES
-Certain NFL coaches are ON THE SPOT this weekend and a HOST of excuses will do them no good
-I prefer my news with less fake camaraderie and inane banter
-The day to “PLEDGE TO” is next Wednesday
-GPS devices use a checkered FLAG symbol to show final destination on a MAP
-“The light DAWNS” is very familiar to us solvers
-My crossword QUIRK is to try to do puzzles so that I have every line completely full before I go further down.
-Recent three inch rains are testing LEVEES rebuilt this spring
-In HGTV’s Flip Or Flop, horrible 1,500 sq. ft. houses like this still command $400,000 and up before being renovated because they are in ORANGE County
-A SEN. Is in Congress but not in the House
Hey friends I know I have been absent from the blog lately. I blame it on the holidays!
ReplyDeleteAlthough we are still technically in the holiday season, I am checking in with a question on today's puzzle. Can someone please explain the connection between alers and As and Os. I just don't get it. I liu and couldn't figure it out, very frustrating!
Thanks a bunch, hope the holidays have been good for everyone and sending out good wishes to all in the new year! LL'sM
Well, I got a good start in the southwest, with Eve as the EDEN MOTHER, crossed by my own California county, ORANGE. Nice to see SEAN Penn there too, and John Denver's "Country ROADS". But things were much tougher in lots of other places, though there were some fun and interesting moments here and there. It was clever to see LE ROI right next to a quote by King Henry VIII. So, many thanks for a neat Sunday puzzle, Gary.
ReplyDeleteAnd C.C, thanks for posting pictures of Julia Roberts and TYNE Daly, who is certainly getting older (but, hey, aren't we all).
Have a great last Sunday, everybody, as our year comes to an end.
YR, I frequently hit something wrong and lose my post. This is also very frustrating to me! Glad I am not alone!
ReplyDeleteAlso for the record I concur that a Sen is not in the house. Of course putting rep down did not help me very much either!!
Musings
ReplyDelete-Lucy Loo’s Mom – The Oakland Athletics and Baltimore Orioles are sometimes called the “A’s” and the “O’s” using only the first letter of the team name. Plus, both teams play in the American League whose players can be called ALER’s (American LeaguERs), not by me but…
I use to Docs to compose texts then copy and paste. The action buttons are too close to the box for this fat fingered guy
ReplyDeleteAlso doing a select ALL before posting is a good idea. I just did it.
WC
Visit the Capital website says, "Congress is divided into two institutions: the House of Representatives and the Senate. The two houses of Congress have equal but unique roles in the federal government. While they share legislative responsibilities, each house also has special constitutional duties and powers."
ReplyDeleteThe father of a student I taught chastised me in a note. He said that Congress was just the House of Representatives and didn't include the Senate.
Another parent chastised me for saying that there were numbers below zero, negative numbers. The temperature in Alaska has gone to minus 65 degrees.
I was using the scientific definition of work in a class and a parent was using the common definition. She wrote the principal to say that I was misinformed.
Sounds like some anons who carp without ascertaining the validity of their opinion first.
Wow! This was a struggle but a great workout. The theme answers were really clever.
ReplyDeleteLike Misty, we are Orange County residents, so it’s nice to have one “given”.
Thanks for the fun, Gary and the great explanation, C.C.
This was a steady solve - waited for perps for words like EVERETT (my daughter lives in EVERETT, Washington a suburb of Seattle- but I didn't know the Boston suburb) and ALO which also prounounces like a cockney greeting but is usually spelled 'Ello but sounds the same.
ReplyDeleteT-GEL (or it's generic ) is a good product for scalp seborrhea and psoriasis, but I usually recommend using a better smelling conditioner or second shampoo afterwards to temper the scent of the tar in it!
Thanks CC and Gary for a nice afternoon stroll through the crossword!
Surprised to FIR. Learning moment that BASTE has that meaning. Hand up with Anonymous that the clue for SEN seemed wrong. I searched the Constitution and it seems House is used for the Senate as well, though never explicitly stated.
