Theme: Midafternoons - PMS (132D: Times of day hidden in eight puzzle answers)
23A: Temporary solution: STOPGAP MEASURE
54A: Controversial excavation method: STRIP MINING
94A: Key equivalent to B-flat: A-SHARP MAJOR
130A: It can help you organize windows and wallpaper: DESKTOP MANAGER
17D: Startling Stories, e.g.: PULP MAGAZINES
29D: One making a large withdrawal?: HOLDUP MAN
66D: Maker of Marlboro: PHILIP MORRIS
68D: Laptop power saver: SLEEP MODE
I did not find any other non-theme **PM** combination fill in the grid, did you? Pretty neat! Nora Pearlstone, anagram of "not a real person", is the alias name of our editor Rich Norris.
STRIP MINING is new to me. Normally the answer to B-flat is just A-SHARP, so I was surprised by the following MAJOR. But again, I know nothing about musical terms. PHILIP MORRIS is my first theme fill.
I don't understand the clue for ATM (109A: Vegas contraption offering the best odds?). Why "best odds"?
Across:
1A: Mollusk shell materials: NACRES. Also called mother-of-pearls.
7A: "Piece of cake": NO SWEAT
14A: Charts with axes: GRAPHS
20A: Maintain: ALLEGE. ASSERT has 6-letter too.
21A: What a stalwart won't give? ONE INCH. I wanted AN INCH.
22A: Liturgy: RITUAL. I confused liturgy with litany.
25A: Harlem theater: APOLLO. Have heard of this theater. Did not know the exact location though.
26A: Arnold Palmer's Pennsylvania birthplace: LATROBE. No idea. LATROBE is about 40 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. Wikipedia says Steeler's training camp is there.
27A: "Lemme __!": AT 'EM. What does the phrase mean?
28A: Physicist with a law: OHM. OHM's law. Named after the German physicist George OHM.
30A: Fraternal org.: BPOE
31A: Golf iron socket: HOSEL. It's the part where the shaft is installed.
32A: Do not disturb: LET BE
34A: W. vis-à-vis E: OPP. West/East. Opposite direction.
36A: Money pile?: Abbr. MSS (Manuscripts). Money magazine. Tricky clue.
37A: With 81-Down, game played on a three-walled court: JAI. And ALAI (81D: See 37-Across).
39A: Govt. division: DOJ (Department of Justice). I was stumped.
42A: Title woman about whom Clapton sings "You've got me on my knees": LAYLA. About Pattie Boyd.
44A: Year in Augustus' reign: ONE BC. The N from ANT (38D: Colony resident) allowed me to fill in the answer immediately.
47A: Political payoff: SOP. Bribe.
51A: Goneril's victim: REGAN. Both King Lear's daughters. The bad ones.
60A: Half of Bennifer: J. LO. Bennifer = Ben Affleck + Jennifer Lopez.
61A: Erotic god: AMOR
63A: Pencil puzzles: MAZES
64A: Old Boston Garden nickname: ESPO. Sigh. All I could think of is Bobby ORR. How can I remember Phil ESPO Esposito?
67A: Like horseshoes: U-SHAPED
70A: Both: pref.: AMBI. Like ambidextrous.
73A: Uto-Aztecan tongue: NAHUATL. Wikipedia says avocado, chili, chocolate, tomato are all of NAHUATL origin.
75A: Capital of Yemen: SANAA
77A: Not too soft: AL DENTE. Italian for "to the tooth". I like pasta/veggie/fruits to be firm. I like everything to be firm.
79A: CCX x V+ I: MLI. 210x5+1=1050
80A: Long-necked runner: RHEA. Flightless.
82A: Nautical ladder rung: RATLINE. No idea.
84A: Court period: Abbr.: SESS. Supreme Court?
85A: Israeli port city: EILAT. Of course I thought of HAIFA first.
87A: Fantasy spirit: ELF
89A: "Sleepy Hollow" actor: DEPP. I don't find Johnny Depp attractive.
92A: Piques: SNITS
93A: Kung __ chicken: PAO. Mostly with cashew nuts.
99A: Aware of : HEP TO. Or HIP TO.
100A: In the 60s, say: MILD. Oh, temperature.
102A: Chemical suffix: ANE
104A: Snapple's __ Madness: MANGO. MANGO stain is tough to remove.
106A: French military cap: KEPI. With a flat, circular top and a visor. I simple forgot.
112A: USCG rank: CPO (Chief Petty Officer). USCG is United States Coast Guard.
114A: Jupiter, e.g.: GOD. Greek for Jupiter is Zeus.
115A: East German secret police: STASI. Nailed it this time.
