Theme: Product Placement - Part of each common phrase is replaced by a familiar product name (with homophonic sound).
22A. Fruity beer? : MULBERRY BUSCH. Mulberry Bush. We also have ANHEUSER (11D. Big name in brewing).
34A. Aftershave impact? : BRUT FORCE. Brute Force. Brut aftershave.
37A. Ponderings from behind a plow? : DEERE DIARY. Dear Diary. John Deere.
52A. Half a cereal swap? : TRIX OF THE TRADE. Tricks of the Trade.
79A. Popular vodka-drinking locale? : BIG SKYY COUNTRY. Big Sky Country (Montana). Skyy vodka. Blue bottle.
98A. Camera in need of screw-tightening? : LOOSE CANON. Loose Cannon. Canon camera.
101A. Habitual depilatory cream user? : NEET FREAK. Neat Freak. Neet/Nair, our crossword stalwarts.
113A. Breakfast for the road? : TRAVELER'S CHEX. Traveler's Check.
Fun theme. For a change, I purposely avoided the theme title when I downloaded the puzzle., Grokked the gimmick after filling in BRUT FORCE.
Also three baseball references in the grid:
67A. Ex-Blue Jays manager Gaston : CITO. Might be tough non-baseball fans. Don't think this guy is a well-known figure.
1D. Pitcher Galarraga who lost a perfect game on an umpire's bad call : ARMANDO. Here is the bad call clip. The umpire is Jim Joyce. Classy guy. Armando pitched the day Boomer and I attended the Twins game for my birthday.
83D. Baseball's Garciaparra : NOMAR. Married to Mia Hamm.
You can read Don "Hard G"'s notes at the end of my write-up for his inspirations.
Across:
1. Muscle memory? : ACHE. Terrific clue. Original too.
5. Puccini's "La __" : BOHEME
11. Picks up : ABSORBS
18. Campus quarters : ROOMS. We often see QUADS in a grid.
20. Instrument for Charlie Parker : ALTO SAX. Bird.
21. "People might be listening" : NOT HERE
24. Addressee of the 4/14/1970 message "we've had a problem" : HOUSTON. "Houston, we've had a problem".
25. Second ending? : ARY. Secondary.
26. Extinct "great" bird : AUK. I have no idea the Great Auk is extinct. Since mid 19th Century.
27. Some health club exchanges : RECIPES
29. Addition word : AND
30. Like Jack : NIMBLE. Jack Sprat, right? He could eat no fat. What a boring life. (Corrections: Santa just told me it's from the "Jack be Nimble" nursery rhyme.)
32. CXVI x X : MCLX. 116x10=1,160
39. Fades, with "down" : DIES
40. Fervor : ARDOR
41. "... __ TV!": end of a parental threat : OR NO
42. B'way sellout sign : SRO (Standing Room Only)
43. How hot-button issues are contested : BITTERLY. Needed crossing help.
45. Padre's boys : NINOS
48. Rodent on a bank : RIVER RAT. Was just checking on the slang meaning of the phrase the other day.
49. Coffee ord. : REG. Ord. is order?
56. One facing Venus? : SERENA. Oh, the Williams sisters.
58. Scrawny toon dog : REN. Stimpy's pal.
59. Warning to drivers : SLO
60. Outlaw Kelly : NED. Has anyone seen the movie?
61. Go-ahead : APPROVAL
63. Gray : ASHY
65. Moving van supplies : PADS
69. NYC gallery : MoMA
70. Pacific mammal that uses rocks as tools : SEA OTTER. Interesting trivia.
73. Casual affection? : LUV. I Luv U.
74. "Car Talk" airer : NPR
77. Salmon on a bagel : LOX
78. Palindromic Daryl : HANNAH. She dated JFK Jr.
84. Until now, in a CPA's report : YTD
85. Follow a new job : RELOCATE
87. "Don't try to be __" : A HERO
88. Taj Mahal spires : MINARETS. With an onion-shaped crown.
89. "The Big C" network : SHO. Not familiar with this TV series.
