Thursday, December 3rd, 2015 Don Gagliardo and C.C. Burnikel

Theme: Hopping Around - the three circled theme words jump across, down and across.

We get the hint from the final across entry:

71A. Word that can precede the word in each set of puzzle circles : JUMPING. BEAN, JACK and FROG in order of appearance.

and cross-referentially:

1A. Game piece associated with 71-Across : CHECKER. This also subtly refers to the theme. If you look at the circled entries, each successive "move" jumps a black square.

Thursday again already! Steve here with Don and C.C's latest - if you didn't have the circles in your particular publication I doubt you'd have seen the theme at all, the circled letters were very dispersed and wouldn't have appeared in any discernible pattern in a blank grid.

I'm sensing Don's handiwork here coming up with the theme idea, then the details fleshed out by the Dynamic Duo.

Not a lot of constraints with the theme letters, so plenty of room for some interesting fill around them, especially nice are the four triple-stacked sevens in each corner. Good stuff.

Let's take a closer look.

Across:

8. "C'mon, Let's Play" store : TOYS "R" US. I tried to come up with a backwards "R" but could only find this upside-down version: ʁ

15. Estate planner's suggestion : ROTH IRA

16. Chess grandmaster Karpov : ANATOLY.  Анато́лий Евге́ньевич Ка́рпов was World Chess Champion for 10 years from 1975 to 1985, ultimately dethroned by Garry Kasparov.

17. Cancún's peninsula : YUCATAN. Home of the Chicxulub impact crater left by the meteorite that apparently did it for the dinosaurs.

18. Copied : XEROXED.

19. "Nurse Jackie" network, briefly : SHO. Showtime.

20. Attempt : STAB

22. Org. concerned with the AQI : EPA. The Environmental Protection Agency publishes the Air Quality Index.

23. VW hatchback : GTI. More accurately, a variant of the Golf.

24. Way out : EXIT

26. Selective socializer, perhaps : SNOB

29. Geologic periods : EONS

31. Soulful Franklin : ARETHA

33. Catch : NAB

34. Swallow up : ENGULF

36. Asks for more : REORDERS

38. Fish used as bait in bass fishing : EELS. Time for the EEL/EELS plural debate. Who wants to go first?

40. Dagger of yore : SNEE

41. Apple music player : IPOD NANO. Introduced by Steve Jobs as "a thousand songs in your pocket". Quite a few more than a thousand in the latest version.

45. Chess ploy : GAMBIT

49. __ Mahal : TAJ

50. Much of Oceania : ATOLLS

52. Cut with teeth : SAWN. Past tense.

53. Pass over : OMIT

55. Recital numbers : SOLI. Italian for solos, I presume.

56. Cool one : CAT

57. Tampa NFLer : BUC. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I'll whisper quietly so as not to upset anyone (Pssst! They're not very good!).

59. Polynesian beverage : KAVA

61. Spam holder : CAN

62. Like some skinny jeans : LOW-RISE

65. The United States, to Mexicans : EL NORTE

68. Carrier to Tehran : IRAN AIR

69. Critical : DO OR DIE. A couple of mistakes in the downs (COMP and ECG) had me looking at DOOMDIC and wondering what the heck that might be. Sanity prevailed.

70. Training units : LESSONS

Down:

1. Sound from a crib : CRY

2. Fourth-most populous U.S. city : HOUSTON. Not my first thought, but having flown into Houston a few times, in hindsight it doesn't surprise me.

3. Dürer work : ETCHING

4. Former Labor secretary Elaine : CHAO

5. Word with press or mess : KIT

6. Historic stretches : ERAS. Both eras and eons today.

7. Many a talk show caller : RANTER

8. Wage earners' concerns : TAX BITES. Never heard this term before, but it's obvious enough now I look at it - the bites taken out of your income or profits by taxes. Neat.

9. Person : ONE

10. Easily maneuvered, at sea : YARE. 'Tis an adjective, egads. It crops up in Shakespeare, and probably somewhat infrequently since.

"I do desire to learn, sir; and, I hope, if you have occasion to use me for your own turn, you shall find me yare." - Measure for Measure

As an example of "don't believe everything you read on the Internet", dictionary.com cites a "yare" usage which is completely wrong - whoever chose the reference totally failed to understand that there is a River Yare in Norfolk:

"So we turned back into the yare, and sailed up to the mouth of the new cut at Reedham."