117A: Violinist's aid: ROSIN
120A: Not stifling: AIRY
122A: 109-Across charge: FEE
124A: Emerald Isle: ERIN
125A: Woozy: IN A DAZE
128A: Low-level clouds: STRATI. Singular is stratus.
133A: Puts on ice: CHILLS
134A: Best: OPTIMUM. Is this a noun or an adjective?
135A: It's fixed by a bank: CD RATE
136A: Per se: AS SUCH. Per se is Latin "By itself".
137A: Annual Georgia tournament, with "The": MASTERS. Augusta, Georgia.
138A: La Scala offerings: OPERAS
Down:
1D: Pelé's org.: NASL (North American Soccer League). I only knew MLS (Major League Soccer).
2D: B.C. neighbor: ALTA. Alberta.
3D: One concerned with duds?: CLOTHIER. I was thinking of failure duds.
4D: Printer's proof: REPRO. Needs a "briefly" hint.
5D: Toaster waffles: EGGOS
6D: Lobster habitat: SEABED
8D: Actress Tatum: O'NEAL. She won Oscar for "Paper Moon", the youngest ever to win an Oscar (age 10).
9D: Not off one's rocker?: SEATED. I did not know "off one's rocker" is a slang for crazy, so the question mark wordplay was lost on me.
10D: Not tricked by: WISE TO
11D: Digital food additive code used in Europe: E NUMBER. No idea. E stands for Europe.
12D: Horiz.: ACR. Across.
13D: Kojak, to friends: THEO. Van Gogh's brother is called THEO too. "I dream my painting, and then I paint my dream".
14D: Family nickname: GRAMPA. Ye Ye in Chinese.
15D: Pants problem: RIP
16D: Phrase indicating small progress: A TO B
18D: Saintly rings: HALOS
19D: Tart fruit: SLOES
24D: Speaker since 2007: PELOSI (Nancy). Didn't we just have Boxer last Sunday? Guess Dianne Feinstein is next.
33D: Blow one's stack: ERUPT
35D: Giza attraction: PYRAMID
40D: Whale of a guy?: JONAH. I was ignorant of the Biblical JOHAH & whale story.
43D: Yeats' "___ and the Swan": LEDA. Easy guess. Since LEDA is sometimes clued as "The Swan lady".
45D: Exquisite gem: BIJOU. Wouldn't have got the answer without Across help.
46D: Rank abov Pfc.: CPL (Corporal)
48D: Early Arizona natives: PIMAS. I forgot.
50D: Joy Adamson lioness: ELSA. The "Born Free" lioness.
52D: Bond and others: AGENTS
53D: Headlands: NESSES. Learned this word from doing Xword.
56D: Stock phrase: NO-PAR
57D: Caribbean nation: GRENADA. Interesting, they speak English there. I thought Spanish is their official language.
64D: Tangle up: ENMESH
65D: Intravenous solution: SALINE
74D: Schubert vocal work: ART SONG. Schubert composed many Lied, German for ART SONG.
76D: First in a series: ALPHA. Greek alphabet series I presume.
78D: Think piece: ESSAY. Strange clue. Is "think" here a noun?
83D: Classic toothpaste: IPANA. Here is an old IPANA commercial.
88D: Parents: FOLKS
96D: "Sands of Iwo Jima" costar: JOHN AGAR. No idea. Wikipedia says he was Shirley Temple's first husband.
97D: Unveil, in poems: OPE. Poetic open.
98D: T. __: REX
101D: Can't abide: DETESTS
105D: Simple card game: GO FISH. No idea. Shouldn't the name be GO FISHING then?
107D: "Sit!": PARK IT
108D: "Am I the only one?:": IS IT ME
110D: State of Grace?: MONACO. Grace is capitalized, referring to Grace Kelly.
112D: First to stab Caesar: CASCA. I just knew it's not Brutus.
113D: Cores: PITHS
116D: "__ time": Hemingway work: IN OUR. Got the answer from Down fills.
118D: Wall St. "500": S AND P. S &P 500 index.
119D: "Do __ to eat a peach": Eliot: I DARE. Have to thank Clear Ayes for the answer. For those who only solve LAT Sunday puzzle, don't miss Down the Aisle video Clear Ayes linked a few days ago.
121D: Korean border river: YALU. China/Korea border river. A rare gimme river for me.
123D: Ancient Dead Sea land: EDOM. Learned from doing Xword.
126D: Sixth Greek letter: ZETA
127D: "__ Tu": 1974 hit: ERES. "ERES Tu" is literally "You Are" in Spanish.
129D: Tot's need, often: TLC. Again, no abbreviation hint in the clue. I thought of NAP.
