Theme: "Begone!" - B is removed from each theme entry.
23A. Garden tool for unexpected situations? : EMERGENCY RAKE. Emergency Brake.
35A. Hardly ever laugh? : LACK HUMOR. Black humor.
51A. Reason for a few nicks? : SHAVING RUSH. Shaving brush.
69A. Plumber's assessment? : LEAK OUTLOOK. Bleak outlook.
84A. Panama Canal bash? : LOCK PARTY. Block party.
102A. Highland scoundrel? : SCOTTISH ROGUE. Scottish brogue. Scottish English is hardest to understand.
3D. Loud parties in Georgia? : ATLANTA RAVES. Atlanta Braves.
57D. Vulcanized rubber inventor's unsteady gait? : GOODYEAR LIMP. Goodyear Blimp.
3 B's are removed from the first word. 5 from the second word. So no odd man out.
We
still have 5 B's in the grid. Mike probably considered keeping B's out
of the grid, but opted having cleaner fill rather than obsessing over
one letter.
Across:
1. Charge for unlimited use, say : FLAT FEE
8. Nice woman : FEMME. The French city Nice.
13. Dines lavishly : FEASTS
19. Go back over : RE-TRACE
20. Connecticut town on Long Island Sound : DARIEN. What's it famous for, LaLaLinda?
21. "It was all __" : A DREAM
22. About to deliver : IN LABOR
25. Escargot : SNAIL
26. Start the day : ARISE
27. NBA one-pointers : FTs. Free Throws.
28. Ayres who played Dr. Kildare : LEW
29. Barone's superior : CONTE. Italian for "Count". French is "Comte", "Le Comte de Monte-Cristo".
30. Ridge : CREST
31. Pvts.' superiors : CPLs
33. Start of many California city names : SAN
34. N.Y. neighbor : ONT
37. PowerShot maker : CANON
39. Up : AT BAT
42. Elite school : IVY
43. Welcomes at the door : GREETS. During Chinese New Year, kids gets Hong Bao, literally "Red Packet", with money inside. In Guangzhou, you get Hong Bao as long as you're single. It's normally 10 or 20 RMB.
44. Drive aimlessly : CRUISE. Have never taken a cruise ship. I don't think I will.
45. Annoy with complaints : WHINE
48. Mentalist Geller : URI
49. "Just a __!" : SEC
50. Nickels and dimes : CHANGE
54. Some sopranos : DIVAS
55. Spies on, in a way : TAILS
56. Runs amok : RAMPAGES
60. Thought: Pref. : IDEO
61. "Tales From the __": '50s horror comic : CRYPT. Guessed.
62. Small toy? : WHELP. The ? did not prevent me from thinking real toys.
64. Al Green genre : SOUL
65. Blisters : VESICLES. Another new word to me.
67. Apples, e.g. : POMES
68. "What __!": "Yawn!" : A BORE
72. Closely watched index : THE DOW. Struggling to stay above 14,000.
73. Abbr. usually preceded by a comma : ETC
76. AMEX adjustments : CRS. Credit Reports? I only know Bill G & Avg Joe's old age CRS.
77. Tenured coll. employees : PROFS
78. Walks casually : MOSEYS
79. Golfer Garcia : SERGIO. He should have married Martina Hingis. They were a great couple.
81. Sch. fundraising gp. : PTA
82. Scandinavian capital : KRONE
83. Suave competitor : PRELL
89. Capp and Kaline : ALs
92. Joey's mom : ROO
93. __ Mawr : BRYN
95. Equip anew : RE-RIG
96. Amoxicillin target : STREP
98. Alliance formed under HST : OAS (Organization of American States). Founded in 1948.
99. Great Basin cap. : SLC. Salt Lake City.
100. His name is Spanish for "fox" : ZORRO. Learned this a while ago.
101. Punt navigator : POLER. Is this a football term?
106. At a moment's notice : READILY
108. Relents : LETS UP
109. Most exposed : BAREST
110. Author Prosper __ who wrote "Carmen," on which the opera is based : MERIMEE. No idea. I could only think of BIZET.
111. Old cinemas : ODEONS
112. Orchard Field, nowadays : O'HARE
113. Surprise success : SLEEPER. I'm rather intrigued by that Massad Prisoner X story. So he was a double agent?
Down:
1. Giants' home, familiarly : FRISCO
2. "The Lawrence Welk Show" sisters' surname : LENNON. The Lennon Sisters.