They even downshifted the "Y" to try to make it work. OK, rant over, let's move on.

11. Bus schedule listings : STOPS

12. 1987 film loosely based on "Cyrano de Bergerac" : ROXANNE

13. Suffix with glob : ULE

14. Australian airport, in itineraries : SYD. G'day Bruce!

21. "Timber!" yeller : AXER. Sorry, guys - this word is going on my personal "ouch" list.

23. Awe-full expression? : GEE

25. Revealing beachwear : THONGS. I saw plenty of these when I was in Rio, and that was just on the guys. I'll spare you the visuals.

27. Wake maker : OAR. I'd say it's the boat that makes the wake, not the oar, but I guess indirectly it's true.

28. Small shot : BBS.

30. Sought damages : SUED

31. Repeated notes in Chopin's "Raindrop" prelude : A FLATS. Here's the piece - there seem to be a lot of notes in here which aren't A Flats too.

32. Square measure : AREA

35. Dunham who created and stars in the HBO series "Girls" : LENA. Thank you, crosses.

37. Reps. counterparts : DEMS

39. Hoodwinks : SNOOKERS. I use the word in the "stymies" or "impedes" sense rather than "trickery" that is implied by the clue. You snooker your opponent in the billiards-style game by putting the cue ball in a position that leaves your opponent with no clear shot at his next ball.

41. Jurist Lance : ITO. Not a member of a jury, but a judge or lawyer. Judge Ito is best-known for presiding over the O.J.Simpson trial.

42. Spray on a pan : PAM

43. Lake Huron natives : OJIBWAS. Cheers, crosses! They speak Ojibwe, of course.

44. Earthenware pot : OLLA. Food! finally! Here's some traditional frijoles de la olla:

46. Martini & Rossi parent company : BACARDI

47. "Include me" : I WANT IN

48. Demolition stuff : TNT

51. Dance music provider : LIVE DJ. Probably "Lil" somebody.

54. Chances to play : TURNS

58. Trendy hi : CIAO

60. Six-time All-Star Moises : ALOU

61. Firm: Abbr. : CORP.

62. Rap name adjective : LIL. Lil Wayne, Lil' Kim, Lil Fizz, Lil Scrappy and doubtless many others.

63. Mine output : ORE

64. Committed thing : SIN

66. __ de plume : NOM

67. Neurologist's tool, briefly : EEG. Not ECG which was my first knee-jerk reaction. "Encepha" not "Cardio". Blindingly obvious, really.

That's about it from me. I'm heading home from topping up my accent in the old country, and I think I ate enough Indian food to feed a regiment. Here's the view out of the window - that's Iceland down there, looking chilly (not chili!)

And ... here's the grid.

Steve

Wednesday, December 2, 2015, Alan Der Kazarian

Title: So CUTE, I can BEARLY stand it!

Alan's fun gimmick is to take the names of four of the BEARS shown above and not only use them as the first word in 4 starred fills (two great vertical spanners!) but have them go DOWN the grid to complement the reveal  in 55 Across - BEARS DOWN. Therefore we not only have the names of four BEARS but they are literally going DOWN. Wonderful! 

Theme Reveal:

55. Focuses even harder ... and a hint to the starts of the answers to starred clues : BEARS DOWN

Theme Answers - All our ursine crossword visitors are pictured above

3. *Rhode Island school : BROWN (BEAR) UNIVERSITY

5. *Like Southern California beaches : SUN (BEAR)  DRENCHED

24. *One of two cold atmospheric cyclones : POLAR (BEAR)  VORTEX 

11. *Title female "trying to make a devil out of me," in a Santana hit : BLACK (BEAR)  MAGIC WOMAN

Across      

1. "Mamma Mia!" group : ABBA - Fun music!!

5. Tunes : SONGS

10. Fundamentals : ABC'S

14. Talking iPhone feature : SIRI - "Quick, SIRI, should I hit 15 or stand?"

15. Destroyer destroyer : U-BOAT - The Imitation Game told of breaking the Enigma Code so the Allies could destroy their destroyer's destroyers 

16. Messy stuff : GLOP

17. __ smasher : ATOM - What the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland is

18. "I'm innocent!" : NOT ME - Middle School Theme Song

19. Hindu deity : RAMA - also known as Raghava, is the seventh avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu, but you knew that

20. High-speed war plane maneuver : POWER DIVE 

22. Hunter's device : DECOY - Some DECOYS placed near Dover made the Germans think D-Day would happen at Calais not Normandy