ReplyDeleteCan someone please explain why PASS goes with BOMB?
Can someone please explain why AFT goes with PERSONAL AD?
"Talk like a PIRATE Day" endorses ARRR. YAR is nowhere to be found.
Here are photos I took of a tribute to IL DUCE, MUSSOLINI that still exists in Italy.
My good friend Jerry lives nearby in LENNO and he found it embarrassing. MUSSOLINI was assassinated close by, so he had enemies and friends in that area even to this day.
I have photos of ELY, Nevada but those would be harder to find.
Wilbur Charles I actually did not remember EVERETT even though the ZIP code was just one digit different from mine when I lived there. I was very familiar with everything in biking and/or transit distance, but somehow I missed going to EVERETT. NATICK was much more familiar to me.
AnonT glad you appreciated the IN A PET explanation yesterday.
I liked this puzzle very much. I quote jfrmvt: "I thought this was an outstanding puzzle. Great pun-ny theme and answers, and some interesting fills. Perfect Sunday challenge!" I didn't much care for YAR or TKT or HOO, but these were more than made up for by sterling fill such as ESTUARY, MUCILAGES, URETHANE, CO-ANCHORS, and TENDRILS, to name a few.
ReplyDeleteSure enough, I had to change URGED to EGGED, EWE to DOE, MERLOT to CLARET, and SAD to EAT. By the way, D, O, and E are the first three letters of my last name, and when people ask me how to spell my name I learned that saying "Just like JOHN DOE with a RING on it" almost always works.
Not only does doing Ctrl-A (select all) followed by Ctrl-C (copy) frequently help prevent losing one's post because you can Ctrl-V (paste) to re-post it, there is also the good ole Ctrl-Z (undo what you just did) you can use to reverse having fat-fingered something, as long as you do it right away before doing anything else at all.
Good wishes to all this fine Sunday.
Here are some photo highlights of Merlie and me from this past year.
ReplyDeleteWell well, the Constitution actually does use the word "House" to refer to either the House of Representatives or the Senate. For example:
ReplyDelete"Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members, and a Majority of each shall constitute a Quorum to do Business; but a Minority Number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the Attendance of absent Members, in such Manner, and under such Penalties as each House may provide."
There are many other examples in Article I.
Picard, great football fan that I am, I believe that a long PASS is sometimes called a BOMB. And the person posting that personal ad may want to be contacted in the AFTernoon.
ReplyDeletePicard, Somerville lies between Cantabridge* and Everett. In the days of the elevated trains the ORANGE Line extended from my old neighborhood in Jamaica Plain to Everett. An LIU reveals a reroute since the Big Dig.
ReplyDeleteRe. Everett to Lincoln: Everett himself wrote to Lincoln, “I wish that I could flatter myself that I had come as near to the central idea of the occasion in two hours as you did in two minutes.”
Delightful puzzle with clever clues. BTW, I checked into YouTube TV and found Boomer's poetic songs. Real talent shades of "Willy, Mickey and the Duke".
WC
* Re. Picard post FLN
PS. I think "Screen or Bomb" should have had "eg." appended. Or do I not fully understand xword construction?
WC
What a weekend! On ESPN (not ULSU 63- Oklahoma 28; Saints 42 - Carolina Panthers 10.
ReplyDeleteThe puzzle today? After two DNF in a row, it was an EEEEEasy fill.
The North gave me the trouble until E-QUALITY CONTROL gave the E start away and I changed NIL to PEP for 'Zip'. Off to the races after that.
I had a usual amount of A&E Unknowns fills by perpsl-O'CASEY, ALAN BALL, GIA Carangi, ERIN.
Other unknowns- EVERETT, MA, ALO, THEY, OCH for 'Crikey', MUCILAGES.
I seriously doubt that any cutthroat pirate ever cries YAR or ARRR.
NO TIPS- Add Australia to China & Japan.
