I am typing this as quietly as I can to accommodate those of you whose partying with 17. __ beverage : ADULT was quite extensive. Happy New Year to all our Crossword Friends here at the Corner! Should Old Acquaintance NOT be forgot!
TITLE: "WHAT HAPPENED THEN" Don and C.C. have a very lovely puzzle to start off our New Year and it became a lot easier for me when I realized the title did NOT have a question mark after it. Rather their theme fills were actual events that occurred 100 years prior to the year which we are now entering.
Husker Gary here on New Year's Day after blogging puzzles on Pearl Harbor Day and The Winter Solstice, I get to do the first one of the year.
The big American event of that year was the entry of the USA into WWI and Don and C.C. even offered a reference to that with these two fills
116. Subject of an act passed in 1917 : SELECTIVE SERVICE
The non-war 1917 theme fills:
22. Fundraising items first sold in 1917 : GIRL SCOUT COOKIES - During rationing in WWII, their fundraisers switched temporarily to calendars
28. Treats inspired by a coal miner in 1917 : MOON-PIES - Somehow these two became a "thing"
42. World Series winner in 1917 : CHICAGO WHITE SOX - With Shoeless Joe Jackson. Two years after this 1917 ad they were accused of throwing the 1919 World Series and became known derisively as the Black Sox.
91. America bought it from Denmark in 1917 : US VIRGIN ISLANDS - Formerly Danish West Indies, includes St. Croix, St. Thomas, St. John and some minor islands. Almost named for Admiral Dewey.
108. Orphanage founded in 1917 : BOYS TOWN - It used to be a farm 6 miles west of Omaha but is now midtown. BT recently sold much of their farm ground for $37M as it now concentrates on academics and trade programs for Boys AND Girls.
Now let's look at C.C.'s and Don's always wonderful cluing/fill:
Across
1. Olympian queen : HERA
5. Bad attention-getter in a crowded bar : PSST
9. Baker/literacy advocate Wally who hosted "Learn to Read" : AMOS
13. Big name in romance novels : AVON - The Publishing Company
19. Goddess who saved infant Zeus from Cronus : RHEA
20. Hair-raising : SCARY
21. Big do : GALA
25. Additional decision-making factors : ANDS
26. "Don't move" : STAY PUT - The Steelers' left end and tackle are required to STAY PUT until the ball is snapped even if the Patriots jumped. They didn't, so it was a penalty.
27. Person : SOUL
30. Sore spot : LESION
32. Flight parts : STEPS
34. Valencian rice dish : PAELLA - Some pronunciation options: pah-ey-luh, -eyl-yuh, pah-yel-uh; Spanish pah-e-lyah, -e-yah
35. Frame of Elmer, e.g. : CEL - This one signed by Friz Freleng runs $1,400
37. Cpls., e.g. : NCO'S
39. "I get it now!" : AHA
40. Bach's east : OST - Boy's Town ist 30 km zu meiner OST (Boy's Town is 30 km to my east)
41. She plays Watson in "Elementary" : LIU
47. Hoppy brew, for short : IPA
49. More than help with : DO FOR
50. Fabled thorn victim : LION - The Aesop Fable about the slave Androcles whose merciful act was repaid later in the Circus Maximus when the LION spared him