23. Gets close to : NEARS

24. Cheat, in a way : PEEK  

25. Seasonal malady : FLU 

27. Find work : GET A JOB - Yip yip yip yip yip yip yip yip, Mum mum mum mum mum mum, GET A JOB, but you knew that

30. Shakespearean fairy queen : MAB

33. Large-leafed tree : LINDEN 

35. Batman portrayer Kilmer : VAL - Everybody gets a turn

36. Skating commentator Lipinski : TARA

37. Passionate : AVID

38. Dishes for company : CHINA 

40. Eagerly excited : AGOG

41. Golfer Ballesteros : SEVE - The late SEVE had every shot!

42. Furrow maker : HOE

43. Ruling period : REGIME

45. Charlemagne's realm: Abbr. : HRE - According to Voltaire - Neither Holy, Roman nor an Empire

46. Avant-garde : NEW WAVE

48. Low or no follower : CAL 

49. Insert for a 6-Down : REED - Double REED actually 

51. Shoot well under par, in golf lingo : GO LOW - Who better to tell you how than the #1 golfer in the world Jordan Spieth? 

53. Syria's Bashar al-__ : ASSAD - Many groups are waging war in his country

59. Letters after phis : CHIS

60. "The Planets" composer : HOLST - A Philistine like me (I?) needed the H in HEF to finish this

61. Texter's "If you ask me" : IMHO 

62. Adorable : CUTE

63. Wipe off : ERASE 

64. Dismissed, with "off" : LAID - Schools call it RIF - Reduction In Force. "Losing your job by any other name..."

65. "Until next time," in texts : TTYL - Didn't all of us know it's "Talk To You Later"? OMG, LOL!

66. Oscar's roommate : FELIX 

67. Tolkien's Treebeard et al. : ENTS
 
Down

1. PDQ : ASAP

2. __-Honey : BIT-O - My teeth hurt just typing this

4. Pop singer Mann : AIMEE - Bassist and vocalist for 'Til Tuesday, but you knew that

6. Duck player in "Peter and the Wolf" : OBOIST - Didn't we all learn this in grade school?

7. Punishment with a grounding : NO TV - or iPad, iPhone, laptop, Wii, Xbox, PS4...

8. Risk, e.g. : GAME

9. Canonized Mlle. : STE

10. Feel the same way : AGREE

12. "¿__ está?" : COMO - Adding "usted" is very formal

13. Fix, as a pet : SPAY - We paid the Lincoln Humane Society $133 for Lily which included SPAYING. What a bargain!!

21. Blow one's top : RAGE

22. Cotillion honoree : DEB

25. Jiffy : FLASH 

26. Iron-rich meat : LIVER - I might opt for anemia! 

28. Miller's "__ From the Bridge" : A VIEW - Miller's tragic protagonist informed on  people in his Brooklyn neighborhood. Later Miller himself refused to do that in front of the HUAC committee.

29. First calendar pg. : JAN

31. Food court attraction : AROMA - That food court AROMA might be coming from our sometime cwd visitor

32. Something to pick lox for : BAGEL

34. '50s political monogram : DDE

36. Label : TAG

39. "__ so?" : HOW

44. Fish caught in pots : EELS

46. Author Buntline : NED - Dime novelist NED (actually Ezra Zane Carroll Johnson) may or may not have presented Wyatt Earp with one of these Colt Buntline Specials he commissioned

47. Tennis great Andre : AGASSI

50. Studio piece : EASEL

52. "Swan Lake" swan : ODILE - But you knew that

53. Customer holding: Abbr. : ACCT

54. Closed : SHUT

55. Produced, as fruit : BORE 

56. Tel Aviv airline : EL AL 

57. Smidgen : WHIT

58. Quiet yeses : NODS - Subtle

60. Celeb with a mansion : HEF

Now that you have your BEARINGS, let's hear your assessment.

Husker Gary

  

Tuesday, December 1, 2015 Jeffrey Wechsler

Theme: Tribute - to Woody Allen

1A. With 69-Across, filmmaker born 12/1/1935 who directed and wrote five films in this puzzle : WOODY and so 69-Across. See 1-Across : ALLEN

18A. With 59-Across, 1980 film by 1-/69-Across : STARDUST and so 59-Across. See 18-Across : MEMORIES

27A. 2011 film by 1-/69-Across : MIDNIGHT IN PARIS

33A. 1971 film by 1-/69-Across : BANANAS

36A. 1973 film by 1-/69-Across : SLEEPER

45A. 1995 film by 1-/69-Across : MIGHTY APHRODITE

Rabbit, rabbit! Argyle here with a rare Tuesday appearance by Jeffrey Wechsler. Woody is 80 years old today. I won't even try to list all of his accomplishments.

