Wednesday June 28, 2017 Agnes Davidson & C.C. Burnikel

Theme: GAME CHANGER (60A. Ump's controversial call, perhaps ... and a hint to this puzzle's circles) - Each theme answer contains an anagram of a game. 

17A. Literally, "Ireland forever" : ERIN GO BRAGH. Bingo.

24A. Accident investigation site : CRASH SCENE. Chess.

37A. Gently towels off : PATS DRY. Darts.

51A. Eavesdrop : LISTEN IN ON. Tennis.

Boomer here.  It's true an ump may change an outcome of a game. But here in warm and windy Minnesota it's time for me to park the GLOWIN' Balls in the garage and get the clubs out to the great outdoors.  I just finished a successful spring league with most games over 200, and now I'll FLOG the links with most scores over 100.  If the averages ever meet it will be time to quit both games I fear.

Across:

1. Hubby's "better half" : THE MRS I think you need to be William Frawley's age to use this term.

7. Metaphorical china shop culprit : BULL - Yeah, I've heard of the china shop but I use this half a word to define lies.

11. Rest area? : SPA

14. Bring to light : REVEAL

15. "That makes sense" : I SEE

16. __ paper : WAX - NEWS and TERM were too many letters

19. Swelling reducer : ICE - covers all of our 10,000 lakes every winter

20. Pie __ mode : A LA

21. Figured out : GOT - there seems to be an abundance of three letter words in this puz.

22. Ward off : REPEL - Cutter's works good on mosquitoes

28. Vacuums, say : CLEANS

30. Meteorological light shows : AURORAS - They come along once in a while.  I always seem to miss the display.

33. Ill-mannered : CRASS - Crass, Cross - Same ol'

34. You might get a bad one in the rough : LIE - see my FLOG comment above.

35. Cosmetic surg. option : LIPO This is half a word.

36. Leia's love : HAN - Was "Star Wars" an AURORA ??

41. Safari beast : GNU - You need a GUN to kill a GNU

42. Equal : EVEN - Pass line bet at the craps table

44. Protective housing : POD- Moving companies will drop them in your driveway.  You load, they haul.

45. Survey choice : OTHER - I hate surveys. They should pay for your time.

47. Need for a return, usually : RECEIPT

49. Crazy Horse, for one : LAKOTA - Well known Native American organization in Chamberlain, SD.

53. Speed skater Ohno : APOLO - Surprise! I remember his performance in the Olympics.  Always thought there were two "L"s in his name.  Often wonder if competitors jived him with his surname.

55. Put a stop to : END

56. Sound from a toy : YAP - I have no yapping toys.  Maybe from a Toy Poodle ?

59. Possesses : HAS

65. Imitate : APE

66. Commentary piece : OP-ED -short for opinion/editorial.  We have way too many in this country.

67. Eight-time Best Actor Oscar nominee who never won : O'TOOLE - Probably most famous as Lawrence of Arabia.

68. Unfavorable : BAD

69. Sundae crunch providers : NUTS - I am STUNNED by this clue.

70. Squeezed (in) : WEDGED - Or one of those goofy FLOG shots - Jordan Spieth made from the bunker in the playoff.

Down: 

1. Uno e due : TRE - I don't comment on foreign words.

2. Wife of Zeus : HERA - Would this not be Zeus' better half?

3. "See no __ ... " : EVIL - You may see it LIVE and in person.

4. Endangers : MENACES - Mr. Wilson's bane

5. Word after dust or do : RAG- Clean oil from your bowling ball.
  

6. "America Runs on Dunkin'," e.g. : SLOGAN

7. Beginning : BIRTH 

8. "Born in the __" : USA - Last Sunday in the Travelers FLOG tournament, the crowd was yelling "BOO S A" for PGA player Weekley.

9. Stocking stuffer? : LEG - SANTA had too many letters

10. MacNeil's longtime co-host : LEHRER (Jim). Robert MacNeil.

11. Unlock a cellphone screen, perhaps : SWIPE RIGHT - Since my cell is an old style flip phone, I have no idea what this means.

