Theme: Knock 'Em Dead - Letter M at the beginning of one of the words in each of these familiar phrases is dropped. The vowel sound remains the same.
23A. What would trouble Trixie if the Kramdens moved away? : ABSENCE OF (M)ALICE. The base phrase is Absence of Malice. Alice Kramdens is from "The Honeymooners". Trixie is her best friend. M precedes short A.
51A. Parallel world? : (M)OTHER EARTH. Mother Earth. Short O.
69A. Badly burned British dish? : BANGERS AND (M)ASH. Bangers and Mash. Bangers = Sausages. Lois probably still could taste them. Short A. Triple B alliteration in the clue.
85A. Pint-drinking buddies' experience? : (M)ALE BONDING. Male Bonding. Long A.
117A. 19th-century queen's tough tests? : VICTORIAN (M)ORALS. Victorian Morals. Short O. Or is it "aw" sound?
14D. "Wiggly dessert stale, kemosabe" : JELLO (M)OLD. Jello Mold. The only theme entry without a question mark. Tonto is speaking ungrammatically, telling the Lone Ranger that jellos is old. Long O.
17D. Religious dissenters? : PRAYING (M)ANTIS. Praying Mantis. Dissenter = Anti. Short A.
61D. Type that regularly visits Willy Wonka's factory? : CHOCOLATE (M)ILK. Chocolate Milk. Type = Ilk. Short I.
83. Mischievous long-eared critter? : (M)ARCH HARE. March Hare. Mad as a march hare. Arch = Mischievous. I am only familiar with the "roguish/sly" meaning of arch. AR combination.
Fun puzzle from Rich Norris. Gia Christian is his alias name, an anagram of "Again, it's Rich".
No E or U is in play. I can think of (M)EAT BALL or (M)UTE POINT/BUTTON. Rich might have considered other ME* and MU* options and did not think the phrases are sparkly enough. Or sometimes the transformed phrases do not lend themselves to easy clues. Another reason for the discard.
Rich divided his upper and lower edges into three rather than standard Sunday four sections, so quite a few long words there. No helper/cheater square in this puppy either.
Very neat theme answer placement. Noticed how none of the theme entries (with four Downs) crosses each other? Artful! Rich evenly spread them in every part of the grid and gave solvers something theme-y to nibble everywhere.
On Sunday grids, we sometimes see all the theme answers placed in Across. More often two are placed in Down and intersected by some Across theme entries.
Total 13 Fill-in-the-Blank answers. Made the solving easier. Four entries with individual A as the start. A bit too much. Most of the other multi-words are quite interesting.
Across:
1. Citrus source : LIME TREE. Wish we had a lemon tree in our yard.
9. __-Turkish War : ITALO. 1911-1912. Fought between Ottoman Empire and Italy. Unknown to me.
14. Quartz variety : JASPER. Usually red. And usually our answer is ONYX.
20. Boss's okays, often : INITIALS
21. Twangy : NASAL
22. Duck à l'orange, e.g. : ENTREE. Have never had the dish.
25. "Gil Blas" novelist : LESAGE (Alain). I remember we had LESAGE as the answer before. And I tried to remember it as LE SAGE.
26. __-jongg : MAH
27. Half a dance : CHA. Cha Cha.
28. Daily opinion page, briefly : OP ED
29. Van Gogh works : OILS
31. Designer monogram : YSL
32. Whacked, biblically : SMOTE
34. Key of Brahms's Symphony No. 4 : E MINOR. Used Spitzboov's either MINOR or SHARP theory.
36. Notorious '80s-'90s crime boss : GOTTI. The Dapper Don.
38. Three-handed card game : SKAT. And WAR (84D. Simple card game). Card game echo.
39. Regret deeply : LAMENT
41. Maker of Nutri-Grain Waffles : EGGO. Crossing IGGY (30D. Pop of rock). Double Gs.
43. Cell messengers : RNAS. Thought of cell phone first.
46. Roman holiday : FESTA. Literally "holiday" in Italian. Nice play on the movie title "Roman Holiday". "Italian holiday" clue would not be so evocative.
