Theme: "CB Switches" - C sound is switched to B sound, resulting in consistent spelling changes.
23A. Sidewalk vendor's income? : STREET BREAD. Street cred. English has lots of words for "money", or "drunk".
25A. Steeped salad topping? : BREWED OIL. Crude oil. (What was I thinking with Crud, Owen?)
64A. Accident report? : BLAME FORM. Claim form.
107A. Sketched a Gibb brother? : DREW BARRY. Drew Carey. Barry Gibb.
109A. Villain's backwoods hideout? : BADDIE SHACK. Caddyshack. A favorite of many on our blog. Never watched it myself.
15D. Robin selling Roquefort? : CHEESE BIRD. Cheese curd.
37D. Qualifying exam for opera school? : VOCAL BOARD. Vocal cord. Are any of you familiar with Beijing Opera? (Sorry for the chord error earlier.)
46D. Undersea party pooper? : MARINE BORE. Marine corps.
69D. Official loafer of the realm? : KINGDOM BUM. Kingdom come.
A
few straying C's. We'd have lost 3 colorful entries had Nora excluded
them. This type of theme (with spelling changes) is a bit more
challenging than those single letter replacement, as you need to be very
imaginative.
Total 89 theme squares, not a lot, but there
are 9 of them (4 intersect!). With the same number of theme squares,
the more entries you have, the trickier the gridding get. So a total 89
theme squares grid of 7 entries is easier than a 89 squares with 9
entries. Same applies to the weekday grids.
Nora
Pearlstone is another pseudonym of Rich Norris, editor of LA Times
Daily Crosswords. It's an anagram of "Not a Real Person". Rich has not
made any puzzle for NYT for many years, he's still the 3rd most
published constructor. See here. He's also a very fast solver, finishing 71st in this year's ACPT.
Across:
1. "Waverley" novelist : SCOTT. Sir Walter Scott.
6. Sch. with a Waterbury campus : UConn. New trivia to me.
11. Early computer acronym : ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer).
16. Standout : GEM. I'd like to share with you this clip about
crossword constructor Andrea Carla Michaels. She's so sweet and
mild-mannered, not what you expect from a standup comedian.
19. Many a network : AIRER
20. Competition with ropes : RODEO
21. One of a dozen : MONTH. So simple, I was picturing Chinese Zodiac animals.
22. Pres. or P.M. : LDR (Leader)
27. Romantic request : KISS ME
28. High land : TIBET. They drink butter tea there every day. Made of tea, yak butter & salt. D-Otto's dream drink :-)
30. Fill with bubbles : AERATE
31. Foot on a farm : HOOF
33. "It matters to us" : WE CARE. I've never seen a more inefficient and uncaring place as the VA Medical Center in Minneapolis.
34. Trypanosome transmitter : TSETSE. Hey, a full fly. We saw half the fly in the old puzzles all the time.
35. Really enjoy : SAVOR
38. All-Star outfielder Raul : IBANEZ.
Now with the Angels. Another one with a Mariners tie. A-ROD, ICHIRO
& Edgar MARTINEZ two weeks ago, all ex-Mariners. Maybe Rich is
secret Mariners' fan.
40. Pondside stalk : REED
41. More than walk : TROT
42. Equals : PEERS. And 43. Equally, say : ADVERB. Nice consecutive "Equal" clue combo.
46. E.T. policers of film : M. I. B. (Men in Black)
49. Notre Dame's conf. : ACC. Look at our Steve!
 |
| Notre Dame London Campus, Nov 2012 |
50. Smoothie fruit : BERRY. Not ACAI today.
51. "Say it soft and it's almost like praying" girl of song : MARIA. "West Side Story" .
52. Old Bristol-Myers toothpaste : IPANA. Brusha Brusha Brusha.
54. Online meeting place : CHAT ROOM.
So, TTP, do you think that Japanese guy might indeed be the creator of
Bitcoin? Why can't those geeks crack his real identity by his chat room
handle?
