Our friend the Oreo is such a staple of crossword fare that it's fun to see it given center-stage and the star of the show. All six theme answers have OREO contained within them, and to spice things up a little (if you can have a spicy milk cookie?) each OREO stands alone with no crosses.
18A. One dealing with spirits : LIQUOR STORE OWNER
29A. Tony Award won four times by Tommy Tune : BEST CHOREOGRAPHY
90A. 1983 World Series champs : BALTIMORE ORIOLES
107A. Spanish saint who wrote the encyclopedic "Etymologiae" :
ISIDORE OF SEVILLE
46D. Removed by hand, in a way : TORE OUT
48D. Put up points against : SCORE ON
Hi everyone, Steve here coming off the bench for C.C. I'm really torn about this theme - I saw there was something odd about the grid when I noticed the sets of four lights with no crosses, but it took some time for the penny to drop. The payoff seemed a little meager though - just six theme answers in total and what seemed to me to be a lot of scrappy fill around them.
Having said that, I did enjoy dealing with something unusual, and some of the fill really was a delight. As a bonus, this is a pangram.
Let's have a look at the rest of the solution:
Across:
1. "The Godfather" actor : CAAN
5. Furry '80s fad items : CHIA PETS. I'd have described these as more grassy or mossy than furry
13. Protest of a kind : FAST
17. Gymnast Korbut : OLGA
19. "Kinsey" star Neeson : LIAM
20. "That dress is perfect!" : ITS SO YOU! I've used this myself, sometimes just to get out of the store!
21. It may be uncharted : ISLE
22. Korea divider, briefly : D.M.Z. The Demilitarized Zone is about 2 miles wide and runs east-west across the country at Latitude 38N, or the 38th Parallel in popular parlance.
23. Anti-apartheid org. : A.N.C. Nelson Mandela's party, the African National Congress, which has taken the majority vote in every post-apatheid election, the first being in 1994.
24. Outing that includes birding : NATURE WALK. My friend Heidi and I had a nature walk of our own this morning up to the Hollywood sign - it's a pretty good hike. Here's a view you rarely see of the back of the sign from the top of the hill:
31. Spillane's "__ Jury" : I THE
32. Postwar British leader : ATTLEE. Clem Attlee won a huge majority victory over Winston Churchill in the 1945 election (Churchill replaced him again in 1951) In hindsight, it seems extraordinary that a leader of Churchill's stature could lose an election only two months after the hostilities in Europe ended and the Allies were still at war with Japan. King George VI ("The King's Speech") was reportedly not happy with the result, and when Attlee went to the King with the traditional request for permission to form a Government, neither man spoke for some time. Finally Attlee said to the King - "I've won the election" to get the reply "I know, I heard it on the news".
33. Peach or plum : HUE
36. National Soccer Hall of Famer since 1993 : PELE. Also the Hawaii'an Volcano Goddess, leaving some soccer-mad middle-school pupils confused.
38. Cold War enemy, informally : RED RUSSIA
43. Prereqs for some Harvard applicants : L-SATS. The Law School Admission Test.
45. One looking for stars : TALENT SCOUT
47. Flies across the Atlantic? : TSETSES. I don't think I've ever seen this pluralized before, one always seems bad enough.
49. Caspian country : IRAN
50. Hawaiian coffee region : KONA. I think Pele drank Kona coffee?
51. Volcano output : EJECTA. Oh - a themelet here - Pele and Kona, now Ejecta! This was new to me, I fiddled around with MAGMA and LAVA and variations thereof. Needed the crosses for this one.
53. Made a touchdown : ALIT
54. Timecard abbr. : HRS. Overtime Hours are nice!
55. Vel attachment? : CRO
56. __ Bora: Afghan region : TORA
60. Marge Simpson's mother-in-law : MONA
61. Foofaraw : ADO
62. Harley-Davidson's NYSE symbol : HOG. New to me - I like this!
63. All-in-one Apple : iMAC
64. City SSW of Moscow : OREL. The town was named after the former Dodgers Hall-Of-Fame baseball pitcher Orel Hershiser. No wait - I've been reading too much Wikipedia!
65. __ Tin Tin : RIN
66. Old comm. giant : I.T.T. Still going, but no longer the communications giant it once was.
67. The Sunni, e.g. : SECT
68. Pointed : ACUATE
71. Mideast pooh bah : EMIR
72. Small combo : TRIO
73. Equitably divided : PRO RATA
76. Survey an enemy position : RECONNOITER, My word of the day.
79. Rhett's last words : A DAMN
80. Fine-tune : CALIBRATE
84. Tenn. neighbor : N.CAR.
85. Gym safety item : MAT
86. What a criminal might be on? : THE LAM
88. Aptly named shaving lotion : AFTA
93. Miner's dream : MOTHER LODE
97. College sr.'s challenge : G.R.E. Before you take the LSTAT you need to make sure your pass your Graduate Record Examination
98. Classic Jaguar : XKE. Better known as the "E-Type". Here's a lovely example in British Racing Green. Wait 'til I win the Lotto!