Across:

6. Apparel : GARB

10. Sacramento's state, briefly : CAL. (California)

13. "Most certainly!" : "INDEED!"

15. Language that gave us "khaki" : URDU. Urdu is historically associated Hindustan.

16. Spanish she-bear : OSA. (el oso(m))

17. Look that way : SEEM TO

20. Suffers from : HAS

21. Sneaky tactic : RUSE

23. Kosher : LEGIT

24. Diagnostic machine : IMAGER. But not the operator?

26. Make __ for: argue in favor of : A CASE

31. Being kept cold : ON ICE

32. Sardinian six : SEI

42. Junio, por ejemplo : MES. Spanish month of June.

44. Low voice : BASSO

52. Like a softly blowing fan : ON LOW

53. Nincompoops : MORONS

54. Windy City airport : O'HARE

55. One of the deadly sins : LUST

56. Camp bed : COT

61. Camden Yards ballplayer : ORIOLE. Baltimore, MD.

64. Spanish gold : ORO

65. Sit for an artist : POSE

66. Have a place to call home : RESIDE. A place to hang your hat.

67. "__ the ramparts ... " : O'ER. "O, Say" yesterday. Any more and we will have to stand up.

68. Figure (out) : SUSS

Down:

1. Genie's offer : WISH. Three wishes is standard.

2. Most fit for service : ONE A

3. Keats works : ODEs

4. __ Bums: Brooklyn Dodgers nickname : DEM. (them)

5. "Despite that ... " : "YET ... ". (and yet...)

6. Tailor's inserts : GUSSETS

7. Major thoroughfares : ARTERIES

8. Nutritional meas. : RDA. (Recommended Dietary Allowance)

9. Sack material : BURLAP

10. Mountain lion : COUGAR

11. Birthplace of St. Francis : ASSISI. Assisi is a town and comune of Italy in the province of Perugia in the Umbria region, on the western flank of Monte Subasio. Now you know.

12. Coffee drinks with steamed milk : LATTES

14. Hip-hop headgear : DO-RAG

19. Prefix meaning "ten" : DECA

22. "That's awful!" : "UGH!"

24. Ancient Peruvian : INCA

25. Personal bearing : MIEN

27. Unruly group : MOB

28. Words before flash or jiffy : IN A

29. Cacophony : DIN

30. Zip, in soccer scores : NIL

34. Novelist Tan : AMY. Her best-known work is The Joy Luck Club.

35. Smooth, as a transition : SEAMLESS

37. Black, to a bard : EBON

38. "CSI" actor George : EADS

39. Tire pressure meas. : PSI. (pound per square inch)

40. S.C. clock setting : EST. (Eastern Standard Time)

41. Fish eggs : ROE

43. Husbands and wives : SPOUSES

45. Cow sound in "Old MacDonald" : MOO MOO here and a moo moo there.

46. Response from another room : "IN HERE"

47. Supermodel's allure: Var. : GLAMOR

48. Prefix with scope : HORO. (horoscope)

49. Annoying types : TWERPS

50. Info on a store door: Abbr. : HRS. (hours)

51. Helicopter component : ROTOR

56. Slinky shape : COIL. Ah, the things we learn on the blog.

57. Merrie __ England : OLDE

58. High schooler, typically : TEEN

60. Letters that promise payback : IOU

62. Stephen of "The Crying Game" : REA

63. Alcatraz, e.g: Abbr. : ISL. (island)

Argyle

Monday, November 30, 2015 Don Rosenthal

Theme:      FREEZE!

17A. Started to sneeze and cough, say : CAUGHT A COLD

28A. Really worked hard : BUSTED ONE'S CHOPS

44A. Paid for everyone's dinner : PICKED UP THE BILL

58A. Taken away in handcuffs ... and a hint to the starts of 17-, 28- and 44-Across : UNDER ARREST

Argyle here. Don's previous puzzle here. Two grid spanning entries crossed by two long non-themed columns; a page from a C.C. puzzle book. Nicely done.