90. Actress Rogers : MIMI. Married to Tom Cruise once.
94. Sun Tzu's "The __ War" : ART OF
97. Durbeyfield daughter : TESS. "Tess of the D'Urbervilles".
103. Tenacious Roman senator : CATO. Cato the Censor.
104. English poet __ Manley Hopkins : GERARD. The guy who wrote "The Windhover".
105. "V" visitors, e.g. : ETS. Don't get the clue. Why "V"?
106. Close to a delivery : IN LABOR
108. Mauna __ : KEA. Always have to consider LOA.
109. Chicago-to-Knoxville dir. : SSE
110. Property tax rate : MILLAGE. New word to me. Dictionary says a mill is one tenth of a cent.
117. Frenzied : IN A STEW
118. Corrode : EAT AWAY
119. French school : ECOLE. Its student is ELEVE.
120. Clothing category : CASUALS
121. Steps over fences : STILES
122. Pianist Myra : HESS. A dame.
Down:
2. FedEx, e.g. : COURIER. Our Splynter works for UPS. I adore that picture.
3. Flock leaders : HOLY MEN. "Flock" seldom refers to birds in Xword.
4. Diplomatic H.Q. : EMB
5. Women's rights activist Nellie : BLY
6. Wagering venue, in brief : OTB. Offtrack betting.
7. Like most pay rates : HOURLY
8. Devereux's earldom : ESSEX
9. Either of two bks. of the Apocrypha : MACC. No idea. It stands for Maccabees.
10. Showed : EXHIBITED
12. Help up : BOOST
13. RV filler? : STU. Alphabetically. R S T U V.
14. Understanding cries : OHs
15. Use foam on, as a fire : RETARD
16. Rodeo ride : BRONCO
17. E-mailer : SENDER
19. Black Panthers co-founder : SEALE (Bobby)
20. One was lost in a film about Indiana : ARK. Indiana Jones.
23. Wished one could take back : RUED
28. Use Shout on, say : PRE -TREAT. Shout is capitalized.
31. __ Zoo : BRONX
32. Cattail site : MARSH
33. __-Magnon : CRO
35. Stumble : FALTER
36. Jazz musician Kid __ : ORY. Trombonist. Ron would link something special here.
38. Elemental variant : ISOTOPE
39. Prima donna : DIVA
43. Phoenix, in myth : BIRD. We have a similar mythical bird called Fenghuang, known as Chinese phoenix.
44. Coarse file : RASP
46. Aegean island : IOS. Got it via crossings.
47. Giants' org. : NFL. NY Giants.
48. Bus sched. info : RTES
49. Disgust : REVOLT
50. Captivate : ENAMOR
51. Component of the Perseus cluster : GALAXY. And 102D. Star in Orion : RIGEL. Two fill for Spitzboov & Bill G.
52. Like many tabloids : TRASHY. I've got to stop reading them.
53. Find a new table for : RESEAT
54. Under control : IN HAND
55. It may be in sight : END. No end in sight.
57. Storage acronym : ROM
62. Stadium rainwear : PONCHOS. Rain ponchos.
64. Quaint pointing word : YON
66. Like lemurs : ARBOREAL
67. Salad veggie : CUKE
68. Campus creeper : IVY
71. Levy at the dock : TARIFF. Awesome clue. I actually read it as "Levee".
72. At the time specified : THEN
73. Versatile WWII ships : LSTS. LST = Landing Ship Tank.
75. Author who influenced Conan Doyle : POE
76. Sci-fi play written in Czech : R.U. R. The Capek play where the word "robot' was first used.'
80. Hans Brinker's pair : ICE SKATES. Just had this talk on the blog Comments section.
81. Hoods' rods : GATS
82. Search engine name : YAHOO
86. Post-prime time fare : LATE NEWS
88. Witticism : MOT
89. Serious elbow-bender : SOT. So many slang for drunk.
91. Where children were given "broth without any bread" : IN A SHOE. "There Was An Old Woman Who Lived In A Shoe".
92. Tasty mouthfuls : MORSELS
93. Page locators : INDEXES
94. Listless : ANEMIC
95. Eye's image receiver : RETINA
