Theme: "Scrapper's Delight" - Anagrams of 9 metals are hidden inside each theme entry.
23A. Attorneys' firm offering: LEGAL SERVICES. Silver.
29A. With no one behind you: DEAD LAST. Lead.
38A. Potential soldier: ARMY RECRUIT. Mercury.
54A. Drumstick: CHICKEN LEG. Nickel.
72A. Provider of much change: COIN RETURN. Iron.
87A. Chatty Cathy is one: TALKING DOLL. Gold.
95A. Mid-20th-century First and Second Lady: PAT NIXON. Tin.
37D. N.W.A's debut single: PANIC ZONE. Zinc.
50D. Coal train component: HOPPER CAR. Copper.
Reveal:
104. Scrapyard commodity ... and what's hidden in the nine other longest puzzle answers: RECYCLED METAL.
No circles in this grid, not that they're needed to solve the puzzle.
Anagrammed
themes seem to be popular these days, esp with LAT and Universal. Quite
impressive to have MERCURY and COPPER anagrammed.
Across:
7. Sacred beetle: SCARAB. The Egyptian beetle.
13. Tijuana pair: DOS. Two in Spanish.
16. It can be natural: GAS.
19. Creed in Rocky films: APOLLO.
20. Winter melon: CASABA. This is what Chinese "winter melon" looks like. Popular soup ingredient in winter.
21. MPG-testing org.: EPA.
22. Wordsworth work: ODE.
25. "Day __": 1965 hit: TRIPPER. The Beatles.
27. Way out: EXIT.
28. Put on a pedestal: DEIFY.
30. Capital NW of Boston: OTTAWA. Let's see.
33. Secure at the pier: LASH. New meaning to me.
34. Pooch in pictures: ASTA. "The Thin Man" .
35. Backtalk: LIP.
42. Storage unit: BYTE.
43. In hot water: UP A TREE.
45. Prefix with gender: TRANS.
46. Sorento or Soul: KIA. Minority owned by Hyundai.
47. Cocktail party snacks: CANAPES.
48. Tommy who teamed with Cheech: CHONG. Cheech & Chong
49. Queen's "__ One Bites the Dust": ANOTHER.
53. "Cool, dude!": I DIG IT.
56. Buckeyes of the Big Ten: OSU.
57. Handy sack: COT.
58. Sham sawbones: QUACK. And 81. Snake oil, allegedly: PANACEA.
59. Lubricate: OIL.
60. Church recess: APSE.
61. Bird voiced by Rowan Atkinson in "The Lion King": ZAZU. The 1994 film. Voiced by John Oliver in 2019 remake. Google shows Zazu means "Movement" in Swahili.
63. Road annoyances: BUMPS.
64. Complete: TOTAL.
66. Navy NCOs: CPOS. Also 84. Veteran on the briny: OLD SALT.
67. Oodles: A LOT.
68. Thor Heyerdahl craft: RAI. Old regular.
69. Auspices: AEGIS.
70. Pool tool: CUE.
71. "Little Birds" author Anaïs: NIN.
80. Deliver a stem-winder, say: ORATE.
82. Multivolume set in the reference sect.: OED.
83. African capital: CAIRO.
85. Green Bay Packers coach LaFleur: MATT. No idea. Lots of Packers fan in Minnesota.
90. Deli choice: RYE. Our local Asian store sells freshly made bánh mì. I like their pickled carrots & daikon.
91. Many opera highlights: SOLI. Solos more common.
92. "National Velvet" author Bagnold: ENID.
93. Site of a major part of the Bible?: RED SEA. Oh, parting of the red sea.
97. Shoulder wrap: SHAWL.
99. Snippet of dialogue: LINE.
103. Hold back: INHIBIT.
108. Charge: FEE.
109. Infant suffix: ILE. Infantile.
110. Alphabetically first U.S. national park: ACADIA.
111. Catholic devotion: NOVENA. Nine-day ritual.
112. OTC drug agency: FDA.
113. __ Plaines: Chicago suburb: DES.
114. Homer, in baseball lingo: GO DEEP. Tiny dupe with 16. Overtake: GO PAST.
115. Tarzan, e.g.: APE MAN.
Down:
2. High point: APEX.
3. "Smarter than the average bear" bear: YOGI.
4. "Republic" philosopher: PLATO. "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle". He said.