12. Show anxiety, in a way : PACE - In Massachusetts, you must pick up the PACE if you are running around the CAPE.

13. Skater's maneuver : AXEL - This is a goofy skating leap named after a Norwegian named Axel. Someday I may have a 7-10 split named after me?

18. Head honcho : BOSS

23. Carbon compound : ENOL - Would this be the LONE element in Carbon?

25. Sign of a sore throat : RASP - Your FLOG opponent may lose his voice after your string of PARS.

26. Expressed : SAID

27. Stage coach? : CUER - If the CUER is sick, you may need a doctor to CURE him before the
show.

28. Hunger for : CRAVE

29. Sign of an impending merger? : LANE CLOSED - We have a lot of this going on here in Minneapolis.  I am sure other cities as well.  Our four seasons are Fall, Winter, Spring and under construction.

31. Sleep problem from the Greek for "absence of breathing" : APNEA

32. Like lemons, e.g. : SOUR

33. Chaz Bono's mom : CHER - Sonny's better half in the sixties.

34. "Dropped" '60s drug : LSD - Speaking of the sixties "LBJ took the IRT through the USA, and
what did he see?  The youth of America on LSD"

38. Date with the doc : APPT

39. Roomy bag : TOTE

40. Musician Ono : YOKO - John Lennon's better half, of course

43. Diamond of song : NEIL - One of my favorites was "Song, Sung, Blue". Johnny Cash sung "I walk the LINE".

46. Broadway performer's recognition : TONY NOD

48. Equiangular geometric figure : ISOGON - This looks like a Made up word or acronym.

49. "The Mod Squad" member : LINC

50. "You said it!" : AND HOW - And how are you doing on this puzzle ?

52. Food and shelter, for two : NEEDS

53. Pequod captain : AHAB-or the ARAB, the sheik of the burning sand!

54. Rollin' stone, in a Motown classic : PAPA

57. Enthralled : AGOG

58. Brazilian soccer hero : PELE - One of the original soccer player millionaire icons.  I am sure he could PEEL hundreds from his bankroll.

61. "The Simpsons" storekeeper : APU

62. Fulfilled, as a deadline : MET - Also the Big Apple Citi field player.

63. Wolfed down : ATE - Ate lunch and then relaxed with TEA.

64. Embarrassed : RED - Cincinnati Great American Ballpark player.

Boomer

Wednesday, June 14, 2017, Agnes Davidson and C.C. Burnikel

TITLE: UNDER IT ALL

Husker Gary here again on a Wednesday with the distinct pleasure of reviewing yet another puzzle by our favorite new pair of constructors - Agnes and Zhouqin - aka Irish Miss and C.C. 

These two lovely ladies went vertical today as the theme fill and the reveal shown below were all standing up. The themers are all highlighted in red and green and the reveal is in all green because each green part of the theme answers can have SHEET appended to their, uh, BOTTOMS to make another common phrase.

Theme answers with SHEET appended

3*Regarding the subject at hand..." : ON THAT SCORE/SCORE SHEET - Here is what I regard as the most famous SCORE SHEET ever. It shows the twenty-seven Dodgers who came up against Don Larsen and were all retired in order in Larsen's 1956 Perfect World Series Game.

19. *Like leisure suits and Nehru jackets : OUT OF STYLE/ STYLE SHEET - All blogs have "STYLE SHEETS" that can be modified with elements at the top for presentations like what we bloggers use here 

21. *Nike competitor : NEW BALANCE/BALANCE SHEET - America's BALANCE SHEET has been out of whack for quite a while

24. *Major-league : BIG TIME/TIME SHEET - Some have issues with the machine that generates TIME SHEETS

And the reveal for Agnes and C.C.:

25. Bed cover ... or, literally, what the end of each answer to a starred clue is : BOTTOM SHEET - Yeah, constructing puzzles and getting that BOTTOM SHEET on is not always that easy

Now for the DOPE SHEET on the rest of their always fun fill:



Across

1. Wall St. debuts : IPOS

5. Land formerly ruled by a shah : IRAN and  27. 5-Across capital : TEHRAN

9. Political Ron or Rand : PAUL - Rand went into Dad's trade

13. Van starter? : MINI

14. Stuffed shells : TACOS

16. Data, for instance : INFO

17. "Big __" Delaney: "Sons of Anarchy" character : OTTO

18. "Tsk tsk" : SHAME ON YOU

20. Hawaiian priests : KAHUNAS  Or burgers from Pulp Fiction 

22. " ... bug in __" : A RUG - Snug as a...