I did have an XJS myself, but sadly I needed a Lotto win to afford to keep it on the road, so now I just have the photo-memories:
100. "Hi, sailor!" : AHOY. Very cute clue and answer!
101. Up and running : ON STREAM
106. Lawn liming target : ACID
108. Leader after Mao : DENG
109. Mete (out) : DOLE
110. More spirited : FEISTIER
111. Sommer of Berlin : ELKE
Down:
1. Hardly friendly : COLD
2. Out on __ : A LIMB
3. Visually rapt : AGAZE
4. '60s theater, briefly : NAM
5. Lock up : CLINCH
6. Ones trying to get picked up : HITCHERS. Not one of my favorites - Hitchhikers, surely?
7. Stanford-Binet nos. : IQs Who knew? Not me!
8. It borders It. : AUS. I've skied from Austria to Italy, and back. For some strange reason, you don't need a passport when you criss-cross the borders between France, Italy, Switzerland and Austria on skis.
9. Cutesy-__ : POO
10. Mock tail? : ERY
11. 1992 presidential also-ran : TSONGAS. If I ever knew Paul Tsaongas, I'd completely forgotten about him. Thank you, crosses.
12. Scottish royal family : STUARTS
13. Texter's hedge : FWIW. For What it's Worth, I thought this was something else, IMHO.
14. Looped handle : ANSA
15. Move, as merchandise : SELL
16. "Star __" : TREK
23. When many retire : AT TEN. That's way past my bedtime.
25. Jacques of "Jour de Fête" : TATI. Funniest Frenchman ever, although you might argue that's not saying a great deal.
26. Cramming, say : UP LATE. At least Five after Ten.
27. Scoreboard initials : RHE. I'd love to tell you what this means, but I have no idea, and I watch ESPN 24/7
28. Lace place : EYELET. Really?
30. Burglar's undoing : SILENT ALARM
33. Experiences : HAS
34. Jeep or Land Rover, briefly : UTE
35. Mountain road feature : ESS
36. Room with a sofa : PARLOR
37. "Seinfeld" role : ELAINE
39. 13th/14th-century German mystic : ECKHART
40. Desperate : DO OR DIE
41. Talks and talks : RUNS ON
42. Tony winner Hagen : UTA
44. Word with analysis or significance : STATISTICAL. Loved this one. It's not often you see a "word with" clue where you've got a 12-letter word as the answer.
45. Italian lover's coo : TI AMO
51. Very spicy fare : EROTICA. This was my final fill, I just could not get away from thinking about food (Food!)
52. Slow equine pace : JOG-TROT
55. Bell : CHIMER
57. Mario Puzo novel : OMERTA
58. More likely to be R-rated : RACIER
59. One playing a part : ACTOR
69. "I don't believe it" : CAN'T BE
70. Remote insert : AA CELL
71. Tarzan creator's monogram : E.R.B. I live close to Tarzana, a town in the San Fernando Valley named for Edgar Rice Burrough's hero.
73. Cooking spray : PAM
74. Old vitamin bottle letters : R.D.A. Recommended Daily Amount. I suppose it must be called something else now, given that the clue says "old".
75. Meal starter? : OAT. I had EAT! first.
77. 7 on the Beaufort scale : NEAR GALE. I love the Beaufort Scale names. "Cap'n, it's blowing a Near Gale out there!" "Really? I was expecting Fresh Gale. Wake me if it looks like a Strong Gale, and take down the mainsail the second you feel a Whole Gale or we'll lose the mainmast"
78. How ballerinas dance : ON TOE. No, sorry, this one just doesn't work for me.
81. Violist's clef : ALTO. I recall some rather feisty discussions about clefs a few months ago.
82. Fired : LAID OFF
83. Colossal : IMMENSE
87. Laugh syllable : HAR
89. Not so flexible : FIRMER
91. Word relative : EXCEL
92. Short-legged lizard : SKINK. How I knew this I have no idea, I'm sure I've never knowingly seen a skink. I've seen lots of lizards, just never stopped to measure their legs.
93. Inn employee : MAID
94. Quite : OH SO
95. Labor : TOIL
96. University of Chicago site __ Park : HYDE
99. Sphere's lack : EDGE
102. Cinque e uno : SEI
103. Man cave staples : TV'S
104. Slowing, on a score: Abbr. : RIT. "Ritardando"
105. Member of The Whiffenpoofs : ELI
106. Soft drink ending : ADE
Answer grid.
And a soft blog ending from me. Hope you all have a great Sunday, be safe and see you all soon.
