Tuesday, March 14, 2023 - Katie Hale & Brian Callahan

END OW!

A protest against pain or, when parsed properly,

73. Furnish with funds, and when parsed differently, a double feature of the answers to 18-, 26-, 41-, 53-, and 65-Across: ENDOW.
 

Anti-Construction protest sign seen on the freeway
//I'm down with the struggle ;-)

Each themer is two words that both END with the letters OW.  Take a look:

18. Symbol on some traffic lights: YELLOW ARROW.
 

There's one of these at an intersection
 on my way to work

26. Cheap shot: LOW BLOW.

41. Winter road clearer: SNOW PLOW.
 

Hand up - this has happened to you(?)

53. Expertise: KNOW HOW.

65. Small cushion: THROW PILLOW.

Across:
1. Radar images: BLIPS.
 

Bogies at 3 o'clock

6. Just waking up: ASTIR. Just enough to hit snooze.

11. Helpful hints: TIPS. ProTip: don't leave hints in the tip jar.
 

15. Greek storyteller: AESOP. I loved reading AESOP's fables in 2nd grade.

16. Radiated: SHONE.

17. Radiate: EMIT. Nice clecho.

18. [See: Theme]

20. Practice boxing: SPAR.

21. Business in a dyeing industry?: SALON. Cute.

22. Pasta suffix: INI. Types of Pasta.

23. Sushi fish: TUNA.
 

Ahi (Tuna) Sushi

24. Country singer Keith: URBAN. Country musician.

26. [See: Theme]

29. Baseball ploy to advance a runner: BUNT.
 

Sac BUNT in the bottom of the 9th

32. __-Seltzer: ALKA. Plop, Plop, Fizz, Fizz...

34. Ewes and does: SHES. Not does as in did but female deer - mammals.
 

They Might Be Giants - Mammals

35. Slim woodwind: OBOE.
 

Oboe

36. Faucet: TAP.

37. Meals with matzo: SEDERS.

40. Track transaction: BET. Going to the track is something I've never done. There's Sam Houston Race Track just 20 minutes down the road so maybe one day I'll put money down...

41. [See: Theme]

44. Student carrier: BUS. 99 bottle of beer OR The wheels on the BUS go...

45. "Respect" singer Franklin: ARETHA.
 

Nothing but Respect

47. Boxer Muhammad: ALI.

48. Tim of "Making the Cut": GUNN. An American author, academic, and television personality. He served on the faculty of Parsons School of Design from 1982 to 2007 and was chair of fashion design at the school from August 2000 to March 2007, after which he joined Liz Claiborne as its chief creative officer. [WikiP]
 

Tim Gunn

49. "Easier said __ done": THAN. Saturday grids, amirite?

50. Dining review site: YELP.

52. Marbled loaves: RYES.
 

I prefer seeded for ham & Swiss

53. [See: Theme]

56. Bucket O Soldiers leader in "Toy Story": SARGE.
 

Toy Story scene with Sarge

58. Civil rights icon Parks: ROSA. We know where SHE sat on the BUS.

59. Appropriate: APT.

61. Horror film loc.: ELM ST. Gives one Nightmares. Fortunately, I live on Oak Lane.

64. __ error: USER. PEBKAC - Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair.

65. [See: Theme]

68. Go from solid to liquid: MELT. Think ice.

69. "This Is Us" star Mandy: MOORE.
 
70. Intake guidelines: DIETS. "Diet is die with a T" -Garfield (the cat and maybe the President(?))

71. Files that can be e-signed: PDFS. Portable Document FormatS.

72. Cleaning powder brand: COMET.
 

Good for cleaning the tub.

73. [See: Theme]

Down:
1. Boston's Back __: BAY. An area in Boston known for for its rows of Victorian Brownstone homes—considered one of the best-preserved examples of 19th-century urban design in the United States—as well as numerous architecturally significant individual buildings, and cultural institutions such as the Boston Public Library.
 

Nice

2. Denim brand: LEES. Silly me entered Levi.

3. Cozumel, por ejemplo: ISLA. Spanish.
 

Cozumel is there

4. Contaminate: POLLUTE. Give a Hoot
 

Woodsy Owl

5. Animal trail: SPOOR. n The track or scent of an animal. v follow the track or scent of an animal or person.

6. Butterfield of "Sex Education": ASA. Nothing to do with a book from Sexual Revolution era but a show on Netflix.
 

Asa Butterfield

7. Draw back in fear: SHRINK AWAY.

8. Having trouble deciding: TORN.

9. How artichoke hearts may be packed: IN OIL.
 

These are good

10. Opposite of FF: REW.  Fast Forward; REWind.

11. Platform for software trial runs: TESTBED. I call a computer box. pl. Boxen. So, I entered TEST Box.

12. Many a checkout line purchase: IMPULSE BUY. I treat myself with a snack-bag of Doritos after grocery shopping.

13. Upright __: PIANO. As opposed to a Grand one. A neighbor gave Eldest an upright - we moved it ourselves...
 

Me acting normal when cars approached

14. Target of some plastic bans: STRAW. Anyone use the paper straws? They're OK if you sip quickly.

19. Minnesota Lynx org.: WNBA.
 

Their Logo

25. Midrange voice: ALTO. Eldest is a soprano.

27. __ buco: OSSO.

28. "Just made it!": WHEW. As you wipe your brow.

29. Tea with tapioca: BOBA. First time I had it, I didn't realize the little tapioca balls would come up the straw - nearly choked on 'em, I did.
 

