Theme: "EASING DOES IT" - Long E sound is replaced by ING in each familiar phrase.
21A. Light fare after a breakup?: PARTING SNACKS. Party snacks.
51A. Like the first little pig?: STRAW BEARING. Strawberry.
69A. Best time of year to visit a pawn shop?: HOCKING SEASON. Hockey season.
84A. Golf club that's almost too heavy to swing?: TAXING DRIVER. Taxi driver.
116A. One who makes relocating even harder than it already is?: MOVING VILLAIN. Movie villain.
15D. Task for a haunted house after Halloween?: GHOST STORING. Ghost story.
63D. Youngest sibling's lot?: LIFE OF RILING. Life of Riley.
I actually read the title as "Easy Does It". Tough to come up with a title that sums up this theme gimmick.
The long E sound has various spellings in the base phrases: Y, EY, IE and I. The title itself demonstrates the change: EASY becomes EASING.
Across:
1. Muted hue: PASTEL.
7. "I'm off!": SEE YA.
12. Signs fraudulently: FORGES.
18. Queen of mystery: ELLERY. Ellery Queen is a joint pseudonym for the authors and the name of their most famous fictional detective character.
19. Like a major artery: AORTAL.
20. "South Pacific" song: BALI HAI. Sung by Bloody Mary.
23. Line judges?: EDITORS. Fun clue.
24. Ramen mushroom: ENOKI. I mostly put enoki in soup.
25. Caffeine-rich nut: KOLA.
27. Sleeveless tops: VESTS.
28. General vibe: MOOD.
32. Way out: ESCAPE ROUTE. 103. Over the moon: ON CLOUD NINE. Two 11's. It's OK to put them in Across slots as long as they're shorter than the shortest theme entries.
36. Archaic possessive: THY.
37. __ penguin: EMPEROR.
40. Tree on the Lebanese flag: CEDAR.
41. Curved paths: ARCS.
43. Haberdashery clip: TIE BAR.
44. Deal that generates interest: LOAN.
46. __ as a pin: NEAT.
48. Large med. facilities: CTRS. As in VA Medical Centers.
54. Save from ruin: BAILOUT.
56. Hit that clears the bases: TRIPLE. Rooting for the Brewers. 8. Bullpen stat: ERA. Here I am warming up in the Twins bullpen. Plenty of time to work on my ERA before Opening Day.
57. Blokes: LADS.
60. Enter traffic: MERGE.
61. Brazilian icon known as "The King of Football": PELE.
64. "Unstoppable" singer: SIA. That Wig.
65. Visual: IMAGE.
67. Longtime language columnist William: SAFIRE.
68. Bird: Pref.: AVI.
72. Afternoon refresher: NAP.
73. Pan coating: TEFLON.
75. Fancy pitchers: EWERS.
76. Genetic letters: DNA. 108. 76-Across strand shape: HELIX.
77. Some NCOs: SGTS.
78. Oscar winner Tatum: O'NEAL.
79. Play thing: PROP.
80. Will, given a chance: MEAN TO.
82. Chemical variant: ISOTOPE.
90. Like butter ready for whipping: SOFT.
91. Baby sheep: LAMB.
94. Dec. 25: XMAS. Two months away.
95. Charcuterie slice: SALAMI.
96. "Not That Fancy" writer McEntire: REBA.
98. "Tiny Alice" playwright: ALBEE (Edward)
100. Snippets of time: MOMENTS.
101. CBS forensic franchise: CSI.
107. Part of a classroom lineup: DESK.
110. Unflappable: COOL.
111. Drug cops: NARCS.
114. Put to work: UTILIZE.
123. Broadway honor: TONY NOD.
124. Paperless event notices: EVITES.
125. Over-the-top: TOO TOO.
126. Partake (in): ENGAGE.
127. Barber's tool: RAZOR.
128. "You'll love doing this!": IT'S FUN.
Down:
1. Friskiness: PEP.
2. Huntsville's st.: ALA.
3. Camera choice, initially: SLR.
4. Vietnamese celebration: TET.
5. Source of some lake-effect snow: ERIE.
6. Swann who won four Super Bowls with the Steelers: LYNN.
7. Sega hedgehog: SONIC.
9. Short "... need I go on?": ETC. And 10. Went on and on and on: YAKKED.
11. One who didn't get a seat: ALSO-RAN.
12. Rage: FAD.
13. "Last Week Tonight" host John: OLIVER.
