LAXCrossword.com

Frequently Asked Question: Why isn’t the puzzle in my paper the same as the one shown on your blog?
If the puzzle in your paper doesn’t match the one that I solved, it is probably a Sunday crossword. On Sundays, the “LA Times” chooses to publish Merl Reagle’s excellent crossword, and not their own “LA Times” Crossword. The “LA Times” puzzle is still sent out in syndication, and is also published in the “LA Times” online. I’ve been asked to blog about Merl Reagle’s crossword, but frankly I don’t have the time. Sunday puzzles have lots of clues!

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Google __ CHROME
Google’s Chrome is now the most popular web browser used in the US, with Mozilla Firefox in second place and Internet Explorer in third. I find Chrome to be much, much more user-friendly than Internet Explorer, and more featured than Firefox. Chrome also works more seamlessly with other Google products and with Android phones.

7. Propels, as shells OARS
A scull is a boat used for competitive rowing. The main hull of the boat is often referred to as a shell. Crew members who row the boat can be referred to as “oars”.

11. Back to school, once? MARM
“Marm” is short for “schoolmarm”, a quaint term for a female teacher.

20. Dry and crack CHAP
The verb “to chap” means “to crack”, and has been used with reference to a crack in the skin since way back in the 14th century.

21. City near Santa Barbara OJAI
The city of Ojai, California is located just northwest of Los Angeles. One of the city’s claims to fame is that according to the TV shows “The Bionic Woman” and “The Six Million Dollar Man”, Jaime Sommers and Steve Austin grew up in Ojai and were childhood sweethearts!

22. “A Few Good Men” co-star Moore DEMI
The marvelous 1992 movie “A Few Good Men” was adapted for the big screen by Aaron Sorkin, from his own play of the same name. Sorkin is also the man behind “The West Wing” and “The Newsroom” on television, two great shows. Stars of the movie version “A Few Good Men” are Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson and Demi Moore.

23. *Protectorate, e.g. CLIENT STATE (giving “The Client”)
A “client state” is one that is subordinate to another particular state in international affairs. Examples would be the Warsaw Pact nations who were heavily influenced by the Soviet Union. Vichy France was a client state to Nazi Germany during WWII.

“The Client” is a 1993 novel by John Grisham, his fourth. The book was adapted for the big screen in 1994, with Susan Sarandon, Tommy Lee Jones and Brad Renfro starring. There was also a short-lived TV series spun off from the movie that ran for just one season starting in 1995.

27. Mythological name meaning “all-gifted” PANDORA
In Greek mythology, Pandora was the first woman. Pandora was created by the gods, with each god bestowing on her a gift. Her name can be translated from Greek as “all-gifted”. Pandora is famous for the story of “Pandora’s Box”. In actual fact, the story should be about Pandora’s “Jar” as a 16th-century error in translation created a “box” out of the “jar”. In the story of Pandora’s Box, curiosity got the better of her and she opened up a box she was meant to leave alone. As a result she released all the evils of mankind, just closing it in time to trap hope inside.

28. *Pirate lords’ group in “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” BRETHREN COURT
(giving “The Brethren”)
“Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” is the third film in the “Pirates …” series, and was released in 2007. It had a production budget of $300 million and was the most expensive film ever made at the time of its release, even after adjusting for inflation.

“The Brethren” is a legal thriller released by author John Grisham in 2000. The title characters are three former judges who run a scam from a minimum security prison, resulting in the blackmail of closeted gay men of influence.

32. Cooper’s tool ADZE
A cooper is a craftsman who makes wooden vessels, such as barrels. The term “cooper” ultimately derives from the Latin “cupa” meaning “barrel”.

34. *Rises to the occasion SUMMONS UP COURAGE (giving “The Summons”)
“The Summons” is a 2002 novel by legal thriller author John Grisham. The hero of the story is a law professor at the University of Virginia who is “summoned” to his father’s house in Mississippi to discuss the older man’s will. The son finds the father dead, and an unexplained three million dollars in the house. Things take off from there …

50. Unbelievable FISHY
Something that is shady or questionable can be described as “fishy”, a usage first record in the mid-1800s. The suggestion is that something unbelievable is perhaps slippery like a fish, or perhaps gives off a bad odor.

