Theme: "Editorialization" - ED is added to the first word of each common phrase.
23A. Snow-laden spruce? : COATED TREE. Coat tree.
25A. Noble in a he-man contest? : OILED BARON. Oil baron.
49A. Aghast runway figure? : FLOORED MODEL. Floor model. Model Brooklyn Decker, wife of Andy Roddick, in case you wonder.
70. Posse? : ARMED BAND. Armband.
95A. Intimidated ballplayer? : COWED CATCHER. Cowcatcher. Who's the catcher who got punched here? (Don't click on the picture & cheat.)
118A. Disgraced stage production? : FOULED PLAY. Foul play.
122A. Saloon wholly endorsed by its patrons? : BACKED DIVE. Back dive.
36D. Hoodwinked management group? : SNOWED BOARD. Snowboard.
48D. Philanthropic Mensa member? : GIFTED GIVER. Gift giver.
Notice
that the second words are all clued in a different sense than what they
are in the original phrase? It's the key to this type of letter(s) addition
theme type.
I'm always amazed by how clean Gail's grids
are. Every entry is solid. She knows her fans very well. She's not
going to get you with hip entries like YOLO (You Only Live Once) or obscure fill like LEK (Albanian coin). Just clean & solid words.
Across:
1. Primary : MAIN
5. Lays an egg : FLOPS
10. Part of a pot : ANTE. And 21. Agreement : DEAL.
14. On the level : LEGIT
19. Start of an afterthought : ALSO
20. Out of whack : ASKEW
22. Hot : IRATE
27. Throw with effort : HEAVE
28. Introductory course : SALAD. And 69. Take in a course : EAT. Food, Steve!
30. Sandbags may be used for them : LEVEES
31. 13½-inch-tall honors : OSCARS. "Lincoln" this year.
33. People often see patterns in them : STARS. I was thinking of STATS.
35. San Joaquin Valley city : FRESNO. "Raisin Capital of the World". San = Three in Chinese.
39. Curved shapes : LOOPS
42. Beethoven's Third : EROICA
45. Seven-Emmy actor : ASNER. That's a record Emmys by a male actor.
46. Biblical trio : MAGI
52. Reveal, in verse : OPE
53. Etcher's supply : ACID
54. Powder mineral : TALC
55. Wagner heroine : ISOLDE. "Tristan und Isolde".
56. Ill-gotten gains : SWAG
57. Justice Dept. bureau : ATF
58. "No arguing!" : BE NICE!
60. No longer in force : NULL
61. Dramatic start? : MELO. Melodramatic.
62. Wintertime lost-and-found item : MITTEN
64. Assert with confidence : AVER
67. Interfered with : MESSED IN. Non-theme ED word.
73. Tourist transport : CAB. I was surprised that the taxis in Brussels are all Mercedes Benz. I was also at a loss about bidets there.
74. Source of colorful autumn foliage : RED MAPLE
77. Botch : RUIN
78. Hardly around the corner : FAR OFF
81. "Picnic" playwright : INGE
82. Film feline : ELSA
84. Become involved : STEP IN
87. Styled after : A LA
88. Warts and all : AS IS
89. Frère's siblings : SOEURS. "Sisters".
92. Product created by a Kansas Dairy Queen owner : ICEE. New trivia to me.
93. Increase : GROW
94. Letters seen near an 8 : TUV. Phone button!
97. City SSE of Sana'a : ADEN
98. Battleground : ARENA
100. Informant : SNITCH
101. Ocean predators : ORCAs
103. Colorful cover-up : SERAPE
105. Milo of the movies : O'SHEA
107. Kicks out : EXPELS
111. Took care of a toy? : PET SAT. D'oh!
114. Socks away : SAVES
117. Uncanny : EERIE
124. Exudes, as confidence : OOZES
125. Pic Sans Nom, par exemple : ALPE. Pic Sans Nom is in the French Alps. Literally "Peak without a name". Marti might know it.
126. Refers to : CITES
127. Sailed through : ACED
128. Steal passwords, e.g. : PHISH. Those people, any on-line thief, virus creator are the worst of human kind. They're no different than terrorists. Jerks!
