Theme: Greg's List (Craigslist) - Hard C sound is changed into Hard G sound, resulting in significant spelling change in each key word.
23A. Uses Knorr packets instead of poker chips? : GAMBLES SOUP. Campbell's soup.
29A. Lard display site? : FAT GALLERY. Fat calorie.
31A. Apparition with a proboscis? : MOSQUITO GHOST. Mosquito Coast.
57A. One putting up framed stone carvings? : GLYPH HANGER. Cliff hanger.
69A. Stories told by rapt storytellers? : TALES FROM THE GRIPPED. "Tales from the Crypt."
85A. Superior vis-à-vis Huron? : GREATER LAKE. Crater Lake.
112A. Trade war group? : GUILD IN BATTLE. Killed in battle.
115A. 24 undeveloped photos of Old Faithful? : GEYSER ROLL. Kaiser roll.
122A. Baby's wake-up gadget? : GOO GOO CLOCK. Cuckoo clock. Two part change.
18D. "Don't come any closer, Zombie!"? : STAY, GHOUL. Stay cool.
80D. Prison workers' respite? : GUARD GAME. Card game.
Heavy themage.
Normally we don't see non-theme entries have the same number of letters as the theme entries. Constructors and editors do not want to confuse solvers which are theme entries. Today we have quite a few long Downs. Since the theme entries all have clear question marks, so no confusion here. Plus, those long Downs are all quite sparkling.
This is Sam Ezersky's first published puzzle. And a Sunday. Amazing feat. Congrats!
Across:
1. Scavenged, as the fridge : RAIDED
7. Lines at the register? : UPCS. The scannable lines.
11. Nabokov novel : ADA
14. Throat clearers : AHEMs. I think Argyle's first comment on the blog is "Ahem", right, Santa?
19. Verdi title bandit : ERNANI. Hard to remember.
20. X-Men enemy who can control fire : PYRO. "Fire" prefix.
21. Sniggler's catch : EEL
22. Didn't participate, with "out" : SAT IT
25. Stat for 30-Down : RBI. And 30 Down. MLBer with the most career seasons of 100-plus 25-Across : A-ROD. 14, to be exact.
26. New Mexico's state flower : YUCCA
27. ''Here __ again!'' : I GO
28. Jazzman Al and sportscaster Linda : COHNS. Linda Cohn is with ESPN's SportsCenter.
35. Piece activist's gp.? : NRA. Nice clue.
36. Dress (up) : TOG
37. Pencil maze word : ENTER
38. Teen's room, to many a mom : STY
39. Sailor's patron, briefly : ST. ELMO
41. Gym shorts material : MESH
42. Calendario entry : DIA. Day.
44. "Peek-__!" : A BOO
46. Brit. lexicon : OED
47. Sock end? : EROO. Sockeroo.
48. Penn of "Harold & Kumar" films : KAL
51. Entrée feature : ACCENT.
54. One of a game's 16 : PAWN. Know nothing about Chess. It has 16 pawns?
56. Real mess : SNAFU
60. Do not disturb : LET BE
62. Cards' home: Abbr. : STL. Cardinals. Pujols-less.
63. Windbag : BORE
64. Taina of "Les Girls" : ELG. Another difficult to remember name. Same with her given TAINA. Finnish.
65. Race of Norse gods : AESIR
67. War on Poverty org. : OEO (Office of Economic Opportunity)
75. Upbeat Progressive Insurance spokeswoman : FLO. No idea.
76. Looped handles, in archaeology : ANSAE. Plural of "Ansa".
77. Wasser in Winter : EIS. Ice. Wasser = Water.
78. Type of poll : EXIT. Exit poll.
80. Understand : GET. For Splynter.
83. Noted tart stealer : KNAVE. "The Queen of Hearts" poem.
88. "I'm at your disposal" : USE ME
90. Aqueduct Racetrack nickname : BIG A. Who knows? OK, maybe eddyB.
92. Sequel title words : PART II
93. See 79-Down : MEX. 79. With 93-Across, spicy cuisine : TEX. So what kind of salsa do you prefer? Mild, medium or hot? Medium is the highest I can stomach.
94. Done to __ : A TEE
95. Arabic "son of" : IBN
96. One of the orig. Southern Colonies : N CAR
98. Material studied by Watson and Crick : DNA
100. Durban dollar : RAND. Durban is third largest city in South Africa, says Wiki.
101. Meat shunners : VEGANS. I want to be a vegan, but I'm not that morally high.
103. __ pop: Weezer genre : EMO. Emo pop is also called called "emo pop punk". Whatever. Kids stuff.