5. Word with caps or clear: ALL.
6. Spanish article: LOS.
7. Off-the-wall: SCREWY.
8. Pricey delicacy: CAVIAR. Have you tried caviar on toast?
9. "Keep dreaming": AS IF.
10. Risqué: RACY. So odd about Blogger/Google algorithm. They
send you to spam if you mention EROTIC in the comment. Thankfully TTP
noticed that. Thanks to those who helped us test last Monday.
11. Former Japanese prime minister: ABE. Universally disliked in Japan.
12. __-relief: BAS.
13. Abhor: DETEST.
14. Part of OWN: OPRAH.
15. Common word in a novel's dialogue: SAID.
17. "__ Fideles": ADESTE.
18. Maker of iComfort mattresses: SERTA.
24. Mingo portrayer on "Daniel Boone": ED AMES. He's still alive. 94 years old now.
26. Dabble in: PLAY AT.
29. Where many speeches come from: DAIS.
31. La Brea attraction: TAR PIT.
32. Brand similar to Spam: TREET. Never had this or Spam.
33. Fencing maneuver: LUNGE.
35. '60s White House daughter: LUCI. Heard of her only because
Boomer likes to sing Luci Baines. He's been having a sore throat since
last Monday. He could hardly talk yesterday. He's not coughing. Just
feeling weak.
36. Apple offering: IPAD.
39. Focus of some committees: ETHICS.
40. Bit of stoneware: CROCK. Not sure if you guys know about the kimchi wars
between China and South Korea. When I grew up, we called pickled napa
cabbage/daikon as "pao cai", and we called Kimchi as "Korean pao cai".
41. Arrange in sequence: RANK.
42. Library sect.: BIOG. Biography.
44. Retire at home, say?: TAG OUT. Home plate. Also 75. Calls at home: BALLS.
46. Solemn sound: KNELL.
48. Lad: CHAP.
49. Bit of checkpoint deception: ALIAS.
51. Exxon, once: ESSO.
52. Feels bad about: RUES.
54. Seasoning in Indian cuisine: CUMIN. Also key ingredient in
Xinjiang (Uygur) lamb skewers, popular street food in Xi'an. Lots of
Muslim food. Lots of Korean food in our neighborhood. As I said before,
they're just two of the ethnic minorities in China.
55. At lunch, say: NOT IN.
58. California state bird: QUAIL. Ours is Loon. The nickname for our soccer team Minnesota United is "The Loons". Guess what, PK, their mascot is called PK.
60. TLX autos: ACURAS.
61. Western writer Grey: ZANE.
62. Came down: ALIT.
63. In __ daylight: BROAD.
64. Ancient German: TEUTON.
65. Storybook fiend: OGRE.
69. Vintage video game name: ATARI.
70. Symbol of a year, perhaps: CANDLE. Boomer turns 74 on Oct 27!
72. Tech news site: CNET.
73. Explorer Amundsen: ROALD. Norwegian explorer. I only know Dahl, who was named after the explorer, according to Wikipedia.
74. Estrada of "CHiPs": ERIK.
76. Hard to grasp: EELY.
77. Running behind: LATE.
79. Helix-shaped pasta: ROTINI.
81. Curly-haired pet: POODLE.
83. Genesis brother: CAIN.
85. Sounded like the wind: MOANED.
86. Tennis great Gibson: ALTHEA. First Black Grand Slam winner.
87. Govt. securities: T NOTES.
88. __ Mansion, NYC mayor's residence: GRACIE. Current mayor and his wife.
89. Lizard feature: DEWLAP.
91. Calvin's spaceman alter ego, in comics: SPIFF. Unknown to me.
92. Force to leave: EXILE.
94. Motrin alternative: ALEVE.
96. Footnote abbr.: IBID.
97. Whole bunch: SCAD.
98. "Nothing lived in him but fear and hatred": HYDE.
100. List member: ITEM.
101. Family nickname: NANA. We call "nei nei" in Chinese.
102. Flair: ELAN.
104. Common cleaning supply: RAG. 107. Common cleaning supply: MOP.
105. Tourism opening: ECO.
106. Target of a cheek swab: DNA.
A few extra notes:
1)
When I emailed Agnes on Thursday, she's still coughing and she just
could not get a good rest in the evening. Poor Agnes also can't tolerate
Robitussin, which relieved my coughing ordeal a few years ago. Get back
to us soon, Agnes! Been too long.
2) Happy birthday to Wilbur Charles! When did you join our blog, Bill? 2014?
C.C.