23. Skating jump : AXEL - Wow!

24. Petrol pumper : BRIT - About  £1.19/liter or $5.74/gallon

25. Went for the lure : BIT

28. Decide : OPT

30. Starbucks amenity : WIFI - Nothing else there is free 

32. As an example : FOR ONE - Yeah, I believe Ken Jennings would think that. :-) 

34. "Street Dreams" rapper : NAS

35. Hosiery hue : BEIGE

37. Get : FETCH

38. Stretchy synthetic : LYCRA - My daughter wants me to buy some LYCRA biking shorts that have padding in very sensitive areas. I don't want to look like a 70-yr-old guy trying to look like he's 25.

40. Inc. relative : LTD

41. Ravi Shankar's instrument : SITAR - Ravi wasn't into the 60's hippie scene despite what was written about him

42. How some tuna is packed : IN OIL

43. Swiss chocolatier since 1845 : LINDT

45. Mama bear, in Tabasco : OSA

46. Standard : NORMAL

48. More than a few : MANY

49. Bishops and knights : MEN - Here a bishop and a knight have the King (who as usual is only in a supporting role) checkmated

50. Animal common in rebus puzzles : EWE

51. Permission slip : NOTE

53. "Too bad" : ALAS - poor Yorick...

55. Pac-12 team : UCLA

56. King of fiction : STEPHEN - Whenever I see a '57 Plymouth Fury...

59. Deep-fried carnival confection : FUNNEL CAKE

63. Dad, to Dumas : PERE - Alexandre Dumas' PERE a été Thomas-Alexandre Dumas

64. Morales of "The Brink" : ESAI

65. Corn Belt towers : SILOS - Omaha artists have made SILOS into works of art along I-80

66. Toy brand with a Ninjago line : LEGO

67. It's outstanding : DEBT

68. Small pie : TART

69. Thames school : ETON - On June 10, ETON lost to Wellington in Threepenny 1 Cricket by 50 runs. Bit of a sticky wicket!


Down

1. "No harm done" : I'M OK - Ah, back to my counseling days and Transactional Analysis

2. Baba ghanouj bread : PITA

4. Iowa's __ City : SIOUX

5. "So not true!" : IT'S A LIE

6. Cheers from tiers : RAHS

7. Obamacare, briefly : ACA - Affordable Care Act

8. Baseball analyst Garciaparra : NOMAR - NOMAH at Fenway

9. "And the Putter Went ... __": golf history book : PING - But Joann, it's on sale!

10. "__ questions?" : ANY


11. Blur in a tabloid pic : UFO - They never seem to land on the lawn at MIT

12. Fox Business anchor Dobbs : LOU

15. Letter flourish : SERIF - Agnes Davidson and C.C. Burnikel - One with SERIF and one sans SERIF

26. As a precaution : IN CASE

28. How much shopping is done : ON LINE

29. Webpage option under an invoice : PAY NOW

31. Top off, say : FILL - Nah, I've still got 60 miles worth in there...

33. Retailer that abstained from Black Friday in 2015 and launched an #OptOutside movement instead : REI - I didn't do either but I like their thinking!

36. Flamboyant Dame : EDNA

39. Cup lip : RIM

44. Crime lab procedure : DNA TEST - "Uh, Number 2, we'd like to you stay"  I used this graphic on a March puzzle, but I thought it bore repeating!

47. Sprawls on the couch : LOLLS

52. Implied : TACIT

54. Cobbler fruit : APPLE

55. Foot or furlong : UNIT - I remember Dan and Jane as Parental UNITS from when SNL was funny

56. Hershey's toffee bar : SKOR - A fav of mine

57. Thus : ERGO


58. Flashy light : NEON - Times Squares now OPTS for LED lights

59. Served dinner to : FED

60. Take advantage of : USE

61. Arrest : NAB

62. Menu catchphrase : ALA - This is the third Puzzle ALA Irish and C.C. I have blogged and they have all been a pleasure! 