106. Plot : GRAPH
110. 24-Down malady : DTS. Delirium tremens. And 24D. Plastered ones : SOTS
111. Lad : BOY
118. More peculiar : ODDER
119. Non-PC? : MAC. I'm a PC.
120. Taking some cuts, say : AT BAT. Baseball.
121. Corrida cheer : OLE
125. Setting for many King novels : MAINE
126. Palindromic pooh-bah : AGA. Turkish pooh-bah.
127. Seedy joint : DIVE
128. __ the bud : NIPS IN
129. Glorify : EXTOL
130. Hoover, e.g. : DAM. Not vacuum cleaner or the president.
131. Amanda of "The Whole Ten Yards" : PEET. Very pretty. Look at her eyes! I think she can launch 900 ships, Lemonade!
132. Lacks the skills for : CAN'T DO
Down:
1. Ruling group : REGIME
2. Catherine of __ : ARAGON
3. Secret to the max : IN MOST. This answer looks odd to me.
4. A little one will "do ya," in old ads : DAB
5. Blowup: Abbr. : ENL
6. Perfect score, to Paolo : DIECI. "Ten" in Italian.
7. Consequence : UPSHOT
8. Taedong River capital : PYONGYANG. North Korea. Pyongyang literally means "flat land". Pyong has the same character as Chinese "Ping", meaning "flat".
9. Valentine recipient, perhaps : CRUSH. Remember your first Valentine's gift?
10. Bribe : SOP
11. Infuse with oxygen : AERATE
12. It's tough to be in a lot of it : DEBT
13. Garage job : ALIGNMENT
14. Places of refuge : ASYLA. Plural of "asylum".
15. U-__ : HAUL. Probably what Dennis used to move his stuff.
16. Odds and ends : ET CETERAS
17. Word coiner? : MICROSOFT. Great clue.
29. Photog's setting : F STOP
32. End-of-proof letters : QED
33. Bathsheba's husband : URIAH. Or Heep from "David Copperfield".
34. Bolivian bear : OSO
40. It'll help you slow down : LOWER GEAR
41. Game pieces : MEN
43. Truman's secretary of state : ACHESON (Dean). Stranger to me.
45. Second-string squads : B TEAMS
48. Old 123-Down foe : KGB. 123D. Cold War foe of 48-Down : CIA
49. Immensely : A LOT
50. Vega's constellation : LYRA
52. Farm newborn : CALF
53. Dürer work : ENGRAVING
55. "I cannot tell __" : A LIE
56. Trickle : SEEP
58. Ill-gotten gains : PELF. LOOT, SWAG too.
59. Mark up or down, maybe : RETAG
61. NW city nicknamed "The City of Trees" : BOISE, ID. NW indicates a shortened name.
66. Everest aide : SHERPA
68. Autobahn auto : OPEL
70. Sommer of "A Shot in the Dark" : ELKE
71. Universal donor's type, for short : O NEG
72. Director Martin : RITT. "Norma Rae", "Hud", etc.
73. Student stressor : EXAM
74. Bank manager? : DIKE. River bank.
81. Heir's burden : ESTATE TAX. Nice answer.
82. Skosh : TEENSY BIT. Good one too.
84. 1960s album with a cover photo of its band crossing the street : ABBEY ROAD. Another good one.
86. Pigeonlike South American bird : EARED DOVE. I can't see her ears.
87. "Does this __ bell?" : RING A
89. __ school : MED
91. Quash : ANNUL
95. Actor/composer Novello : IVOR. I simply forgot his name. My brain remembers what I want to remember.
97. "__: Miami" : CSI
99. Creative output : ART
102. Sparkly : AGLEAM
104. Like some small racecars : MIDGET
105. __-cat: sandlot game : ONE O
107. Maximally : AT MOST
108. Adirondacks lake : PLACID
109. Emphatic refusal : HECK, NO!
111. Medicinal Asian leaf : BETEL. Stimulant.
113. Sarge's superior : LOOIE
114. Tough mount to mount : BRONC
116. Not loco : SANO. Spanish for "sane". Loco is Spanish for "nuts".
117. Gymnast Korbut : OLGA
122. Econ. yardstick : GDP
124. Hosp. employee : LPN (Licensed Practical Nurse)
Answer grid.