51. "Nice job!" reply : I TRY
52. Bishop's agent : VICAR
55. Site with a Pill Identification Tool : WEB MD
57. Have choice words for : SWEAR AT
59. Modern problem solver : TECHIE - Remember that kid you laughed at in school?
60. Some microbrews : RYE BEERS
62. "Fantastic Mr. Fox" director Anderson : WES
63. Pile on : ADD - Competence is always punished!
64. Column width unit : PICA - The two typewriter choices we had back in the 60's. Er, that would be 1960's!
71. Slant : BIAS - Good luck finding journalism without a BIAS
72. Gp. once led by Charles Mayo : AMA - This Mayo was the son of the Mayo clinic founder and headed the AMA in 1933
73. Book with entries : LOG - An electronic LOG
74. Black box, e.g. : RECORDER - One recovered from a plane crash
76. Surgical knife : LANCET
78. Desk accessory : BLOTTER
81. Slow period : SLACK - Winter for the golf courses I frequent
84. Split : END IT
85. Serving two purposes : DUAL
86. Starting on : AS OF - AS OF today I should start to lose some weight. If only there were no potato chips! Sigh...
88. Sidestep : AVOID
90. They may be checked at the door : ID'S - Would they really check ID'S for this event?
94. Letters in early dates : BCE - Before Common Era - Used by some to not offend non-Christians
96. Prefix with fiction : ECO
98. Middle __ : AGE
99. Granny : NANA
100. Hubbub : ADO
101. Words of concern : OH DEAR
103. Stern with strings : ISAAC
105. UPS Store customer : SENDER
110. Many antique radios : RCA'S
112. Crumbly English cheese : STILTON - Semi hard, crumbly cheese with characteristic blue streaks
119. Like some ducks? : LAME - One occupies 1600 Pennsylvania today
120. Full of chutzpah : BRASH
121. Philosopher Descartes : RENE
122. Dry runs : TESTS
123. "What __?" : ELSE
124. Sources of pliable wood : YEWS - Utilized thusly (first time I've ever used that word!)
125. Column that's beside the point? : ONES - Like the 6 in 176.932
126. "Immediately!" : STAT
Down
1. Fairy tale heavies : HAGS
2. Ready for publication : EDIT
3. Grandma Moses subject : RURAL LIFE
4. "O Come, __ Faithful" : ALL YE - "Adeste, fideles, laeti triumphantes"
5. Code of conduct : PROTOCOL
6. Moo __ pork : SHU
7. Collectors' goals : SETS - Part of a complete SET of 1961 Topps Baseball cards. I know C.C. and Boomer would love to own this.
8. Shells from stands : TACOS
9. "That's terrible!" : ACK
10. Seriously injures : MAIMS
11. Dairy Queen Blizzard flavor : OREO
12. Online admins : SYSOPS - SYStem OPeratorS
13. Wonder-struck : AGAPE
14. Dunkin' Donuts order : VANILLA CHAI - $1.89 here
15. Yale nickname : OLD ELI
16. Onetime Bahamian pirate base : NASSAU
18. Spice amts. : TSPS
20. Only child, maybe : SOLE HEIR
23. Teleprompter's job : CUING
24. Tagged before reaching, as home : OUT AT - Yer outta there! A C.C. puzzle without baseball? Are you new here?
29. Restless folk? : NATIVES
31. "Ah ... okay" : NOW I SEE and 61. Software glitch : BUG - Well of course, there it is
33. Common meal for a tight budget : PASTA
35. Looped in, briefly : CC'D - Carbon Copy becomes the abbreviation CC and then a past tense verb CC'D as in a copy has been sent. What an elastic language we have.
36. Website with detailed instructions : EHOW
38. Athlete's refreshment? : SHOWER
40. Clearasil competitor : OXY
43. Lethal snake : COBRA
44. Large group : ARMY - This ARMY lost its leader in 2016
45. Like noble gases : INERT
46. Table scrap : ORT
48. Short shot? : PIC - Plural pix
53. Musical with the song "The Gods Love Nubia" : AIDA - From Elton John's and Tim Rice's adaptation of Verdi
54. Joey Votto's team : REDS
56. Rail stop : DEPOT
58. Of __ : somewhat : A SORT
59. Pays attention (to) : TENDS
62. String of engagements : WAR
64. Like some ale : PALE
65. David Bowie's love : IMAN
66. Holiday sides : CANDIED YAMS - This is not haute cuisine, but is a favorite here! and 73. "I'm starving!" : LET' S EAT
68. Change the price of : RETAG
69. Traps during a storm, perhaps : ICES IN
70. Circles of light : CORONAS
71. Diva's reward : BRAVA
75. Star of David displayer : EL AL - Israel's airline
77. El Cantar de mÃo __: Castilian epic poem : CID
78. Blue Bird vehicle : BUS - Their first one was on a 1927 Ford chassis and is now in the Henry Ford Museum
79. Volcanic flows : LAVAS
80. Member of a small ruling class : OLIGARCH
82. Hustler : CON ARTIST - "Fast Eddie Felson" to us Paul Newman fans
83. Scottish pirate : KIDD
85. Key & Peele, e.g. : DUO
87. Handles skillfully : FINESSES
89. Brit. medal : DSO
92. Flinch, say : REACT
93. "À votre __!" : SANTE - "To your health" en français
94. Fielding error : BOBBLE
95. Like Beethoven's Ninth : CHORAL - Gives me goosebumps
97. 2016 Conn Smythe Trophy recipient Sidney : CROSBY - That's the NHL MVP trophy. I wonder what he got for this performance.
102. Big name in beauty : ESTEE
103. Relative challenge for some : IN-LAW
104. African capital : CAIRO
106. Lowdown : DIRT - TMZ seems to get it first and right. Ray Rice (corrected from Ray Lewis) was only getting a couple NFL games suspension until TMA produced the actual video of him hitting his wife.
107. Fabled toy makers : ELVES
109. "__ in this together!" : WE'RE
111. Kristoff's pet reindeer in "Frozen" : SVEN
113. Numerical prefix : OCTA
114. Tree squirrel's drey, e.g. : NEST - A drey is literally the name for a squirrel's NEST
117. Slalom curve : ESS - Yup!
118. Dallas-to-Memphis dir. : ENE
Our maiden 2017 Grid
How 'ya gonna kick off 2017 better than C.C. and her masked companion Don Hard G? Alright, I made up that masked part but still, they're great together and singularly!
I hereby resolve to let other voices to be heard! So, have at it!