Well, I am finished between the sheets. You?

Thursday June 1st 2017 Agnes Davidson & C.C. Burnikel

Theme: Hide from GOgres: Three kinds of bedding, three little words hiding beneath them.

As  you can see in the grid, the word "GO" is found beneath three sets of covers as the reveal explains:

62A. What narcs may do ... or what can literally be found in three pairs of puzzle answers : GO UNDER COVER

Agnes, AKA Irish Miss here on the blog and C.C. back with another joint effort. Neat theme and smooth fill. I did look a little askance at "EMB" but it's not an uncommon entry, so no harm, no foul. What else? Let's hide and go seek:

Across:

1. Wines that can be white or red : PINOTS. Pinot Noir and Pinot Grigio, for example. Some of the best Pinot Noirs come from the Santa Ynez Valley here in California. I go up there wine tasting two or three times a year. I've got a couple of 2010's in magnum that I should be thinking about drinking soon. Here's one signed by the winemaker, Kathy Joseph.

7. Greetings : HI'S

10. Lighthouse view : SEA

13. Widely recognized : ICONIC. Nice word, nice letter progression for a crossword.

14. Sleep on it : SERTA. Mattress brand.

16. Immediate caregiver, briefly : EMT

17. Highlighted publication part : CENTER SPREAD. Fresh entry, never before seen in the LAT, and a themer to boot.

19. "All Things Considered" airer : NPR

20. Mongrel : CUR

21. Brest bestie : AMIE. Brittany port city. It's really an effort to go to Brest, it's on the west coast of France and not on the way to anywhere else. Any further and you'll fall into the Atlantic Ocean.

22. Howe of hockey : GORDIE. GO Gordie!

24. Singer DiFranco : ANI

25. Halves of some master-servant relationships : GENII. If I tell you that my first try for 6D was SCRAP, then you'll understand why I was a little surprised when a different word appeared here.

27. Little pitchers have big ones, per an old maxim : EARS

28. Pioneering computer : ENIAC. A few computer throwback entries today. All a stroll in the park for me.

30. Stick-in-the-mud : WET BLANKET

33. Cabbage : MOOLAH

35. Insect stage : IMAGO. GO insect emerging from your pupa!

36. Quarterback Roethlisberger : BEN. Pittsburgh Steelers' signal-caller.

37. Nice and easy : NO HASSLE

40. Degree for Dr. Oz : MBA, And an MD. He obtained both degrees when he graduated from Penn in 1984. That's quite some achievement.

43. Southwestern lizards : GILAS

44. Traveling from gig to gig : ON TOUR. I saw U2 on their "Joshua Tree" tour at the Rose Bowl the weekend before last. That's quite a tour, I lost count of the number of big rigs that trucked in the staging and lighting and were parked outside the bowl.

46. Score keeper? : SHEET MUSIC. Nice clue.

51. Takes care of : TENDS

52. Boss of fashion : HUGO. GO suit designer!

53. Procedures involving suction, familiarly : LIPOS

55. FDR agency : NRA

56. "How nice!" : I'M GLAD

59. Bridge, e.g. : GAME. Took a while for the penny to drop on this one.

60. Dandy : FOP

61. Sought office : RAN

66. "Microsoft sound" composer : ENO. Brian, co-producer of  "The Joshua Tree" album. Here's the opening track.

67. Meanies : OGRES

68. Result of a big hit : BRUISE

69. Circle div. : SEG.

70. Vicious of the Sex Pistols : SID. The various "Sid and Nancy" documentaries were fascinating and depressing all at the same time.

71. Levels of society : STRATA

Down:

1. Short movie? : PIC

2. Quebec Winter Carnival race vehicle : ICE CANOE. Total guess. Never heard of one. Looks like hard work!

3. Like some workers in an open shop : NON-UNION. Was thinking along the "suntanned" or "frostbitten" lines at first.

4. Seeking exoneration, in a way : ON TRIAL

5. Deadlock : TIE

6. Skinny sort : SCRAG

7. "I found the place!" : HERE IT IS!