4. Blue eyes, e.g. : TRAIT. Were you thinking of Sinatra?
5. It has a moral : FABLE
6. Green prefix : ECO
7. Eternally, to Blake : EER
8. Starve, to Shakespeare : FAMISH. I only know famine, Mr. Shakespeare!
9. 1974 hit sung entirely in Spanish : ERES TU
10. Muddy area : MIRE
11. Bit of computer memory : MEG
12. Omaha-to-Milwaukee dir. : ENE
13. Statistical input : FACTS
14. It's Dreyer's west of the Rockies : EDY'S. Source of our blog trouble last month.
15. SFO info : ARR
16. Routes for liners : SEA LANES
17. Show particular interest : TAKE NOTE
18. Fish-eating duck : SMEW
20. She was the ten in "10" : DEREK. Bo Derek is a beautiful woman.
24. Broncos' org. : NFL
26. Pie slice feature : ARC
30. Leonardo's co-star in "The Aviator" : CATE (Blanchett)
31. Halloween gathering? : COVEN. Fun clue. JD, Chickie, Garlic Girl gather monthly. They're our Californian Coven. Jill is to be inducted, I think.
32. Snoop : PRY
33. Pennzoil letters : SAE. I had to google. Society of Automotive Engineers.
35. Do surgery, in a way : LASE
36. __ golf : MINI
37. Invigorating, as air : CRISP
38. Pres. advisory team : NSC (National Security Council)
40. Controversial baby food ingredient : TUNA OIL. Unaware of the controversy.
41. Major leagues, in baseball lingo : BIGs
43. Crotchety sort : GRUMP. I miss Grumpy. who is never crotchety.
44. Rebuke : CHIDE
45. Party enforcer : WHIP
46. Stop : HALT
47. OR hangers : IVs
48. Eurasian range : URALS
50. Early 5th-century year : CDIV. 404. Or CDII/CDVI.
51. Authority : SAY-SO
52. A mystery, metaphorically : GREEK
53. Aging pro, maybe : HAS BEEN. Made me think of Vijay Singh.
55. Arduous journeys : TREKS
58. Guilder replacements : EUROS
59. Ton : SLEW
61. Light cigar wrapper : CLARO. Read more here. I have no knowledge on cigar wrappers. I thought CLARO is just light cigar.
62. Response from Fido : WOOF
63. Ins. plans : HMOs
66. Five-time MLB All-Star Cooper : CECIL. Former managers for the Astros. Cecil Feilder is a 3-time All-Star. Which one is more famous to you?
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| Prince Fielder's Dad |
67. Oslo Accords signer: Abbr. : PLO. I don't remember exactly what Oslo Accords is about. But I do remember this image.
68. "I get it," wryly : AH SO
70. Author Sinclair : UPTON. "The Jungle".
71. Gillette razor word : TRAC
72. Parliament member : TORY
73. Seer's alleged gift : ESP
74. Like many apartments : TERRACED
75. Piling coating : CREOSOTE. New word to me also.
78. Business sch. major : MKTG
80. Day-__ : GLO
81. Thickness : PLY
85. Cincinnati-based retailer : KROGER. I've never visited a Kroger.
86. Look over : PERUSE
87. Octagonal road sign, in Arles : ARRET. "Stop" in French.
88. El Amazonas, por ejemplo : RIO
90. Actress Sobieski : LEELEE. Does she look like Helen Hunt?
91. More like a spring chicken : SPRYER
93. Dots that may beep : BLIPS
94. Some colas : RCs
96. What a slash may mean in some scores : SPARE. Bowling. Boomer had 23 strikes in a row last Monday, 290 & 300.
97. "It's __ for!" : TO DIE
98. City served by Gardermoen Airport : OSLO
99. Dumbfound : STUN
100. Writer __ Neale Hurston : ZORA
103. Chicken general? : TSO. General Tso's Chicken is one of those Chinese dishes Chinese don't eat.
104. "Veep" network : HBO
105. Cheer word : RAH
106. Apt. divisions : RMs
107. Sushi fish : EEL
1) Happy Birthday to Ron Wordon! Great to see you back.
2) Happy 46th wedding anniversary to Husker Gary and Joann! I think I know the secret to their happy marriage: chocolate-covered strawberries.
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| Joann and Gary at one of Nebraska's most famous landmarks Chimney Rock on their way to the Black Hills August 28, 2012 |
