Sunday April 10, 2011 Susan Miskimin

Theme: Heavy Duty - Tax can precede each part of the theme answer. "Heavy duty" indeed!

22A. *Memorabilia at a reunion : YEARBOOKS. Tax year. Tax book.

33A. *Venus's undoing, perhaps : SERVICE BREAK. Tax service. Tax break. Venus Williams.

41A. *Reason to agree to a pact : TREATY BENEFIT. Tax treaty. Tax benefit.

68A. *Political platform buzzword : PRO-LIFE. Tax pro. What is "tax life"?

89A. *One profiting from bad debts : BILL COLLECTOR. Tax bill. Tax collector.

98A. *Frequent health care event : RATE INCREASE. Tax rate. Tax increase.

113A. *Contract seeker : FREE AGENT. Tax-free. Tax agent.

25D. *Sales promotion component : REBATE FORM. Tax rebate. Tax form.

60D. *Many a bank record : CREDIT FILE. Tax credit. Tax file.

1D. With 115-Down, make a required contribution : PAY

115. See 1-Down, and word that can precede both parts of the answers to starred clues : TAX

We also have:

74. 1040 ID : SSN

87. 1040, line 32 deduction : IRA

Timely theme. The rich ore of "tax" words made it possible for the constructor to pick up common words/phrases instead of making up wacky phrases for the double "precede" gimmick.

Quite a few sailing terms:

31A. Harbor-at-dawn skyline highlights : MASTS

97A. Sailing teams : CREWS

5D. Sailor's array : KNOTS

81D. Stem : PROW. New word to me. Ship's front.

82D. Tools for 97-Across : OARS

112D. Nautical rope : TYE. New word to me also.

Maybe the constructor loves sailing.

Total 84 black squares in the grid, more than our normal offering. Could be the result of the theme entry intersection.

Across:

1. Shut (in) : PEN. Pigs might nail this answer. Not me. Actually I'm a pig.

4. It may have rollers : SKATE

9. Jilt : SPURN. Jilted lover.

14. Health care reform lobbying group : AARP

18. Affirmative often repeated : AYE

19. About to undergo : IN FOR

20. Simplifies : EASES

21. Sand's "which" : QUEL. French for "which". George Sand was a French writer. Chopin's lover. Great clue!

24. Santa kisser of song : MOMMY. "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus".

25. Cardinal manager Tony La __ : RUSSA

26. VW antecedents? : STU. Alphabet.

27. Dance step : TOE TAP. And 100A. Line dance : CONGA &  23D. Latin dance : RUMBA. Dance clechos.

29. Preserve, in a way : CAN. Put in ICE first.

30. All gone : EATEN

36. Carping comments : BARBS

39. Gussy up : PREEN

40. Peter, Paul and Mary : SAINTS. Not the trio.

46. Ones with "Esq." on the door : ATTs

47. Ballpark figure : UMP. Not EST.

48. Italian fashion giant : ARMANI. So are Gucci, Prada & Versace.

49. Boonies pests : SKEETERS. Mosquitoes.

53. GPS part: Abbr. : SYST

55. Vientiane's land : LAOS. Has anyone tried Bánh mì? Bill G might have.

56. Opinion : BELIEF

58. Long. partner : LAT

59. Chills : ICEs

61. Carnegie __ University : MELLON

63. Cheri of "SNL" : OTERI. Very crossword-friendly name.

65. Indiana cagers : PACERS

70. Lost parcel inquiry : TRACER

71. Skyline highlight : SPIRE

72. '50s-'60s teen idol Frankie : AVALON. Now it's all about that kid Justin Bieber.

73. Caper : ROMP

75. Not solid, linewise : DOTTED

77. Representation : ICON

79. Dog food brand : ALPO

83. Sunrise liquors : TEQUILAS. Tequila Sunrise.

85. Cooking oil seed : CANOLA. From the unpleasant-sounding rapeseed. I wanted SESAME.

88. Accident investigation agcy. : NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board)

93. Nancy Reagan designer : ADOLFO (Domínguez). Not familiar with the name.

96. Piano part : PEDAL

103. It might be civil or criminal : TRIAL

104. Part of a self-satisfied laugh : HEH. Heh Heh!

105. Dog asleep on a roof : SNOOPY. "Peanuts".

107. Tina's ex : IKE (Turner)

110. Wash away slowly : ERODE

111. Last Supper query : IS IT I

116. Forfeit : LOSE

117. "Fiddler on the Roof" dairyman : TEVYE. Tradition! Tradition! Tradition!