Across:

1. Beatle Paul's first wife : LINDA. Linda, née Eastman, died from breast cancer in 1998.

6. Second-string squad : B-TEAM

11. Tummy muscles : ABs

14. Lunchbox cookies : OREOs. Too many Oreos can hide those abs.

15. Hardship : RIGOR

16. "Nope" : "NAH"

19. Org. promoting hunter safety : NRA. (National Rifle Association of America)

20. Basil or rosemary : HERB

21. IV monitors : RNs. (registered nurse)

22. Honor __ thieves : AMONG. First of some clues that seem to be truncated. "No honor among thieves" is the phrase I'm familiar with.

24. Musical Apple : iPOD

26. Exposed : BARED

34. Critter that sleeps floating on its back : OTTER. Sea otters do.

35. National Anthem starter : "O, SAY ... "

36. Kitten cry : [MEW!]

37. Gen-__: post-baby boomers : XERs

38. Camera setting : F-STOP. Haven't seen this old crossword favorite in a while.

40. Wait : BIDE. Bide your time and all the old crossword favorites will show up eventually.

41. Small S.A. country : URU. Uruguay is in South America.

                            Vacation Guide

42. Red Sox star Big __ : PAPI. David Ortiz.

43. Panama divider : CANAL. What would it cost to swim it now?

48. Exhausted : TIRED

49. Fit for sainthood : HOLY

50. Catcher's position : SQUAT

52. Holiday tree : FIR. Got fir?

53. Rock's Mötley __ : CRÜE

57. Continent north of Afr. : EUR.

62. Aragon aunt : TIA. Aragon is in northeastern Spain.

63. Argue the opposing viewpoint : REBUT

64. Hit half of a record : SIDE A. Usually.

65. Home of the Cardinals: Abbr. : STL. St. Louis.

66. Small and glittering, like eyes : BEADY

67. Terminate the mission : ABORT

Down:

1. Scot's swimming spot : LOCH. Don't harass the monsters. They are national treasures.

2. "Dies __": hymn : IRAE

3. Nerve: Pref. : NEUR

4. Wounds from an aggressive pooch : DOG BITES

5. Silvery gray : ASH

6. Godfather portrayer : BRANDO. Marlon Brando, Jr.

7. Muscle twitches : TICs

8. Self-image : EGO

9. "You've got mail" company : AOL

10. Elizabeth Bennet's suitor in "Pride and Prejudice" : MR. DARCY

11. In the year of the Lord, in dates : ANNO DOMINI

12. Farm building : BARN or shed or silo or ....

13. Layered haircut : SHAG

18. Walked : TROD

23. "Not so great" : "MEH"

25. According to : PER

26. Kiss from Carlos : BESO

27. "Do it yesterday!" on memos : ASAP. (As Soon As Possible)

28. Pack in cartons : BOX UP

29. Wombs : UTERI

30. Like earthquake damage : STRUCTURAL

31. Inept waiter's comeuppance : NO TIP

32. Foot-operated lever : PEDAL

33. "Peachy!" : "SWELL!"

38. Gradually vanish : FADE

39. Tater : SPUD

40. Nursery furniture with bars : BABY CRIB. Behind bars at such a young age!

42. Bother : PERTURB

43. Animation frame : CEL

45. Seoul-based Soul maker : KIA. Cars.

46. Minimum age for a U.S. senator : THIRTY

47. Jewish wedding dance : HORA

50. Tennis divisions : SETS. game, set, match.

51. Give notice : QUIT

52. Animosity spanning decades : FEUD

54. Change the decor of : REDO

55. __-friendly : USER

56. State, in France : ÉTAT

59. Wedding page word : NÉE

60. Corp. alias letters : DBA. "doing business as"

61. Pretoria's land: Abbr. : RSA. Pretoria is one of Republic of South Africa's three capitals.

Argyle

Sunday, Nov 29, 2015 Gary Schlapfer & C.C. Burnikel

Theme: "Man to Man" - Both parts of each theme entry can precede "Man".

23A. Position for Walter Cronkite : ANCHOR CHAIR. Anchorman. Chairman.

25A. Bell site : FRONT DOOR. Front man. Doorman.

36A. Official arachnid of South Carolina : WOLF SPIDER. Wolfman. Spider-Man.

45A. Political fund-raiser : SUPER PAC. Superman Pac-Man.

70A. Stroll around the station? : SPACEWALK. Spaceman. Walkman.

