Theme: At the Y (Letter Y's are added to familiar phrases)
23A: Conference call? MAN(Y)-TO- MAN(Y) CHAT
36A: Skittish about almost everything?: WORLD WAR(Y)
49A: Cheer from an ass?: SUPPORT BRA(Y)
81A: Successful cabbies?: BUS(Y) DRIVERS
95A: Thick stick-in-the-mud?: DENSE FOG(Y)
114A: Overt play for sympathy?: OPEN-PIT(Y) MINING
16D: Hamlet's cry after finding a gem?: AY, THERE'S THE RUB(Y)
43D: Editor's mixed bag?: GOOD COP(Y) BAD COP(Y)
The Y at the theme title "At the Y" refers to YMCA, correct?
I am not familiar with the communication term MANY-TO-MANY. "To sleep: perchance to dream: Ay, there's the rub" is from Hamlet's "to be or not to be" speech. SUPPORT BRAY is so funny.
Smooth puzzle from Nancy Salomon. If there were a Crossword Hall of Fame, she should be among the first to be inducted.
I filled in lots of blanks on my first pass. Still had to cheat though. Disliked the clue for WOE IS ME (21A: Melodramatic cry) because MELO is the answer for 48A: Dramatic beginning.
Across:
1A: Downfall: DEMISE
7A: Religion founded in the Punjab: SIKHISM. SIKH is Sanskrit for "disciple".
14A: Valuable strings: AMATIS. Wrote down STRADS first. It fit well with SEC, my initial answer for the intersecting 14D: Wall Street org. (ASE).
20A: undermined: ERODED
22A: Agree to unit: SAY "I DO"
26A: Off the shelf: SOLD
27A: Followers of zetas: ETAS. Greek has 24 letters.
30A: Severe spasm: THROE
31A: Stud site: EAR LOBE. Stud earrings.
33A: Joe's con man buddy in "Midnight Cowboy": RATSO. Played by Dustin Hoffman.
34A: Loads: REAMS. Did anyone try SCADS first?
35A: Corp alias: DBA (Doing Business As)
40A: Ice cream thickener: AGAR. Made of seaweed.
42A: Makes true: ALIGNS. "True" here means "on target".
44A: Censor's deletion: OATH
45A: Secrecy metaphors: CLOSETS. My first thought is THE ROSE. Rose does denote secrecy, you know, sub rosa.
53A: Math ration: SINE
55A: Gathering clouds and such: OMENS. Chinese view crow as an OMEN of death.
57A: State stat: AREA
58A: Team with a star logo: ASTROS. Houston ASTROS.
62A: Charlie Brown's creator: SCHULZ. Charles SCHULZ was born and grew up here in Minnesota.
64A: Much of Egypt: SAHARA. SAHARA is just Arab for "desert".
65A: "Odyssey" enchantress: CIRCE. Wanted SIREN again. CIRCE turned Odysseus' crew into swine.
66A: Wavy lines, in comics: ODOR
69A: Skelton's Kadiddlehopper: CLEM. I can never remember this name.
70A: Fast times?: LENTS. Without the question mark, the clue is valid too.
71A: Lazy: OTIOSE. New word to me.
73A: Bumps up: RAISES
75A: Wagner works: OPERAS
77A: Get going: PROPEL
78A: Weapon with a bell guard: EPEE. I don't know what a bell guard is.
79A: SeaWorld star: SHAMU. Orca sounds deadly, doesn't it?
80A: Hard to grasp: EELY
85A: Chum, e.g.: BAIT. I kept thinking of "buddy" chum.
89A: Collectors' targets: DEBTORS. Was in the hobby "collector" direction. I am very into bobbleheads now.
92A: Atlanta suburb: SMYRNA. No idea. Here is a map.
94A: Former Sony brand: AIWA. Oh, I was not aware that Sony has killed the AIWA brand. Sony only acquired AIWA in 2002.
98A: Relocation: Abbr.: TRF (Transfer). Not a familiar abbr. to me.
99A: Feature of Goliath, but not giants: HARD G. My favorite clue. Very nice wordplay.