Boba Tea

30. Ridesharing app: UBER. I prefer Lyft.

31. Personal reminder: NOTE TO SELF.

33. Genius Bar locale: APPLE STORE. 1) Make an appointment before you go. 2) How it Works

38. Mystical old letter: RUNE.
 

39. Tax form IDs: SSNS. Social Security NumberS.

41. Former Iranian ruler: SHAH.

42. Wee iPod: NANO.
 

Apple Nano

43. "Zorba the Greek" actress Kedrova: LILA. Yelizaveta Nikolaevna Kedrova, known as Lila Kedrova, was a Russian-born French actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Zorba the Greek, and the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for the same role in the musical version of the film. [WikiP]
 

LILA Kedrova

46. Foils: THWARTS. Those meddling kids and their dog in the Mystery Machine would THWART evil plans.

48. Creature in a 1984 horror film: GREMLIN.
 

Mogwais turn nasty when eating after midnight
[Time Zones were never explained - midnight in China or Kingston Falls, PA?]

51. Meal __: PREP. What the sous-chef does.

53. Dance style featuring stomps and chest pops: KRUMP. Krumping is a style of street dance popularized in the United States, characterized by free, expressive, exaggerated, and highly energetic movement. Dancers who started krumping saw the dance as a means for them to escape gang life and "to express raw emotions in a powerful but non-violent way." [WikiP]

54. Pried (into): NOSED. MYOB //Mind Your Own Business

55. Celebratory cry: WAHOO. Woot! kin.

57. Fly without effort: GLIDE.

60. Year-end dance: PROM. Not New Years but school's year.

62. Toboggan, e.g.: SLED.

63. Dog in Oz: TOTO. Dog from Kansas - not part of Scooby's gang.

65. SHO subsidiary: TMC. Showtime; The Movie Channel.

66. Like a fresh coat of paint: WET.

67. ENE's opposite: WSW. Right and up v. left and down on a map.

The Grid:
 

The Grid

That was a fun Tuesday-worthy puzzle. Thanks Katie & Brian.

WOs: Levi->LEES, TEST Box -> BED
ESPs: SPOOR, ASA, LILA, GUNN, KRUMP, MOORE
Fav: Looking up all the stuff I really didn't know and sharing with y'all. 21a was cute too.

Don't forget to beware tomorrow.

Cheers, -T

Sunday, February 19, 2023 ~ Hoang-Kim Vu & Wendy L. Brandes

"Auto Correct"

After I first solved the puzzle and looked at the circles, I thought "cute the gear shift in order." But after I wrote them out, something wasn't right. I discussed with a Cornerite and he noted they were just "auto-corrected" e.g. Packets->Rackets. That's when it hit me: we were going for a drive.

Let's take a spin with an Automatic Shifter (PRND) and (16 & 100 downs) SHIFT GEARS through the normal daily drivers.
 

The PRNDL (video)

26. Noisy outbursts that are greatly appreciated?: WELCOME RACKETS. Welcome Packets. "Auto-Correct" took it out of Park and put it in Reverse.

44. Bird voted "Most Likely to Succeed"?: BEST OF THE NEST. Best of the Rest. Out of Reverse into Neutral.

61. Messages hidden in some brunch fare?: WAFFLE CODES.   Waffle coNes.  Neutral to Drive.

74. Bit of middle-school fashion?: TWEEN JACKET. TweeD Jacket. Drive going back back through Neutral.

89. Halloween rental fee?: COSTUME CHARGE.  Costume ChaNge.  Neutral back into Reverse. 

110. Bad news at an Atlanta pie shop?: JUST OUT OF PEACH.   Just out of Reach. And Reverse back into Park.  There, we're back in the driveway.

See the SHIFTer going through the GEARS in order as you leave and  return, top to bottom and back to top: PRN-D-NRP.
Let's take ride through the rest of the grid.

Across:
1. Ends of pens: NIBS. Think you have an ink, well... [see what I did there? Ok, I'll try to behave]

5. Approval from a Lab: WAG. That beautiful, smart, pup that sniffs your bum.
 

Tinker

8. Like chocolate ganache: RICH. Yum!
 

Recipe

12. Swindles: SCAMS. If someone asks you to pay in Bitcoin...

17. Sound at a barbershop: SNIP. Clip, clip. There goes your hair. I always ask them to get the gray ones first.

18. Poetic salutes: ODES. Nothing about a Grecian Urn(?)

20. Pain: ACHE. Every Wednesday & Friday after my Tuesday/Thursday workouts.

21. Stuck out one's tongue as requested: SAID AH. Do Docs do this anymore? Mostly they just take blood, urine, and hook you to a machine, no?

22. Coffee shop loyalty card reward: FREE DRINK. I frequent nothing enough to bother with 'perks'.

24. Get close to: NEAR. Approach. Cue Mel Brooks and Cleavon Little [TV - MA] //y'all know Richard Prior wrote at least half that script.

25. Japanese fish preparation: TATAKI. Original meaning is 'beat with a hammer'. In food, just seared on the outside and raw in the middle. Not good for chicken but brilliant for sushi-grade tuna.
 

26. [See: Theme]

28. Not very much: A BIT OF. Just a smidge.

29. Give, as a driver's license: ISSUE TO. If "they" ISSUE it, it's official.

30. Brown quickly: SEAR. [See: TATAKI]

32. Lemon scraping: ZEST.

33. Toot: SPREE.

36. __ A: Italian soccer league: SERIE. If you say so...
 

Serie A League Logos

39. Loot: LUCRE. I wanted cache for the longest time. At least I knew it was not the verb.

41. Strikes (out): CROSSES. If I showed you my grid, you'd know what it means. DELE.

44. [See: Theme]

49. Like crudités: RAW. Food!

50. Fix, as a pet: SPAY. Poor (female) lab.

52. __-di-dah: LAH. Mr. Fancy Pants.

53. Watch closely: EYE. Gotta keep an EYE on him; He's doing crosswords during meetings (moi?)

54. Fabrication: LIE. You made that up!

55. Signed up: ENLISTED. When I bought my house I said to the title-agent, "Last time I signed this many times, I found myself in the Army."