14. Formal ceremony: RITE.
16. Habitat for humanity: EARTH.
17. Actress Spacek: SISSY.
19. Satisfies one's curiosity, in a way: ASKS.
20. Boyfriend: BEAU.
22. One on the move: GOER.
26. Legends: LORE.
28. Team whose mascot's head is a baseball: METS. Patti's team. Also 80. The Marlins, on scoreboards: MIA. Miami.
29. Skip over: OMIT.
30. Abbr. on old phones: OPER.
31. Primary event: DEBATE.
33. Smoothie berry: ACAI.
34. Teller's partner in magic: PENN.
35. Bye line: TA TA.
38. Flirty growl: RAWR.
39. "Only the Lonely" singer: ORBISON.
42. Staff symbol: C CLEF.
44. Player coached by JJ Redick: LA LAKER. Redick has coached the Lakers since 2024.
45. Resource in Minecraft and Catan: ORE.
47. Core muscles: ABS.
49. Toddler, slangily: RUGRAT.
50. Brews: STEEPS. 74. Hot drink with foam art: LATTE.
52. Like a large-scale tale or fail: EPIC.
53. Tumbler: GLASS.
55. Somali supermodel: IMAN.
58. Get old: AGE.
59. Numbs, as pain: DEADENS.
61. Local lingo: PATOIS.
62. "Despite that ... ": EVEN SO. And 67. Scoundrel: SO AND SO. Tiny dupe.
65. Likely to err: INEPT.
66. Ballpark fig.: MGR.
69. Graphic start: HOLO.
70. __ Jima: IWO.
71. Hidden hiccup: SNAG.
77. Ready for the laundry: SOILED.
79. Shell game pellet: PEA.
81. Zurich transport: TRAM.
83. Scheme: PLAN.
85. Chopped down: AXED.
86. Jean Grey's cohort: X MEN. Jean Grey is a founding member of the X-Men.
87. Wind indicator: VANE.
88. 911 responders: Abbr.: EMTS.
89. Board game played on a map: RISK.
92. Bueno's opposite: MALO. Bueno = good. Malo = bad.
93. Late __: BLOOMER.
97. Olympic sport since 1904: BOXING.
99. Luxury watchmaker bought by Citizen in 2008: BULOVA.
100. "Jeopardy!" creator Griffin: MERV.
101. Laundry slide: CHUTE.
102. __ Hall University: SETON.
104. Included, in a way: CCED.
105. Baltimore's __ Harbor: INNER.
106. Bugs or badgers: NAGS. Verbs.
109. "Heated Rivalry" role for Connor Storrie: ILYA. Learning moment for me. There's a great swimmer called ILYA Kharun, who's going to make a big splash in 2028.
112. Big Four bank name: CITI.
113. Bank opening: SLOT.
115. "The Batman" actress Kravitz: ZOE.
117. To wit, for short: VIZ.
118. Skater Midori: ITO.
119. Word in many California place names: LOS.
120. DOJ division: ATF.
121. "We'll settle this later" letters: IOU.
122. __ sequitur: NON.
C.C.
Yes, I did read the title.
ReplyDeleteAnd that “clued me in” to the theme of the entire puzzle. So it wasn’t too tough.
FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteBALI HAI and Roy ORBISON were back for encores today. I YADAED before I YAKKED. Fun puzzle, even though I turfed it with TONI NOD and ILIA. Anyone else think of Illya Kuryakin? Bzzzzzt. Thanx, Pam and C.C. (That clip of you in the bullpen also could've worked for EWER -- fancy pitcher.)
I guessed the Y successfully, but yep, I loved The Man from U.N.C.L.E. as a kid. Never did know what it stood for (thx Wikipedia!)
DeleteUnited Network Command for Law and Enforcement
DeleteSure did think of Ilya of UNCLE fame!