118. Bliss in Texas et al. : FORTS. Fort Bliss. Named after a soldier with a surname Bliss.

119. 1959 Kingston Trio hit : MTA

120. Scand. land : SWED

121. Beef source : STEER

122. Narc's discovery : STASH

123. "A __ of this gout!": "King Henry IV, Part 2" : POX

Down:

2. Watchers : EYES

3. Shipshape : NEAT

4. Sis or bro : SIB

6. Happening : AFOOT

7. Puffs of grass? : TOKES. Marijuana.

8. Before, before : ERST

9. Gyrene's motto : SEMPER FI. First encounter with gyrene, an alteration of GI + (ma)rine. We also have USMC VET (11. John P. Sousa, e.g.). Both Dennis & Argyle are.

10. Kung __ chicken : PAO

12. Sit tight : REMAIN

13. Justin Timberlake's former band : 'N SYNC

14. Fish keeper : AQUARIST

15. "Emma" novelist : AUSTEN

16. Move, as a restaurant patron : RESEAT

17. Political objectives : PLANKS. 

28. Quaker at a ski resort? : ASPEN. Tree.

32. Caracas hrs. : AST

34. Portuguese king : REI. Rey in Spanish.

35. Big name in cosmetics : ESTEE

36. A/C units : BTUs

37. Military force : ARMY. My Dad served in the Chinese army.

38. Gym count : REPs (Repetitions)

42. Certain locks : YALES

43. Support providers : BRAs

44. Rock genre that evolved from punk : EMO

45. "If I Ruled the World" rapper : NAS

46. Similar : AKIN

49. Gin fizz flavoring : SLOE

50. Like some heat: Abbr. : ELEC

51. More red than pink : RARE. Meat.

52. Foment, with "up" : STIR

54. Level : TIER

56. Russian pancake : BLIN. Plural is blini.

57. Little helper : ELF

61. Shape : MOLD

62. "Evil Woman" gp. : ELO

64. Cantina appetizer : TAPA. Always in plural form, no?

65. Surreptitious signal : PSST

66. Basilica area : APSE

67. Six preceder : CINQ. French for "five". Six is just six. Two French for Splynter!

68. Ryan and Benjamin: Abbr. : PVTs (Privates)

69. "Norma __" : RAE

70. Harmonic : TONAL

72. Words after run or split : A TAB

73. Vegas toss : ROLL

76. "Come on down!" announcer : OLSON (Johnny)

77. "Monsters, __" : INC

78. Doves do it : COO. So do lovers.

80. Not as rich, commercially : LITE

84. Decaf, facetiously : UNLEADED

85. More chic : CLASSIER

86. Wrench name : ALLEN

89. Center of activity : BEEHIVE

90. Mont. neighbor : IDA

91. Lines from the heart, briefly : ECG. EKG too.

92. Online guy with a list : CRAIG. Cragslist.

93. Soviet cooperatives : ARTELS. Learned from doing Xword.

94. Scopes Trial attorney : DARROW(Clarence). Monkey Trial.

95. Futile : OTIOSE. Man, it's a real word. Listed in the dictionary.

96. Modern oven option : PRESET

99. Vouchers : CHITS

100. Barbizon school artist : COROT. Wiki said he's the leading painter of the Barbizon School of France in the mid-nineteenth century. Landscape painter.

101. It may be comic : OPERA

102. Novgorod negatives : NYETs. I was ignorant of the Russian city Novgorod.

106. Does away with : OFFs

108. Dole running mate : KEMP (Jack)

109. Within: Pref. : ENTO. Opposite of exo.

114. Hardwood tree : ASH

Answer grid.

Do come back next Sunday for Dan Naddor's final puzzle.

C.C.

Monday, January 25, 2010 Susan Miskimins

Theme: Organic Problems - Descriptive idioms ending with the adjective of person's various organs.

18A: Dispirited: DOWNHEARTED.