58. Beach town west of Santa Monica: MALIBU.
 

Malibu

60. AED administrators: EMTS. Automated External Defibrillators are carried by Emergency Medical Technicians. Clear! ?

61. [See: Theme]

63. Made sense of: SORTED OUT. And my big-fat Ink-Over. I had SussED OUT for a while.

66. Atop, poetically: O'ER.

67. Court divider: NET. Tennis, volleyball, et.al.

68. Disgusted syllable: FEH. ? OK, I had FEI

69. Wallach of "The Magnificent Seven": ELI.

70. Tot's perch on a bike: CHILD SEAT.
 

Queen of the World back there

74. [See: Theme]

79. Grasped: HELD. Not "Understand."

80. Used a rotary phone: DIALED. Kinda funny to watch kids (these days) figure one out.
 

Think they can figure it out in 10 minutes?

82. When the dinner bell rings: MEALTIME. Nothing to do with Pavlov's dog.

83. Not online, online: IRL. In Real Life.

84. Truck's tankful: GAS.

86. Rollaway, e.g.: COT. Army cots don't exactly roll up nor are they a comfy bed.

87. Crack a book: READ. I wanted study.

88. Actor Chaney: LON.
 

Master of the Grotesque

89. [See: Theme]

93. Connect with: TAP INTO. Your social/professional network.

96. Writer Calvino: ITALO. Italian writer.

97. Like ta moko and the haka: MAORI.

99. Indy 500 family name: UNSER. This name I knew.

100. Chutzpah: GALL. Anyone want sass?

103. Govt.-issued IDs: SSNS. Social Security NumberS

105. Oft-removed throat tissues: TONSILS. Do DRs still do this? I have mine.

108. Delights: ELATES.

110. [See: Theme]

116. Garb: ATTIRE. Clothes.

117. App buyer: USER. If you USE a Smart Thing(tm) you buy APPlications to make it more USEful.

118. Fishy scoopful at a deli: TUNA SALAD. Food!

Recipe

119. Large-horned mammals: RHINOS.

120. Agitate: RILE. Get your Irish up.

121. "__ Brockovich": ERIN.

122. Teacher from the old school?: MARM.

123. "Yesterday" and "Tomorrow": SONGS. Beatles (Fab Four) & Annie (orphan kid with Daddy Warbucks).

124. Long fish: EELS. Gars fit too.

125. Vote against: NAY. Anti.

126. Apple Watch assistant: SIRI. The voice assistant on your iThing and why all AI assistants are female.    //DW's is set to an Aussie bloke. Should I be worried? :-)

Down:
1. Blue tag?: NSFW. Not Safe For Work is a warning before blue-humor. Our team has a discord space for NSFW content and/or to poke fun/entertain ourselves during vendor calls without $corp snooping. [Full disclosure - we are the $corpSnoops #CyberSec]

2. Pertaining to: IN RE. Regarding. As To. Pertaining to Subject. //our #discord only tangentially does; it's mostly memes

3. Jessica of TV's "The Sinner": BIEL.
 

Biel is Married to Justin Timberlake [WikiP]

4. Genus subdivision: SPECIES. Don't know much about biology (This guy does an OK Sam Cooke in the style of Ska.)

5. Some gummy animals: WORMS. I love Haribo's Gummy Bears and sleepy time melatonin gummy worms.

6. Parting mot: ADIEU. Goodbye, Frenchman. [Cue Monty Python]

7. Art classes?: GENRES. Types, er, classes of art. You know, like Baroque. And if ain't Baroque, don't fix it [I'll see myself out soon]

8. Corporal or private: RANK. Army training sir!

9. Potential cause of brain freeze: ICEE. It's called Sphenopalatine Ganglioneuralgia

10. Exchanges: CHATS. Swapping stories.

11. Reflexive pronoun: HERSELF.

12. Onetime Volvo rival: SAAB. See: A Man Called Ove.

13. Inhabitant: CITIZEN.

14. "It's __!": A DATE. Anyone else think, "Alive!"?
 

Young Frankenstein

15. Predatory sharks: MAKOS.

16. With 100-Down, change one's approach, and a hint to the circled letters: SHIFT.

19. Accomplish a lot with little effort: SKATE BY. All my life. A boss-man once told me, "Get the little things 100% and people will let you slide if you mess-up the big stuff. The big stuff is hard but the little is easy." Then and there, I was a consultant :-)

21. Like potatoes: STARCHY.

23. Some tablets: DOSES.

27. Situp's target: CORE. My trainer has me working core. He said I was getting too puffy(? - I pay him for this? :-))

31. Filmmaker with a unique style: AUTEUR. Highfalutin "class of art."

33. Bit of hardware: SCREW. Saturday, week, it was a T-NUT.

34. One of yoga's five vital forces: PRANA. I'll leave this for those who know better. Lucina, you yoga, right?.

35. Piano-playing dog on "The Muppet Show": ROWLF. I need perps for spelling
 

Rowlf

37. Puerto Rico y Mallorca: ISLAS. Spanish Islands.

38. Abbr. in a research paper: ET AL. Latin. It means I'm only typing the first few names in my works cited or, literally, and others.

40. "The Pioneer Woman" host Drummond: REE. Sis loves her books & recipes. I have one cookbook.

42. Fragrant compounds: ESTERS. Essential smelly stuff. DW has only one perfume that doesn't send me into a sneezy fit.

43. Small detail?: SPEC. No detail is to small to do a job well. [see: my 19d comment]

45. "Makes sense now": OH I SEE. Aha!

46. Muppet with a puppy named Tango: ELMO. More Muppets!

47. In __: as found: SITU. Latin. In the original place.

48. Course obstacle: TEST.
 

Army Training, Sir!

51. God, in Hebrew: ADONAI. My limited understanding: Saying YHWH is a sin, so Adonai is used in prayer.

56. "You win this hand": I FOLD. With these cards, I can't win.

57. Luge, e.g.: SLED.
 

Any Takers?

58. Convened: MET. Once, a Constitutional Congress convened...

59. Puccini's "La __": BOHEME. Puccini's opera. Got an hour? Click for Fernando & Luciano Pavarotti.

60. Fiat: EDICT. Law from a ruler. Usually, half-baked. The emperor has no ATIRE.

62. Uncouple: DETACH. Remove the drive-shaft from the joint and you've finally uncoupled it (and covered in gook).

64. 2002 American League MVP Miguel: TEJADA. Shortstop. Miguel [MLB Stats] was with Oakland when he received the Most Valuable Player. He also played in Houston '08 & '09.