DeleteGood Morning:
ReplyDeletePam is one of my favorite Sunday constructors but this wasn’t one of my favorite Sunday grids. It took me a while to grasp the theme and I’m still a little leery of its execution. This reaction is a personal one due to my unenthusiastic feelings about this type of theme, in general. That said, I was glad to see Pam’s byline as it’s been a while and I’ve missed her usual solid offerings.
Thanks, Pam, and thanks, CC, for explaining the theme in an easy to understand manner. Looking good in the bullpen!
Happy Birthday, Anarkie, hope it’s a special day! 🎂🎉🎊🎈
Have a great day.
FIR, but aura->MOOD, aortac->AORTAL, hosp->CTRS, tea->NAP, oneil->ONEAL, plot->PROP, ire->FAD, house->EARTH, imam->IMAN, then when I got stuck in Coral Gables, san->LOS, fbi->ATF, and tbd->IOU.
ReplyDeleteLYNN Swann was a fabulous player for the Steelers. Jethro Pugh was a fabulous player for the Cowboys. One was a lithe sure-handed tight end, the other a gritty, hulking member of his team's Doomsday Defense. Their names were appropriate for occupation.
I have a friend who donated to the Susan B. Komen foundation, and received a "Save the TATAs" bumper sticker for his pickup truck.
BULOVA a luxury watch? Yeah, and my RAV4 is a Japanese Rolls Royce.
MERV was quite the showbiz guy. He sold his production company, Merv Griffin Enterprises, to Columbia Pictures Television in 1986 for $250 million. Forbes declared Griffin the wealthiest Hollywood performer in history.
NON Sequitur is on my favorites list at Go Comics. Love me some Danae and Lucy.
There's an old joke that the three best things in human existence are a drink before and a NAP after.
HBDTY, Anarkie.
Thanks to PAK for the fun Sunday workout. And thanks to CC for another informative review.
FIR. This was not too difficult for a Sunday, although there were a few too many proper names for my liking.
ReplyDeleteIt took me a while to get the theme but the light bulb went off half way through. That really helped with the rest of the puzzle.
Overall an enjoyable puzzle.
Musings
ReplyDelete-What a clever gimmick that complemented such clean fill. This golfer loved TAXING DRIVER!
-FORGES: Does anyone else see the good of “finger signing” on iPads these days?
-C.C., that bullpen video was a hoot! What did you register on the radar gun? :-)
-I am a VISUAL learner, teacher and blogger
-Did you have sled runner desks like I did growing up?
-I had to UTILIZE YouTube yesterday to make a repair. The quality of the instruction vary widely.
-I spent a week at a NASA conference at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, ALA. Hearing space PATOIS with a southern accent was fun.
-X MEN: On Big Bang Theory, Sheldon Cooper wanted to name his team after his surname and so he wanted to call them his C MEN. Oops!
-I can not remember seeing ILYA referring to Ilya Kuryaken.
Our Military Sealift Command has able seamen. Not to be confused with their ordinary seamen.
Delete18:01. Ugh. Boy the bottom section of the puzzle is a mess.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed all the clever clues with just enough misdirection to be fun and doable.
ReplyDeleteI had trouble with the theme when I saw two long answers that didn’t fit, ESCAPE ROUTE and ON CLOUD NINE, but I came to my senses.
The last fills were in the WEST because RAWR wasn’t coming, then I remembered it from previous CWs. My only real unknown names were ILYA and ZOE.
Thank you CC for the nice recap and theme parsing.
All crossing names sucked the fun right out of it
ReplyDeleteI had trouble with this one... many of the clues just didn't seem to fit the answers without explanation. Pardon my language, but my finish was to be an alphabet run thru Sia crossing Lalaker, and I normally would have skipped starting at A as being impossible. So it was a real WTF moment when my alphabet run fizzled out at the first letter... (it was also a real "oh you've got to be kidding me" moment when it was explained that it was L.A. Laker and not some guy named Lalaker...)
ReplyDeleteLearning moment: patois. (I had trouble thinking what a Lanai had to do with language...)
First item to be forgotten: patois...
Ah yes, Merv Griffin.
I told the story once before, but if you don't remember, remind me to tell you the story of what happened when as a 12 year old, we snuck into the Merv griffin theater while he was taping a show...