C.C.
23A. Uses Knorr packets instead of poker chips? : GAMBLES SOUP. Campbell's soup.
29A. Lard display site? : FAT GALLERY. Fat calorie.
31A. Apparition with a proboscis? : MOSQUITO GHOST. Mosquito Coast.
57A. One putting up framed stone carvings? : GLYPH HANGER. Cliff hanger.
69A. Stories told by rapt storytellers? : TALES FROM THE GRIPPED. "Tales from the Crypt."
85A. Superior vis-à-vis Huron? : GREATER LAKE. Crater Lake.
112A. Trade war group? : GUILD IN BATTLE. Killed in battle.
115A. 24 undeveloped photos of Old Faithful? : GEYSER ROLL. Kaiser roll.
122A. Baby's wake-up gadget? : GOO GOO CLOCK. Cuckoo clock. Two part change.
18D. "Don't come any closer, Zombie!"? : STAY, GHOUL. Stay cool.
80D. Prison workers' respite? : GUARD GAME. Card game.
Heavy themage.
Normally we don't see non-theme entries have the same number of letters as the theme entries. Constructors and editors do not want to confuse solvers which are theme entries. Today we have quite a few long Downs. Since the theme entries all have clear question marks, so no confusion here. Plus, those long Downs are all quite sparkling.
This is Sam Ezersky's first published puzzle. And a Sunday. Amazing feat. Congrats!
Across:
1. Scavenged, as the fridge : RAIDED
7. Lines at the register? : UPCS. The scannable lines.
11. Nabokov novel : ADA
14. Throat clearers : AHEMs. I think Argyle's first comment on the blog is "Ahem", right, Santa?
19. Verdi title bandit : ERNANI. Hard to remember.
20. X-Men enemy who can control fire : PYRO. "Fire" prefix.
21. Sniggler's catch : EEL
22. Didn't participate, with "out" : SAT IT
25. Stat for 30-Down : RBI. And 30 Down. MLBer with the most career seasons of 100-plus 25-Across : A-ROD. 14, to be exact.
26. New Mexico's state flower : YUCCA
27. ''Here __ again!'' : I GO
28. Jazzman Al and sportscaster Linda : COHNS. Linda Cohn is with ESPN's SportsCenter.
35. Piece activist's gp.? : NRA. Nice clue.
36. Dress (up) : TOG
37. Pencil maze word : ENTER
38. Teen's room, to many a mom : STY
39. Sailor's patron, briefly : ST. ELMO
41. Gym shorts material : MESH
42. Calendario entry : DIA. Day.
44. "Peek-__!" : A BOO
46. Brit. lexicon : OED
47. Sock end? : EROO. Sockeroo.
48. Penn of "Harold & Kumar" films : KAL
51. Entrée feature : ACCENT.
54. One of a game's 16 : PAWN. Know nothing about Chess. It has 16 pawns?
56. Real mess : SNAFU
60. Do not disturb : LET BE
62. Cards' home: Abbr. : STL. Cardinals. Pujols-less.
63. Windbag : BORE
64. Taina of "Les Girls" : ELG. Another difficult to remember name. Same with her given TAINA. Finnish.
65. Race of Norse gods : AESIR
67. War on Poverty org. : OEO (Office of Economic Opportunity)
75. Upbeat Progressive Insurance spokeswoman : FLO. No idea.
76. Looped handles, in archaeology : ANSAE. Plural of "Ansa".
77. Wasser in Winter : EIS. Ice. Wasser = Water.
78. Type of poll : EXIT. Exit poll.
80. Understand : GET. For Splynter.
83. Noted tart stealer : KNAVE. "The Queen of Hearts" poem.
88. "I'm at your disposal" : USE ME
90. Aqueduct Racetrack nickname : BIG A. Who knows? OK, maybe eddyB.
92. Sequel title words : PART II
93. See 79-Down : MEX. 79. With 93-Across, spicy cuisine : TEX. So what kind of salsa do you prefer? Mild, medium or hot? Medium is the highest I can stomach.
94. Done to __ : A TEE
95. Arabic "son of" : IBN
96. One of the orig. Southern Colonies : N CAR
98. Material studied by Watson and Crick : DNA
100. Durban dollar : RAND. Durban is third largest city in South Africa, says Wiki.
101. Meat shunners : VEGANS. I want to be a vegan, but I'm not that morally high.
103. __ pop: Weezer genre : EMO. Emo pop is also called called "emo pop punk". Whatever. Kids stuff.