Answer grid.
C.C.
23A: Temporary solution: STOPGAP MEASURE
54A: Controversial excavation method: STRIP MINING
94A: Key equivalent to B-flat: A-SHARP MAJOR
130A: It can help you organize windows and wallpaper: DESKTOP MANAGER
17D: Startling Stories, e.g.: PULP MAGAZINES
29D: One making a large withdrawal?: HOLDUP MAN
66D: Maker of Marlboro: PHILIP MORRIS
68D: Laptop power saver: SLEEP MODE
I did not find any other non-theme **PM** combination fill in the grid, did you? Pretty neat! Nora Pearlstone, anagram of "not a real person", is the alias name of our editor Rich Norris.
STRIP MINING is new to me. Normally the answer to B-flat is just A-SHARP, so I was surprised by the following MAJOR. But again, I know nothing about musical terms. PHILIP MORRIS is my first theme fill.
I don't understand the clue for ATM (109A: Vegas contraption offering the best odds?). Why "best odds"?
Across:
1A: Mollusk shell materials: NACRES. Also called mother-of-pearls.
7A: "Piece of cake": NO SWEAT
14A: Charts with axes: GRAPHS
20A: Maintain: ALLEGE. ASSERT has 6-letter too.
21A: What a stalwart won't give? ONE INCH. I wanted AN INCH.
22A: Liturgy: RITUAL. I confused liturgy with litany.
25A: Harlem theater: APOLLO. Have heard of this theater. Did not know the exact location though.
26A: Arnold Palmer's Pennsylvania birthplace: LATROBE. No idea. LATROBE is about 40 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. Wikipedia says Steeler's training camp is there.
27A: "Lemme __!": AT 'EM. What does the phrase mean?
28A: Physicist with a law: OHM. OHM's law. Named after the German physicist George OHM.
30A: Fraternal org.: BPOE
31A: Golf iron socket: HOSEL. It's the part where the shaft is installed.
32A: Do not disturb: LET BE
34A: W. vis-à-vis E: OPP. West/East. Opposite direction.
36A: Money pile?: Abbr. MSS (Manuscripts). Money magazine. Tricky clue.
37A: With 81-Down, game played on a three-walled court: JAI. And ALAI (81D: See 37-Across).
39A: Govt. division: DOJ (Department of Justice). I was stumped.
42A: Title woman about whom Clapton sings "You've got me on my knees": LAYLA. About Pattie Boyd.
44A: Year in Augustus' reign: ONE BC. The N from ANT (38D: Colony resident) allowed me to fill in the answer immediately.
47A: Political payoff: SOP. Bribe.
51A: Goneril's victim: REGAN. Both King Lear's daughters. The bad ones.
60A: Half of Bennifer: J. LO. Bennifer = Ben Affleck + Jennifer Lopez.
61A: Erotic god: AMOR
63A: Pencil puzzles: MAZES
64A: Old Boston Garden nickname: ESPO. Sigh. All I could think of is Bobby ORR. How can I remember Phil ESPO Esposito?
67A: Like horseshoes: U-SHAPED
70A: Both: pref.: AMBI. Like ambidextrous.
73A: Uto-Aztecan tongue: NAHUATL. Wikipedia says avocado, chili, chocolate, tomato are all of NAHUATL origin.
75A: Capital of Yemen: SANAA
77A: Not too soft: AL DENTE. Italian for "to the tooth". I like pasta/veggie/fruits to be firm. I like everything to be firm.
79A: CCX x V+ I: MLI. 210x5+1=1050
80A: Long-necked runner: RHEA. Flightless.
82A: Nautical ladder rung: RATLINE. No idea.
84A: Court period: Abbr.: SESS. Supreme Court?
85A: Israeli port city: EILAT. Of course I thought of HAIFA first.
87A: Fantasy spirit: ELF
89A: "Sleepy Hollow" actor: DEPP. I don't find Johnny Depp attractive.
92A: Piques: SNITS
93A: Kung __ chicken: PAO. Mostly with cashew nuts.
99A: Aware of : HEP TO. Or HIP TO.
100A: In the 60s, say: MILD. Oh, temperature.
102A: Chemical suffix: ANE
104A: Snapple's __ Madness: MANGO. MANGO stain is tough to remove.
106A: French military cap: KEPI. With a flat, circular top and a visor. I simple forgot.
112A: USCG rank: CPO (Chief Petty Officer). USCG is United States Coast Guard.
114A: Jupiter, e.g.: GOD. Greek for Jupiter is Zeus.
115A: East German secret police: STASI. Nailed it this time.