8. Wrath : IRE

9. Deer fellow : STAG

10. "Where the Wild Things Are" author : SENDAK

11. Rome, once : EMPIRE

12. Not moving : AT REST

14. Chiropractor's concern : SPINE

15. Bother : ADO

18. Fish-eating duck : SMEW. Pretty-looking thing, unless you're a fish.

23. Truckee Meadows city : RENO. I thought it was a city in its own right, but nope, it's part of Reno.

26. Pioneering PCs : IBMS. They set the standard for commercially-available personal computers. We got one of the first when I worked at a bank in London. We found we had to go buy the operating system DOS which didn't come in the box and the computer didn't have a hard drive, just two floppy drives. Ever wondered why your hard drive is drive C? That's because the two floppies were A and B.

28. Diplomatic HQ : EMB.

29. "Oh, be quiet!" : CAN IT!

31. Composer Schifrin : LALO. Thank you, crosses.

32. Secret Service title : AGENT. I think there was a chance to cross-reference this with the puzzle reveal; perhaps Agnes and C.C. decided against it.

34. Fighter Holly who ended Ronda Rousey's undefeated streak : HOLM. I wouldn't want to run into either of them in a bad mood in a dark alley.

38. Schlep : HAUL

39. Given as homework : ASSIGNED

40. African capital named for an American president : MONROVIA. Learning moment. The capital of Liberia and one of only two national capitals to be named for a U.S. president. Hmm, I wonder which is the other?

41. Capital on the Danube : BUDAPEST. Two cities, Buda and Pest as we've explored before.

42. Horace's "__ Poetica" : ARS

43. Natural sci. : GEOL

45. "Copy that" : TEN-FOUR

46. British counties : SHIRES. A lot of them, but not all. Devon, Cornwall, Avon, Essex, Norfolk are some non-conformists that spring to mind. And remember the lesson I taught you about how to pronounce Worcestershire? You can apply the same principals to Leicestershire. Now Hertfordshire, Herefordshire and Hampshire? A dearth of hurricanes. Also, a dearth of enunciating "shire" in the first two counties. Good luck trying to figure out.

47. Compassionate : HUMANE

48. Creamy quaff : EGG NOG. Staple of the holiday season.

49. Popular tablets : IPADS

50. Show up : COME

54. Some Croatians : SERBS

57. In the past : AGO

58. Ballpark fare : DOGS. GO Dodgers! Or should that be OG Dodgers?!

63. The Rams of the Atlantic 10 Conf. : URI. University of Rhode Island.

64. Old PC component : CRT. Cathode Ray Tube display.

65. Blues-rocker Chris : REA. Let's play out with one of his hits.

That was a fun ride, definitely not a "Road to Hell" - here's the grid!

Steve

Sunday, May 21, 2017, Agnes Davidson and C.C. Burnikel

TITLE: HOLY MOLY


Eleven days ago, it was my privilege to blog a fun Wednesday offering by our blog mistress C.C. and fellow blogger/constructor Agnes Davison - Irish Miss to us regulars (and irregulars for that matter).  (Correction: Davidson.)

Today our own version of Cagney and Lacy present us with nine substitutions where, as you can see in the grid below, an H in one word of a common phrase is changed to an M which results in a silly phrase and accompanied by clever cluing. 

Getting the gimmick early facilitated the solve and a good time was had by all! Let's see what silliness tempered with expertise our friends presented in today's themers, some of which actually exist:

22. Check for doneness? : FEEL THE MEAT (HEAT) - This man does this for a living

24. Drama written in code? :  MORSE (HORSE) PLAY - Here ya go!

36. President's daily delivery? : MAIL (HAIL) TO THE CHIEF - If you send MAIL TO THE CHIEF of the Winnebago tribe in Winnebago, NE, he'll pick it up here

51. North Pole yoga need? : SANTA MAT (HAT)

67. Iditarod trainee? : MUSH (HUSH) PUPPY - How cute is this Siberian Husky?

81. Ace accountant : TAX MAVEN (HAVEN) - A company in Manimajra Chandigarh, India

93. Cat's tail, maybe? : MOUSE (HOUSE) DETECTIVE

110. Spy with a sweet tooth? : DONUT MOLE (HOLE)

112. Burrower servicing borrowers? : MONEY (HONEY) BADGER - A group in an online game called EVE. Nah, I hadn't heard of it either.

