Theme: INJURED. Or rather ON THE DL (85D: Temporarily not playing, in a baseball lingo (and a hint to this puzzle's theme) - D & L starting two-word phrases.
23A: Vietnam War program: DRAFT LOTTERY
29A: Driver's warning, perhaps: DASH LIGHT
54A: What spies often lead: DOUBLE LIFE
70A: Desert phenomenon: DRY LAKE
89A: Place to sign: DOTTED LINE
110A: Leer or sneer: DIRTY LOOK
121A: It's no longer spoken anywhere: DEAD LANGUAGE
38D: Be slain by a stand-up comic? DIE LAUGHING
43D: Murray offering: DANCE LESSON
DL stands for Disabled List. David Ortiz was always on the DL when he was with the Twins. Hated when he flourished with the Red Sox.
The clue for DIE LAUGHING is the only one with ? mark. I wish it were consistent with the other straight clues.
I penned in MIRAGE for 70A first. Did not know Arthur Murray the dancer, thought it refers to Bill Murray.
Nice, real baseball sub-theme in this puzzle:
22A: Baseball family name: ALOU
57A: Hall of Famer Slaughter: ENOS
95A: Third-winningest active baseball manager: TORRE (Joe). After Cardinals' Tony La Russa & Braves' Bobby Cox.
4D: Mariners' park, familiarly: SAFECO. SAFECO Field. My first baseball card is a Ichiro rookie.
41D: One of Willie Mays' 20 in 1957: TRIPLE. I wonder why the constructor picked Willie Mays' 1957 season as a clue for TRIPLE? What's so special about it?
83D: Winning of losing run: STREAK
115D: National League division: EAST
Fun puzzle. I've been waiting for Mike Peluso's byline. We used to get his puzzles on Wednesdays. So, when I saw his name, I was very happy and dived into the puzzle very impatiently. Flitting from place to place and penning in all those fill-in-the blanks & other easy answers. I won't repeat this strategy again. It feels better to start with upper left and systematically move to lower right.
The clue for ACRO (2D: Bat opening) needs a ? mark to indicate wordplay. Acrobat.
Across:
1A: "In My Own Fashion" autobiographer: CASSINI (Oleg). Jackie Kennedy's designer.
8A: Mil. decorations: DSCS. DSC = Distinguished Service Cross.
12A: Handicapper's hangout, briefly: OTB (Offtrack Betting)
15A: Ukr. et. al. once: SSRS
19A: Like an albatross: OCEANIC. Because albatross lives in the ocean? I wanted something related to burden or the golf term "double eagle" albatross.
20A: Conference USA's Miners: UTEP (University of Texas, El Paso). Largest university in US with a majority Mexican-American students, according to Wikipedia. I did not know their sports team name.
25A: Show uncertainty: HESITATE
27A: Olden days: YORE
28A: Guitar inlay material: NACRE. Mother-of-pearl. Some drums have such inlay too.
30A: Piston pusher: CAM
33A: Words after pass and raise: THE BAR
35A: Toulouse evening: SOIR. Or NUIT, as in "Bonne NUIT!" (good night!).
36A: Daily agenda: TO DO LIST
42A: Given as compensation: PAID TO
47A: Some pop groups: TRIOS. Like Destiny's Child.
49A: Public place, in a phobia: AGORA. More used to the "Greek marketplace" clue. Not familiar with agoraphobia.
51A: Romanov leaders: CZARS. Fell to the trap of TSARS.
52A: Toots: BEEPS
58A: "Le Roi d'Ys" composer: LALO (Édouard). I just forgot. French composer. LALO is of Latin origin, meaning "to sing a lullaby".
59A: Italian scooter: VESPA. The one used in "Roman Holiday".
62A: Second century date: CII. Roman 102.
63A: Upper East Side NYT eatery: ELAINE'S. No idea. ELAINE'S counts Woody Allen, Norman Mailer, Andy Warhol,, Frank Sinatra, Jack Nicholson and many other celerities as its frequent customers.
67A: Contract terms, at times: LEGALESE.
69A: __ Bator: ULAN. Mongolia capital. Literally "red".