65. Transport to Tel Aviv: EL AL. Standard x-wordese. Hahtoolah, I'm sure, can tell you if they lose your luggage.

68. Abbr. in an email subject line: FWD. "Forward." Like when you accidentally FWD that NSFW joke to your boss.

70. Quite smart: CHIC. Stylish.

71. Big sandwich: HERO. Is a hot-dog a sandwich? I say no and neither are hoagies nor grinders. Discuss.

72. Woes: ILLS.

73. Cars named for Henry Ford's son: EDSELS. It was totaled before it left the lot. History says a flop. Too many hands in the kitchen is the way I read the history of this disaster.

74. "Neon" fish: TETRA.

75. "Cool!": NEAT.

76. Pottery ovens: KILNS. Waseeley can tell you all about 'em.

77. Overact: EMOTE. Throwing this out there: Who's the biggest HAM?

78. Mid-range voice: TENOR. Is it weird of me to say The Great Caruso? [no relation]
 

No Relation

81. Fertile soil: LOAM.

84. Demolish: GUT. Raze. One GUTs the room before the re-model.

85. Accumulates: AMASSES. Gathers. Keep and take care of what you got and, soon, you've got plenty to share.
Or your SO calls you a hoarder :-) //hey, her car still fits in the garage. So there's that :-)

87. Change direction: REROUTE. GPS does this in heavy traffic.

90. Activity at windmills and pinball machines: TILTING. Think Don Quixote or cue Sir Elton John in The Who's Tommy.

 

Pinball Wizard

Don Quixote

91. Create out of thin air: CONJURE. Make stuff up. Lying isn't good but fiction can be. //Who wrote these rules?

92. Show up for: GO TO. Showing up is half the job.

94. Destroys, as books: PULPS. I wouldn't say Pulp-Fiction destroyed books :-)

95. Pants measurements: INSEAMS. "Do you dress left or right?" said the seamstress. Wha???

98. One after another: IN TURN. My turn to comment, your turn will come in twelve more fill.

100. See 16-Down: GEARS.

101. Howe'er: ALTHO. Short for "although." Anyone else think there's TOO MUCH slang in the vernacular?

102. "Lux et veritas" language: LATIN. Where's Lemonade when you need him? I mean this is obviously LATIN, but WTH? [I LIU: Light and Truth]

104. "Fat Is a Feminist Issue" writer Orbach: SUSIE. Her WikiP page

106. Sotomayor who said, "You cannot value dreams according to the odds of their coming true": SONIA. A Justice in the minority (in more than one way :-))

107. "Unless there are none": IF ANY. IF ANY one objects to the marriage of these two 18yro kids... Nobody did.

109. Greek matchmaker?: EROS. He hit DW & me with his arrows.

111. Peddle: SELL. Pedal: Bike. Petal: Flower.

112. Número de leches en un postre específico: TRES. Spanish: Number of milks in a specific dessert. Three. We had TRES leches as 60a in Rafeael's 2/11/23 puzzle.

113. Jai __: ALAI.
 
114. NFL quarterback Derek: CARR. Raider's Quarterback.

115. Port on some TVs: HDMI. High-Definition Multimedia Interface. It carries digital & audio signals from box to the screen/speakers.

The Grid
 

The Grid

I hope everyone had fun and I didn't go too far off-road with the expo.
Cheers, -T

Sunday, January 29, 2023 - Brian Thomas & Brooke Husic

Hi All!
Sorry to tell you folks, you're stuck with me again.

I'm not sure what's on C.C.'s plate, but I'm sure she needs a break regardless.

I knew there was a reason I don't do Sunday puzzles, and now I remember - too many words for this dyslexic. //I clued a Sunday LAT with C.C. once... Once! [Johnny Dangerously]

OK, let's get going...

Opposite Day!

The Constructors take in-the-vernacular phrases and flips one word opposite for whimsy. Take a look:

23. Drill sergeant, perhaps?: PRIVATE ENEMY NUMBER ONE. As opposed to Public Enemy Number One - aka the dude on the Wanted poster.
A Drill Sgt's goal is to get the platoon to work as a team. He makes it a point to become the PVTs' common enemy. Ask me how I know. #GoArmy

36. Collective action by society women?: DEBUTANTE STRIKE. As opposed to a Debutante Ball - think baseball's strikes & balls.

49. Farm bird that never topples?: NO FALL CHICKEN. No Spring Chicken - we ain't getting any younger.

66. Amendment proposed by a technophile?: RIGHT TO ONES OWN DEVICES. Left To One's Own Devices - only using what (little) God gave you.
Lawsuits were filed and folks won the right-to-repair. [See: Apple / Deere lawsuits. Interesting story: when Russians stole Ukrainian farm equipment, John Deere remotely disabled all of them.]

78. Like a typical ride on a mechanical bull?: A FEW BUCKS LONG. A Few Bucks Short - not enough money to ride the bull again.

92. Endure within a group of peers?: LAST AMONG EQUALS. First Among Equals - The Crème de la Crème (in your circle) or to last through/put-up with their airs.

109. Death and taxes, per Benjamin Franklin?: UNIVERSAL BASIC OUTCOME. Universal Basic Income - what some in D.C. argue for instead of what out-goes every April 15th (when's Canada's tax due, C,Eh!?).

A very cute and well-executed theme. Debutante STRIKE threw me for a while 'cuz I was thinking, "what's opposite for Deb?"

And now, for the rest of the fill:

Across:
1. Cat's attention-getter, maybe: PAW. Some Cornites report their cats paw them awake them for their (cats') breakfast.

