Theme: Take a Letter - Theme answers are literal descriptions of the clue letter positions.
23A: S: HEAD OF STATE - Letter S is the first letter (head) of the word STATE.
29A: A: END OF AN ERA - A is at the end of ERA.
34A: C: MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE - C is in the middle of MALCOLM.
56A: P: LEADER OF THE PACK - P leads PACK.
66A: V: CENTER OF GRAVITY - V is at the center of GRAVITY.
85A: E: FOREGONE CONCLUSION - E concludes FOREGONE.
94A: F: FALSE START. F starts FALSE
104A: D: GRAND FINALE. D ends GRAND.
I figured out what those clue letters stand for after I got FALSE START. Such an innovative theme.
MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE is an odd choice, all the other theme answers are familiar phrases.
I had trouble all over the place, despite my perfect start with BRATZ (1A: Popular fashion doll series). Very seldom is 1A a gimme to me. All those BRATZ dolls have Angelina Jolie style lips.
My favorite clue today is SEN (81D: Boxer, e.g.: Abbr.). The "Abbr." clue did not prevent me from thinking of dog. Senator Barbara Boxer (CA) can sure bark and bite. Very acid tongue sometimes. Her daughter was married to Hillary Clinton's brother.
Across:
6A: Helps (out): BAIL. Paul Krugman wants more stimulus package.
11A: Immunity agent: T CELL
16A: Use a wet napkin on, perhaps: DAB
20A: "Aunt __ Cope Book": ERMA'S. Here is the book cover. Unknown to me. It's written by Erma Bombeck.
21A: Braga of "Moon Over Parador": SONIA. She looks familiar. I must have googled her before.
22A: Have a balance: OWE
25A: Opposite of full: UNFED. Wrote down EMPTY.
26A: Turn abruptly: ZAG
28A: "I'll do whatever you need": USE ME. Not a familiar utterance to me.
31A: Eponymous 1902 physics Nobelist Pieter: ZEEMAN. Stranger to me. I've never heard of ZEEMAN Effect either.
32A: Heavy hammer: MAUL. Wow, I really have no idea that MAUL is a heavy hammer. It's used to drive stakes or wedges.
33A: Third-day creation: EDEN. Got D quickly, then I decided it's ADAM.
41A: Lures, Pied Piper style: TWEEDLES
42A: Not out of running: IN IT. I am used to INIT clue, you know, initial.
43A: Large sea ducks: EIDERS
47A: More farinaceous: MEALIER. Knew farina, not farinaceous. Insane amount of vowels.
48A: Time, metaphorically: SANDS. The SANDS of time.
50A: Delta follower: EPSILON. Before zeta.
52A: Empire State, e.g.: Abbr.: BLDG
53A: Like LAX: INTL (International). Lots of abbreviations in this grid.
54A: "Characters welcome" network: USA. Have never heard of this tagline. Don't watch USA.
55A: Crazed: MANIC
62A: "The Information" author Martin: AMIS. Son of Kingsley AMIS.
63A: New Hampshire Pumpkin Festival city: KEENE. Our fellow LAT solver Hatoolah mentioned this trivia last time when we had KEENE (clued as New Hampshire city). But I forgot.
65A: Nebraska City's county: OTOE. Did not know OTOE is a county name as well.
69A: Belief system: CREED. Mine was TENET.
70A: Terrific service: ACE. Tennis.
73A: Work on antimacassar, perhaps: TAT. I did not know the meaning of antimacassar.
74A: Last line of some riddles: WHAT AM I
78A: Organ parts with cones: RETINAS. Cones are cone-shaped cells in the retina of the eye, sensitive to color and intensity of light, according to dictionary. New to me also.
82A: Israeli, e.g.: SEMITE. "Arab, e.g." as well.
83A: Gross income source?: PORN. Intersects PG RATED (83D: Like many family film). Huge stumper for me. CORN yes. PORN, too much for me. Is PORN really gross?
84A: Dash indicator: OIL GAUGE
92A: They may be graphic: ARTS. Nice clue.
93A: Orioles' gp.: AL EAST (American League East)
97A: Golden, in Guanajuato: DE ORO. I only know ORO means gold.
98A: Turkey toucher: IRAQ. D'oh, IRAQ touches (borders) Turkey.
102A: The Wildcats of the Big 12 Conf.: KSU (Kansas State University). I got the answer from Down fills.
103A: Try: TASTE. Do any of you have persimmon tree in your yard?
106A: Uncle to Jeanna and Barbara: JEB. JEB Bush.
107A: Energetic risk-taking type, so it's said: ARIES. Oh, I was unaware of this fact.
108A: Altercation: SET-TO
109A: Conductor whose name is spelled with two musical syllables: SOLTI (Georg). Interesting observation. He was a long time music director for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (1969-1991).