Now let's look the rest of C.C.'s and Agnes's High Minded entries

Across

1. Library attention-getter : PSST

5. Secretly kept in the message loop, for short : BCCED - Blind Carbon CopiED- They'll never know you told everyone!

10. Prior president who swore in two subsequent presidents : TAFT - Our 350 lb. president had this bathtub made, became the Chief Justice and swore in Coolidge and Hoover

14. Spicy : RACY

18. Trick : DUPE

19. NutraSweet developer : SEARLE - Aspertame used under the name NutraSweet has been controversial

20. Donor drive target : ALUM

21. Penne __ vodka : ALLA

26. Tylenol result, ideally : RELIEF

27. Juice-and-fish-broth product : CLAMATO  - It sounds like an SNL made- up product

29. Weather Channel concern : STORM

30. Brown on a shelf : DAN - I love Dan's books but in other quarters...

31. USC, for one : SCH

33. Like most cheeseburgers : CALORIC - Dictionary.com -

35. Teeny tiny : WEE

40. Poppycock : ROT

42. IMF division?: Abbr. : INTL - International Monetary Fund

43. Vintage vehicle : REO

44. It helps you focus : LENS - In action -

45. Bronco's bailiwick : CORRAL

48. "The Simpsons" disco devotee : STU

49. Chew the fat : JAW

50. Wish were here : MISS - My lovely bride always misses her kitty when we travel

53. Universe of Energy locale : EPCOT - A good dark, cool place to take a nap after you've seen it as many times as I have

55. Cell dweller : CON - Not all CONS are in cells in Joe Arpaio's AZ jail

56. Having a kick : TANGY

58. Preventative power : VETO

59. Foam finger number : ONE

60. "That hurts!" : OUCH

62. The end of its name is also its natl. airline : UAE and 118. Milan moolah : EURO - The UAE airline is the sponsor of the AC Milan Soccer team and this jersey will cost you €89,95

63. Scout rider : TONTO

64. Yoga position : ASANA

69. Mayflower notable : ALDEN - Below is a picture of John Alden's 8th Great Granddaughter Norma Jean Mortenson Baker who became, well, you know...

70. Waits for an agent, maybe : HOLDS

71. The __ Store : UPS - United Parcel Service

72. Minor tiff : SPAT

73. It's only make-believe : ACT - Are you faking it?

74. "That's clear" : I SEE

75. Plants of immortality, to ancient Egyptians : ALOES

77. God in the Vatican : DIO - An expose' of the Vatican's Bank Of God

78. SeaWorld performer : SHAMU

83. Lab gel : AGAR

85. Grafton's "__ for Burglar" : B IS - Sue's titling gimmick is always an easy fill

86. Usually single-stranded molecule : RNA 

88. Twists, e.g. : DANCES - Morticia and Lurch gettin' down

89. Scheme : PLOT

90. Had the most points : LED

91. Short cut : SNIP

92. Sun. speech : SER and 98. Yawn-inducing : BANAL  - Verbal Sominex at our church 

96. Sharp criticism : JAB

99. Rulers in a line : DYNASTS - I suppose a DYNASTY would have these

101. You can't live without it : AIR - You can go 3 min without AIR, 3 days without water and 3 weeks without food. Give or take.

102. Tolkien monster : ORC

103. Taste enhanced by shrimp paste : UMAMI - A tasty clue we've had quite often as of late

105. Make more than : OUT EARN

107. Joined forces : ALLIED

115. Sea once home to 1,100-plus islands : ARAL

116. Dell operator : USER

117. Chews the scenery : EMOTES

119. Bear's advice : SELL - Warren Buffet - "Buy when everyone else is SELLING"

120. Pharmacy pickups : MEDS

121. Big Pharma dept. : R AND D

122. Aligned, with "in" : SYNC

Down

1. Sharable doc format : PDF

2. Court figure : SUER

3. "C'mon, let's go!" : SPEED IT UP - After 50 yrs., I just sit in the car and wait!