4. Car once advertised as a "well-built Swede": SAAB. A man called Ove cherished his.

8. Endpoint for some boots and skirts: THIGH. Just above the (67d) TIBIA.

13. Like cookies soon after the Cookie Monster spots them: EATEN. Nom, nom, nom.

18. Equine parent: SIRE. The daddy-horse that begat.

20. Anti-censorship org.: ACLU. American Civil Liberties Union. I wanted EFF (fights for right-to-repair) before I saw I needed to ink four squares.

21. Provençal mayo: AIOLI. Garlic and oil mayonnaise.

22. Only just: NEWLY. Minted.

23. [See: Theme]

27. New York, for one: STATE. And a city, and a county.

Ghost Busters - City, County, and, STATE

28. Lubricate: GREASE. For the squeaky-wheel.

29. Return: PROFIT. One's ROI [Return On Investment].

30. Audrey Hopburn letters: IPA. Indian Pale Ale. I assume this is a beer. Note the Hop(s) and not Hep.

31. Distribution parties: ISSUERS. People handing out stuff, not galas with swag.

34. Ellington composition: RAG. Duke.
 

Soda Fountain Rag

35. Inning's trio?: ENS. Not OUTs - There's three 'N's in iNNiNG. I'd like to speak with management about these types of clues/answers :-)

36. [See: Theme]

41. French bread?: EURO. Bread, dough, money. France was one of the first countries to eschew their currency and adopt the Euro on 1 Jan 1999.

43. Part of an underwater forest: KELP. Dried & spiced, it's Eldest's favorite snack.

44. One-eighty: UIE. U-turn.

45. Movie trailer?: CREDITS. Cute.

47. Pick up: DETECT. Sense. You have five (or six if you're "special").

49. [See: Theme]

55. Wrath: IRE. The IRE of Khan [Star Trek] doesn't have the same ring to it.
 

Khaaaaan!

56. Honeycomb unit: CELL.

Perfect Little Hexagons

57. Rep. from the Bronx: AOC. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez; the representative from the City of the New York.  //Remember - no politics :-)

58. WWF, e.g.: NGO. World Wildlife Fund is a Non-Governmental Organization.
World Wrestling Federation lost a lawsuit to the NGO inre: WWF moniker so now they're WWE (Entertainment) - that ordeal made a comic Hahtoolah posted a bit back very LOL.

59. Mountain goats' terrain: CRAGS.

62. Temperamental: MOODY.

63. Org. with the largest-circulation magazine in the U.S.: AARP. American Association of Retired Persons. Bzzt - you don't have to be retired for them to start sending you membership forms when you hit 50 :-) //and how do they know?

65. Corner store: MART.

Apu's Quick-E-Mart

66. [See: Theme]

70. Cut and paste, say: EDIT. Editing commands to a computer (CTRL-C & CTRL-V / CMD-C & CMD-V [Apple]) or what folks physically did (with scissors & GLUE (11d)) before going to press.

71. Ibex range: ALPS. CRAGS there, too, I bet.

72. Drops: OMITS. Leaves out.

73. Invite for: ASK TO. A bit gluey fill, no?

74. Gretchen of "Boardwalk Empire": MOL. I've never watched this so ESP (Every. Single. Perpendicular.) #1.

Gretchen Mol

75. La Liga cheer: OLE. LaLiga is Spain's futbal division. Only English speakers add the space between La and Liga. I guessed the fill but thank Google for the expo.

76. Contact __: LENS.

77. Carol contraction: 'TIS the season to be jolly...

78. [See: Theme]

83. Some Japanese TVs: SANYOS.

86. "I don't care!": SO SUE ME. Can't get blood from a turnip.

87. Terr. divided in 1889: DAK. Into North & South DAKotas.

88. Kiwi-shaped: OVAL. The fruit, not the bird nor the people of New Zealand.

90. Color of Montana's flag: BLUE. Hi, Montana!

Montana's State Flag

92. [See: Theme]

97. __ carte: ALA.

98. "Hair Love" voice actress Issa: RAE. ESP #2

100. Strapless bralette: BANDEAU. ESP #3.

101. "__ Lasso": TED. If you have Apple+ TV, I highly recommend the show. Touching & funny at the same time.
 

Trailer

102. Passing remark?: GO DEEP. Football - for the "Hail Mary" pass.

104. Slides (over): SCOOTS. Skootch was a letter too long (and shows my Midwest upbringing).

107. Hides in plain sight?: TIPIS. ESP #4. I guess this is an alternate spelling of Tepees(?) made of animal hide. If I'm right (I am, I looked it up), this is really cute.

109. [See: Theme]

114. Contributed: ADDED. Y'all will get your chance to contribute / ADD commentary.

115. French 101 verb: AVOIR. Fr. for Have. //another ESP. #5.

116. Ziggurat level: TIER. I got this from "level." A ziggurat is a type of massive structure built in ancient Mesopotamia. It has the form of a terraced compound of successively receding stories or levels. [WikiP]

A Ziggurat

117. Shoestring catch?: SNAG. A trippy-moment or SNAG'n' a ball near your feet in the outfield? We should be told.

118. Creates a Maillard reaction on a steak, say: SEARS. Interaction of sugars with amino acids. She'll explain:
 

119. Gave back, as land: CEDED. Tense, -T, tense. See Gave (past) in the clue? (I didn't at first).

120. Be worthy of: EARN. You earned it.

121. Nestlé's __-Caps: SNO.

Sno-Caps

Down:
1. Nintendo : DS :: Sony : __: PSP. Sony's PlayStation, Portable, 1EA :-) //a joke for the Vets.

2. Measure typically given in knots: AIR SPEED. A nautical mile well above the waters.

3. Like some data disks: WRITABLE. I hope they were at least once writable or there's nothing on them.

4. Chili-based Vietnamese condiment: SATE SAUCE. Looks like very hot salsa.

5. The "A" of LGBTQIA+, for short: ACE. Perps.

6. The "A" of 30-Across: ALE. It's been a while, but remember 30a? It, Audrey Hopburn, was an IPAle.

7. __ cord: BUNGEE.
 