96. Magnetic measures : TESLAS. Named after Nikola Tesla.
98. Like a metamorphic stage : LARVAL
99. Hungarian spa city : EGER. I forgot. We had this clue earlier this year.
100. Word that stops fire? : CEASE. What fire?
103. Raccoon cousin : COATI
107. Playground problem : BRAT
108. Something to play in : KEY. Got me.
111. Sch. where "Geaux Tigers" signs are seen : LSU
112. Loss leader? : AT A. At a loss.
114. Farm lady : EWE. Lady, how dignified!
115. "Deck the Halls" syllables : LAs.
116. Pounder of "Avatar" : C.C.H. Total stranger to me.
Answer grid.
Notes from Don:
"Product Insertions":
That may not be the title of this puzzle. Whatever the title of this puzzle ended being, it came about with some difficulty. Many Sunday puzzles are title driven, but this one was commercially driven. Probably at least two years ago, I noticed how fun it might be to take a commercial product name that has been altered from a word, and substitute it in a phrase to come up with a wacky alternate version. This is even harder than I just made that sound. I consulted the guru, John Lampkin, because he had experience with Sunday puzzles, I had none, and I thought that this could make a Sunday puzzle. We hashed over many possibilities, and this was about a year and a half ago. The subject was dropped for a while, but I picked it up on my own early in this year. I guess I wanted to further punish myself. I struggled greatly with this puzzle, but received encouragement and help from Rich, and we finally came up with a set of theme answers where we think most people will be familiar with the products. I would like to acknowledge and thank John Lampkin’s assistance on this puzzle because he did put some time into it. I cannot remember and I don’t have time to go over correspondences, but I am fairly certain that John has at least a couple contributions in this puzzle. This puzzle proves that it is very helpful to have a least another set of eyes looking at a puzzle theme."
22A. Fruity beer? : MULBERRY BUSCH. Mulberry Bush. We also have ANHEUSER (11D. Big name in brewing).
34A. Aftershave impact? : BRUT FORCE. Brute Force. Brut aftershave.
37A. Ponderings from behind a plow? : DEERE DIARY. Dear Diary. John Deere.
52A. Half a cereal swap? : TRIX OF THE TRADE. Tricks of the Trade.
79A. Popular vodka-drinking locale? : BIG SKYY COUNTRY. Big Sky Country (Montana). Skyy vodka. Blue bottle.
98A. Camera in need of screw-tightening? : LOOSE CANON. Loose Cannon. Canon camera.
101A. Habitual depilatory cream user? : NEET FREAK. Neat Freak. Neet/Nair, our crossword stalwarts.
113A. Breakfast for the road? : TRAVELER'S CHEX. Traveler's Check.
Fun theme. For a change, I purposely avoided the theme title when I downloaded the puzzle., Grokked the gimmick after filling in BRUT FORCE.
Also three baseball references in the grid:
67A. Ex-Blue Jays manager Gaston : CITO. Might be tough non-baseball fans. Don't think this guy is a well-known figure.
1D. Pitcher Galarraga who lost a perfect game on an umpire's bad call : ARMANDO. Here is the bad call clip. The umpire is Jim Joyce. Classy guy. Armando pitched the day Boomer and I attended the Twins game for my birthday.
83D. Baseball's Garciaparra : NOMAR. Married to Mia Hamm.
You can read Don "Hard G"'s notes at the end of my write-up for his inspirations.