106. Plot : GRAPH
110. 24-Down malady : DTS. Delirium tremens. And 24D. Plastered ones : SOTS
111. Lad : BOY
118. More peculiar : ODDER
119. Non-PC? : MAC. I'm a PC.
120. Taking some cuts, say : AT BAT. Baseball.
121. Corrida cheer : OLE
125. Setting for many King novels : MAINE
126. Palindromic pooh-bah : AGA. Turkish pooh-bah.
127. Seedy joint : DIVE
128. __ the bud : NIPS IN
129. Glorify : EXTOL
130. Hoover, e.g. : DAM. Not vacuum cleaner or the president.
131. Amanda of "The Whole Ten Yards" : PEET. Very pretty. Look at her eyes! I think she can launch 900 ships, Lemonade!
132. Lacks the skills for : CAN'T DO
Down:
1. Ruling group : REGIME
2. Catherine of __ : ARAGON
3. Secret to the max : IN MOST. This answer looks odd to me.
4. A little one will "do ya," in old ads : DAB
5. Blowup: Abbr. : ENL
6. Perfect score, to Paolo : DIECI. "Ten" in Italian.
7. Consequence : UPSHOT
8. Taedong River capital : PYONGYANG. North Korea. Pyongyang literally means "flat land". Pyong has the same character as Chinese "Ping", meaning "flat".
9. Valentine recipient, perhaps : CRUSH. Remember your first Valentine's gift?
10. Bribe : SOP
11. Infuse with oxygen : AERATE
12. It's tough to be in a lot of it : DEBT
13. Garage job : ALIGNMENT
14. Places of refuge : ASYLA. Plural of "asylum".
15. U-__ : HAUL. Probably what Dennis used to move his stuff.
16. Odds and ends : ET CETERAS
17. Word coiner? : MICROSOFT. Great clue.
29. Photog's setting : F STOP
32. End-of-proof letters : QED
33. Bathsheba's husband : URIAH. Or Heep from "David Copperfield".
34. Bolivian bear : OSO
40. It'll help you slow down : LOWER GEAR
41. Game pieces : MEN
43. Truman's secretary of state : ACHESON (Dean). Stranger to me.
45. Second-string squads : B TEAMS
48. Old 123-Down foe : KGB. 123D. Cold War foe of 48-Down : CIA
49. Immensely : A LOT
50. Vega's constellation : LYRA
52. Farm newborn : CALF
53. Dürer work : ENGRAVING
55. "I cannot tell __" : A LIE
56. Trickle : SEEP
58. Ill-gotten gains : PELF. LOOT, SWAG too.
59. Mark up or down, maybe : RETAG
61. NW city nicknamed "The City of Trees" : BOISE, ID. NW indicates a shortened name.
66. Everest aide : SHERPA
68. Autobahn auto : OPEL
70. Sommer of "A Shot in the Dark" : ELKE
71. Universal donor's type, for short : O NEG
72. Director Martin : RITT. "Norma Rae", "Hud", etc.
73. Student stressor : EXAM
74. Bank manager? : DIKE. River bank.
81. Heir's burden : ESTATE TAX. Nice answer.
82. Skosh : TEENSY BIT. Good one too.
84. 1960s album with a cover photo of its band crossing the street : ABBEY ROAD. Another good one.
86. Pigeonlike South American bird : EARED DOVE. I can't see her ears.
87. "Does this __ bell?" : RING A
89. __ school : MED
91. Quash : ANNUL
95. Actor/composer Novello : IVOR. I simply forgot his name. My brain remembers what I want to remember.
97. "__: Miami" : CSI
99. Creative output : ART
102. Sparkly : AGLEAM
104. Like some small racecars : MIDGET
105. __-cat: sandlot game : ONE O
107. Maximally : AT MOST
108. Adirondacks lake : PLACID
109. Emphatic refusal : HECK, NO!
111. Medicinal Asian leaf : BETEL. Stimulant.
113. Sarge's superior : LOOIE
114. Tough mount to mount : BRONC
116. Not loco : SANO. Spanish for "sane". Loco is Spanish for "nuts".
117. Gymnast Korbut : OLGA
122. Econ. yardstick : GDP
124. Hosp. employee : LPN (Licensed Practical Nurse)
Answer grid.
C.C.