The Girls loved Veggie Tales (and it was funny)

8. Maximally vanilla: TAMEST. Not fair to vanilla - it's my fav w/ peaches or malted milk (or both!).

9. "Howdy there!": HI YA. HolA fit, didn't it Lucina? My only ink-over.

10. Cyclotron particles: IONS. A Cyclotron is a ring of magnets that speed IONS to near light just to smash 'em into other particles. Subatomic physics. #Fermilabs

11. "I'm rubber, you're __ ... ": GLUE. Your insults bounce off me and stick on you.

12. That guy: HIM. I have a buddy who's "catch-line" was "That guy" as he thumb'd at someone nearby. I was the butt of that bit when we were at .conf in Vegas. He taught me Blackjack, so there's that. 

13. Fired up: ENERGETIC.

14. Prefix with Mexico: AERO. Aeromexico is an airline.

15. BOGO deal: TWOFER. Buy-One/Get-One aka a Two-for-One deal. I thank WC talking about his BOGO deals at Publix for knowing this.

16. Weather-affecting Pacific current: EL NINO.

Difference between EL NINO & LA NINA

17. Politburo nos: NYETS. Not numbers but NO! in Russia before 1991.

19. Noblezada of "Easter Sunday": EVA. A&E I didn't know. A three-letter actor/actress with EV_ can only end with an A or E. No?

24. Bumping heads: AT IT. A row, a fight, going AT IT.

25. Drops the ball, say: ERRS. Oy! Boss-man: "Where are we regarding..." Me: "D'Oh!, I dropped the ball."

26. __-free plastic: BPA. BisPhenol A is a synthetic organic compound used in making certain plastics. It's thought to be harmful if ingested; they're probably right.

30. Brief "Beats me!": IDK.
Story: I texted Youngest, "When will you be home?" She texts back, "idk"
I respond, "What's idk?"
Youngest: "I don't know"
Me: "Then why would you text me idk if you don't know what idk means?"
The penny dropped a microsecond after I hit send. #EggFace #EmojiGigglesEnsued.
 

Why would you tell me you have a plethora if you don't know what it means to have a plethora?

32. Fit of pique: SNIT. Yet another ado.

33. Great Basin native: UTE.

34. Sends off the soccer pitch: RED CARDS. Did y'all hear about the ref that Red-Carded himself?

37. Far from relaxed: UPTIGHT.

38. Color TV pioneer: RCA. Hi Misty!

39. Offline, briefly: IRL. In Real Life.

40. Kenan's "Good Burger" co-star: KEL.

42. Sch. that competes against Notre Dame for the Jeweled Shillelagh: USC. ESP #6. University of Southern California. Some history of the trophy.

46. [Crossing my fingers!]: I HOPE. Or, if behind your back, you're telling a lie.

48. German "first": ERST.

49. Bright shades: NEONS. Remember the '80's?

The Fresh Prince (Will Smith) Rocked It

50. Ye __ Shoppe: OLDE.

51. Eschew a co-pilot: FLY SOLO.

52. Real talent: KNACK. With "The" you get My Sharona

53. Wading bird: EGRET.

54. "Au contraire!": NOT SO. Oui, Oui! More French.

56. Member-owned grocery: CO-OP. A COOPerative.

59. Espresso froth: CREMA. I'm assuming Italian spelling of Crème(?) When DW & I were in Italy, I'd just quit smoking (again) so I loved to end the day with espresso & gelatto before our last bit of wine.

60. Free from: RID OF. Toss it if it doesn't bring joy. Or not: I'm just sure I can use this again ;-)

61. Fleet of foot: AGILE.

62. Chemistry class model: MOLECULE.

Water

63. Filling with wonder: AWING. Gluey IMHO.

64. Children's song marchers: ANTS. The ANTS go marching/One by one/The ANTS go...

65. Text in a long-distance relationship, maybe: MISS YOU. Or, just mid-day texts to Significant Other.

67. Tibia neighbor: TALUS. Dem Bones/Dem Bones...

68. Spilled salt, to some: OMEN. Throw a bit over your left-shoulder and the demon goes away, so they say.
"kill -9 all" makes the daemons go away [*nix joke for the techies]
I wrote "kill -9 all | sort -god out" on a buddy's white-board. He left the company 5 years ago, but the quip is still on the wall.

69. Thinking a song is about oneself, say: VAIN. Cue Carly Simon.
 

75. Music store supply: OBOE REEDS. We get both OBOE and REED in the same fill!

77. Roll the dice, say: TAKE A TURN. My first thought was TAKE A risk.

79. Pacific Northwest sch.: WSU. Washington State University.

80. Hawaiian for "white": KEA. Ok, now the Hawaiian mountain's names make sense.

81. Texting tech: SMS. Short Messaging Service.

82. "If we must die, O __ us nobly die": McKay: LET.

83. Herb used in some smudging rituals: SAGE. DW's PhD department was so toxic - one night, she and fellow candidates took bunched SAGE, lit it, and smudged every office. You could smell the sweet for a week.

84. Big hands?: OVATIONS. Cute - give Brian & Brooke a big round of applause.

85. Word in an Arthur Miller title: SALESMAN. The Death of a...

87. RPG with a 20-sided die: DND. Dungeons-n-Dragons is a Role Playing Game. An icosahedron (20-sided die, aka a 20d) is used to determine chance of survival from an orc / dragon / random-monster attack. Or, if your character is strong, hit-points against a foe. I oft played a Paladin Ranger, so I'd usually end up w/ a 12d (dodecahedron) for hit-points. //the rules have changed since I played the 2nd edition (D&D is now on v5e) and now I have to keep up with Eldest's knowledge.

89. Acid initials: LSD. Lysergic acid diethylamide. More trippy-stuff (or so I am told).

90. Strawberry __: BLONDE. This took forever 'cuz I kept thinking margarita, jam, or preserve. Cue BLONDiE.
 

Call Me

91. Highfalutin: LA-DI-DA. Mr. Fancy Pants.

93. "All __!": ABOARD. Rise (think court-room) was too short so I got on the train.