129. Saloon supply : RYES. Liquor.
130. Plods : SLOGS
131. Young kilt wearer : LASS. I guess they do. But often LADs wear kilts.
Down:
1. Like Eastwood characters : MACHO. Seems like Qli loves "Dirty Harry". What's your favorite Eastwood movie?
2. Succulents that soothe : ALOES
3. Son of Sarah : ISAAC
4. Full of holes, in a way : NOT VALID
5. It runs its course quickly : FAD
6. WWII carriers : LSTs
7. Pickled or deep-fried veggie : OKRA. I love pickled food, esp herring. Never had pickled or deep fried okra though.
8. Sheds some skin : PEELS
9. Skiwear item : SWEATER
10. Hoo-ha : ADO
11. Bronx-born playwright : NEIL SIMON. Nice full name.
12. Grimm account : TALE
13. High-sign letters? : ELEV. Great clue too.
14. Ample : LIBERAL. Liberal amount of .... vinegar. Good to remove kitchen stains.
15. Wipes clean : ERASES
16. Long-snouted fish : GAR
17. Jurist in 1995 news : ITO (Lance)
18. Decimal base : TEN
24. Designer Saarinen : EERO. To live forever in Xwords, your name has to be short, and vowel heavy. ERLE, ESAI, e.g.
26. Dict. entry : DEF. I had a few interesting email exchanges with Kazie, JD and Lucina last week on Long U sound. Do you also call the oo sound in MOON long U? To me, only the "yoo" sound in MULE, or USE are Long U's.
29. "Is it too risky?" : DARE I
32. Give in somewhat : SOFTEN
34. Casting needs : RODS
37. Katmandu native : NEPALI. Mysterious country.
38. Crater Lake locale : OREGON
40. Get ready for the wedding, say : PLAN. Traditionally, Chinese brides wear red in weddings.
41. Diva highlights : SOLI
43. Newspaper part : COLUMN
44. In a fog : ADDLED
46. Hat-tipper's word : MA'AM
47. Play period? : ACT I
50. William of __, for whom a logical "razor" was named : OCCAM
51. Ocean burrowers : EELS
56. Bit of ugly politics : SMEAR
58. Key letter : BETA. Always a stumper for me. Fraternity/Sorority key.
59. "Did you __?" : EVER
63. Brings under control : TAMES
65. Part of an academic address : EDU
66. MLB stats : RBIs.
68. Reading at the checkout counter : SCAN
70. Tolerates : ALLOWS
71. Watched again : RE-SEEN
72. Marx trademark : ANTIC
74. Vaqueros' gear : RIATAS
75. Make certain : ENSURE
76. Tampico tender : PESO. Easy guess. No idea where Tampico is.
78. Intense : FIERCE
79. Arctic sight : FLOE
80. Young Faline, in "Bambi" : FAWN. Faline's mother is ENA.
83. Recording of a sort : AUDIOTAPE
85. Return call? : ECHO. Great clue.
86. Look closely : PEER
90. They're needed for returns: Abbr. : RCTs. Or RCPTs.
91. Goldman __ : SACHS
93. Step on it : GAS PEDAL. This clue used to bother me, as grammatically the clue ≠ answer. Same as "What's up" for SKY.
95. Facetious "Get it?" : CAPEESH. What's the non-facetious "Get it"? Capisce or Capisci?
96. Preschool subject : THE ABCS
99. Caruso's birth city : NAPLES
102. Gave the boot : AXED
104. LAX datum : ETD
106. Help : AVAIL. Thanks for the Java disabling instruction, JJM.
108. Soap vamp __ Kane : ERICA. "All My Children".
109. What seatbelts save : LIVES
110. Origins : SEEDS
112. Yard or boom, e.g. : SPAR. Did not know "Yard" has a spar meaning.
113. One on your side : ALLY
115. Prefix with plasm : ECTO
116. Surfboard fin : SKEG. I'm borrowing a picture Splynter used before. Looks like some surfboards have 2 skegs, some one. Wiki said "A surf board fin improves the board's directional stability..."
118. Dandy : FOP
119. "I'm impressed!" : OOH. Rarely do I read a "tepid" comment from Yellowrocks on a puzzle. But technical errors like last Friday might happen again. Crossword software Across Lite just does not allow empty clues or unnumbered entries. So, the editor/constructor has to put a "-" to indicate that there's no clue for that fill.
120. Action film firearm : UZI
121. Okay : YES
123. Tricky curve : ESS
C.C.
