Theme: "The Sound of Victory" - V sound is added to the end of the first word in each theme entry.
22A. Traveler's nightmare due to a road crew strike? : PAVE AS YOU GO. Pay as you go.
27A. Wait on a knight? : SERVE GALAHAD. Sir Galahad.
52A. Rocky in a serious mood? : GRAVE SQUIRREL. Rocky the Flying Squirrel. The base phrase is "Gray squirrel".
88A. Make statues of leading reps? : CARVE SALESMEN. Car salesman
113A. Computer maintenance tool? : DRIVE CLEANER. Dry cleaner. Do you clean your keyboard with Gas Duster? I think I might have ruined our last keyboard that way. The spray was so powerful that a few keys did not re-bounce easily.
121A. Throw out all your stuff? : SAVE NOTHING. Say nothing.
3D. Ancient greeting? : WAVE BACK WHEN. Way back when.
65D. Crack up during a jackknife? : DIVE LAUGHING. Die laughing.
I
mentioned this before: sound addition is more interesting and
challenging than simply letter string addition. You need to be really
imaginative.
Gia Christian is Rich's alias name, it's an anagram of "Again It's
Rich". I love when theme entries intersect, Rich makes it so easy. He
did it in his last Sunday also (Nora
Pearlstone byline). The only time I made it happen, I was so excited!
Across:
1. Cal. sequence : M T W T F. Cool cluster of consonants.
6. One pulling in pushers : NARC. Pushers the drug dealers. Yellowrocks might have seen these professional pushers when she visited Japan.
10. They're grabbed on corners : CABS
14. Fashionable fold : CUFF
18. "__ Ben Jonson": literary epitaph : ORARE. Misspelled in the inscription as O RARE.
19. Similar: Pref. : HOMEO
20. Other, in Oaxaca : OTRA
21. Paris possessive : A TOI
24. Checking aid : REIN
25. Glacial lake : TARN
26. 1954 Emmy winner for Best Female Star of a Regular Series : EVE ARDEN. "Our Miss Brooks".
30. Credit report item : DEBT
31. "Just like that!" sound : SNAP
33. Domingo, e.g. : DIA. Domingo = Sunday. Not the tenor.
34. Enviable mark : A PLUS
35. List of candidates : SLATE
37. Stake for Keats?: Abbr. : ANAG. Stake and Keats are anagrams.
39. Faux pas : SLIP
42. Unacceptable : NOT OK
44. They aren't major players : COGS
46. Social worker's backlog : CASELOAD
49. Actress Rowlands : GENA. Loved "The Notebook"
50. Legendary rescue boat : ARK
56. Pepper's title: Abbr. : SGT. Sgt Pepper.
57. Hems, say : SEWS
59. Dressy accessories : TIE CLIPS
60. Letter-shaped fastener : T NUT
62. Baseball commissioner before Ueberroth : KUHN (Bowie). OK, TTP, Husker Gary & Buckeye Bob, what did this guy achieve? He's before my time (2001).
63. Eighth Avenue subway in New York : A TRAIN. Never been to NY.
64. Joined : SIGNED UP
68. Wee hr. : ONE AM
70. 2000 Gere title role : DR. T
71. Chickadee cousin : TIT
73. Deli specialty : KNISH
74. System used in home decor : FENG SHUI. Cantonese and Hong Kongese are very into Feng Shui.
77. Largest Bay Area county : SONOMA. New trivia to me.
80. Kind of round : OVAL
81. Dated : SEEN
82. Bag on the back : RUCKSACK. Oh, I Just call it backpack.
84. __ Park: Queens area : REGO
85. Log shaper : ADZ
91. Villain Luthor : LEX. And 95. Singer McEntire : REBA. And 6D. Reagan biographer Peggy : NOONAN. And 89D. Kilmer of "Top Gun" : VAL. And 98D. Wallace of "E.T." : DEE. And 118. Jazzy James : ETTA. All straightforward clues.