111A: Godiva rival: LINDT. The Swiss chocolate maker.
113A: Zhou__: EN LAI. Our first premier.
Down:
1D: __ Men: "Who let the Dogs Out" band: BAHA. Here is the clip. They are from Bahamas.
2D: Sorry type: RUER
3D: Economist Smith: ADAM. The laissez-faire economics guy.
6D: Man of steel?: BESSEMER. Wanted Superman. I've never heard of Henry BESSEMER.
7D: Apollo's sister: ARTEMIS. Apollo's twin sister. Goddess of moon.
8D: "Today __": bar mitzvah boy's announcement: I'M A MAN. I thought he would say "Today I'am thirteen".
9D: Hidden: LATENT
10D: Milwaukee-to-Gary di.: SSE
11D: Scary waves: TSUNAMIS. Japanese origin. TSU = Harbor. NAMI = "wave".
12D: Passage: CONDUIT
13D: Hug: ENFOLD. I could only think of embrace.
14D: Willingly: LIEF. Learned from doing Xword.
15D: Russian auto: LADA. Absolutely no idea. LADA sounds like a lady's name.
16D: Dropped off: DOZED
18D: Got the ball rolling: BEGAN
17D: Hip: AWARE. I was thinking of the "cool" hip.
24D: Gassed up the Jaguar, say: FUELLED
29D: Make change to, as copy: EMEND
30D: "___ go on?": NEED I
31D: Collection of signs: ZODIAC. I was picturing these signs. I can never tell whether they are original or remake.
34D: "Lou Grant" production co.: MTM. Oh, I did not know MTM stands for Mary Tyler Moore.
36D: Broadway actress Salonga: LEA. Unknown to me. LEA Salonga is from the Philippines, best known for originating the role of Kim in Miss Saigon, according to Wikipedia.
37D: Orchestra member whose instrument rests on the floor: CELLIST. Yo-Yo Ma. He was born in Paris.
38D: Depend (on): HINGE
39D: Low points: DEPTHS. They are not synonymous to me. I wanted NADIRS.
40D: Hosiery thread: LISLE. Named after LISLE (now Lille), France.
44D: Solution created by dissolving: ELUATE. The verb is elute. Both new to me.
45D: "Black Like Me" actor __ Lee Browne: ROSCOE. Nope. He looks like a church minister. Dictionary says ROSCOE is an old slang a revolver or pistol.
46D: Twisted and turned: SNAKED
48D: Bonk or conk, e.g.: SLANG. I like the rhyming clue.
48D: Dangerous snake: ADDER. Wrote down COBRA.
50D: Diary bit: ENTRY
52D: Gripes: BEEFS
55D: Showy parrots: MACAWS
56D: Don of "Cocoon": AMECHE. Not familiar with the movie "Cocoon". It's directed by Ron Howard.
57D: When many a "Closed" sign is flipped: NINE AM
58D: Actress Téa: LEONI. David Duchovyn's wife. I wonder why her parents named her Téa,
59D: Cut loose: REVEL. New definition of "cut loose" to me.
61D: "The quality of mercy" is not strain'ed" speaker: PORTIAS. From Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice".
63D: "Seinfeld" klutz: KRAMER. Not fun to watch him after the racist rants.
67D: Versifier's Muse: ERATO. The Muse of Poetry.
69D: It can make a racket: CATGUT. Strange name considering the racket is not really made of cat's intestines.
73D: Describes: TELLS OF
75D: Spats: TIFFS
76D: Where sleeping dog lie?: FOOTREST. Dogs is slang for feet. I was misled again. Fool me twice, shame onyou me.
77D: Young's accounting partner: ERNST
78D: Mertz neighbors of '50 TV: RICARDOS. "I Love Lucy".
79D: Rapa __: NUI. The Easter Island. Literally "Big Rapa".
80D: Word after long: AGO. Long AGO.
84D: SUNY college town: ONEONTA. How can I remember this name? Strange spelling.
86D: Has leftovers, say: EATS IN
87D: Military training groups: CADRES
88D: Soap ester: OLEATE. Last time it's clued as "Olive oil component".
89D: '60 White House resident, familiarly: JFK JR. John-John. Nice scrabbly fill.
91D: Errors: FLUBS
95D: "too many to list" abbr.: ET AL
96D: It's a wrap: SARI. It's a good clue. I don't mind seeing the repetition again.
96D: A party to: IN ON
99D: Political cartoonist Ted: RALL. Alien to me also. Our Star Tribune has its own editorial cartoonist.
100D: Utah ski resort: ALTA
101D: Cunard flagship for 35 yrs.: QEII (Queen Elizabeth II). Strange to see QE 2 as QEII.
104D: Atlanta sch.: GSU (Georgia State University)
105D: British verb ending: ISE. I like our ize.