48. "The Mod Squad" role : LINC
49. Record material : VINYL
50. Fairy tale baddie : OGRE
53. Onetime Burmese statesman : U NU. Burma's first prime minister. U = Mr. Same as the U in U Thant.
54. Go : DEPART. Al was probably thinking of the game GO.
56. Picnic spoiler : RAIN. Sorry ANTS. Next time.
57. Cars over the road : ELS. I need a train/rail reference.
58. Rocking Turner : TINA
59. Sonoma and Safari : GMCS
62. Mauna __ : LOA
64. Computer acronym : ASCII
66. Customer file ID : ACCT NO
68. Fed. medical org. : NIH (National Institutes of Health)
72. Red-and-white supermarket logo : IGA (Independent Grocers Alliance). Can never remember the name.
73. Bottom line, ideally : PROFIT
75. When gluttons eat : OFTEN. "When" made me think of a specific time. Then I parsed the answer as OF TEN.
76. Tick off : IRK
77. Rehab admission : USER. Or abuser.
78. Hail __ : A CAB. I wanted MARY.
79. Get to work again : FIX. Hey, no RE in the answer. Nice!
80. "Take __ from me": A TIP
82. Nova __ : SCOTIA
84. Bentley of "American Beauty" : WES. Saw the movie. Don't remember him.
91. Jazz immortal : ELLA. Sure immortal in Xword. And SET (45D. Jazz group?). Jazz echo. The latter refers to Utah Jazz, correct?
92. Do a double take, say : REACT
94. Wool: Pref. : LANI. Who knows?
95. Addition symbol : CARET. Like ^ . Editing addition.
96. Fanaticism : ZEAL
97. Golfer's option : CART. Many of the senior PGA guys take cart.
98. From the heart? : AORTAL. Superb clue.
100. "Soap" family name : TATE. I peeked at the answer sheet. The names are killing me.
101. PC troubleshooters : TECHS
103. Courses at bars : SALADS. Very rewarding to make salad out of our own garden now.
105. Idyllic spots : EDENS
107. Own, to a Glaswegian : HAE. Have.
109. "Excuse me ..." : AHEM
111. Store of ore : LODE. Nice rhyme.
112. Cheerleader's word : RAH
113. Space : GAP
115. Richards of "Jurassic Park" : ARIANA. First encounter with this actress.
121. Not as chilly : MILDER
122. Prosecutor's burden : PROOF
123. Perturbs : AGITATES
124. Bully's dare : MAKE ME. I hope the bully in our school is in jail now. Very bad guy.
125. Personnel : STAFF
126. Ship's cargo list : MANIFEST. Good word.
Down:
1. Neeson of "The A-Team" : LIAM. Liked his Oskar.
2. To-do pile site : IN BASKET. I only have IN TRAY.
3. Hodgepodge : MISHMASH
4. Automne preceder : ETE. Automne = Autumn. French.
5. Touch of color : TINCT
6. "The Sea Around Us" author Carson : RACHEL. Nope. Complete stranger. Marine biologist and nature writer. Must be very famous to be on the stamps.
7. Zeno's home : ELEA. Zeno of Elea.
8. That, in Tijuana : ESO
9. If nothing else works : IN A PINCH. Awesome fill.
10. Scout's discovery : TALENT
11. "... say, and not __" : AS I DO
12. Europe's __ de Genève : LAC. Lake. LPGA's annual Evian Masters is played around that area.
13. Dairy case item : OLEO
15. "__ of robins ..." : A NEST. No idea. "... A nest of robins in her hair...___ of robins ...". From Kilmer's poem "Trees".
16. OK and others : STS (States). OK = Oklahoma.
18. Bean measures? : EEGS. Bean = Head.
19. Virginia __ : REEL
24. Instigate : FOMENT
33. Aquatic frolickers : OTTERS
34. Middle East VIP : EMIR
35. Restrains : REINS IN
37. Torrid Zone boundary : TROPIC. I only know tropical zone.
38. Bay Area hub: Abbr. : SFO
40. Friends-and-family support group : AL-ANON. Used to stump me.
42. Safari sighting : GNU. Alliteration.
44. Adapt musically : ARRANGE
23A. What would trouble Trixie if the Kramdens moved away? : ABSENCE OF (M)ALICE. The base phrase is Absence of Malice. Alice Kramdens is from "The Honeymooners". Trixie is her best friend. M precedes short A.
51A. Parallel world? : (M)OTHER EARTH. Mother Earth. Short O.
69A. Badly burned British dish? : BANGERS AND (M)ASH. Bangers and Mash. Bangers = Sausages. Lois probably still could taste them. Short A. Triple B alliteration in the clue.
85A. Pint-drinking buddies' experience? : (M)ALE BONDING. Male Bonding. Long A.
117A. 19th-century queen's tough tests? : VICTORIAN (M)ORALS. Victorian Morals. Short O. Or is it "aw" sound?
14D. "Wiggly dessert stale, kemosabe" : JELLO (M)OLD. Jello Mold. The only theme entry without a question mark. Tonto is speaking ungrammatically, telling the Lone Ranger that jellos is old. Long O.
17D. Religious dissenters? : PRAYING (M)ANTIS. Praying Mantis. Dissenter = Anti. Short A.
61D. Type that regularly visits Willy Wonka's factory? : CHOCOLATE (M)ILK. Chocolate Milk. Type = Ilk. Short I.