92. Ancient mountain crossing, say : TREK
94. Where keyboard users can get tips : PIANO BAR. Rich plays piano. Lots of constructors are musicians.
97. Got on : FARED
99. Gooey stuff : GLOP
100. Small-runway aircraft acronym : STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing). Gimme for Dudley.
103. Pale wine : BLUSH
106. Jewish folklore creature : GOLEM
108. Part of KJV: Abbr. : VER. KJV = King James Version. We had this clue before.
110. Wine seller : SHOP
112. Turkish general : AGHA
117. Became harder to bear : WORE THIN
119. Rajah's spouse : RANI
120. Serious surprise : JOLT
123. Revered one : ICON
124. Bassoon kin : OBOE
125. Continental boot? : ITALY
126. Nearing the hour : TEN TO
127. Personnel office array : PENS
128. Curve : BEND
129. Substance in the sea's H2O : NACL
130. Element #18 : ARGON
Down:
1. Tourists' rentals : MOPEDS. I never rented a moped.
2. Tour : TRAVEL
4. Buy for, as dinner : TREAT TO
5. Trepidation : FEAR
7. Asia's __ Darya river : AMU
8. Rules, briefly : REGS
9. Murmured from a cote : COOED
10. Oregon State city : CORVALLIS. Beavers. The Ducks are based in Eugene.
11. Exactly, with "to" : A TEE
12. Two-masted vessel : BRIG
13. Capital SW of Muscat : SANA'A
14. Mail-order purchase enclosure, often : CATALOG. Don't order flowers/plants/seeds from Michigan Bulb. Awful!
15. Pac-12 team : UTAH UTES
16. Really cheap : FOR A SONG
17. Discovery : FIND
19. Doglike scavenger : HYENA
23. Active campus gp. during the Vietnam War : SDS (Students for a Democratic Society)
28. Rebel : RISE UP
29. Hosp. staffer : LPN
32. Racing safety vehicle : PACE CAR
36. Breakfast food : EGG. OK, tell me what's your typical breakfast in the summer?
38. Like old Paris streets : GAS-LIT
40. High school suffix : IOR. Oh, like Junior or Senior.
41. Story opener : PART I
43. Kit __: candy bar : KAT
45. Span. lass : SRTA
47. Newspaper ad meas. : SQ IN (Square Inch)
48. Leader after Mao : DENG.
In fact, Hua Guofeng succeeded Mao in 1976, but was ousted by Deng in
1978. This is like cluing OBAMA as "President after Clinton".
50. Would like from : ASK OF
51. Meet with the old gang : REUNE.
53. River islet : AIT
54. "Rigoletto" composer : VERDI
55. Blockhead : LUNK. I need to use this word.
58. Stocking mishaps : SNAGS
61. Domingo, e.g. : TENOR
64. Old porticos : STOAS
66. Dictionary note subject : USAGE
67. Showy flowers : PHLOX. I think JD has this in her garden.
69. PC time meas. : MSEC
71. Gertrude Stein confidante Alice B. __ : TOKLAS. Her lover. Lots of juicy gossip in this book.
72. Many newspaper ads : INSERTS
75. Sloppy stack : HEAP
76. Strip of gear, as a ship : UNRIG
77. Walkout walk-in : SCAB. Nice clue.
78. Year McKinley was reelected : MCM. 1900.
79. 1966 A.L. Fireman of the Year Jack : AKER . Relievers are called "Firemen". I have no memory of this guy at all. Seattle Pilots! Long long time ago.
82. Fixed up : RENOVATED
83. Event to be played in Pinehurst, N.C., in 2014 : US OPEN. Gimme for Argyle.
85. DOJ enforcer : ATF
86. Contest that's over in seconds : DRAG RACE
87. Prepare to shoot at : ZERO IN ON
90. Cornhusker's st. : NEB
93. Temperature units : KELVINS. Learning moment to me.
96. Poppycock : BLATHER
101. Sighed line : OH WELL
102. Senseless : LOONY
104. Eastern faith : SHINTO. Literally "way of the gods". Japanese "To" = Cantonese "Tao". Shin = Gods. In Chinese, it's SHEN.
105. "Please hold" equivalent : HANG ON
107. Not usually an opportunity for advancement : McJOB
109. Amber, for one : RESIN
111. With 116-Down, shared equitably : PRO. And 116. See 111-Down : RATA
113. Plumbing problem : DRIP
114. Hoop site : LOBE. Hoop earrings.
115. North Carolina school : ELON. Rich saves Musk references for Saturdays.
122. Little sucker? : VAC. Nice clue. Little indicates abbreviation.
C.C.