Answer grid.
C.C.
23A: S: HEAD OF STATE - Letter S is the first letter (head) of the word STATE.
29A: A: END OF AN ERA - A is at the end of ERA.
34A: C: MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE - C is in the middle of MALCOLM.
56A: P: LEADER OF THE PACK - P leads PACK.
66A: V: CENTER OF GRAVITY - V is at the center of GRAVITY.
85A: E: FOREGONE CONCLUSION - E concludes FOREGONE.
94A: F: FALSE START. F starts FALSE
104A: D: GRAND FINALE. D ends GRAND.
I figured out what those clue letters stand for after I got FALSE START. Such an innovative theme.
MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE is an odd choice, all the other theme answers are familiar phrases.
I had trouble all over the place, despite my perfect start with BRATZ (1A: Popular fashion doll series). Very seldom is 1A a gimme to me. All those BRATZ dolls have Angelina Jolie style lips.
My favorite clue today is SEN (81D: Boxer, e.g.: Abbr.). The "Abbr." clue did not prevent me from thinking of dog. Senator Barbara Boxer (CA) can sure bark and bite. Very acid tongue sometimes. Her daughter was married to Hillary Clinton's brother.
Across:
6A: Helps (out): BAIL. Paul Krugman wants more stimulus package.
11A: Immunity agent: T CELL
16A: Use a wet napkin on, perhaps: DAB
20A: "Aunt __ Cope Book": ERMA'S. Here is the book cover. Unknown to me. It's written by Erma Bombeck.
21A: Braga of "Moon Over Parador": SONIA. She looks familiar. I must have googled her before.
22A: Have a balance: OWE
25A: Opposite of full: UNFED. Wrote down EMPTY.
26A: Turn abruptly: ZAG
28A: "I'll do whatever you need": USE ME. Not a familiar utterance to me.
31A: Eponymous 1902 physics Nobelist Pieter: ZEEMAN. Stranger to me. I've never heard of ZEEMAN Effect either.
32A: Heavy hammer: MAUL. Wow, I really have no idea that MAUL is a heavy hammer. It's used to drive stakes or wedges.
33A: Third-day creation: EDEN. Got D quickly, then I decided it's ADAM.
41A: Lures, Pied Piper style: TWEEDLES
42A: Not out of running: IN IT. I am used to INIT clue, you know, initial.
43A: Large sea ducks: EIDERS
47A: More farinaceous: MEALIER. Knew farina, not farinaceous. Insane amount of vowels.
48A: Time, metaphorically: SANDS. The SANDS of time.
50A: Delta follower: EPSILON. Before zeta.
52A: Empire State, e.g.: Abbr.: BLDG
53A: Like LAX: INTL (International). Lots of abbreviations in this grid.
54A: "Characters welcome" network: USA. Have never heard of this tagline. Don't watch USA.
55A: Crazed: MANIC
62A: "The Information" author Martin: AMIS. Son of Kingsley AMIS.
63A: New Hampshire Pumpkin Festival city: KEENE. Our fellow LAT solver Hatoolah mentioned this trivia last time when we had KEENE (clued as New Hampshire city). But I forgot.
65A: Nebraska City's county: OTOE. Did not know OTOE is a county name as well.
69A: Belief system: CREED. Mine was TENET.
70A: Terrific service: ACE. Tennis.
73A: Work on antimacassar, perhaps: TAT. I did not know the meaning of antimacassar.
74A: Last line of some riddles: WHAT AM I
78A: Organ parts with cones: RETINAS. Cones are cone-shaped cells in the retina of the eye, sensitive to color and intensity of light, according to dictionary. New to me also.
82A: Israeli, e.g.: SEMITE. "Arab, e.g." as well.
83A: Gross income source?: PORN. Intersects PG RATED (83D: Like many family film). Huge stumper for me. CORN yes. PORN, too much for me. Is PORN really gross?
84A: Dash indicator: OIL GAUGE
92A: They may be graphic: ARTS. Nice clue.
93A: Orioles' gp.: AL EAST (American League East)
97A: Golden, in Guanajuato: DE ORO. I only know ORO means gold.
98A: Turkey toucher: IRAQ. D'oh, IRAQ touches (borders) Turkey.
102A: The Wildcats of the Big 12 Conf.: KSU (Kansas State University). I got the answer from Down fills.
103A: Try: TASTE. Do any of you have persimmon tree in your yard?
106A: Uncle to Jeanna and Barbara: JEB. JEB Bush.
107A: Energetic risk-taking type, so it's said: ARIES. Oh, I was unaware of this fact.
108A: Altercation: SET-TO
109A: Conductor whose name is spelled with two musical syllables: SOLTI (Georg). Interesting observation. He was a long time music director for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (1969-1991).
