Theme:"Repossessed" - Theme entries are all in the pattern of A's B + B's C, but each B's C now belongs to A.
22A. Cheap metal lacking an owner? : NOBODY'S FOOL'S GOLD. Nobody's Fool. Fool's gold.
38A. Victims of a physicist's scam? : SCHRODINGER'S CAT'S PAWS. Schrodinger's cat. Cat's paws.
54A. Rich kind of cake baked by a newspaper employee? : PRINTER'S DEVIL'S FOOD. Printer's devil is a new term to me. See here. Devil's food.
79A. Easy jobs that are meant to be? : DESTINY'S CHILD'S PLAY. Destiny's Child. Child's play.
95A. Singer Clooney's delicate flowers? : ROSEMARY'S BABY'S BREATH. Rosemary's Baby. Baby's breath. I grokked the theme when this answer emerged. My solving is always very jumpy.
116A. Aristocrat's sunrise-to-sundown trip? : LORD'S DAY'S JOURNEY. Lord's Day. Day's journey.
Only 6 entries, but they occupy a total of 108 theme squares. I'll definitely need 144 words for anything over 100.
This grid is solidly made. Look at the lower right corner. So smooth and clean.
Across:
1. Highlander : GAEL
5. Nile dangers : ASPS
9. Cold __ : CALL. Not CASE.
13. Muslim dignitary : EMIR
17. Peak west of the Ionian Sea : ETNA
18. Hoops : B-BALL. My dad loved NBA games and could name those top players easily. Those two characters are Chinese for Jordon.
19. Like kiwifruit : OVOID
21. Tiny arachnid : MITE
25. How many modern TV shows may be seen : IN HD
26. "Maybe" : I'LL SEE. I could not parse my own answer.
27. Swinging time? : AT BAT. Nailed it.
28. "Twittering Machine" artist : KLEE
30. "I'll throw your dagger __ the house": "Twelfth Night" : O'ER
31. "Rock 'n' Roll Is King" gp. : ELO
32. Power dept. : ENER
34. Home of Lihue Airport : KAUAI. Got via crosses.
36. Private student : TUTEE
43. Topiary trees : YEWS
44. Organ to lend or bend : EAR
45. 82-Down's river : ARNO. And 82. European city whose university was officially established in 1343 : PISA Also 61. 2006 World Cup champion : ITALY
46. Drags to court : SUES
47. Enjoyed the lake : SWAM. Also 11. Gaze over, as a lake : LOOK ACROSS
50. Sushi option : EEL
51. "True Detective" network : HBO
52. Classic Ford : T-BIRD
60. Spanish article : LAS. And 106. Apennines article : UNA
62. Playground retort : ARE SO
63. Big rigs : SEMIS
67. Subject of Odysseus : ITHACAN
69. Fangorn Forest denizen : ENT. The Lord of the Rings.
70. Most intimate : CLOSEST
72. Show gratitude to : THANK
73. "Step __!" : ASIDE
76. State as fact : CLAIM
78. Like : A LA
83. "Same here" : DITTO. Not ME TOO.
85. Some smartphones : LGs
86. Lift or squat : REP Also 5. Crunched muscles : ABs
87. Belief systems : ISMs. Funny to look back on all the Marxism, Leninism, Maoism I was taught in school.
88. Dance in a pit : MOSH
89. Arrange in a cabinet : FILE
91. Chat : JAW
92. Major Pa. and N.J. routes : TPKs
101. Conductor Walter : BRUNO. Got via crosses.
102. Blender brand : OSTER
103. Land east of the Urals : ASIA
104. Symbol of strength : OAK
107. Hit the road : WENT. Tricky tense.
109. On edge : TESTY. Oh, TTP, my Google is back. I was on edge for two days. Changing Google Instant predictions to "Never" solved my blank page problem. But the Adobe Flash continues to crash for my Firefox, even if I have the updated version. OK with Boomer's Explorer.
112. Loser's fatal mistake? : SNOOZE. You snooze, you lose. I thought it might be diet-related.
114. Airman or seaman : RANK
119. "Good one!" : NICE!
120. Daft : INANE
121. Bad lighting? : ARSON. Nailed it.
122. Ire : BILE
123. Heap : SLEW
124. What leaders hold : SWAY. Easy in retrospect.
125. Nincompoop : BOOB
126. One may start with the striking of a gavel: Abbr. : SESS (Session)
Down:
1. Spirit in a bottle : GENIE
2. Chain components, perhaps : ATOLLS. Island chain.
3. As a whole : EN BLOC
4. China neighbor : LAOS. Lots of people speak French there.
6. "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" setting : SAFARI. I wanted SAHARA.