73A: Henry James biographer Leon: EDEL. Learned his name from doing Xword. He wrote a five-volume biography of Henry James and won Pulitzer for his work.
74A: Narrow loaf: BAGUETTE. Hmm, jambon, gruyere & crudité on a BAGUETTE. Want some?
77A: Old United rival: TWA. Howard Hughes's airline.
78A: Rebuke silently: GLARE AT. Tiger Woods's glare is quit cold and intimidating. However, Padraig Harrington is not to be intimidated today. Curl your top lip and go!
81A: __Kosh B'Gosh: OSH
84A: Onetime members of the Winnebago Nation: OTOES. I guessed.
86A: SAS destination: OSLO. The "KLM destination" would be Amsterdam.
87A: Digestion aid: ACID
92A: Online bulletin board runner: SYSOP (System Operator). Not a familiar abbreviation to me.
93A: Hole in the head: SINUS. No idea. The clue conjures up a bloody image to me.
96A: Old burners in a lab: ETNAS. The Sicilian volcano ETNA is Greek for "I burn".
98A: Three Dog Night hit written by Nilsson: ONE. Here is the clip. Unknown to me. Sounds nice.
99A: Mesopotamia border river: TIGRIS. And Euphrates. The two rivers.
101A: So out it's in: RETRO
103A: 1066 battle site: HASTINGS. Norman Conquest fame.
105A: Take __: A BOW. Mine was THAT.
107A: Oxygen-consuming bacterium: AEROBE. Aer(o)=air. Be is from Greek bios (life). New word to me.
109A: Adm.'s milieu: USN (United States Navy). Adm. here is admiral.
114A: __-France: ILE DE. We often see ILE clued as __ de-France.
116A: Make pictures: DRAW
120A: Web sellers: E-TAILERS
124A: Danish shoe brand: ECCO. I wonder how ECCO obtained its name. ECCO is Italian for ECCE, "behold".
125A: Some operators: Abbr. MDS. MD here stands for Doctor of Medicine (Latin: Medicīnae Doctor) I presume?
126A: Woody's son: ARLO. Lemonade witnessed his drugged state in Woodstock.
127A: The ghost of Mrs. Muir?: SPECTRE. Mrs. Muir from "The Ghost of Mrs. Muir" is a British, hence the British spelling SPECTRE. I've never heard of the movie, so the cleverness of the clue is lost on me.
128A: Fen- __: banned diet aid: PHEN
129A: DOD division: NSA (National Security Agency).
130A: Like many signers: DEAF. Did not know a signer is a person who uses sign language.
131A: Syrup, essentially: TREE SAP. Maple syrup.
Down:
1D: Wyoming city: CODY. Can never remember this city. It's named after Buffalo Bill CODY.
3D: Precook, in a way: SEAR. Wrote down SOAK.
5D: QB's overthrow: INT. Interception I suppose.
6D: Zip: NIL
7D: Desktop figure: ICON
8D: Like "aardvark", e.g.: DUTCH. Oh, I did not know aardvark is of Dutch origin.
9D: Entertainment system: STEREO
10D: Brainy: CEREBRAL
11D: Thriller hero, often: SPY
12D: Workplace protection org.: OSHA
14D: Queen's neighbor?: BISHOP. Chess. I obtained the answer from Across fills.
15D: Make fun of: SATIRIZE. Satirical tone can be hard to detect for a non-native English speaker.
16D: Refinery residue: SLAG
18DL Haggis ingredient: SUET. Ewww.
24D: Skin coloring?: TATTOOS. Clever clue.
26D: Connected to the hipbone: ILIAC
29D: Anticipates in a big way: DROOLS. The clue brought to mind Stanley Tucci's "Big Night".
31D: Hgts.: ALTS (Altitudes)
32D: Russian for "peace": MIR. That's how the Russian space station got its name.
34D: Spirit in le ciel: ANGE. French for "angel". "Ciel" is "The sky"/"heaven".
36D: It may be periodic: TABLE. Another great clue.
37D: Ryan of TV's "Peyton Place": O'NEAL. Farrah Fawcett's love.
39D: Opposing team: SIDES
44D: Marseilles crowd?: TROIS. French for "three". Three is a crowd.