83. Mischievous long-eared critter? : (M)ARCH HARE. March Hare. Mad as a march hare. Arch = Mischievous. I am only familiar with the "roguish/sly" meaning of arch. AR combination.
Fun puzzle from Rich Norris. Gia Christian is his alias name, an anagram of "Again, it's Rich".
No E or U is in play. I can think of (M)EAT BALL or (M)UTE POINT/BUTTON. Rich might have considered other ME* and MU* options and did not think the phrases are sparkly enough. Or sometimes the transformed phrases do not lend themselves to easy clues. Another reason for the discard.
Rich divided his upper and lower edges into three rather than standard Sunday four sections, so quite a few long words there. No helper/cheater square in this puppy either.
Very neat theme answer placement. Noticed how none of the theme entries (with four Downs) crosses each other? Artful! Rich evenly spread them in every part of the grid and gave solvers something theme-y to nibble everywhere.
On Sunday grids, we sometimes see all the theme answers placed in Across. More often two are placed in Down and intersected by some Across theme entries.
Total 13 Fill-in-the-Blank answers. Made the solving easier. Four entries with individual A as the start. A bit too much. Most of the other multi-words are quite interesting.
Across:
1. Citrus source : LIME TREE. Wish we had a lemon tree in our yard.
9. __-Turkish War : ITALO. 1911-1912. Fought between Ottoman Empire and Italy. Unknown to me.
14. Quartz variety : JASPER. Usually red. And usually our answer is ONYX.
20. Boss's okays, often : INITIALS
21. Twangy : NASAL
22. Duck à l'orange, e.g. : ENTREE. Have never had the dish.
25. "Gil Blas" novelist : LESAGE (Alain). I remember we had LESAGE as the answer before. And I tried to remember it as LE SAGE.
26. __-jongg : MAH
27. Half a dance : CHA. Cha Cha.
28. Daily opinion page, briefly : OP ED
29. Van Gogh works : OILS
31. Designer monogram : YSL
32. Whacked, biblically : SMOTE
34. Key of Brahms's Symphony No. 4 : E MINOR. Used Spitzboov's either MINOR or SHARP theory.
36. Notorious '80s-'90s crime boss : GOTTI. The Dapper Don.
38. Three-handed card game : SKAT. And WAR (84D. Simple card game). Card game echo.
39. Regret deeply : LAMENT
41. Maker of Nutri-Grain Waffles : EGGO. Crossing IGGY (30D. Pop of rock). Double Gs.
43. Cell messengers : RNAS. Thought of cell phone first.
46. Roman holiday : FESTA. Literally "holiday" in Italian. Nice play on the movie title "Roman Holiday". "Italian holiday" clue would not be so evocative.
48. "The Mod Squad" role : LINC
49. Record material : VINYL
50. Fairy tale baddie : OGRE
53. Onetime Burmese statesman : U NU. Burma's first prime minister. U = Mr. Same as the U in U Thant.
54. Go : DEPART. Al was probably thinking of the game GO.
56. Picnic spoiler : RAIN. Sorry ANTS. Next time.
57. Cars over the road : ELS. I need a train/rail reference.
58. Rocking Turner : TINA
59. Sonoma and Safari : GMCS
62. Mauna __ : LOA
64. Computer acronym : ASCII
66. Customer file ID : ACCT NO
68. Fed. medical org. : NIH (National Institutes of Health)
72. Red-and-white supermarket logo : IGA (Independent Grocers Alliance). Can never remember the name.
73. Bottom line, ideally : PROFIT
75. When gluttons eat : OFTEN. "When" made me think of a specific time. Then I parsed the answer as OF TEN.
76. Tick off : IRK
77. Rehab admission : USER. Or abuser.
78. Hail __ : A CAB. I wanted MARY.
79. Get to work again : FIX. Hey, no RE in the answer. Nice!
80. "Take __ from me": A TIP
82. Nova __ : SCOTIA
84. Bentley of "American Beauty" : WES. Saw the movie. Don't remember him.
91. Jazz immortal : ELLA. Sure immortal in Xword. And SET (45D. Jazz group?). Jazz echo. The latter refers to Utah Jazz, correct?
92. Do a double take, say : REACT
94. Wool: Pref. : LANI. Who knows?
95. Addition symbol : CARET. Like ^ . Editing addition.
96. Fanaticism : ZEAL
97. Golfer's option : CART. Many of the senior PGA guys take cart.
98. From the heart? : AORTAL. Superb clue.
100. "Soap" family name : TATE. I peeked at the answer sheet. The names are killing me.