94. Rolls in yoga class: MATS.

95. In the office: ON SITE. Post-Covid vaccines, a few departments are still 100% remote, but our team is ON-SITE, IRL, three days a week.

96. Word after rage or force: QUIT.   Rage quit or force quit.

• Rage quit - Youngest @9p night b/f post explained Rage quit: it's when you're so mad at something / someone you just stop fiddling / texting.
• Force quit - Stopping (ending) an unresponsive application on your Windows or Apple device.   Ctrl+Alt+Del on Windows devices, and Option-Command-Esc on a Mac.

97. __ frescas: fruit drinks: AGUAS.

99. Passover's month, often: Abbr.: APR. April. I was expecting this fill to be in Hebrew. Not that I speak it but, silly me, waited for perps.

103. Even once: EVER. Have you Ever...
 

That Dog

104. Back up: SAVE. Your data on Writable data disks or in "The Cloud."

105. Graceless one: CLOD. Some days, yes, that's me. //EVER just turn into a wall instead of the doorway thinking you were one step later?

106. Four Tops singer Benson: OBIE. Renaldo "Odie" Benson [WikiP]

108. Some laptops: PCS. Personal ComputerS.

110. __ fly: SAC. Short for Sacrifice. #Baseball! A SAC fly is when there's a runner at 3rd, fewer that 2 outs, and you hit it deep knowing you'll be out but hoping the out-fielder can't get the ball to home before the runner tags-up and takes off. I suppose, with less that two outs, you could SAC to move the runner to 3rd - but that's a risky bet.

111. Spy-fi org.: CIA. Central Intelligence Agency - USA's spooks. //Back in the day, at hacker conferences, we'd play spot-the-spook to figure out who was .gov.  Eventually, they started recruiting us :-)

112. Not 'neath: O'ER. Poetry and more carols... "the river and through the woods..."

113. Nwodim of "SNL": EGO. We recently had her in the grid - and I remembered!
 

Ego Nwodim

Phew! That was a lot of words.
Well, I hope y'all had fun with the grid and the expo.

Thanks Brian & Brooke for the puzzle!

Cheers, -T
Oh, yeah, insert the Grid you Big Dummy.

The Grid

Tuesday, January 3, 2023 - Rebecca Goldstein

Toys to Grow On...

Rebecca is a scientist developing immunotherapies for cancer. A New Yorker at heart, she lives in the Bay Area with her wife. Rebecca started making crosswords as a pandemic hobby and has been published in several venues, including the LA Times, USA Today, and Universal, with more to come. [The Inkubator] This doesn't mention Rebecca's 5 NYTimes grids.

Wait, she's only been constructing for 3 years?!?  Color me impressed.

Today's puzzle gives us all the BLOCKS to BUILD a structure. Let's take a look:

20. Smile broadly because of one's own achievement, say: BEAM WITH PRIDE. BEAMs are horizontal structural bits that supports laterally to its axis. //I had one (1) CivE class :-)

33. New York City district that's home to the Fearless Girl statue: WALL STREET. Walls make it a room (or an office).

Respect Les' Walls

Fearless Girl

41. Desirable feature of kids' clothing: ROOM TO GROW. ROOM - a 'block' in a house / building made of four walls.

51. Amino acid, vis-à-vis protein: BUILDING BLOCK. Seems right up Rebecca's ally.

Organic Chemistry

How much fun was that? Bits, pieces, parts, and BLOCKs to create & BUILD something. You know, like a nice Tuesday puzzle.
I also like how the theme BUILDS from a beam to a wall to a room.

Across:
1. Country music sound: TWANG. The genre is not my cuppa (though Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, & Dolly Parton are exceptions to the rule).

6. Coordinating pillowcase: SHAM.

DW says I can't use them - the pillow is a sham!

10. Roasting rod: SPIT.

14. "Yippee!": WAHOO! Woot! was too short.

15. Basketball commentator Rebecca: LOBO. Can't get your name in the grid?, put it in the clue ;-)

Rebecca (not our Constructor) played 6 years in the WNBA but only one for Houston's Comets

16. Long-haired lap dog, familiarly: PEKE.

One missed hair-cut away from Cousin ITT?

17. Change with the times: ADAPT. Adjust, ADAPT, and Overcome. Semper Fi! Right, WC?

18. Major composition: OPUS. Not to be confused with...

Bloom County's OPUS

19. Working hard: AT IT. Working hard or hardly working? If you love your job, it's both.

20. [See: theme]

23. Place for a scrub: SPA.

Not to be confused with ER Scrubs

24. Devoutness: PIETY.

25. Grabbed a bite: ATE.

28. Chicken __ king: ALA.

30. Red carpet walker: VIP.

31. Electric key: FOB.

RKE Hack

33. [See: theme]

36. Soup du __: JOUR. Soup of the day.

French Onion - A Recipe

37. Sign of spring: ARIES. Cute. Not a robin (come a bob-bob-bobbin') but Astrological.

38. Lead-in to Z or Alpha: GEN. Apparently they're already classifying kids born in the early to mid '10s?!?
Read what I found on the interwebs: Alpha children are permanently connected. Such is their attention to new technologies that it becomes a way of life. Independents. They are independent when it comes to making their own decisions and managing their digital identities, and they expect their individual needs and preferences to be taken into account. Bah!

39. Koalas and emus, in Australia: FAUNA. Fauna == animals; flora is the plants.

40. Novelist Atkinson: KATE. A CSO to Dr. DW.

41. [See: theme]

43. WSW opposite: ENE. Compass directions.

Compass Rose

44. Prohibit: BAN.

45. Rowboat need: OAR.

46. Cap letters at Busch Stadium: STL.

I've seen games at Busch Stadiums II & III. Busch I was b/f my time.

47. Get ready to drive?: TEE UP. Golf. Not seat-belt up #PSA

49. Mike and __: fruit-flavored candy: IKE.

Great at the movies 'cuz no one else likes them and they're all mine!