48D: More than great: SUPER
50D: "I'll do it for __": A FEE. Funny. Mine was FREE.
53D: WWI French solider: POILU. Literally "hairy one". I can never remember this word.
56D: Marx collaborator: ENGELS. They co-wrote "Communist Manifesto". This poster (Marx, ENGLES, Lenin, Stalin & Chairman Mao) was an important part of my childhood memory.
59D: Let off steam: VENTED
64D: Dundee denials: NAES. Scottish for "no".
68D: Brown of song: LEROY. "Bad, bad LEROY Brown". I was stumped, thinking of R & B singer Bobby Brown (Whitney Houston's husband).
70D: Visa user: DEBTOR. Well, I am a DEBTOR then.
71D: Getting unauthorized R & R?: AWOL. Nailed it.
74D: "Veni, vidi, vici, ", e.g.: BOAST. Nailed it also. Loved the clue.
75D: computer acronym: ASCII
78D: She played Thelma: GEENA."Thelma & Louise".
80D: Has a few too many: TOPES
88D: Length of time: DURATION
90D: Romani de Tirtoff, famously: ERTE. The French pronunciation of his initials R. T.
91D: Behind: DERRIERE
92D: Grounded fliers: SST
94D: Soothsayer: SIBYL
97D: Tempe sch.: ASU (Arizona State University). The Sun Devils'.
100D: Like most church service: SOLEMN
102D: "C'est magnifique!": OO LA LA. Always thought it's OOH LA LA. "C'est magnifique!"="This is magnificent".
104D: Bring about: INDUCE
106D: "Eating __ has never given me indigestion": Churchill: WORDS. Not a familiar Churchill quote to me. Does not sound like him.
108D: __ roses: BED OF. Had trouble stringing the answer together.
111D: Restless desire: ITCH
112D: Dash, for one: RACE. I was thinking the Morse code dash.
113D: Mount of Greek myth: OSSA
117D: "Darn it": RATS
118D: Indian tourist city: AGRA. Taj Mahal city.
121D: Family nickname: DAD. It's ba ba in Chinese. Ma ma is Mom.
122D: "All Things Considered" airer: NPR
Answer grid.
C.C.
23A: Vietnam War program: DRAFT LOTTERY
29A: Driver's warning, perhaps: DASH LIGHT
54A: What spies often lead: DOUBLE LIFE
70A: Desert phenomenon: DRY LAKE
89A: Place to sign: DOTTED LINE
110A: Leer or sneer: DIRTY LOOK
121A: It's no longer spoken anywhere: DEAD LANGUAGE
38D: Be slain by a stand-up comic? DIE LAUGHING
43D: Murray offering: DANCE LESSON
DL stands for Disabled List. David Ortiz was always on the DL when he was with the Twins. Hated when he flourished with the Red Sox.
The clue for DIE LAUGHING is the only one with ? mark. I wish it were consistent with the other straight clues.
I penned in MIRAGE for 70A first. Did not know Arthur Murray the dancer, thought it refers to Bill Murray.
Nice, real baseball sub-theme in this puzzle:
22A: Baseball family name: ALOU
57A: Hall of Famer Slaughter: ENOS
95A: Third-winningest active baseball manager: TORRE (Joe). After Cardinals' Tony La Russa & Braves' Bobby Cox.
4D: Mariners' park, familiarly: SAFECO. SAFECO Field. My first baseball card is a Ichiro rookie.
41D: One of Willie Mays' 20 in 1957: TRIPLE. I wonder why the constructor picked Willie Mays' 1957 season as a clue for TRIPLE? What's so special about it?
83D: Winning of losing run: STREAK
115D: National League division: EAST
Fun puzzle. I've been waiting for Mike Peluso's byline. We used to get his puzzles on Wednesdays. So, when I saw his name, I was very happy and dived into the puzzle very impatiently. Flitting from place to place and penning in all those fill-in-the blanks & other easy answers. I won't repeat this strategy again. It feels better to start with upper left and systematically move to lower right.
The clue for ACRO (2D: Bat opening) needs a ? mark to indicate wordplay. Acrobat.
Across:
1A: "In My Own Fashion" autobiographer: CASSINI (Oleg). Jackie Kennedy's designer.