102A: Western star with a whip: LA RUE (Lash). He got his name Lash because of his exceptional skill with bullwhip.
104A: Scorecard listings: ROSTERS
106A: Period of note: EPOCH
107A: Layered do: SHAG. Like Farrah Fawcett's hair.
108A: Cameo shape: OVAL
111A: Polo of "Meet the Fockers": TERI. Dustin Hoffman was in "Meet the Fockers" too.
112A: Guarded bars: INGOTS. Thought of the prison bars.
118A: Passed gradually: SEEPED
119A: Soft, in a way: LENIENT
120A: Cooling-off period?: ICE AGE
121A: Dionysian attendants: SATYRS. They are part man, part goat, constantly drinking and chasing the nymphs. See this SATYR balancing a wine cup on his erect MOREL.
122A: City on the Elbe: DRESDEN. Famous for its fine china.
123A: Cordage fibers: ISTLES. This word used to stump me.
Down:
1D: DNC part: Abbr.: DEM. DNA is Democratic National Committee.
2D: Subject to being wiped out: ERASABLE
3D: Way around Disneyland: MONORAIL. No idea. Have never been to Disneyland.
4D: Pastoral piece: IDYLL
5D: Put on the table: SET DOWN
6D: Shogun's capital: EDO. The name became Tokyo in 1868. Shogun is literally "general".
7D: Police crisis acronym: SWAT
8D: Isle of Mull neighbor: IONA. See this map. I've never heard of Isle of Mull.
10D: Sot's syllable: HIC. Hiccup.
11D: 1987 Beatty bomb: ISHTAR. Funny, Dustin Hoffman is in this movie too. ISHTAR is also the Babylonian/Assyrian goddess of love/fertility. Counterpart to the Phoenician Astarte.
12D: Wiseacre: SMARTY. Wonder how SMARTY Jones is doing.
15D: Chanted words: MANTRAS
18D: "Jump the Shark," e.g.: IDIOM. "Jump the Shark" is derived from the scene in "Happy Days" when the Fonz water skied over a shark. The phrase refers to a point where TV shows has run out of ideas and resorts to stunts to retain viewer interest. Of course, things all go downhill from there.
19D: Pump bottoms: SOLES
24D: Dutch artist Jan van der __ van Delft: MEER. I only know him as Jan Vermeer. "Van" means "from" or "of" in Dutch. He was born and buried in Delft. Probably most famous for "The Milkmaid" and "The Girl with the Pearl Earring", the latter inspired the Scarlett Johansson movie with the same title.
29D: Eucalyptus muncher: KOALA
31D: Cheese tray choice: EDAM. Dutch cheese.
33D: Gung-ho: RAH RAH
37D: Cuts: LOPS
38D: Skip along the water: DAP. This has become a gimme as well.
39D: Intl. commerce group since 1995: WTO (World Trade Organization). Replaced GATT (General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade).
41D: some El Prado works: GOYAS. Both his "The Naked Maja" and "The Clothed Maja" are in El Prado.
45D: Hot item: CRAZE
46D: King Zog's capital: TIRANA. Capital of Albania. I did not know who King Zog is.
47D: Bar belts: SNORTS. Stumped. Both "belt" and "snort" are slang for "a drink of liquor, esp when swallowed in one gulp" according to dictionary.
50D: Second commandment preposition: UNTO.
51D: Fighting ender: TRUCE. Korean War simply ended with a TRUCE, not a peace treaty.
52D: Nautical time units: BELLS. The half-hour units. Navy's traditional timekeeping system.
54D: Those, in Tijuana: ESAS. ESOS too.
56D: Attorney general under Reagan: MEESE (Ed).
59D: Capital north of Sacramento: SALEM
60D: Like British bishop: MITRED. British spelling of miter, the traditional, ceremonial head-dress of bishop.
61D: Ray's opponent: ORIOLE. Both belong to American League East Division.
62D: All lathered up: SOAPY
63D: Turned on the waterworks: CRIED
65D: Handle things: COPE. Thought of DEAL first.