52. Physicist Tesla NIKOLA
Nikola Tesla was born in Serbia, but later moved to the US. Tesla’s work on mechanical and electrical engineering was crucial to the development of alternating current technology, the same technology that is used by equipment at the backbone of modern power generation and distribution systems.

54. Some univ. staff TAS
Teaching Assistants (TAs)

56. Battleship success HIT
Battleship was a game that we used to play as kids using pencil and paper. The game had been around at least since WWI, and was eventually turned into a board game by Milton Bradley in 1967.

57. Super Bowl III winning coach EWBANK
Weeb Ewbank was a football coach mostly known for coaching the Baltimore Colts and the New York Jets in the fifties, sixties and seventies. He won two NFL championships with the Colts (1958, 1959), and one AFL championship with the Jets (1968).

59. *Trios and quartets, e.g. CHAMBER MUSIC (giving “The Chamber”)
“The Chamber” is a 1994 novel by John Grisham about Klu Klux Klan member who is facing the gas chamber after killing two young boys in the bombing of the office of Jewish lawyer. “The Chamber” was adapted into a 1996 movie starring Gene Hackman and Chris O’Donnell.

63. Italian who was a contemporary of Euler LAGRANGE
Joseph-Louis Lagrange was an Italian mathematician and astronomer who spent much of his working life at the Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin, as the successor of Leonhard Euler. Lagrange spent the latter part of his life in Paris, where he was very much involved in the introduction of the metric system.

65. Strategic WWI river MARNE
The River Marne runs roughly northwestward for over 300 miles, running into the River Seine just outside Paris. The Marne was the site of two major battles in WWI, one fought in 1914, and one in 1918.

71. *Salsa, e.g. PARTNER DANCE (giving “The Partner”)
The genre of music called salsa is a modern interpretation of various Cuban traditional music styles.

“The Partner” is a novel by John Grisham first published in 1997. The title character is a junior partner in a law firm who fakes his death so that he can steal funds that his own law firm has embezzled from the US government. I found this to be one of Grisham’s better novels, certainly a more entertaining read …

76. Texas oil city ODESSA
The city of Odessa, Texas has as its symbol the jack rabbit. This is because from the thirties through the seventies the city hosted a rodeo for roping rabbits. The Humane Society applied pressure and the city did away with the tradition in 1977.

77. Welcome home? MAT
One “home” for the word “Welcome”, is on a welcome mat.

78. “Other people,” to Sartre HELL
“Huis Clos” means “behind closed doors” in French. It is the title of the Jean-Paul Sartre play that we in the English-speaking world would better recognize as “No Exit”. The play features four characters who are trapped in a room that they discover is actually located in Hell. One of the characters is Estelle Rigault, a society woman who married her husband for her money, and then has an affair that results in a child whom she murders. Heavy stuff! “No Exit” is the source for one of Sartre’s most famous quotations, “Hell is other people”, meaning that Hell isn’t found in torture or physical punishment, but in the torment inflicted by others.

81. Co-Nobelist with Rabin and Peres ARAFAT
Yasser (also Yasir) Arafat was born in Cairo in 1929, the son of two Palestinians and the second-youngest of seven children. Arafat was beaten by his father as a child and so did not have a good relationship with him. Arafat did not attend his father’s funeral, nor did he visit his grave. The beatings were apparently administered because the young Arafat was repeatedly attending religious services in the Jewish quarter of Cairo. Arafat’s explanation was that he wanted to “study the mentality” of the Jewish people.

Shimon Peres is an Israeli statesman who was born in Poland. Peres served as President of the State of Israel from 2007 to 2014. Born Szymon Perski in Poland, while president Peres was the oldest head of state in the world. While serving foreign minister, he represented Israel in the secret negotiations that led to the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993. For that work, Peres was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat.