117A: Violinist's aid: ROSIN
120A: Not stifling: AIRY
122A: 109-Across charge: FEE
124A: Emerald Isle: ERIN
125A: Woozy: IN A DAZE
128A: Low-level clouds: STRATI. Singular is stratus.
133A: Puts on ice: CHILLS
134A: Best: OPTIMUM. Is this a noun or an adjective?
135A: It's fixed by a bank: CD RATE
136A: Per se: AS SUCH. Per se is Latin "By itself".
137A: Annual Georgia tournament, with "The": MASTERS. Augusta, Georgia.
138A: La Scala offerings: OPERAS
Down:
1D: Pelé's org.: NASL (North American Soccer League). I only knew MLS (Major League Soccer).
2D: B.C. neighbor: ALTA. Alberta.
3D: One concerned with duds?: CLOTHIER. I was thinking of failure duds.
4D: Printer's proof: REPRO. Needs a "briefly" hint.
5D: Toaster waffles: EGGOS
6D: Lobster habitat: SEABED
8D: Actress Tatum: O'NEAL. She won Oscar for "Paper Moon", the youngest ever to win an Oscar (age 10).
9D: Not off one's rocker?: SEATED. I did not know "off one's rocker" is a slang for crazy, so the question mark wordplay was lost on me.
10D: Not tricked by: WISE TO
11D: Digital food additive code used in Europe: E NUMBER. No idea. E stands for Europe.
12D: Horiz.: ACR. Across.
13D: Kojak, to friends: THEO. Van Gogh's brother is called THEO too. "I dream my painting, and then I paint my dream".
14D: Family nickname: GRAMPA. Ye Ye in Chinese.
15D: Pants problem: RIP
16D: Phrase indicating small progress: A TO B
18D: Saintly rings: HALOS
19D: Tart fruit: SLOES
24D: Speaker since 2007: PELOSI (Nancy). Didn't we just have Boxer last Sunday? Guess Dianne Feinstein is next.
33D: Blow one's stack: ERUPT
35D: Giza attraction: PYRAMID
40D: Whale of a guy?: JONAH. I was ignorant of the Biblical JOHAH & whale story.
43D: Yeats' "___ and the Swan": LEDA. Easy guess. Since LEDA is sometimes clued as "The Swan lady".
45D: Exquisite gem: BIJOU. Wouldn't have got the answer without Across help.
46D: Rank abov Pfc.: CPL (Corporal)
48D: Early Arizona natives: PIMAS. I forgot.
50D: Joy Adamson lioness: ELSA. The "Born Free" lioness.
52D: Bond and others: AGENTS
53D: Headlands: NESSES. Learned this word from doing Xword.
56D: Stock phrase: NO-PAR
57D: Caribbean nation: GRENADA. Interesting, they speak English there. I thought Spanish is their official language.
64D: Tangle up: ENMESH
65D: Intravenous solution: SALINE
74D: Schubert vocal work: ART SONG. Schubert composed many Lied, German for ART SONG.
76D: First in a series: ALPHA. Greek alphabet series I presume.
78D: Think piece: ESSAY. Strange clue. Is "think" here a noun?
83D: Classic toothpaste: IPANA. Here is an old IPANA commercial.
88D: Parents: FOLKS
96D: "Sands of Iwo Jima" costar: JOHN AGAR. No idea. Wikipedia says he was Shirley Temple's first husband.
97D: Unveil, in poems: OPE. Poetic open.
98D: T. __: REX
101D: Can't abide: DETESTS
105D: Simple card game: GO FISH. No idea. Shouldn't the name be GO FISHING then?
107D: "Sit!": PARK IT
108D: "Am I the only one?:": IS IT ME
110D: State of Grace?: MONACO. Grace is capitalized, referring to Grace Kelly.
112D: First to stab Caesar: CASCA. I just knew it's not Brutus.
113D: Cores: PITHS
116D: "__ time": Hemingway work: IN OUR. Got the answer from Down fills.
118D: Wall St. "500": S AND P. S &P 500 index.
119D: "Do __ to eat a peach": Eliot: I DARE. Have to thank Clear Ayes for the answer. For those who only solve LAT Sunday puzzle, don't miss Down the Aisle video Clear Ayes linked a few days ago.
121D: Korean border river: YALU. China/Korea border river. A rare gimme river for me.
123D: Ancient Dead Sea land: EDOM. Learned from doing Xword.
126D: Sixth Greek letter: ZETA
127D: "__ Tu": 1974 hit: ERES. "ERES Tu" is literally "You Are" in Spanish.
129D: Tot's need, often: TLC. Again, no abbreviation hint in the clue. I thought of NAP.
Answer grid.
C.C.