Happy Birthday Anarkie!
(Sorry, Google didn't like the spelling, so I went with something more visually appealing...)
And finally,
If this puzzle left you grumpy, Here are 35 funny pictures to help you ease into your morning...
Very funny pix list 🙄😂
DeleteHmm, in rereading my post for typos, it occurred to me that Anarkie may have preferred a less cutesy cake. But all Google would offer was skulls and motorcycles. So I took another look, and found something you might like on TikTok...
ReplyDeleteNow, I am not a TikTok user, so I had to skip a lot of pop ups demanding I sign in, until I finally got to a pop up that said enter your age to get in (I lied)...
the top design is not a pentagram, it's an "A"!
I notice the Y sound to ING switch immediately. Easy to FIR with the normal unknown A&E proper names.
ReplyDeleteCTRS- crummy clue. It could have had any clue from basketball big men to hubs.
With the McEntire clue, REBA was a guess.
John OLIVER, X MEN, ILYA, ZOE, and LA LAKER- DNK as clued or who they were.
VIZ for "To wit"- no idea what viz stands for.
CC- looking at your video, at least you didn't "throw like a girl" leading with the right leg.
Videlicet
DeleteI liked this puzzle, as I usually do on Sundays. Loved the wordplay.
ReplyDeleteFBI-->ATF. SAN-->LOS. AORTIC-->AORTAL. CHEESE-->SALAMI. HOBO-->GOER.
I liked "Primary event": DEBATE and "Like a large-scale tale or fail": EPIC.
PATOIS is a nifty word.
Good reading all your comments.
Oh, and I immediately thought of Jazzbumpa at VIZ.
ReplyDeleteC.C., you explain a theme better than anyone else! So succinct. Thanks for toting up all the different spellings of the E sound in the puzzle.
ReplyDeleteLike HG, my favorite theme answer was TAXI DRIVER.
Like CE:D, I struggled with the crossing of SIA and LALAKER, and also like CE:D, I thought Lalaker was some guy's last name until C.C. parsed LA LAKER for us.
Not knowing anything about how a baseball is supposed to be thrown, I was nevertheless impressed with C.C.'s athleticism! Great clip!
Many thanks to Pam Amick Klawitter for a fun Sunday solve -- IT'S FUN! -- and to everyone who comments.
Anarkie, if today is indeed your birthday, I hope it's a happy one! We are all delighted by your presence here in the Corner.
Took 25:07 today.
ReplyDeleteI knew the Actresses of the Day (Sissy & Zoe).
Meh.
Even though I didn’t catch the basis of the theme (the E to ING biz) I still figured out the gist of it and got the FIR. Fun puzzle, not too hard and still had some crunch; despite a couple of “meh” clues and a few A&E names, it was good stuff from Ms. Klawitter (I am a bit weary of seeing RAWR, though…😖).
ReplyDeleteThanks for the visual fun in your recap, C.C. — nice try on the mound! And I never knew that rule (?) saying if long fills are shorter than the themers, that’s acceptable. Good thing I don’t try designing a crossword puzzle — I’d be totally clueless (yeah, very punny indeed 😁).
====> Darren / L.A.
Like Big Easy at 1:03PM, I didn't understand viz. for To Wit. After the solve, I looked it up and found on-line: "The abbreviation viz. is short for the Latin videlicet and means "namely" or "to wit," used to introduce a detailed list or clarification of what came before." I'm not quite sure why the abbreviation viz. for the Latin "videlicet", since there is no z in videlicet. Also, not to be confused with the expression Vis-à-vis which means “in relation to” or “compared with,” and it can also mean “face-to-face with.” It comes from French and literally means “face-to-face.”
ReplyDeleteZ looked the most like the pre-typesetting symbol for the abbreviation. Like spelling the as ye, y most closely resembling the bygone thorn letter. Or why the Scots name Menzies is pronounced Mingis, the z here replacing the bygone yogh which made the hard g sound.
DeleteI couldnt
ReplyDeleteAccidentally posted. I meant to say that I didn’t get theme until coming here because my paper printed it as “Teasing Does It.” Made no sense at all!
Delete