Yitzhak Rabin was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, and the first Prime Minister to have been born in the relatively young state of Israel. Rabin was a signatory of the Oslo Accords in 1993, along with PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, and US President Bill Clinton. Sadly, this led to his death as he was assassinated two years later by a right-wing radical who opposed the Accords.

84. Lucas princess LEIA
The full name of the character played by Carrie Fisher in the “Star Wars” series of films is Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan, and later Leia Organa Solo. Leia is the twin sister of Luke Skywalker, and the daughter of Anakin Skywalker (aka Darth Vader) and Padmé Amidala. Leia is raised by her adoptive parents Bail and Breha Organa. She eventually marries Han Solo.

The producer and director George Lucas has amassed an incredibly large fortune, primarily due to the phenomenal success of his movie franchises “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones”. Worth about $3 billion, Lucas has gone the way of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, agreeing to give half of his fortune to charity as part of “The Giving Pledge”.

85. Clothing prefix meaning “small” PETTI-
The word “petty”, meaning “small-minded”, comes from the French word for small, “petit”. When “petty” first came into English it wasn’t used disparagingly, and was used more literally giving us terms like “petty officer” and “petty cash”. The word “petty” evolved into a prefix “petti-” with the meaning of “small”, as in the word “petticoat”.

A petticoat is an undergarment worn from the waist that goes under a skirt or dress. That said, the term “petticoat” was used in my day back in the British Isles for a full-length slip. The name translates literally as “small coat” and was originally a padded coat worn by men under armor.

88. “Super Bass” singer Nicki MINAJ
Nicki Minaj is a rapper from Queens, New York who was born in Trinidad.

89. Weaving component WEFT
When cloth is woven, yarn is drawn back and forth horizontally through vertical yarns called warps. The horizontal yarn is known as the weft or woof.

90. Neverland creator BARRIE
The author and dramatist J.M. Barrie is best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan. Barrie wrote a play in 1904 called “Peter Pan; or, the Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up”. He turned this into a novel called “Peter and Wendy” in 1911. The girl’s name “Wendy” was very uncommon before Barrie named his character, and he is given credit for making the name as popular as it is today.

In J.M. Barrie’s play and novel about Peter Pan, Peter takes takes the Wendy Darling and her two brothers on adventures on the island of Neverland.

93. *Some undergrad awards ASSOCIATE DEGREES (giving “The Associate”)
“The Associate” is a legal thriller written by John Grisham, and the author’s twenty-first novel. A key element in the storyline is an apology from a man in a twelve-step program in rehab, for raping a girl at college. That apology gives the woman the proof needed to file charges. Grisham bases his story on a real-life case of a man in Alcoholics Anonymous who wrote a letter of apology to a woman he had raped at a college frat party. The woman had reported the rape in 1984 but had been ignored by the authorities. With the written apology used as evidence, the man went to jail nineteen years after committing the crime.

96. Alley __ OOP
“Alley Oop” is a comic strip that ran for four decades starting in 1932. “Alley Oop” was drawn by V. T. Hamlin. The title character lived in the prehistoric kingdom of Moo and had a pet dinosaur called Dinny. Alley Oop also had a girlfriend called Ooola. I had assumed that Ooola’s name was a play on “hula hoop”, but that wasn’t invented until the 1950s (a kind blog reader informs me) …

98. Currency honoring Mandela RAND
A portrait of former President Nelson Mandela was featured on new banknotes introduced by the Republic of South Africa in 2012.

99. Actress Kunis MILA
Mila Kunis is a Ukrainian-born, American actress, who plays Jackie Burkhart on “That ’70s Show”. Fans of the cartoon series “Family Guy” might recognize her voicing the Meg Griffin character. In ”Black Swan”, Kunis plays a rival ballet dancer to the character played by Natalie Portman. In her personal life, Kunis dated Macaulay Culkin for 8 years.