38A: Loud and long-winded: LEATHER-LUNGED.

55A: Easily offended: THIN-SKINNED.

3D: Cowardly: LILY-LIVERED.

27D: Imbecilic: LAME-BRAINED.

Argyle here. Ambitious Monday puzzle. Five theme entries for a Monday, wow! Oh, and I checked; the skin is considered the largest organ of the body.

Suffix Ss abound: Total 13. Too many.

Across:

1A: MSN competitor: AOL.

4A: Infants "in the woods": BABES. "Babe in the woods", an innocent, unsuspecting person.

9A: Terror: FEAR.

13A: Reagan's "Star Wars" prog.: SDI. (Strategic Defense Initiative)

14A: High-level storage areas: ATTICS.

16A: "Othello" villain: IAGO. Crosswords favorite villain.

17A: Condiment in 51-Across: SEL. (French salt)

20A: Safe haven: ASYLUM. Where Buckeye lives.

22A: Drinks dog-style: LAPS.

23A: Land surrounded by agua: ISLA. (Spanish: water & isle)

24A: Globe: SPHERE.

27A. You may be told to button or zip it: LIP.

30A: Tigers' dens: LAIRs.

32A: "Alley __": OOP. The comic character with a girlfriend named Ooola.

33A: Apiece: EACH.

34A: Austrian city with a sausage named for it: VIENNA. The little sausages that come in a can.

36A: Watson's partner: HOLMES. (Sherlock)

40A: Like a serious sin: MORTAL.

41A: Outlying town, vis-à-vis the city: SUBURB.

42A: Rocks to refine: ORES.

43A: Groundhog Day mo.: FEB..

44A: Feudal peons: SERFS.

47A: Longtime Massachusetts senator Kennedy: TED. RIP

48A: Chicken, so to speak: SCARED.

51A: Normandy city: CAEN. French. The river Orne runs through it into the English Channel.

52A: Saturate: SOAK.

53A: 1966 musical about a marriage: "I DO, I DO".

60A: Presently: NOW.

61A: German automaker: AUDI.

62A: Misprints: ERRATA.

63A: Poet's "before": ERE.

64A: Cream of the crop: BEST.

65A: Back-talking: SASSY.

Down:

1D: Attack violently: ASSAIL.

2D: Black Sea port: ODESSA. The only Black Sea port I know of.

4D: Grammy winner Erykah: BADU. She wears her where many ways, so pictured her in a hat.

5D: Diminutive energy sources: ATOMS.

6D: Incidentally, in texting shorthand: BTW. (By The Way)

7D: "Ich bin __ Berliner": EIN.

8D: Carry laboriously: SCHLEP. Always nice to have some Yiddish.

9D: Fraser and Douglas trees: FIRS.

12D: Word after fishing or lightning: ROD.

19D: Chimp, for one: APE. By the way, look at this wonderful video about an orangutan and a dog Bill G. brought to us yesterday.

21D: Dogie catchers: LARIATS. Dogie is a motherless calf in a cattle herd. Also spelled, dogey, dogy.

25D: Fried corn bread: PONE.

26D: More rasping, as a voice: HOARSER.

28D: Like much tea in summer: ICED.

29D: Acidity nos.: PHS.

31D: __ good example: SET A.

33D: Crete-born artist with a Spanish nickname: EL GRECO.

35D: Org. with Bruins and Coyotes: NHL. Hockey's Boston Bruins and Phoenix Coyotes.

36D: O'Hare, for United Airlines: HUB.

37D: Burden: ONUS.

38D: Traditional wisdom: LORE.

39D: Mechanic's grease job: LUBE.

40D: Bon __: witticism: MOT.

43D: Muslim wonder-workers: FAKIRS.

45D: Bogart's hat: FEDORA.

46D: Flurried, e.g.: SNOWED.

48D: Seaman's "911": SOS.

50D: Weight-loss regimens: DIETS.

52D: Grumpy mood: SNIT.

54D: June 6, 1944: D-DAY.

55D: Drinkers may run one up: TAB.

57D: Points out, as a perp: IDS.

58D: "Right to bear arms" org.: NRA.

59D: "If I Ruled the World" rapper: NAS.

Answer grid.

Argyle