Across:
1. Muscle memory? : ACHE. Terrific clue. Original too.
5. Puccini's "La __" : BOHEME
11. Picks up : ABSORBS
18. Campus quarters : ROOMS. We often see QUADS in a grid.
20. Instrument for Charlie Parker : ALTO SAX. Bird.
21. "People might be listening" : NOT HERE
24. Addressee of the 4/14/1970 message "we've had a problem" : HOUSTON. "Houston, we've had a problem".
25. Second ending? : ARY. Secondary.
26. Extinct "great" bird : AUK. I have no idea the Great Auk is extinct. Since mid 19th Century.
27. Some health club exchanges : RECIPES
29. Addition word : AND
30. Like Jack : NIMBLE. Jack Sprat, right? He could eat no fat. What a boring life. (Corrections: Santa just told me it's from the "Jack be Nimble" nursery rhyme.)
32. CXVI x X : MCLX. 116x10=1,160
39. Fades, with "down" : DIES
40. Fervor : ARDOR
41. "... __ TV!": end of a parental threat : OR NO
42. B'way sellout sign : SRO (Standing Room Only)
43. How hot-button issues are contested : BITTERLY. Needed crossing help.
45. Padre's boys : NINOS
48. Rodent on a bank : RIVER RAT. Was just checking on the slang meaning of the phrase the other day.
49. Coffee ord. : REG. Ord. is order?
56. One facing Venus? : SERENA. Oh, the Williams sisters.
58. Scrawny toon dog : REN. Stimpy's pal.
59. Warning to drivers : SLO
60. Outlaw Kelly : NED. Has anyone seen the movie?
61. Go-ahead : APPROVAL
63. Gray : ASHY
65. Moving van supplies : PADS
69. NYC gallery : MoMA
70. Pacific mammal that uses rocks as tools : SEA OTTER. Interesting trivia.
73. Casual affection? : LUV. I Luv U.
74. "Car Talk" airer : NPR
77. Salmon on a bagel : LOX
78. Palindromic Daryl : HANNAH. She dated JFK Jr.
84. Until now, in a CPA's report : YTD
85. Follow a new job : RELOCATE
87. "Don't try to be __" : A HERO
88. Taj Mahal spires : MINARETS. With an onion-shaped crown.
89. "The Big C" network : SHO. Not familiar with this TV series.
90. Actress Rogers : MIMI. Married to Tom Cruise once.
94. Sun Tzu's "The __ War" : ART OF
97. Durbeyfield daughter : TESS. "Tess of the D'Urbervilles".
103. Tenacious Roman senator : CATO. Cato the Censor.
104. English poet __ Manley Hopkins : GERARD. The guy who wrote "The Windhover".
105. "V" visitors, e.g. : ETS. Don't get the clue. Why "V"?
106. Close to a delivery : IN LABOR
108. Mauna __ : KEA. Always have to consider LOA.
109. Chicago-to-Knoxville dir. : SSE
110. Property tax rate : MILLAGE. New word to me. Dictionary says a mill is one tenth of a cent.
117. Frenzied : IN A STEW
118. Corrode : EAT AWAY
119. French school : ECOLE. Its student is ELEVE.
120. Clothing category : CASUALS
121. Steps over fences : STILES
122. Pianist Myra : HESS. A dame.
Down:
2. FedEx, e.g. : COURIER. Our Splynter works for UPS. I adore that picture.
3. Flock leaders : HOLY MEN. "Flock" seldom refers to birds in Xword.
4. Diplomatic H.Q. : EMB
5. Women's rights activist Nellie : BLY
6. Wagering venue, in brief : OTB. Offtrack betting.
7. Like most pay rates : HOURLY
8. Devereux's earldom : ESSEX
9. Either of two bks. of the Apocrypha : MACC. No idea. It stands for Maccabees.
10. Showed : EXHIBITED
12. Help up : BOOST
13. RV filler? : STU. Alphabetically. R S T U V.
14. Understanding cries : OHs
15. Use foam on, as a fire : RETARD
16. Rodeo ride : BRONCO
17. E-mailer : SENDER
19. Black Panthers co-founder : SEALE (Bobby)
20. One was lost in a film about Indiana : ARK. Indiana Jones.
23. Wished one could take back : RUED
28. Use Shout on, say : PRE -TREAT. Shout is capitalized.
31. __ Zoo : BRONX
32. Cattail site : MARSH
33. __-Magnon : CRO
35. Stumble : FALTER
36. Jazz musician Kid __ : ORY. Trombonist. Ron would link something special here.
38. Elemental variant : ISOTOPE
39. Prima donna : DIVA
43. Phoenix, in myth : BIRD. We have a similar mythical bird called Fenghuang, known as Chinese phoenix.
44. Coarse file : RASP
46. Aegean island : IOS. Got it via crossings.
47. Giants' org. : NFL. NY Giants.
48. Bus sched. info : RTES
49. Disgust : REVOLT
50. Captivate : ENAMOR
51. Component of the Perseus cluster : GALAXY. And 102D. Star in Orion : RIGEL. Two fill for Spitzboov & Bill G.
52. Like many tabloids : TRASHY. I've got to stop reading them.
53. Find a new table for : RESEAT
54. Under control : IN HAND
55. It may be in sight : END. No end in sight.
57. Storage acronym : ROM
62. Stadium rainwear : PONCHOS. Rain ponchos.
64. Quaint pointing word : YON
66. Like lemurs : ARBOREAL
67. Salad veggie : CUKE
68. Campus creeper : IVY
71. Levy at the dock : TARIFF. Awesome clue. I actually read it as "Levee".
72. At the time specified : THEN
73. Versatile WWII ships : LSTS. LST = Landing Ship Tank.
75. Author who influenced Conan Doyle : POE
76. Sci-fi play written in Czech : R.U. R. The Capek play where the word "robot' was first used.'
80. Hans Brinker's pair : ICE SKATES. Just had this talk on the blog Comments section.
81. Hoods' rods : GATS
82. Search engine name : YAHOO
86. Post-prime time fare : LATE NEWS
88. Witticism : MOT
89. Serious elbow-bender : SOT. So many slang for drunk.
91. Where children were given "broth without any bread" : IN A SHOE. "There Was An Old Woman Who Lived In A Shoe".
92. Tasty mouthfuls : MORSELS
93. Page locators : INDEXES
94. Listless : ANEMIC
95. Eye's image receiver : RETINA
96. Magnetic measures : TESLAS. Named after Nikola Tesla.
98. Like a metamorphic stage : LARVAL
99. Hungarian spa city : EGER. I forgot. We had this clue earlier this year.
100. Word that stops fire? : CEASE. What fire?
103. Raccoon cousin : COATI
107. Playground problem : BRAT
108. Something to play in : KEY. Got me.
111. Sch. where "Geaux Tigers" signs are seen : LSU
112. Loss leader? : AT A. At a loss.
114. Farm lady : EWE. Lady, how dignified!
115. "Deck the Halls" syllables : LAs.
116. Pounder of "Avatar" : C.C.H. Total stranger to me.
Answer grid.
Notes from Don:
"Product Insertions":
That may not be the title of this puzzle. Whatever the title of this puzzle ended being, it came about with some difficulty. Many Sunday puzzles are title driven, but this one was commercially driven. Probably at least two years ago, I noticed how fun it might be to take a commercial product name that has been altered from a word, and substitute it in a phrase to come up with a wacky alternate version. This is even harder than I just made that sound. I consulted the guru, John Lampkin, because he had experience with Sunday puzzles, I had none, and I thought that this could make a Sunday puzzle. We hashed over many possibilities, and this was about a year and a half ago. The subject was dropped for a while, but I picked it up on my own early in this year. I guess I wanted to further punish myself. I struggled greatly with this puzzle, but received encouragement and help from Rich, and we finally came up with a set of theme answers where we think most people will be familiar with the products. I would like to acknowledge and thank John Lampkin’s assistance on this puzzle because he did put some time into it. I cannot remember and I don’t have time to go over correspondences, but I am fairly certain that John has at least a couple contributions in this puzzle. This puzzle proves that it is very helpful to have a least another set of eyes looking at a puzzle theme."