100. *They’re hard to sway FIRM BELIEVERS (giving “The Firm”)
“The Firm” is the book that brought John Grisham his first success, although it was the second novel that he wrote. The first was “A Time to Kill”, which garnered a lot more attention after “The Firm” took off. Personally, my favorite of his novels is “Runaway Jury”.

106. Soloist in a 1925 Broadway title song NANETTE
The 1925 musical “No, No, Nanette” spawned two famous songs: “Tea for Two” and “I Want to Be Happy”.

112. Author with over 275 million books in print JOHN GRISHAM
John Grisham is a lawyer and an incredibly successful author best known for his legal thrillers. After graduating from law school, Grisham practiced law for about ten years and then went into politics. He served in the Mississippi House of Representatives for six years, during which time he wrote his first novel, “A Time to Kill”.

114. Disney CEO since 2005 IGER
Robert Iger is currently the president and CEO of the Walt Disney Company, and is the successor to Michael Eisner. Iger worked for ABC when it was taken over by Disney in 1996, and in 1999 he was named president of Walt Disney International. Iger is doing okay for himself. He earned more than $29 million in 2009.

116. 84-Down for Fonda ULEE
(84D. Something for a star LEAD ROLE)
“Ulee’s Gold” is a highly respected film from 1997 in which Peter Fonda plays the title role of Ulee. Ulee’s “gold” is the honey that Ulee produces. It is a favorite role for Peter Fonda and he has shared that playing Ulee brought to mind his father Henry Fonda, who himself kept a couple of hives. So if you see Peter Fonda in “Ulee’s Gold” you’re witnessing some characteristics that Peter saw in his father.

120. Neuter, in a way GELD
We can use the verb “to geld” to mean “to weaken, deprive of strength”. The term comes from the act of gelding an animal, castration of the male. “Geld” comes from the Old Norse word “gelda” meaning “castrate”.

Down
1. Soyuz insignia CCCP
The abbreviation CCCP stands for “Сою́з Сове́тских Социалисти́ческих Респу́блик”, which translates from Russian as “Union of Soviet Socialist Republics”, the USSR.

The Russian Soyuz space program started in the early sixties as part of a plan to land a cosmonaut on the moon. The Soyuz program is still alive and kicking, and derivatives of those early spacecraft designs from the sixties are regularly visiting the International Space Station. “Soyuz” is a Russian word meaning “union”.

2. Hidalgo greeting HOLA
“Hola” is Spanish for the greeting “hi”.

Hidalgo is located in Eastern Mexico and is one of the nation’s 31 states. It is named for Miguel Hidalgo, a Catholic priest and leader of the Mexican War of Independence.

4. Slanted column OP-ED
Op-Ed is an abbreviation for “opposite the editorial page”. Op-Eds started in “The New York Evening World” in 1921 when the page opposite the editorials was used for articles written by a named guest writer, someone independent of the editorial board.

7. 31-day mo. OCT
October is the tenth month in our calendar but was the eighth month in the old Roman calendar, hence the name “Octo-ber”. Back then there were only ten months in the year. “Ianuarius” (January) and “Februarius” (February) were then added as the eleventh and twelfth months of the year. Soon after, the year was reset and January and February became the first and second months.

8. “… thou damned whale!” speaker AHAB
Captain Ahab is the obsessed and far from friendly captain of the Pequod in Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick”. The role of Captain Ahab was played by Gregory Peck in the 1956 John Huston film adaptation. Patrick Stewart played Ahab in a 1998 miniseries in which Peck made another appearance, as Father Mapple.

10. Some small suits SPEEDOS
Speedo brand swimwear was first produced in Australia in 1928, by a hosiery company that wanted to diversify. The brand name was chosen after a slogan competition among employees was won by “Speed on in your Speedos”. It was a long time ago, I guess …

14. Look MIEN
One’s “mien” is one’s bearing or manner. “Mien” shares the same etymological root as our word “demeanor”.

16. Lincoln or Bush REPUBLICAN
The Republican Party has had the nickname Grand Old Party (GOP) since 1875. That said, the phrase was coined in the “Congressional Record” as “this gallant old party”. The moniker was changed to “grand old party” in 1876 in an article in the “Cincinnati Commercial”. The Republican Party’s elephant mascot dates back to an 1874 cartoon drawn by Thomas Nast for “Harper’s Weekly”. The Democrat’s donkey was already an established symbol. Nast drew a donkey clothed in a lion’s skin scaring away the other animals. One of the scared animals was an elephant, which Nast labeled “The Republican Vote”.

