Theme: "Drollery" - ERY sound is added to each familiar phrase, resulting spelling changes in a few theme entries.
23A. Rush hour traffic reporters? : ARTERY CRITICS. Art critics.
36A. List that includes "full," "round" and "wide"? : LIP GLOSSARY. Lip gloss.
56A. Foes with bows? : ARCHERY ENEMIES. Arch-enemies.
77A. Reason for a strange smell coming from the trunk of the car? : GROCERY NEGLECT. Gross neglect.
95A. "Chantilly Lace" and "Blue Velvet"? : FINERY TUNES. Fine-tunes.
114A. Group of sweet-talking experts? : FLATTERY PANEL. Flat panel.
3D. Hasty remark? : CURSORY WORD. Curse word.
69D. Food for thought? : BRAIN CELERY. Brain cell.
Two
of the theme entries have second word altered. Two of the theme entries
are in plural form. So no odd man out in the theme set. Consistency is very important in theme entry selection.
This puzzle only has 138 words. 144 is always the magic number to me.
Across:
1. Tex-Mex casserole : TACO PIE. Has anyone tried Korean taco?
8. Woodworking tool : LATHE
13. Where tie-dyeing may be done : AT CAMP
19. Came to : EQUALED
20. Phylicia of "The Cosby Show" : RASHAD. Won Tony for "A Raisin in the Sun".
21. Muse of comedy : THALIA. We often see her sister ERATO.
22. Foster : NURTURE
25. Confrontation-ending device : TASER
26. What the Tin Man had : NO HEART. He thought he didn't have.
28. Krypton, for one : RARE GAS
29. Like some contracts : ORAL
31. More than cool : RAD
32. Diplomatic office : EMBASSY
34. Like auxiliary vbs. : IRR. Like "Be", in many languages. Chinese "Be" is the same for you, I, we, etc. All Chinese verbs are.
39. Hardly rah-rah : TEPID
43. One-named "I Do!" singer named for a Jackson : TOYA. OK, named after La Toya Jackson.
45. National No Socks Day month : MAY. May 8. New trivia to me.
46. 13 for Al, e.g. : AT NO. Aluminum.
47. Music genre heard in the film "The Big Easy" : ZYDECO
48. Ticket seller's query : HOW MANY
50. Happy : GAY
52. Rival of 56-Down : DDE. 56. Rival of 52-Across : AES. No-clue clues. I like when one of the cross-referenced entries is clued. The other can be "Rival of ? -Across/Down".
54. H.S. offering : DEG
55. Makes up (for) : ATONES
61. Kitchen gadget : CORER
62. Activity center : BEEHIVE
63. Lacquered metalware : TOLE
64. "Then ..." : AND SO
65. Tony's portrayer on "NYPD Blue" : ESAI. Very irrational when it came to his ex-wife.
66. Adjective for a 93-Across : OLDE. And 93. Quaintly named lodging : INNE.
68. Ready to bloom : IN BUD
72. Certain girder : I-BAR
74. More like a mountain road : SNAKIER. And 85. Like a dirt road vis-à-vis pavement : DUSTIER
76. MLB exec Joe : TORRE
81. Commercially, it started in the U.S. around the time of the Boeing 707 launch : JET AGE. Never heard of this term. Are we still in this age?
82. Pal of Harry and Hermione : RON. Just for Jazzbumpa!
83. Second-century date : CLI. 151.
84. NFL scores : TDs
86. Exceedingly : EVER SO
89. Pentagonal plate : HOME. Home plate.
92. Fr. neighbor : BEL (Belgium)
94. "__ the Beat": 1982 hit for The Go-Go's : WE GOT
99. No. after a dot : CTS. Oh, money.
100. Divulged : SPILLED
102. Hockey legend : ORR
103. Love-crazy Le Pew : PEPE
105. Go along with : AGREE TO
108. Make an error on, as a check : MIS-DATE
111. Early 20th-century Oklahoma boom town : TULSA
116. Pittsburgh skyscraper builder : US STEEL
118. Baseball's Posey : BUSTER. 2012 National League MVP. For our River Doc. Hondo follows the Giants also.
119. Hun king: ATTILA
120. Pension collector : RETIREE
121. Guides : STEERS
122. Nos from Nikita : NYETS
123. Jules Léotard and Amelia Bloomer, for two : EPONYMS. It can refer to people after whom things are named or things that derived from people.