8A: Mil. decorations: DSCS. DSC = Distinguished Service Cross.
12A: Handicapper's hangout, briefly: OTB (Offtrack Betting)
15A: Ukr. et. al. once: SSRS
19A: Like an albatross: OCEANIC. Because albatross lives in the ocean? I wanted something related to burden or the golf term "double eagle" albatross.
20A: Conference USA's Miners: UTEP (University of Texas, El Paso). Largest university in US with a majority Mexican-American students, according to Wikipedia. I did not know their sports team name.
25A: Show uncertainty: HESITATE
27A: Olden days: YORE
28A: Guitar inlay material: NACRE. Mother-of-pearl. Some drums have such inlay too.
30A: Piston pusher: CAM
33A: Words after pass and raise: THE BAR
35A: Toulouse evening: SOIR. Or NUIT, as in "Bonne NUIT!" (good night!).
36A: Daily agenda: TO DO LIST
42A: Given as compensation: PAID TO
47A: Some pop groups: TRIOS. Like Destiny's Child.
49A: Public place, in a phobia: AGORA. More used to the "Greek marketplace" clue. Not familiar with agoraphobia.
51A: Romanov leaders: CZARS. Fell to the trap of TSARS.
52A: Toots: BEEPS
58A: "Le Roi d'Ys" composer: LALO (Édouard). I just forgot. French composer. LALO is of Latin origin, meaning "to sing a lullaby".
59A: Italian scooter: VESPA. The one used in "Roman Holiday".
62A: Second century date: CII. Roman 102.
63A: Upper East Side NYT eatery: ELAINE'S. No idea. ELAINE'S counts Woody Allen, Norman Mailer, Andy Warhol,, Frank Sinatra, Jack Nicholson and many other celerities as its frequent customers.
67A: Contract terms, at times: LEGALESE.
69A: __ Bator: ULAN. Mongolia capital. Literally "red".
73A: Henry James biographer Leon: EDEL. Learned his name from doing Xword. He wrote a five-volume biography of Henry James and won Pulitzer for his work.
74A: Narrow loaf: BAGUETTE. Hmm, jambon, gruyere & crudité on a BAGUETTE. Want some?
77A: Old United rival: TWA. Howard Hughes's airline.
78A: Rebuke silently: GLARE AT. Tiger Woods's glare is quit cold and intimidating. However, Padraig Harrington is not to be intimidated today. Curl your top lip and go!
81A: __Kosh B'Gosh: OSH
84A: Onetime members of the Winnebago Nation: OTOES. I guessed.
86A: SAS destination: OSLO. The "KLM destination" would be Amsterdam.
87A: Digestion aid: ACID
92A: Online bulletin board runner: SYSOP (System Operator). Not a familiar abbreviation to me.
93A: Hole in the head: SINUS. No idea. The clue conjures up a bloody image to me.
96A: Old burners in a lab: ETNAS. The Sicilian volcano ETNA is Greek for "I burn".
98A: Three Dog Night hit written by Nilsson: ONE. Here is the clip. Unknown to me. Sounds nice.
99A: Mesopotamia border river: TIGRIS. And Euphrates. The two rivers.
101A: So out it's in: RETRO
103A: 1066 battle site: HASTINGS. Norman Conquest fame.
105A: Take __: A BOW. Mine was THAT.
107A: Oxygen-consuming bacterium: AEROBE. Aer(o)=air. Be is from Greek bios (life). New word to me.
109A: Adm.'s milieu: USN (United States Navy). Adm. here is admiral.
114A: __-France: ILE DE. We often see ILE clued as __ de-France.
116A: Make pictures: DRAW
120A: Web sellers: E-TAILERS
124A: Danish shoe brand: ECCO. I wonder how ECCO obtained its name. ECCO is Italian for ECCE, "behold".
125A: Some operators: Abbr. MDS. MD here stands for Doctor of Medicine (Latin: Medicīnae Doctor) I presume?
126A: Woody's son: ARLO. Lemonade witnessed his drugged state in Woodstock.