7. Garden area : PLOT
8. Housekeeper's bete noire : SLOB
9. Bill sharer : CO-STAR. Movies.
10. Part of ERA: Abbr. : AVG
12. Dramatist Hellman : LILLIAN
13. Longtime Brit. music label : EMI
14. Mythical creature in Dante's "Inferno" : MINOTAUR
15. Words that have a ring to them? : I THEE WED. Nailed it.
16. Right : REDRESS
18. "Toodle-oo!" : BYE NOW
20. NASA was formed during his admin. : DDE. I thought it was established in JFK era.
23. Company excelling in many fields? : DEERE. Nice clue.
24. L.A. athlete : LAKER
29. Reputed UFO fliers : ETs
33. Magazine VIPs : EDs
35. In working order : USABLE. Not STABLE.
37. Advantages : UPSIDES
39. Choir selection : HYMN
40. Far from flush : NEEDY
41. It's quite a blow : GALE. Another great clue.
42. "Africa" band : TOTO
47. Divide into shares : SPLIT. I wanted ALLOT.
48. Ire : WRATH
49. Tyler who voices Lana on "Archer" : AISHA. Co-host of CBS's morning show "The Talk". Nice bouncy hair.
50. Bilingual subj. : ESL. Clue & answer dupe partly.
51. "Java" jazzman : HIRT
53. Upper garment parts : BOSOMS
55. Traveler's purchase : TICKET. 56. 55-Down datum: Abbr. : ETA
57. Charged, infantry-style : RAN AT
58. Wind farm features : VANES
59. __ point : FOCAL
64. They often have multiple courses : MEALS.
Reminds me of the traditional Chinese wedding in countryside & the
sumptuous meals. My youngest aunt was carried in a Jiao like this on her
wedding day.
65. Imam's faith : ISLAM
66. Goes nowhere : STAYS
68. "What happened next?" : AND THEN
69. Nestlé dessert brand : EDY'S
71. Tupperware topper : LID
74. Novelty item with an eyeglasses variety : SILLY STRAW. Total stranger to me.
75. Drink, e.g. : INGEST
76. Like Bit-O-Honey candy bars : CHEWY
77. Impudence : LIP
80. Talk show furniture : SOFA
81. Dungeness delicacy : CRAB
83. Epitome of deadness : DOORNAIL
84. Distribution : ISSUANCE
88. Homer Simpson's boss : MR. BURNS. I just love this corner.
90. Some decals : IRON-ONS
91. Two-time NFL sacks leader __ Allen : JARED. He was a Viking before? No idea.
92. "Conan" channel : TBS
93. Pen : PRISON
94. He played Klaatu in "The Day The Earth Stood Still" (2008) : KEANU
96. Shorten, in a way : MOW
97. Designer Johnson : BETSEY. Drew a blank as well. Nice straight hair. The power of flat iron.
98. States as fact : SAYS SO
99. Multimetallic Canadian coin : TOONIE
100. Nut trees : HAZELS
105. "Flowers for Algernon" author Daniel : KEYES
108. Nutmeg State collegian : ELI
110. "Born From Jets" sloganeer : SAAB
111. Newbie : TYRO
113. Solar system components : ORBS
115. Garden district on the Thames : KEW
117. Forensic ID : DNA
118. Snow or nose follower : JOB.
This type of "what or what follower" clue & fill-in-blank with
multiple answers like "Cold ___" are not as easy as they seem.
Below is more detailed information on Crossword LA tournament. Go there and get those fantastic puzzles.
I'd like to thank Barry G, D-Otto and Splynter for test-solving my puzzle and giving me constructive feedback. Also for the unsung hero Todd McClary for helping me shape the puzzle. Todd came up with the smooth upper left corner.
C.C.
Message from Alex Boisver/Elissa Grossman:
"Hi all.
The
Crosswords LA tournament was just held (October 24), at the Fowler
Museum at UCLA, and featured new puzzles from some top constructors.
Just as we do every year, we are selling the puzzles from the
tournament, with some proceeds going to support the local Reading To
Kids charity. In addition, we're selling what we're calling a "mega
pack" -- all the crosswords from the tournament, plus some bonus
puzzles. It's $6 for the basic pack, $8 for the mega pack, and full
details are below. If you're interested, head over to http://crosswordnexus.com/
The basic pack includes (all puzzles in PUZ and PDF format):
- Warm-up puzzle (Andrea Carla Michaels and Joel Elkins)
- Puzzle 1 (C.C. Burnikel)
- Puzzle 2 (Jeffrey Harris)
- Puzzle 3 (Sam Donaldson)
- Puzzle 4 (Patti Varol)
- Puzzle 5 (Trip Payne)
- Finals Puzzle (easy and hard versions -- Doug Peterson)
- Tie-breaker puzzle (Ronald Allen)
The mega pack includes all the above, plus:
- Team puzzle race (John Doppler Schiff)
- Bonus crossword (Erik Agard)
- *Outside The Box Preview Rows Garden Puzzle (Joon Pahk)
- *Diagramless Kickstarter Preview (Brendan Emmett Quigley)
- Kaidoku (Alex Boisvert)
*These two puzzles have previously been published at joonpahk.com and Brendan's diagramless kickstarter, respectively. All others have never before been published.
Thanks!"