Down:
1. It's pitched : TENT
2. Blue shade : AQUA
4. Genre featuring big hats : OATER
5. Deer or elk, sometimes : PLURAL. So irrational. They can be counted, why can't they take plural forms?
6. Court suffix : IER. Courtier.
7. Adam's first home : EDEN
8. Texas border city : LAREDO
9. Hollywood canine : ASTA
10. What's left : THE REST
11. Clinton imitator on "SNL" : HARTMAN (Phil)
12. Big name in ice cream : EDY
13. Gillette razors : ATRAS
14. Dry : THIRSTY
15. Having good night vision : CAT-EYED
16. Sacha Baron Cohen alter ego : ALI G
17. Flaky mineral : MICA
18. Hand at dinner : PASS. Please hand/PASS me the wild rice.
20. 1986 Indy champ : RAHAL (Bobby). I don't follow racing. Is the Letterman/Rahl team good?
24. Supercomputer maker : CRAY. Drew a blank, TTP!
27. Wild revelry : ORGY
30. Depicts in words : LIMNS
33. "Homeland" terrorist Nick : BRODY. JD likes the show. Read more here. Fascinating series.
34. Ivy League city : ITHACA
35. Encourage with cheers : ROOT ON
37. Fork over : PAY
38. Greet with two letters? : SAY HI. Great clue.
40. Cab starter : PEDI. Pedicab.
41. Slush Puppie maker : ICEE
42. Shepherds, perhaps : DOGS
44. Inclined to forget : AMNESIC
47. Greek known for paradoxes : ZENO. The guy from Elea.
49. Oxygen-dependent organism : AEROBE
50. Stubborn stain : GREASE
51. Sore : ACHING
53. Thwart : DETER
57. Called forth : EVOKED
58. Bits of antiquity : RELICS
59. Privileged classes : ELITES
60. "Amahl and the Night Visitors" composer : MENOTTI
62. New Hampshire state mineral : BERYL. Minnesota does not have one. See here. Just learned from D-Otto's comment last week that we don't have State dog either. What's wrong with us? So cold here right now. I thought of Dr. Zhivago & Lara while walking through the thick snow & biting wind last Thursday night to attend a party.
67. Lt. Columbo, e.g. : DET
70. Pressing : URGENT
71. Some farm machinery : DEERES
73. Gas station acronym : ARCO
75. Trim to fit : ALTER
77. Sprouted : GREW
78. Travel randomly : ROVE
79. 10 C-notes : ONE G
80. It's nothing to Nero : NIHIL
81. Cocktail with a sprig of green : JULEP
85. Scout group : DEN
87. Prize ribbon feature : ROSETTE
88. Noted gatekeeper : ST. PETER
90. Almost out of gas : ON EMPTY
91. Try to make peace : MEDIATE
92. Actor Reynolds : BURT. Of course I thought of RYAN first.
95. Señorita's blossom : FLOR (Flower)
96. Alpine tunes : YODELS
97. Merry refrain : TRA LA
98. Gets busy with : SETS TO
101. Anatomical canals : ITERS. Learned from doing xwords.
104. Applied (for) : PUT IN. Tricky clue for me. Tricky tense too.
105. Homes for B-52s, briefly : AFBs
106. Superfluity : GLUT
107. Demolish, in Dorset : RASE
109. Bad mood : SNIT
110. __-et-Loir: French department : EURE. According to Wiki, Eure-et-Loir is named after the Eure and Loir rivers.
112. Come across as : SEEM
113. Many microbrews : ALES
115. TV chef Martin : YAN.
He was born in Guangzhou also. The real Cantonese food is very light.
Fresh veggie, fresh seafood, lightly steamed or sauteed. Most
restaurants have live fish, snakes, etc. You pick what you want, the
chef will then cook for you..
117. Pennant race mo. : SEP
Today we celebrate the birthday of Jazzbumpa (Ron), who always gives us all he has every time he blogs. Click here
for more pictures of his talented grandchildren. Amanda the ballet
dancer spent a week with the Rockettes this past summer. Nate is a great
baseball player.
(Updated later. Click here for 3 updated pictures Ron just sent to me.)
(Updated later. Click here for 3 updated pictures Ron just sent to me.)
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| Gloria & Ron |
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| In the yard: Gloria, Lauren, Josh, Me, Abby. |
Happy 80th Birthday to Misty's husband Rowland as well! Hope it's an extra sweet day for both of you.
C.C.