4. Like revealing memoirs : TELL ALL

5. Hearty comfort food : BEEF STEW - Dinty Moore in our house

6. Short filmmaker? : CAM - This breakout hit from the Sundance Film Festival was shot with the CAM on an iPhone 5S and this is one of its 89. Movie promoters : POSTERS

7. Exhibit with a baby : CRECHE - The one with Jesus can't be put on public property

8. Its logo contains Hebrew letters : EL AL - "To the skies" in Hebrew

9. Separates : DETACHES

10. Wrapped Mexican fare : TAMALES

11. Many : A LOT OF 113. Weather-sensitive airport stat : ETD'S - A LOT OF ETD'S were altered by 100 mph winds in Omaha last week

12. Public outcry : FUROR

13. Corp. symbols : TMS - ™

14. Mesmerized : RAPT

15. Give the green light : ALLOW

16. Limerick neighbor : CLARE - Not much of a common dry land border

17. "I did it!" : YAY ME

19. Pronoun for a skiff : SHE

23. Salon treatment : TINT

25. Accompanist? : ESCORT - When you need a good ESCORT in Louisville, KY...

 

28. Common town ctr. : MAIN ST

32. John of "Star Trek" (2009) : CHO - Only the first generation Star Trek peeps are in my memory bank

34. Twist in a tale : IRONY - I'll bet you know the elements of this short story from the master of IRONY - O'Henry

36. Wrong at the start? : MIS

37. Certain entrance fee : ANTE

38. Speak : ORATE

39. Assure : CLINCH

41. John of "Hairspray" (2007) : TRAVOLTA 

45. Shrewd : CAGEY

46. Change, as a will : AMEND

47. Foamy eye-opener : LATTE

49. First name in virology : JONAS - After contracting polio, FDR started the March Of Dimes that provided much funding for Salk's vaccine that came too late for the president

50. Mop tamer : MOUSSE

51. Acknowledge the general : SNAP TO and 76. Acknowledge the general : SALUTE

52. Tom or Jerry : TOON

54. Denounces : CONDEMNS - SILENT N was a fill for "44 A Solemn ending" on Wednesday 

55. "Off" is often printed on one : COUPON 

57. Live-in nanny : AU PAIR - French for "on par" or "equal to"

61. LaserJet printers : HPS

63. Dash gauges : TACHS

64. Words after make or take : A HIT - If you have to take A HIT to make A HIT, you may need new friends  

65. "That's a shame" : SO SAD - "Dear Dad, No mon, no fun, your Son" "Dear Son, Too bad, SO SAD, your Dad"

66. Siri's Amazon counterpart : ALEXA

67. Grand Canyon rentals : MULES

68. Computer download : UPDATE - After missing several new roads, I paid to UPDATE this system in my car

73. Lines for an audience : ASIDE - Frank does this all the time in House Of Cards

75. Big name in labels : AVERY - We use AVERY 5360 labels for Christmas card address labels

79. One who may cease to exist when underappreciated? : MR NICE GUY - Never made my collection

80. USC part: Abbr. : UNIV

82. Nailed the test : ACED IT

84. Filmy fabric : GOSSAMER - Sinatra sang "A trip to the moon on GOSSAMER wings" was just One Of Those Things

85. Backstabbed : BETRAYED and 96. Biblical backstabber : JUDAS

87. Jungle chest-beater : APE who never 93. Treated very roughly : MAULED Fay Ray

90. Floral ring : LEI

91. Progress : STRIDES  

94. Yoplait competitor : DANNON

95. Cuba libre ingredient : COLA - Hmmm... what brand of COLA should I use?

97. Love, Italian-style : AMORE - "When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie"

100. Loop in a cattle drive : NOOSE

104. Think (over) : MULL

106. Arco de Constantino locale : ROMA - Isn't that building to the right famous too? 😁

108. Versatile NFL defenders : LBS - An average NFL LB weighs 235 LBS

109. "Nebraska" Oscar nominee : DERN - A wonderful movie about small town life and aging

111. Tight-lipped : MUM

114. Mythical bird : ROC

Hoping you don't need the Heimlich Maneuver after my commentary, let's hear from you, the Huddled Masses: