Theme: Subtraction (Parse it as "Subtract Ion) - Letter string ION is deleted from each common phrase.
23A. "Most Difficult Woman" pageant winner's title? : MISS IMPOSSIBLE. Mission Impossible. Fun clue.
35A. What Nadia Comaneci gave her Olympic opponents? : TEN'S HEADACHE. Tension headache.
57A. Batch of itch reliever? : CALAMINE LOT. Calamine lotion.
79A. Native American Washington baseballer? : CHEROKEE NAT. Cherokee Nation. I think Senators sounds better than Nationals, don't you? Of course, the old Senators moved to Minnesota and became the Twins.
99A. Timeless witticism? : PERPETUAL MOT. Perpetual motion.
118A. Deal between thugs? : MUSCLE CONTRACT. Muscle contraction. Muscle = Thug.
16D. Restrictions on Cupid? : EROS CONTROL. Erosion control. Don't think Eros is controllable. Love is so irrational.
69D. Number in an Amtrak report? : RAILWAY STAT. Railway station.
Nice theme and theme title. I figured something was dropped after scanning the byline & puzzle title. Just not ION. So unexpected.
23A. "Most Difficult Woman" pageant winner's title? : MISS IMPOSSIBLE. Mission Impossible. Fun clue.
35A. What Nadia Comaneci gave her Olympic opponents? : TEN'S HEADACHE. Tension headache.
57A. Batch of itch reliever? : CALAMINE LOT. Calamine lotion.
79A. Native American Washington baseballer? : CHEROKEE NAT. Cherokee Nation. I think Senators sounds better than Nationals, don't you? Of course, the old Senators moved to Minnesota and became the Twins.
99A. Timeless witticism? : PERPETUAL MOT. Perpetual motion.
118A. Deal between thugs? : MUSCLE CONTRACT. Muscle contraction. Muscle = Thug.
16D. Restrictions on Cupid? : EROS CONTROL. Erosion control. Don't think Eros is controllable. Love is so irrational.
69D. Number in an Amtrak report? : RAILWAY STAT. Railway station.
Nice theme and theme title. I figured something was dropped after scanning the byline & puzzle title. Just not ION. So unexpected.
Washington National is not the only baseball reference in the puzzle, Mike also gave us:
22A. 1939 retiree who said "Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth" : GEHRIG (Lou). The Iron Horse. Babe Ruth appeared as himself in the "Pride of the Yankees". I cried watching the movie.
56A. Former Cub slugger : SOSA (Sammy). Sigh. I have his rookie card. Worth nothing now.
83A. Hall of Famer Sandberg : RYNE. Inducted in 2005. Spent most of his career with the Cubs.
Looks like Mike had some trouble filling in the lower middle part of the grid. I bet he tried hard to get rid of DELICTO (95D. Flagrante __: in the act of committing the offense) & the adjacent PARSER (99D. Grammar student, at times), but the two helper squares didn't help much.
Across:
1. Hale : ROBUST. The crossing BESO (3D. Cancún kiss) brought out this answer quickly. Learned BESO from Paul Anka's song "Eso Beso".
7. Powerful Chevys, for short : 'VETTES
13. Fall bloomers : ASTERS
19. Newtonian concern : INERTIA. Newtonian sounds so sophisticated.
21. Unrestricted : AT WILL
25. Establish a new foothold : REROOT. Help! I don't get this clue.
26. Weasel cousin : STOAT
27. Nashville-to-Louisville dir. : NNE
28. Laced : TIED
29. Stacks like Tupperware : NESTS. Nice visual.
30. Alberta native : CREE
32. Playground retort : CAN SO
34. Middle x or o : TAC. Tic-tac-toe.
41. Paparazzi, briefly : PHOTOGs
45. Too violent, maybe : R-RATED
46. Baby in blue : BOY. Baby in pink is GIRL.
47. Final Four org. : NCAA
49. Eliza's mentor, to Eliza : 'ENRY. From "My Fair Lady". H is dropped.
50. Urged (on) : EGGED
51. Nite times : EVES
53. Compete : VIE
54. Soup legume : LENTIL. Not to my taste.
60. Sales __ : REP
61. Angry with : MAD AT
64. Sm., med. or lge. : ADJ. Tricky clue. Not size.
65. T-man or G-man : AGT
66. __Kosh B'Gosh : OSH
67. 3 Musketeers relative : MARS BAR. My ex-boss (a Marine) lives on Snickers & cigarettes.
70. Old photo tone : SEPIA
72. Anglican church officials : BEADLES. New word to me. So close to beagles. .
74. Zeta follower : ETA
75. Likely : APT
76. In bed, maybe : ILL
77. Parson's house : MANSE
78. Thrice due : SEI. Italian for "six". Due is "two". Sometimes TRE is clued as a misleading "Amount pass due?".
87. Luther contemporary : CALVIN (John). I drew a blank.
89. Hall & Oates, e.g. : DUO
90. Fail to take the heat? : MELT. Hot clue!
91. Smudge : SMEAR
92. "... __ forgive those who trespass ..." : AS WE
93. Large-screen format : IMAX
95. Part of una semana : DIA. Semana = Week.
96. Egotist's array : BOASTS
97. Like buffalo, red meatwise : LEANEST. Oh, really?
102. Golf hole meas. : YDS. 18 holes in golf. I was thinking of the real holes (cups) & inches.
103. Verbally insistent : VOCAL. Always thought "vocal" just mean "outspoken".
106. Royal display : POMP
107. Speed, for a running back : ASSET
109. Actress Petty : LORI. Recognized her face when I googled. She's in "A League of Their Own". I've seen almost every baseball movie. I can watch "Field of Dreams" again and again.
110. White wine apéritif : KIR
111. "The Thorn Birds" and others : SAGAS
116. Conspicuous terrain features : BUTTES. Same as MESAS, right?
121. Thrilled : ELATED
122. 2,000 pounds : ONE TON
123. 1962 World's Fair site : SEATTLE. Needed crossing help.
124. Kobe mat : TATAMI. Literally "folded". Same as Chinese character.
125. Walk in the park : STROLL
126. A player might be cut after one : TRY-OUT
Down:
1. Tire holders : RIMS. Your ABS too.
2. Taking care of business : ON IT
4. Bear up there : URSA
5. Sutured : STITCHED
6. "Tool Man" Taylor of TV : TIM. "Home Improvement".
7. Ming artifact : VASE
8. Aliens, for short : ETS
9. Acting like one has something to hide : TWITCHY
10. Shinbones : TIBIAE. So is TIBIAS.
11. 2010 panelist with Kara, Randy and Simon : ELLEN (DeGeneres). Those names are all "American Idol" panelists for the last season.
12. Luges, e.g. : SLEDS
13. Cabinet dept. : AGR (Agriculture)
14. Handled : SEEN TO
15. What black clouds do : THREATEN
17. Funny one : RIOT
18. PD ranks : SGTS
20. Sleep ailment : APNEA
24. Linear, briefly : ONE-D. One-dimensional. Always tricky to parse, same as TWO-D, THREE-D.
31. Claret, e.g. : RED
33. German grandpa : OPA. Kazie or Spitzboov mentioned this before.
35. "__ bien!" : TRES
36. Sum preceder? : ERGO. Cogito, ergo sum.
37. Bothers : NAGS
38. Cooks, in a way : STEAMS. Chinese bread are often steamed.
39. Genesis victim : ABEL
40. __ Nostra : COSA. Literally "our thing". Mafia.
42. Chlorine or iodine : HALOGEN. Guessable.
43. Starting Miami quarterback in three straight '70s Super Bowls : GRIESE (Bob). Hall-of-Famer. Not on my radar.
44. Graceful women : SYLPHS
47. One of a reptilian comics quartet : NINJA
48. 2.0 GPA component, probably : CEE
51. French card game : ECARTE. Literally "discarded" in French, écarté.
52. Wine holder : VAT
53. Middle of a boast : VIDI (I saw). "Veni, vidi, vici".
55. James and Jones : ETTAS
58. Syrup source : MAPLE
59. Molson competitor : LABATT. Beer is too filling.
62. Eastern counters : ABACI. My sweet childhood memory, carrying a heavy abacus all the time.
63. Chloe's love : DAPHNIS. Daphnis and Chloe. Read the plot summary of this love story. So pure. I dimly recall an exchange between Jazzbumpa & Fred Jackson on Ravel's "Daphnis et Chloé". Isn't it beautiful?
67. Maguey plant liquor : MESCAL
68. Order to relax : AT EASE
70. Iowa's __ City : SIOUX
71. NE Nevada county or its seat : ELKO. Stumped me last time. Again today.
73. Skin-related : DERMAL
77. Adjusted opening? : MAL. Maladjusted.
80. Old vitamin bottle abbr. : RDA
81. Islamic leader : EMIR
82. Semimonthly tide : NEAP
84. Polite backwoods response : YES 'M
85. Alliance formed under HST : NATO. Just had a Warsaw reference last week. Fair & Balanced.
86. Once, once : ERST
88. Subject of a "Rigoletto" duet : VENDETTA. Didn't know the story line of "Rigoletto".
91. Afternoon TV idol : SOAP STAR
94. "Jersey Shore" airer : MTV. Snooki is all I know about "Jersey Shore". She's in the news all the time.
96. Rear in Liverpool : BUM
98. Look up to : ESTEEM
100. DeMille specialty : EPIC
101. Pamplona runners : TOROS
104. "Stand and Deliver" star : OLMOS. Edward James Olmos.
105. Mean something : COUNT. Everyone's blog post counts. But it's unrealistic to expect your every post to be commented upon. Clear Ayes expressed the posting philosophy perfectly on Saturday.
107. Create a distraction during, maybe : ABET
108. Toni Morrison novel : SULA. Have you read the book?
110. __ Ration: dog food : KEN-L
112. Culturally affected : ARTY
113. Castilian cat : GATO. JD or Warren mentioned Los Gatos & cats connection a while ago.
114. Anti-Patriot Act org. : ACLU
115. Ignore a Time change? : STET. Time magazine, right?
117. Reagan era prog. : SDI. How timely. Reagan's 100th Birthday today.
119. AOL guffaw : LOL
120. It's less than gross : NET. Sweet clue.
Answer grid.
C.C..