101. PC troubleshooters : TECHS
103. Courses at bars : SALADS. Very rewarding to make salad out of our own garden now.
105. Idyllic spots : EDENS
107. Own, to a Glaswegian : HAE. Have.
109. "Excuse me ..." : AHEM
111. Store of ore : LODE. Nice rhyme.
112. Cheerleader's word : RAH
113. Space : GAP
115. Richards of "Jurassic Park" : ARIANA. First encounter with this actress.
121. Not as chilly : MILDER
122. Prosecutor's burden : PROOF
123. Perturbs : AGITATES
124. Bully's dare : MAKE ME. I hope the bully in our school is in jail now. Very bad guy.
125. Personnel : STAFF
126. Ship's cargo list : MANIFEST. Good word.
Down:
1. Neeson of "The A-Team" : LIAM. Liked his Oskar.
2. To-do pile site : IN BASKET. I only have IN TRAY.
3. Hodgepodge : MISHMASH
4. Automne preceder : ETE. Automne = Autumn. French.
5. Touch of color : TINCT
6. "The Sea Around Us" author Carson : RACHEL. Nope. Complete stranger. Marine biologist and nature writer. Must be very famous to be on the stamps.
7. Zeno's home : ELEA. Zeno of Elea.
8. That, in Tijuana : ESO
9. If nothing else works : IN A PINCH. Awesome fill.
10. Scout's discovery : TALENT
11. "... say, and not __" : AS I DO
12. Europe's __ de Genève : LAC. Lake. LPGA's annual Evian Masters is played around that area.
13. Dairy case item : OLEO
15. "__ of robins ..." : A NEST. No idea. "... A nest of robins in her hair...___ of robins ...". From Kilmer's poem "Trees".
16. OK and others : STS (States). OK = Oklahoma.
18. Bean measures? : EEGS. Bean = Head.
19. Virginia __ : REEL
24. Instigate : FOMENT
33. Aquatic frolickers : OTTERS
34. Middle East VIP : EMIR
35. Restrains : REINS IN
37. Torrid Zone boundary : TROPIC. I only know tropical zone.
38. Bay Area hub: Abbr. : SFO
40. Friends-and-family support group : AL-ANON. Used to stump me.
42. Safari sighting : GNU. Alliteration.
44. Adapt musically : ARRANGE
45. Jazz group? : SET
47. Notre Dame's Parseghian : ARA
49. Spock, partly : VULCAN. "Live long and prosper".
52. Israeli port city : EILAT. Always wanted HAIFA.
55. Inscribe : ETCH
57. Southend-on-Sea's county : ESSEX. Not familiar with Southend-on-Sea. A seaside resort in Essex.
59. Econ. measure : GNP (Gross National Product)
60. Word with drug or mile : MIRACLE. Didn't jump out to me immediately.
63. Previously : AGO
64. Museum exhibitor : ARTIST
65. Uganda's Amin : IDI
66. Invite as one's date for : ASK TO
67. Wake maker : OAR. The wave behind boat "wake".
69. Netanyahu of Israel, familiarly : BIBI. Used to have a crush on him.
70. Results : EFFECTS
71. Lawrence's land : ARABIA. "Lawrence of Arabia".
74. Femme __ : FATALE
77. Keep current : UPDATE. Nice alliteration too.
81. Business mag : INC. OK, has anyone actually read the INC magazine?
82. Speaks in slang? : SEZ
85. What you might take if you're tired? : A LOAD OFF. Another gorgeous answer.
86. Food storage area : LARDER
87. Sinus specialists, briefly : ENTS. ENT = Ear, Nose, and Throat
88. Reagan-era scandal : IRAN GATE
89. Proprietor's calculation : NET SALES
90. Onetime AT&T rival : GTE
93. Relax : EASE
98. Many : A LOT OF
99. Get closer, as to hear better : LEAN IN. Not a phrase I use.
102. Cave __: beware of the dog : CANEM. This cave and the caveat in "Caveat Emptor" is the same root I presume?
104. Foil maker : ALCOA
106. Hindu loincloth : DHOTI. Like this, Vidwan? We also have RAGA (112. Hindu music style).
107. "Go for the Goal" autobiographer : HAMM (Mia). Easy guess.
108. Operatic highlight : ARIA
110. MLB honorees : MVPS. My avatar was MVP once. Still on DL due to concussion.
114. It ain't quite "Hey!" : PSST
116. Drink stand buy : ADE. Meh!
118. NYC subway : IRT (Interborough Rapid Transit)
119. "__ Sam": "Green Eggs and Ham" opening : I AM
120. U.K. defense arm : RAF (Royal Air Force)
Answer grid.
Here are a few beautiful scenic pictures from JD's recent Oregon gathering with Dick, Carol and their spouses. What is that stuff in Picture #1?
C.C.