127A: The ghost of Mrs. Muir?: SPECTRE. Mrs. Muir from "The Ghost of Mrs. Muir" is a British, hence the British spelling SPECTRE. I've never heard of the movie, so the cleverness of the clue is lost on me.
128A: Fen- __: banned diet aid: PHEN
129A: DOD division: NSA (National Security Agency).
130A: Like many signers: DEAF. Did not know a signer is a person who uses sign language.
131A: Syrup, essentially: TREE SAP. Maple syrup.
Down:
1D: Wyoming city: CODY. Can never remember this city. It's named after Buffalo Bill CODY.
3D: Precook, in a way: SEAR. Wrote down SOAK.
5D: QB's overthrow: INT. Interception I suppose.
6D: Zip: NIL
7D: Desktop figure: ICON
8D: Like "aardvark", e.g.: DUTCH. Oh, I did not know aardvark is of Dutch origin.
9D: Entertainment system: STEREO
10D: Brainy: CEREBRAL
11D: Thriller hero, often: SPY
12D: Workplace protection org.: OSHA
14D: Queen's neighbor?: BISHOP. Chess. I obtained the answer from Across fills.
15D: Make fun of: SATIRIZE. Satirical tone can be hard to detect for a non-native English speaker.
16D: Refinery residue: SLAG
18DL Haggis ingredient: SUET. Ewww.
24D: Skin coloring?: TATTOOS. Clever clue.
26D: Connected to the hipbone: ILIAC
29D: Anticipates in a big way: DROOLS. The clue brought to mind Stanley Tucci's "Big Night".
31D: Hgts.: ALTS (Altitudes)
32D: Russian for "peace": MIR. That's how the Russian space station got its name.
34D: Spirit in le ciel: ANGE. French for "angel". "Ciel" is "The sky"/"heaven".
36D: It may be periodic: TABLE. Another great clue.
37D: Ryan of TV's "Peyton Place": O'NEAL. Farrah Fawcett's love.
39D: Opposing team: SIDES
44D: Marseilles crowd?: TROIS. French for "three". Three is a crowd.
48D: More than great: SUPER
50D: "I'll do it for __": A FEE. Funny. Mine was FREE.
53D: WWI French solider: POILU. Literally "hairy one". I can never remember this word.
56D: Marx collaborator: ENGELS. They co-wrote "Communist Manifesto". This poster (Marx, ENGLES, Lenin, Stalin & Chairman Mao) was an important part of my childhood memory.
59D: Let off steam: VENTED
64D: Dundee denials: NAES. Scottish for "no".
68D: Brown of song: LEROY. "Bad, bad LEROY Brown". I was stumped, thinking of R & B singer Bobby Brown (Whitney Houston's husband).
70D: Visa user: DEBTOR. Well, I am a DEBTOR then.
71D: Getting unauthorized R & R?: AWOL. Nailed it.
74D: "Veni, vidi, vici, ", e.g.: BOAST. Nailed it also. Loved the clue.
75D: computer acronym: ASCII
78D: She played Thelma: GEENA."Thelma & Louise".
80D: Has a few too many: TOPES
88D: Length of time: DURATION
90D: Romani de Tirtoff, famously: ERTE. The French pronunciation of his initials R. T.
91D: Behind: DERRIERE
92D: Grounded fliers: SST
94D: Soothsayer: SIBYL
97D: Tempe sch.: ASU (Arizona State University). The Sun Devils'.
100D: Like most church service: SOLEMN
102D: "C'est magnifique!": OO LA LA. Always thought it's OOH LA LA. "C'est magnifique!"="This is magnificent".
104D: Bring about: INDUCE
106D: "Eating __ has never given me indigestion": Churchill: WORDS. Not a familiar Churchill quote to me. Does not sound like him.
108D: __ roses: BED OF. Had trouble stringing the answer together.
111D: Restless desire: ITCH
112D: Dash, for one: RACE. I was thinking the Morse code dash.
113D: Mount of Greek myth: OSSA
117D: "Darn it": RATS
118D: Indian tourist city: AGRA. Taj Mahal city.
121D: Family nickname: DAD. It's ba ba in Chinese. Ma ma is Mom.
122D: "All Things Considered" airer: NPR
Answer grid.
C.C.