67D: Become decent: DRESS. OK, #7 definition of "decent" according to Dictionary.com: "wearing enough clothing to appear in public".
69D: Former "Last Comic Standing" host Jay: MOHR. Stumped. But when I googled his name, I realized he was the nice guy Nick in Jennifer Aniston "Picture Perfect".
72D: Jostle: ELBOW
74D: Unruffled: SERENE. Like Mona Lisa's smile.
76D: Turn a corner, in Monopoly: PASS GO. No idea. Know nothing about Monopoly.
79D: Fitness magazine: SELF. Eva Longoria is very pretty, even without make-up.
82D: Range mostly in Russia: URALS
83D: OR hookups: IVS. Reminds me of a clever clue for STU (RV hookups).
84D: Go head to head: VIE
86D: Main street: ARTERIAL
87D: Encroach (upon): INFRINGE
90D: More like best buds: TIGHTER. The clue just does not feel natural to me.
93D: Occult figures: MYSTICS
95D: Cloth dealer, in Cambridge: DRAPER. British for dealer in cloth/clothing/dry goods. What do we call "Cloth dealer" in America ?
96D: Debs in politics: EUGENE. Unknown figure to me. Wikipedia says he was one of the founding members of the International Labor Union.
97D: Air France destination: ORLY. Main airport of Paris prior to Charles de Gaulle.
99D: 1960 Olympic figure skating gold medalist Carol: HEISS. Nope. She looks so cheerful.
100D: Sleep disturbance: APNEA
101D: Creator of an immortal 1852 lexicon: ROGET. Oh, the man with many words. I did not know ROGET's Thesaurus was published in 1852.
108D: Page with essays: OP-ED. OP(posite)- ED(itorial).
110D: Ltrs. in a letter: ATTN
113D: Tom Hayden's '60s org.: SDS (Students for a Democratic Society)
116D: Early 11th century year: MII. 1002.
117D: Some appliances: GES. Hey, finally Goldman Sachs upgraded GE.
Answer grid.
Thanks for the comments, everyone.
C.C.
23A: Conference call? MAN(Y)-TO- MAN(Y) CHAT
36A: Skittish about almost everything?: WORLD WAR(Y)
49A: Cheer from an ass?: SUPPORT BRA(Y)
81A: Successful cabbies?: BUS(Y) DRIVERS
95A: Thick stick-in-the-mud?: DENSE FOG(Y)
114A: Overt play for sympathy?: OPEN-PIT(Y) MINING
16D: Hamlet's cry after finding a gem?: AY, THERE'S THE RUB(Y)
43D: Editor's mixed bag?: GOOD COP(Y) BAD COP(Y)
The Y at the theme title "At the Y" refers to YMCA, correct?
I am not familiar with the communication term MANY-TO-MANY. "To sleep: perchance to dream: Ay, there's the rub" is from Hamlet's "to be or not to be" speech. SUPPORT BRAY is so funny.
Smooth puzzle from Nancy Salomon. If there were a Crossword Hall of Fame, she should be among the first to be inducted.
I filled in lots of blanks on my first pass. Still had to cheat though. Disliked the clue for WOE IS ME (21A: Melodramatic cry) because MELO is the answer for 48A: Dramatic beginning.
Across:
1A: Downfall: DEMISE
7A: Religion founded in the Punjab: SIKHISM. SIKH is Sanskrit for "disciple".
14A: Valuable strings: AMATIS. Wrote down STRADS first. It fit well with SEC, my initial answer for the intersecting 14D: Wall Street org. (ASE).
20A: undermined: ERODED
22A: Agree to unit: SAY "I DO"
26A: Off the shelf: SOLD
27A: Followers of zetas: ETAS. Greek has 24 letters.
30A: Severe spasm: THROE
31A: Stud site: EAR LOBE. Stud earrings.
33A: Joe's con man buddy in "Midnight Cowboy": RATSO. Played by Dustin Hoffman.
34A: Loads: REAMS. Did anyone try SCADS first?