HOO for the end of BOO. That's a new one.
Misty- IMHO it's never nice to see SEAN Penn. Let him stay in Venezuela with Maduro.
Yellowrocks- Senate is the UPPER House vs. the LOWER House of Rep. Not hard to understand.
Good evening, folks. Thank you, Gary Larson, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, C.C., for fine review.
ReplyDeletePuzzle was tough. Took me about three hours total. I kept stepping away and coming back. Sometimes that helps.
Caught the theme with EDEN MOTHER. After that it helped with the rest of the puzzle.
Took me a while to get CEES. Then I knocked myself in the head, Duh!
URETHANE was tough. But I had enough perps to make it work.
ALAN BALL was perps and a wag.
Liked TENDRILS. Good word and clue.
Puzzle gave me a good brain workout.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
I needed my son to get me NUGENT, because I didn’t recognize the themer and had ESCAPEbOAT. Other than that, I liked the theme and it helped.
ReplyDeleteTotally wasted my afternoon on this silly mess. Again, Larson prefers "humor(less)" over syntax in his attempts at puzzling - puzzling at least to me. Where oh where have the word kniwledge puzzle makers gone?? Trivia contests are not my cup of tea. Let's take a pill: how many of you finished this mess WITHOUT using one of the Crossword Help (Cheat?) Sites. I now sit in front of a warm fire in my hearth started with Larson's fodder. At least it was of some value!
ReplyDeleteSlightly askew from today's puzzle, I think I am joining the visually aging squad -- I kept reading 57d as "HoMe and Durham", as there was so little spacing between the letters of 'HoRNe' that it was not until the third pass that perps forced 'Lena,' and so the V8 Can of Joy impacted me, but, alas, not in the optic nerve.
ReplyDeleteIf I had know how much fun it is to get old, I would have done this stage FIRST ... and had it out of the way!
Bobbi, I would rate this medium hard(for a Sunday). The theme was grok'able and provided a lot of boxes for perps.
ReplyDeleteIt could have been worse eg. yesterday's
WC
Even later than usual, that’s me. Youngest grandson (4 years old) is having a sleepover here and things are finally quiet. I didn’t even start on today’s puzzle until about 45 minutes ago.
ReplyDeleteNice treat today. Not too easy, not too hard. Just like Goldilocks, it was juuust right. Not much to be said this late in the day that hasn’t already been said. WEES.
For those who just learned that the US Senate is a house too—now that you know, I bet you will hearing comments about the houses of Congress that you just hadn’t noticed before. Illinois government also uses this term, and I imagine that every other state with a bicameral legislature does too.
C.C., I’m with you; I love pickled beets!
I almost never use online resources to get the answers to any puzzles (almost).
I think my favorite entry today was ELAND RUSH. My least favorite was YAR. Real pirates don’t say YAR, they just shiver their timbers. :P
My most difficult to suss was shower = AIRER. It took me nearly forever to see the clue as show-er rather than shower. Probably exactly what Mr Larson was hoping would happen. It was my pleasure to prove you right, sir.
As early as it still is, I’m going to bed now... it’s been a long day. Bye.
Hi Y'all! Thanks for the challenge, Gary. Great expo, C.C.!
ReplyDeleteRead the title and tried "E" at the beginning theme entry and thereafter. Some of the rest of the theme stuff didn't come as easy but better than if I wasn't savy to the "E".
DNK: most of the proper names, like NUGENT & what BigEasy said.
Anon T: from last night. Thank you for commiserating. Glad you are a good son. I have one good son who is very kind to me.
ReplyDelete31 down. ALERS as in American League? What about I as in Indians from Cleveland?
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleterblegge, See Husker Gary's post at 12:43 PM earlier.
The Oakland and Baltimore teams are frequently referred to as the A's and the Os.
I've never heard of anyone referring to the Indians as the Is, and I'm from that area.
BTW, you might want to reconsider posting your name as your email ID. You'll open yourself up to getting a lot of spam.