51. [See: theme]

56. Aquarium growth: ALGA.

57. Void's partner: NULL.

58. "Ta-da!": VOILA. WAHOO!

61. Thai currency: BAHT.

1 Baht ~= 2.9¢

62. Leave out: OMIT.

63. "Black-ish" star Tracee __ Ross: ELLIS.

Interview - Ross' Mom is Diana Ross!

64. East, in Spanish: ESTE.

65. Recedes: EBBS. And then it flows.

66. Pomelo peels: RINDS.

Read More

Down:
1. Pan Am rival: TWA. Rival airlines - both, sadly(?), defunct. DW's Aunt was a flight attendant back in Pan Am's glory-days. She was on Nixon's plane to China - I KID YOU NOT(12d). Visit Leo III at 1940 Air Terminal Museum to see flying posh.

2. Roll of dough: WAD. Total Baller!

Put one Benjamin [$100] on top,
one on bottom,
and fill the middle with Bahts :-)

3. Literary captain described as a "grand, ungodly, god-like man": AHAB. Herman Melville's Moby-Dick Cap'n.

4. Casual rejections: NOPES. Still, a hard-no.

5. Skated by, say: GOT A PASS. Until you get to grad-school, you can skate-by with a few DEEs outside of your major. Ask me how I know :-)

6. React to a yellow light, say: SLOW. Rebecca doesn't drive in Houston where 'yellow' means "floor-it!" //seriously, don't be the first off the line at Green or you'll get TEE-boned.

7. Indigenous language in Arizona: HOPI. Hopi is a Uto-Aztecan language spoken by the Hopi people of northeastern Arizona, United States. The use of Hopi has gradually declined over the course of the 20th century. In 1990, it was estimated that more than 5,000 people could speak Hopi as a native language, but only 40 of them were monolingual in Hopi. [WikiP]. Language is culture and, unfortunately, HOPI is dying.

8. Touch borders with: ABUT. I'll let Ray-O handle this :-)

9. Slam-dancer's place: MOSH PIT. '90's Grunge music and slam-dancing.

10. Emergency tire: SPARE. The donut in your trunk.

11. Bite-sized treats whose name means "small ovens" in French: PETIT FOURS. Little tiny baby-cakes.

I Count 8 (not FOUR) of these :-)

12. "Honest!": I KID YOU NOT.

13. Spot for un chapeau: TETE. More French - already? A French hat on your French head.

21. Home brewer's ingredient: MALT. Mmmm, beer.

22. Domino indent: PIP.

25. Up and about: AWAKE.

26. Some hairy pets: TARANTULAS. I'll refrain posting image citing The Breakfast Test.

27. Sweet Sixteen winners: ELITE EIGHT NCAA Basketball aka March Madness. I fill out the office-bracket every year but have no idea what I'm doing. This year, I should ask PK and then split the winnings ;-)

29. Alphabetically first noble gas: ARGON. Third lightest Noble Gas. In the Bohr model, noble gasses have a full valence shell of electrons in the outer ring and ergo, ARGON (et.al), is inert. Mendeleev, a Russian chemist, came up with this beautiful periodic-classification that makes inorganic chemistry calculations a snap.

Periodic Table

30. Mobile payment app: VENMO. I don't use it but the kids today do to pass money to each other. I still don't know how VENMO makes money as it doesn't appear there's a vig associated with paying a buddy / PK for our March bracket. //My tangent made TTP (greatest proofreader, ever! [even caught no hyphen in proof-read ;-)]) give me this:

SNL's First CityWide Change Bank 2

32. Fighting chance?: BRAWL. I'll be honest, I filled it but I don't get it. Like, why the ?, huh? Where's the 'chance'?

34. Director Spike: LEE. We had Spike's Inside Man [movie] Wed, 12/28.

35. Fair-hiring initials: EEO. See also 12/28's memo: it's no longer EOE [Equal Opportunity Employer], apparently.

36. Spree: JAG. Binge.

39. Pay, reluctantly: FORK OVER. Can one FORK OVER a losing bet on VENMO or do they have a no gambling policy?

41. Soccer star and equal-pay advocate Megan: RAPINOE. Female soccer is more winning than males' and yet, until recently, were paid a heck of a lot less.

42. Donkey's need, in a party game: TAIL.

Eeyore's Tail-Pin

44. Future flower: BUD. What to do?, what to do?...

Fast Times at Ridgemont High - this quote was not in AFI's Top 100(?!?)

48. Overjoy: ELATE. Jeff Spicoli [Sean Penn - See: above] was always "elated."

50. Common lab culture: ECOLI. In the lab, there's a refrigerator for lunch and a refrigerator for samples; don't confuse them. //I bet Rebecca already knows this.

51. Paul Bunyan's blue ox: BABE. I did a consulting gig for IHS [Indian Health Service] in Bemidji, MN and I got to visit BABE.

Paul & Babe

52. Feeling nothing: NUMB. Comfortably?

From Pink Floyd's The Wall [9m]

53. Smooth-talking: GLIB. Or Jive Talkin' with the Gibbs?

54. Nonkosher sammies: BLTS. I think the no pork rule had to do with trichinosis and was smart b/f meat-thermometers. My Jewish uncle (Mom's Sister's Hubby) ate ham - what say our Jewish Cornerites?

Yummers!

55. Potter's oven: KILN. Waseeley will explain.

59. Jar topper: LID.

60. Donkey: ASS. Eeyore redux?

Can you help him with his TAIL?

The Grid:

The Grid. Click to see mine (with blog scribble notes)

WOs: N/A
ESPs: RAPINOE, ELLIS
Fav: I'll go w/ BLTs - goes great with Soup du JOUR. //Did I ever mention I love soup?

There you have it folks - my last pinch-hit for a while. I'll now return you to our regularly-scheduled programmed hosts.

I hope everyone had fun with the puzzle & post-game today.

Cheers, -T