35A: Corp alias: DBA (Doing Business As)
40A: Ice cream thickener: AGAR. Made of seaweed.
42A: Makes true: ALIGNS. "True" here means "on target".
44A: Censor's deletion: OATH
45A: Secrecy metaphors: CLOSETS. My first thought is THE ROSE. Rose does denote secrecy, you know, sub rosa.
53A: Math ration: SINE
55A: Gathering clouds and such: OMENS. Chinese view crow as an OMEN of death.
57A: State stat: AREA
58A: Team with a star logo: ASTROS. Houston ASTROS.
62A: Charlie Brown's creator: SCHULZ. Charles SCHULZ was born and grew up here in Minnesota.
64A: Much of Egypt: SAHARA. SAHARA is just Arab for "desert".
65A: "Odyssey" enchantress: CIRCE. Wanted SIREN again. CIRCE turned Odysseus' crew into swine.
66A: Wavy lines, in comics: ODOR
69A: Skelton's Kadiddlehopper: CLEM. I can never remember this name.
70A: Fast times?: LENTS. Without the question mark, the clue is valid too.
71A: Lazy: OTIOSE. New word to me.
73A: Bumps up: RAISES
75A: Wagner works: OPERAS
77A: Get going: PROPEL
78A: Weapon with a bell guard: EPEE. I don't know what a bell guard is.
79A: SeaWorld star: SHAMU. Orca sounds deadly, doesn't it?
80A: Hard to grasp: EELY
85A: Chum, e.g.: BAIT. I kept thinking of "buddy" chum.
89A: Collectors' targets: DEBTORS. Was in the hobby "collector" direction. I am very into bobbleheads now.
92A: Atlanta suburb: SMYRNA. No idea. Here is a map.
94A: Former Sony brand: AIWA. Oh, I was not aware that Sony has killed the AIWA brand. Sony only acquired AIWA in 2002.
98A: Relocation: Abbr.: TRF (Transfer). Not a familiar abbr. to me.
99A: Feature of Goliath, but not giants: HARD G. My favorite clue. Very nice wordplay.
102A: Western star with a whip: LA RUE (Lash). He got his name Lash because of his exceptional skill with bullwhip.
104A: Scorecard listings: ROSTERS
106A: Period of note: EPOCH
107A: Layered do: SHAG. Like Farrah Fawcett's hair.
108A: Cameo shape: OVAL
111A: Polo of "Meet the Fockers": TERI. Dustin Hoffman was in "Meet the Fockers" too.
112A: Guarded bars: INGOTS. Thought of the prison bars.
118A: Passed gradually: SEEPED
119A: Soft, in a way: LENIENT
120A: Cooling-off period?: ICE AGE
121A: Dionysian attendants: SATYRS. They are part man, part goat, constantly drinking and chasing the nymphs. See this SATYR balancing a wine cup on his erect MOREL.
122A: City on the Elbe: DRESDEN. Famous for its fine china.
123A: Cordage fibers: ISTLES. This word used to stump me.
Down:
1D: DNC part: Abbr.: DEM. DNA is Democratic National Committee.
2D: Subject to being wiped out: ERASABLE
3D: Way around Disneyland: MONORAIL. No idea. Have never been to Disneyland.
4D: Pastoral piece: IDYLL
5D: Put on the table: SET DOWN
6D: Shogun's capital: EDO. The name became Tokyo in 1868. Shogun is literally "general".
7D: Police crisis acronym: SWAT
8D: Isle of Mull neighbor: IONA. See this map. I've never heard of Isle of Mull.
10D: Sot's syllable: HIC. Hiccup.
11D: 1987 Beatty bomb: ISHTAR. Funny, Dustin Hoffman is in this movie too. ISHTAR is also the Babylonian/Assyrian goddess of love/fertility. Counterpart to the Phoenician Astarte.
12D: Wiseacre: SMARTY. Wonder how SMARTY Jones is doing.
15D: Chanted words: MANTRAS
18D: "Jump the Shark," e.g.: IDIOM. "Jump the Shark" is derived from the scene in "Happy Days" when the Fonz water skied over a shark. The phrase refers to a point where TV shows has run out of ideas and resorts to stunts to retain viewer interest. Of course, things all go downhill from there.