56. Announce : HERALD
57. Backwoods : RURAL
58. Scientology guru Hubbard : L RON
59. Silent : MUM
60. Turn right : GEE. "Turn left" is HAW.
61. What you can't get if you pass the bar? : DRINK. "Pass the bar" made me think of the bar exam. Clever clue.
62. Cake with a kick : BABA. The kick comes from the rum.
67. Model Sastre : INES. She was the face of Trésor.
68. Aimée of "La Dolce Vita" : ANOUK
70. L.A.'s __ Center : AON
71. Confrontational opening : NON. Non-confrontational.
72. All there : SANE
74. Eastern guru : SWAMI
75. Like slalom courses : TWISTY. For Marti. Did you fix the leak?
77. Roaring Twenties Hollywood sex symbol : CLARA BOW. The "It Girl".
81. Leftovers cover : SARAN
82. Lotto variant : BEANO
83. Base shade? : KHAKI. Military base.
84. Kimono accessory : OBI
85. Chicago airport code : ORD
86. Liftoff sensation : G-FORCE. Like CanadianEh, I really like Chris Hadfield.
88. Patriot and Liberty : JEEPS
89. Hosp. scanners : MRIs
90. Howdy to a mate : G'DAY
91. Puzzle : ENIGMA. And 97. Puzzled reactions : SHRUGS
93. Gear features : TEETH.
94. Diacritic for a long vowel sound : MACRON. I can only think of ACCENT.
99. Mount sacred to Judaism : ZION
101. Poise : APLOMB. Made me think of Argyle & Splynter, those two never panic. Always in control.
102. Goes for : COSTS
103. Restful break : CATNAP
113. Baloney : ROT
114. Regular's request, with "the" : USUAL
115. "C'mon, pal!" : AW MAN. Dave's signature line is "Aw nuts!"
116. Map type: Abbr. : TOPOG. OK, Topographic then.
117. Portland-to-Helena dir. : ENE
118. Come together : MERGE
119. Declines with a check, maybe : RSVPs. Lovely clue.
120. Plenty : SLEWS
Down:
1. Moose Jaw's prov. : SASK
2. Diamond Preferred credit card offerer : CITI. That's the bank you don't like, right, D-Otto?
3. Hockey legend Bobby et al. : ORRS
4. Drive, often : TEE SHOT. Rich is a skilled golfer. Single-digit handicap.
5. Aftershock : TREMOR
6. Ending for sub- or ex- : URB. This kind of clue often stumps me. Same with "Words with this or that".
7. __ anglais: English horn : COR
8. Keats work : ODE
9. Spiffs (up) : NEATENS
10. "Out of the question" : NO DICE
11. Glower? : EMBER. Parse it as "Glow-er".
12. Up from Méjico : NORTE
13. Having four sharps : IN E
14. Central California city : ATWATER. What's it famous for?
16. Smug look : GLOAT
17. Proof jobs : EDITS
18. 1957 Bobbettes hit : MR. LEE. Learned from doing xwords.
24. Auto racer Fabi : TEO. Hey, we just had Manti Te'o last week. What a cruel hoax!
26. Scott who sued for his freedom : DRED
29. Market : BAZAAR
32. Sporty '80s Pontiac : FIERO. Oh guess what, it means "proud" in Italian. I thought it means "Fire".
33. On alert : WARY
35. What a dot may mean, in mus. : STAC
36. Prefix meaning "primary" : ARCH. As in Archbishop.
39. Earthen wall : BERM
40. One may weep after being told to do this : READ 'EM. Poker.
42. McJob holder : PEON. The
first time I visited McDonald's was in 1995. Loved the French fries. We
don't cook potatoes that way in Xi'An. We just stir-fry in hot wok,
sprinkled with hot red pepper flakes and a splash of vinegar.
44. Continue interminably : DRAG ON
45. More repulsive : VILER
47. Hardly well-thought-out : INANE
48. Pitching slips : BALKS. And 64. One helping swingers? : BAT BOY. And 96. '50s-'60s Yankee Boyer : CLETE. This might stump some, but not Husker Gary, TTP or Buckeye Bob. Here he is.
50. Fella : BRO
51. Seashell, maybe : MEMENTO
53. Pet food giant : PURINA
55. Emotional shock : TRAUMA
56. Run well : HUM
59. Fanatic : MANIAC
62. Rossini's Doctor Bartolo, e.g. : BASSO
63. Sadat of Egypt : ANWAR. Their next president will be El-Sisi. I don't think anyone but he can get those Muslim Brotherhood guys under control.
65. Not so elevated : LOWER
66. Vaudeville family name : FOY. Eddie Foy. Complete stranger to me.
72. Nordstrom rival : SAKS
73. Agent Gold on "Entourage" : ARI
76. Derisive looks : SNEERS
77. __ lab : CHEM
78. Two-mile-high city : LAPAZ
79. Memorial news item : OBIT
80. Something made on a star? : WISH. Nice clue.
83. Brewery lineup : KEGS
87. Boosters, as a group : FAN BASE
88. Their parts are hard to tell apart : JIGSAWS. Exactly. I don't know how others have the patience to pieces everything together. Do you like Jigsaw puzzles, LaLaLinda?
89. Cough drop flavor : MENTHOL
90. Increase : GROW
92. Hiker's snack : NUT BAR. Love Larabars.
93. Salutes of a sort : TOASTS
94. Familia member : MADRE
95. Kitchen protection : APRON
97. Skinny sort : SCRAG
98. Rules immortal : HOYLE. According to Hoyle. Edmond Hoyle.
100. Nail down, as victory : ICE
104. Scruff : NAPE
105. Have __: flip out : A COW
106. P.O. deliveries : PKGs
108. Classic Capek play : R.U.R. It introduced the word "Robot".
110. Lic.-issuing bureau : DMV
111. Skip, as stones : DAP
112. Ones with seats : INs. Oh, congressional seats.
C.C.