93A. Camping attraction : FRESH AIR. Freshman. Airman.

101A. Focused group? : CAMERA CREW. Camera man. Crewman.

117A. Lou Gehrig nickname, with "The" : IRON HORSE. Iron man. Horseman. We originally had BOATHOUSE here. Rich said that "Houseman" is an old term and might not resonate with many solvers, so we came up with IRON HORSE, which is snazzier, though this resulted in 70A being the only one-word entry.

119A. Hobbit world : MIDDLE EARTH. Middleman. Earthman.

C.C. here.

Gary originally proposed to me a set of four players who once played Batman. The letter lengths would not match. More importantly, the names are still names. He had BUSTER KEATON for Michael Keaton, MAE WEST for Adam West, CASEY AFFLECK for Ben Affleck & ROSEMARY CLOONEY for George Clooney. The only one that might work is WEST, as we can use THE WILD WEST. If you click this puzzle I made with Argyle, you'll see what I mean. It's important that those names are non-names in the theme context. Just normal nouns.

I asked Gary if he was interested in changing direction and going with  this "Man to Man" approach. He was game. So here is the result of our team work.  Gary is hard-working and super creative. A natural when it comes to clues.  Always fun to collaborate with him.

Across:

    

1. Healthy bar creations : SALADS. Light start.

7. Rudiments : ABCs

11. Diced dish : HASH. Food again.

15. Bee relative : WASP

19. End of an uncertain statement : OR IS IT? Not easy to parse.

20. Qatar home of the Aspire Tower : DOHA. Gary's hard work. Tough to come up with fresh clues.

21. Canyon response : ECHO

22. "__ Dinka Doo" : INKA

27. "The Black Cat" author : POE

28. Out of juice : DEAD. For DEAD, I always go for "Batteries" direction.

29. Style : MANNER

31. Surfer wannabe : HODAD

32. Rounded hammer part : PEEN

33. Wish list responder : GENIE

34. Mortar spreaders : TROWELS

40. On the money : PRECISE

42. Arabic leader? : ALIF. First letter in Arabic alphabet.

43. Finish the team practice : DO LAPS

49. Stuck with : KEPT TO

52. Silent film star Lillian : GISH. Feeling sheepish to put this in our puzzle.

53. Tipped toppers : HATS. Rich's clue.

54. Benny's 39, so he said : AGE

55. Superhero letter : ESS. Superman.

56. Make changes to : AMEND

58. Keats' "Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness" begins one : ODE

60. Narrowly escape bogey, in golf lingo : SAVE PAR. Shout-out to Gary.

63. Real poser : ENIGMA

65. Gobble (down) : SNARF

67. Most prudent : WISEST

68. Guitar accessory : STRAP

73. Holliday allies : EARPS

74. "Manhattan" and "Nashville" : MOVIES. Gary's clue.

76. Shout target : STAIN. Nice clue from Rich.

77. Gift giver's cry : OPEN IT!

79. Brings together : UNIFIES

81. "I pity the fool" speaker : MR T

82. Allen who never really made furniture : ETHAN. Also Gary's clue.

83. ''That's gross!'' : ICK

86. __ center : REC

87. Biathlon needs : SKIS

89. Pandora's inventory : ILLS

91. Buck Rogers weapon : RAYGUN

96. Crazed Muppet drummer : ANIMAL. This I learned from Gary also.

98. Nothing but : MERE

99. Monkeys (with) : TAMPERS

104. Beverage made with buds : ROSE TEA. Rose buds.

107. __ Martin: Bond's car : ASTON

109. Actress Rowlands : GENA

110. Three Stooges specialty : ANTIC

111. Seafood sauce : TARTAR. Never had it myself. Boomer likes it with his fried fish.

113. Bridge position : EAST

114. Sun Devils' sch. : ASU

122. Actor Dick Van __ : DYKE. Kind of like GOGH. Rich allowed, but it was wobbly.

123. Duel-purpose tool : FOIL. Nice play on "Dual-purpose".

124. Drink with a polar bear mascot : ICEE

125. Penguin suit : TUXEDO

 

126. Appear : SEEM

127. Chef Bobby to beat on a reality show : FLAY. Messy divorce from his wife.

128. Low in fat : LEAN

129. Conspicuous display : SPLASH

  

Down:

