Some of us with a few miles on our odometers, can remember this 50's novelty song by Teresa Brewer whose first line was, "Put another NIckel in, In the NIckelodeon".
Well our lovely den mother C.C. and her frequent puzzling partner Don (Hard G) Gagliardo did not insert nickels but rather dropped in the chemical symbol for the element nickel - NI - into some common phrases to make some clever crossword fills. They were having so much fun, they "coined" ten theme entries. C.C. told me their original title was TENNIS ANYONE? which I absolutely did not get until she explained it to me. If you don't get it, I've explained it at the bottom of the write-up.
Theme fills (without and then Plugging In That NI)
23. Flier with a magical rod? : DIVINING BIRD - A fowl plummeting toward its next meal OR a feathered friend wielding this magic DIVINING rod to find water, minerals or whatever...
25. Signal that nails are dry? : MANI BELL - The colloquial name for Bell Telephone pre-divestiture OR a time piece with an alarm to let you know your polish is dried
35. Sweet tooth? : SUGAR CANINE - The tall, green plant from which much sugar is derived or this. Yeah, I know the CANINES are further back but work with me here.
41. Nocturnal critter enjoying a meal? : DINING BAT - Archie's pet name for Edith Bunker OR
56. Rejection of a parcel? : PACKAGE DENIAL - The whole kit and caboodle OR Jerry saying "I don't want it!" (Splynter's nightmare)
80. Part of the ad that sells the product? : FINISHING HOOK - A barb to catch a lenten meal OR how to catch a customer
94. Ace garage door mechanic? : GENIE WHIZ - A wistful remark OR the guy you'll need to fix one of these. He was at our house on Wednesday.
97. Ralph Lauren's "Celebrate Radio" clothing line? : MARCONI POLO - The Italian who spent years in the court of Kublai Kahn (but did NOT bring back spaghetti) OR the inventor of radio as a couturière
114. Superhero who doesn't do well in a crisis? : PANIC MAN - A early popular video game OR Superman who just wasn't up to it that day
116. Carrier pigeon's daily delivery? : NEWS CANISTER - A radio or TV reader of daily events OR the container attached to a homing pigeon to carry messages during WWI in this case
Now, filling my NIche as a blogger, I present my NIckel and Dime musings
Across
1. Compares poorly : PALES
6. Unites : MERGES - How we do Christmas card envelopes
12. Scoundrel : CAD
15. Terminus of all roads? : ROME - Yes all their wonderful roads did lead there at one time
19. Slip past : ELUDE
20. Lizard with a dewlap : IGUANA - Not an attractive feature
21. Coleridge wrote one on dejection : ODE
22. Scrape, in totspeak : OWIE
27. "We gotta go" : IT'S TIME
28. Work in a park, perhaps : STATUE - Work of art
30. Fight sites : ARENAS
31. Couple in a boat : OARS - Sometimes I don't have both of mine in the water
33. Venice glider : GONDOLA
46. Sporty auto roofs : T-TOPS
47. Cut with a beam : LASE - Would you really want to LASE your eyes as cheaply as possible?
48. First name in fashion : COCO - Ms. Chanel
49. Word accompanying finger-shaking : NO NO
50. San __: jet set resort : REMO - In the map above, it appears that one of those roads that led to Rome came from this far NW Italy town 30 miles from Nice, France