19D: Pump bottoms: SOLES
24D: Dutch artist Jan van der __ van Delft: MEER. I only know him as Jan Vermeer. "Van" means "from" or "of" in Dutch. He was born and buried in Delft. Probably most famous for "The Milkmaid" and "The Girl with the Pearl Earring", the latter inspired the Scarlett Johansson movie with the same title.
29D: Eucalyptus muncher: KOALA
31D: Cheese tray choice: EDAM. Dutch cheese.
33D: Gung-ho: RAH RAH
37D: Cuts: LOPS
38D: Skip along the water: DAP. This has become a gimme as well.
39D: Intl. commerce group since 1995: WTO (World Trade Organization). Replaced GATT (General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade).
41D: some El Prado works: GOYAS. Both his "The Naked Maja" and "The Clothed Maja" are in El Prado.
45D: Hot item: CRAZE
46D: King Zog's capital: TIRANA. Capital of Albania. I did not know who King Zog is.
47D: Bar belts: SNORTS. Stumped. Both "belt" and "snort" are slang for "a drink of liquor, esp when swallowed in one gulp" according to dictionary.
50D: Second commandment preposition: UNTO.
51D: Fighting ender: TRUCE. Korean War simply ended with a TRUCE, not a peace treaty.
52D: Nautical time units: BELLS. The half-hour units. Navy's traditional timekeeping system.
54D: Those, in Tijuana: ESAS. ESOS too.
56D: Attorney general under Reagan: MEESE (Ed).
59D: Capital north of Sacramento: SALEM
60D: Like British bishop: MITRED. British spelling of miter, the traditional, ceremonial head-dress of bishop.
61D: Ray's opponent: ORIOLE. Both belong to American League East Division.
62D: All lathered up: SOAPY
63D: Turned on the waterworks: CRIED
65D: Handle things: COPE. Thought of DEAL first.
67D: Become decent: DRESS. OK, #7 definition of "decent" according to Dictionary.com: "wearing enough clothing to appear in public".
69D: Former "Last Comic Standing" host Jay: MOHR. Stumped. But when I googled his name, I realized he was the nice guy Nick in Jennifer Aniston "Picture Perfect".
72D: Jostle: ELBOW
74D: Unruffled: SERENE. Like Mona Lisa's smile.
76D: Turn a corner, in Monopoly: PASS GO. No idea. Know nothing about Monopoly.
79D: Fitness magazine: SELF. Eva Longoria is very pretty, even without make-up.
82D: Range mostly in Russia: URALS
83D: OR hookups: IVS. Reminds me of a clever clue for STU (RV hookups).
84D: Go head to head: VIE
86D: Main street: ARTERIAL
87D: Encroach (upon): INFRINGE
90D: More like best buds: TIGHTER. The clue just does not feel natural to me.
93D: Occult figures: MYSTICS
95D: Cloth dealer, in Cambridge: DRAPER. British for dealer in cloth/clothing/dry goods. What do we call "Cloth dealer" in America ?
96D: Debs in politics: EUGENE. Unknown figure to me. Wikipedia says he was one of the founding members of the International Labor Union.
97D: Air France destination: ORLY. Main airport of Paris prior to Charles de Gaulle.
99D: 1960 Olympic figure skating gold medalist Carol: HEISS. Nope. She looks so cheerful.
100D: Sleep disturbance: APNEA
101D: Creator of an immortal 1852 lexicon: ROGET. Oh, the man with many words. I did not know ROGET's Thesaurus was published in 1852.
108D: Page with essays: OP-ED. OP(posite)- ED(itorial).
110D: Ltrs. in a letter: ATTN
113D: Tom Hayden's '60s org.: SDS (Students for a Democratic Society)
116D: Early 11th century year: MII. 1002.
117D: Some appliances: GES. Hey, finally Goldman Sachs upgraded GE.
Answer grid.
Thanks for the comments, everyone.
C.C.