1. Ivory in a dish : SOAP

2. River through Florence : ARNO

3. Hat-borne parasites : LICE

4. Louisville Slugger material : ASH. The prices for those authenticated game-used bats are insane.

5. Two-element tubes : DIODES

6. Actress with a record 19 Oscar nominations : STREEP

7. Ritalin target : ADHD

8. '20s fashion accessory : BOA

9. Mythological fire-breathers : CHIMERAS

10. Microwaving aid : SARAN

11. Pajamaed publisher : HEFNER. Never used "Pajamaed" before.

12. Spread unit : ACRE

13. Drivers' local knowledge : SHORTCUTS. Not the one who purposely misled Irish Miss at Barbados. So mean.

14. Babe : HON

15. Dating scene returnee, maybe : WIDOWER

16. Battery terminal : ANODE

17. "Cheers!" : SKOAL

18. Western buds : PARDS

24. Fox or wolf : CANID. Oops, wolf dupes with WOLF in our themer. Sorry. Escaped us.

26. "__ Were the Days" : THOSE

30. Small bites : NIPS

32. Fizzling-out sound : PFFT

33. Beyond cold : GELID

35. Carpentry tool : RIP SAW

36. Boat trailer : WAKE. Another great clue from Gary.

37. Cheers at soccer matches : OLES

38. Empty words : LIP SERVICE

39. Steals, as a toy : DOGNAPS. Liked the clue & answer.

41. That, in Mexico : ESA

44. Give minimal effort : PHONE IT IN. Not LAT puzzles. Every one gets carefully filled,  edited, test-solved, fact-checked & then published.

46. All-bark, no-bite type : PAPER TIGER

47. Visibly stunned : AGASP

48. After-dinner brand : CERTS

50. National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall locale : TAIPEI

51. Texter's "Horrors!" : OMG

53. Wife of Zeus : HERA

57. Slammin' Sammy quartet : EMS. Tiny contribution from me.

59. Rooster's cue : DAWN

61. Where Mozart met Haydn : VIENNA. Rich's clue. Rich plays piano.

62. He played Tony on "NYPD Blue" : ESAI. Cool guy, except when he's with his ex-wife.

64. Babe in the woods : NAIF

65. Cut reminder : SCAR

66. Lake litter : FLOTSAM. I like this fill & clue also.

68. Blue toon : SMURF

69. Office supply : TONER

71. Sources of after-hrs. cash : ATMs

72. Metric speed abbr. : KPH

75. Opening word? : SESAME. Rich's clue.

78. Corn carrier : EAR

80. Rescue team on the slopes : SKI PATROL

82. Violinist Mischa : ELMAN. Does this dupe the Man theme?

84. Smoke, perhaps : CURE

85. Wasn't surprised : KNEW

88. Pique condition : IRE. We've seen this clue before. Still good.

 

90. Twizzlers ingredient : LICORICE

92. Place with a pool : YMCA

94. Co-founder of Women's Media Center : STEINEM. Rich's clue. Did not know the center.

95. Escape mechanism : HATCH. Rich's clue also. Nice one.

96. Office underling: Abbr. : ASST

97. Not under the table : LEGAL. Have you heard the term "Princelings"? A clique of wealthy and powerful group of Chinese whose parents were once the important Communist Party leaders. The current president is one. I like him though.

100. Once in a blue moon : RARELY

102. Starts over : RESETS

103. Get in on the deal : ANTE UP

104. Surprise missions : RAIDS

105. How pastrami is often ordered : ON RYE. Never had "pastrami". Also not fond of hot dogs. The best food I discovered here in the US is pickled herring.

106. Stir the fire : STOKE

108. Language that gave us "cheroot" and "curry" : TAMIL

112. Continent with 11 time zones : ASIA. Nice trivia. China has only one time zone.

113. Not the best place for apple-tasting? : EDEN. Rich's clue.

114. Two-dimensional measure : AREA

115. Norms: Abbr. : STDS

116. "I'm in for it now!" : UH OH

118. Not right : OFF. CenturyLinks upgraded their DSL system on Nov 24, then we lost our phone dial tone on Nov 25.  They're coming to fix it today, but the lady said it's subject to a service charge if it's our problem. When I called a different tech support earlier, he said quite a few people had the same problem. He asked me to unplug a few stuff. I did, but no luck. I just hope they'll be fair with us today.

120. Crack gp.? : DEA

121. Rose of rock : AXL. Axl Rose of Guns N' Roses.

Answer Grid from Owen

C.C.