111A: Godiva rival: LINDT. The Swiss chocolate maker.
113A: Zhou__: EN LAI. Our first premier.
Down:
1D: __ Men: "Who let the Dogs Out" band: BAHA. Here is the clip. They are from Bahamas.
2D: Sorry type: RUER
3D: Economist Smith: ADAM. The laissez-faire economics guy.
6D: Man of steel?: BESSEMER. Wanted Superman. I've never heard of Henry BESSEMER.
7D: Apollo's sister: ARTEMIS. Apollo's twin sister. Goddess of moon.
8D: "Today __": bar mitzvah boy's announcement: I'M A MAN. I thought he would say "Today I'am thirteen".
9D: Hidden: LATENT
10D: Milwaukee-to-Gary di.: SSE
11D: Scary waves: TSUNAMIS. Japanese origin. TSU = Harbor. NAMI = "wave".
12D: Passage: CONDUIT
13D: Hug: ENFOLD. I could only think of embrace.
14D: Willingly: LIEF. Learned from doing Xword.
15D: Russian auto: LADA. Absolutely no idea. LADA sounds like a lady's name.
16D: Dropped off: DOZED
18D: Got the ball rolling: BEGAN
17D: Hip: AWARE. I was thinking of the "cool" hip.
24D: Gassed up the Jaguar, say: FUELLED
29D: Make change to, as copy: EMEND
30D: "___ go on?": NEED I
31D: Collection of signs: ZODIAC. I was picturing these signs. I can never tell whether they are original or remake.
34D: "Lou Grant" production co.: MTM. Oh, I did not know MTM stands for Mary Tyler Moore.
36D: Broadway actress Salonga: LEA. Unknown to me. LEA Salonga is from the Philippines, best known for originating the role of Kim in Miss Saigon, according to Wikipedia.
37D: Orchestra member whose instrument rests on the floor: CELLIST. Yo-Yo Ma. He was born in Paris.
38D: Depend (on): HINGE
39D: Low points: DEPTHS. They are not synonymous to me. I wanted NADIRS.
40D: Hosiery thread: LISLE. Named after LISLE (now Lille), France.
44D: Solution created by dissolving: ELUATE. The verb is elute. Both new to me.
45D: "Black Like Me" actor __ Lee Browne: ROSCOE. Nope. He looks like a church minister. Dictionary says ROSCOE is an old slang a revolver or pistol.
46D: Twisted and turned: SNAKED
48D: Bonk or conk, e.g.: SLANG. I like the rhyming clue.
48D: Dangerous snake: ADDER. Wrote down COBRA.
50D: Diary bit: ENTRY
52D: Gripes: BEEFS
55D: Showy parrots: MACAWS
56D: Don of "Cocoon": AMECHE. Not familiar with the movie "Cocoon". It's directed by Ron Howard.
57D: When many a "Closed" sign is flipped: NINE AM
58D: Actress Téa: LEONI. David Duchovyn's wife. I wonder why her parents named her Téa,
59D: Cut loose: REVEL. New definition of "cut loose" to me.
61D: "The quality of mercy" is not strain'ed" speaker: PORTIAS. From Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice".
63D: "Seinfeld" klutz: KRAMER. Not fun to watch him after the racist rants.
67D: Versifier's Muse: ERATO. The Muse of Poetry.
69D: It can make a racket: CATGUT. Strange name considering the racket is not really made of cat's intestines.
73D: Describes: TELLS OF
75D: Spats: TIFFS
76D: Where sleeping dog lie?: FOOTREST. Dogs is slang for feet. I was misled again. Fool me twice, shame on
77D: Young's accounting partner: ERNST
78D: Mertz neighbors of '50 TV: RICARDOS. "I Love Lucy".
79D: Rapa __: NUI. The Easter Island. Literally "Big Rapa".
80D: Word after long: AGO. Long AGO.
84D: SUNY college town: ONEONTA. How can I remember this name? Strange spelling.
86D: Has leftovers, say: EATS IN
87D: Military training groups: CADRES
88D: Soap ester: OLEATE. Last time it's clued as "Olive oil component".
89D: '60 White House resident, familiarly: JFK JR. John-John. Nice scrabbly fill.
91D: Errors: FLUBS
95D: "too many to list" abbr.: ET AL
96D: It's a wrap: SARI. It's a good clue. I don't mind seeing the repetition again.
96D: A party to: IN ON
99D: Political cartoonist Ted: RALL. Alien to me also. Our Star Tribune has its own editorial cartoonist.
100D: Utah ski resort: ALTA
101D: Cunard flagship for 35 yrs.: QEII (Queen Elizabeth II). Strange to see QE 2 as QEII.
104D: Atlanta sch.: GSU (Georgia State University)
105D: British verb ending: ISE. I like our ize.
Answer grid.
C.C.