51. Many an earring : CLIP ON
53. A grand's ten : C-SPOTS - It takes ten of these C-NOTES to made a grand - $1,000
55. "__ you serious?" : ARE - A variation
62. Founder of what is now Lima : PIZARRO - My first Juan had two Z's
64. Drag racing gp. : NHRA - Should I write out National Hot Rod Association? Nah!
65. "My bad!" : I'M SORRY - Popularized in '95 move Clueless
67. Showed pain : MOANED
69. "__ I done?" : WHAT'VE
70. Eatery serving filled fare : TACO BAR - Let me at it!
72. First park with a Home Run Apple : SHEA - Home of the Mets from 1964 - 2008
75. Potpourri : GRAB BAG
79. Hockey great : ORR
83. 67.5 deg. : ENE - Here 'ya go
84. DVD player error message : NO DISC
86. Call before a snap : HUT ONE - Start of a QB's cadence but usually shared with the center
88. All square : EVEN - Tied up
89. __ the crack of dawn : UP AT
91. Time to give up? : LENT - 40 days that start on Ash Wednesday
93. Hamlet and Victor Borge : DANES - Victor would be bigger laughs at a party!
99. Where Puccini's "Turandot" premiered : LA SCALA - Turandot contains the fabulous aria Nessun Dorma
101. Salon, say : E-MAG
102. Patio door : SLIDER
106. In the thick of : AMIDST
109. Game with melding : CANASTA
118. Airbrush target : ACNE - Before and after airbrushing. SHAZAM!
119. Explosive first used as a yellow dye : TNT
120. Subside : DIE OUT
121. Scottish feudal lord : THANE - Macbeth was the THANE of Glamis
122. Wicked one's lack? : REST
123. Garden chopper : HOE
124. Controversial blasts : A-TESTS - America's first A Bomb TEST was in central New Mexico three weeks before Fat Man was dropped on Hiroshima (see 74 Down)
125. Gossip queen : YENTA
Down
1. Digital indulgence : PEDI - Maybe you'll need a PEDI BELL like 25 Across
2. Came down : ALIT
3. Ultra Leakguards brand : LUVS - Our girls had cotton diapers
4. Polish for publication : EDIT - Not Polish as in the country but as in polish - make better
5. Fourth-year group : SENIORS - SENIORitis is epidemic this time of year in High Schools
6. __ water : MINERAL
7. Metaphorical facial embarrassment : EGG - Sling one and you might get one back
8. Coaxes from a lamp, with "out" : RUBS - Coaxing out the Genie that doesn't make garage door openers
9. Canter or trot : GAIT
10. Really tick off : ENRAGE
11. "__ say ... " : SAD TO - "Well I'm SAD TO say, I'm on my way, won't be back for many a day"
12. Chuckle-inducing : COMEDIC - Some good COMEDIC material makes us uncomfortable
13. Oral health org. : ADA
14. Alaska Range highlight : DENALI - Pres. Obama moved to change the name back to this rather than Mt. McKinley. Works for me.
15. Loungewear item : ROBE - My summer ROBE just came upstairs this week
16. Wilson of "Marley & Me" : OWEN - Not on my radar
17. Leon Uris' "__ 18" : MILA - Title comes from the address of the Jewish Resistance in Warsaw ulica Miła 18 (18 Mila Street, in English)
18. Elongated fish : EELS
24. Desktop since 1998 : IMAC - Our great iMAC experience is not shared by all here
26. Persian Gulf land : IRAN - I met a woman who identified herself as Persian (ethnicity) not IRANIAN (nationality), adding that she preferred to separate herself from the politics of the country.
29. Come __: lose one's composure : UNDONE - She's Come UNDONE - The Guess Who
32. Vending machine item : SNACK
34. Tokyo-born artist : ONO
35. Spaghetti __ : STRAP - These spaghetti-STRAPPED bib overalls are not intended for farm chores
36. Gestation sites : UTERI
37. Addams family patriarch : GOMEZ
38. Mil. address : APO - Army Post Office
39. Key, e.g. : ISLAND
40. Stable negative? : NEIGH
42. Econ. measure : GNP - Gross National (State) Product equivalents in 2012
43. Anti at the ballpark : BOOER - Also a boor
44. Full of nervous energy : ANTSY - Example A - Teaching a 2nd grade art class
45. Deep-six : TOSS - I'll bet you know the huge movie where a woman decided to DEEP-SIX this diamond
48. Sonata finale : CODA
52. According to : PER
53. Leader who gave up cigar-smoking in 1985 : CASTRO
54. Polish relative : SLOVAK
56. Checks for errors : PROOFS - I PROOF my blogs to check for errors, but the best laid plans of men and mice...
57. Mideast language : ARABIC
58. Late-night show since 2010 : CONAN
59. Biomedical research agcy. : NIH- National Institute of Health
60. Insect stage after pupa : IMAGO - The end product of the process
63. Theater chain initials : AMC
66. Johnny __ : REB - His side got second
68. Pa. airport north of PIT : ERI(E)
69. Ring Cycle composer : WAGNER - Hitler's iPod would have had lots of Richard's work
70. Treasure stash : TROVE
71. "As You Like It" forest : ARDEN - From the River Avon to the River Tame
72. Close : SHUT
73. Top 10 song : HIT
74. __ Gay : ENOLA - Delivery vehicle for device mentioned in 126 Across
76. Bingo cousin : BEANO - A predecessor where I'll bet you know what was used to mark the cells
77. Word from the Latin for "messenger" : ANGEL
78. Painter's undercoat : GESSO - Applying and sanding Golden Brand GESSO
79. Universal donor's type, briefly : O-NEG - As you can see, O-Negative blood can be given to any other type and AB+ only to other AB+'s
81. Gomer Pyle exclamation : SHAZAM
82. Thus : HENCE
85. Pasta suffix : INI
87. Heat up quickly : ZAP
89. Hesitant sounds : UH'S
90. Hot and spicy : PICANTE
92. Alley lurkers : TOMCATS
93. It's good to lose with it : DIGNITY - or...
95. Juice: Abbr. : ELEC
96. Geniality : WARMTH
97. Reached the big time : MADE IT - Like George and Weezie
98. Chicken vindaloo go-with : NAAN
100. Singer Ronstadt : LINDA
102. Practice for a bout : SPAR - World's worst job? SPARRING with Mike Tyson.
103. Bra fabric : LACE
104. Holiday lodgings? : INNS
105. South Beach, for one : DIET
107. __'Pea : SWEE - Swee' Pea was left on Popeye's doorstep
108. General __ chicken : TSO'S
110. 1975 Wimbledon champ : ASHE - He won, lost and lived with DIGNITY!
111. Asian country suffix : STAN - There's a few
112. Lawn party rental : TENT
113. Interior designer's statistic : AREA
115. "Is that __?" : A NO - He's good at it!
117. "Stop filming!" : CUT - Or Stop Blogging!
C.C.'s original title of TENNIS ANYONE means TEN NI'S ANYONE as in ten insertions of NI. Duh, Gary!
Well, that's my NIckel's worth. Now, how about your two cents?
GRID