17. Arabian commander EMIR
An emir is a prince or chieftain, most notably in the Middle East. In English, “emir” can also be written as “amir” and “ameer” (watch out for those spellings in crosswords!).

24. “Do the Right Thing” pizzeria SAL’S
“Do the Right Thing” is a Spike Lee movie, released in 1989. Much of the action in the film is centered on a local pizzeria called “Sal’s” owned by Italian-American Salvatore Frangione (played by Danny Aiello).

26. Puncture lead-in ACU-
Acupressure and acupuncture are related alternative medical techniques. Both aim to clear blockages in the flow of life energy through the body’s meridians. The treatment is given by stimulating “acupoints’ in the body, by applying pressure in the case of acupressure, and by applying needles in the case of acupuncture.

29. Lao-__ TZU
Lao Tse (also Lao-Tzu) was a central figure in the development of the religion/philosophy of Taoism.

34. Capital of Cyprus? SOFT C
The capital letter in the word “Cyprus” is a soft C.

35. Dickens’ Heep URIAH
Uriah Heep is a sniveling insincere character in the novel “David Copperfield” by Charles Dickens. The character is such a “yes man” that today, if we know someone who behaves the same way, then we might call that person a “Uriah Heep”.

36. “__ Solemnis”: Beethoven work MISSA
Beethoven wrote the “Missa Solemnis” at around the same time as he wrote his magnificent Ninth Symphony. Bach’s “Mass in B Minor” and Beethoven’s “Missa Solemnis” are considered by many to be the best settings of the mass composed in the past few centuries.

38. Unseen PERDU
Something described as “perdu” is hidden, concealed. “Perdu” is the French word for “lost”.

39. Mission control go-ahead A-OK
Our term “A-OK” is supposedly an abbreviation for “A(ll systems are) OK”, and arose in the sixties during the Space Program.

41. Fashion magazine spin-off ELLE GIRL
“Elle Girl” was a successful fashion magazine aimed at older-teen girls. Launched in 2001, it was a companion publication to the already established “Elle” magazine. “Elle Girl” ceased print publication in 2006, with focus shifted to the ELLEgirl.com website. The ELLEgirl website disappeared in 2014.

44. British fellow BLOKE
“Bloke” is British slang for a fellow. The etymology of “bloke” seems to have been lost in the mists of time.

51. Literary Doone LORNA
The novel “Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor” was written by Richard Doddridge Blackmore. R. D. Blackmore was an English novelist, very celebrated and in demand in his day (the late 1800s). His romantic story “Lorna Doone” was by no means a personal favorite of his, and yet it is the only one of his works still in print.

55. Collections of plant specimens HERBARIA
A herbarium is a collection of dried plants, or the room in which the collection is stored. A herbarium that specializes in the collection of wood specimens is known as a xylarium. A collection limited to plants that are cultivated is known as a hortorium.

56. Pair of cymbals HI-HAT
In a drum kit, a hi-hat is that pairing of cymbals that sits on a stand and is played by using a foot pedal. The top cymbal is raised and lowered by the foot, hence creating a crashing sound.

58. Vamp Theda BARA
A “vamp” (short for vampire) is a seductive woman. The term was first used in reference to the sultry performance of actress Theda Bara in the 1915 film “A Fool There Was”. The movie’s title is a quotation from Rudyard Kipling’s 1897 poem “The Vampire”. Bara’s role was positioned as a “vampire”, a woman out to seduce a man, launching the use of “vamp” as an alternative term for a “femme fatale”.

60. Fr. titles MMES
The equivalent of “Mrs.” in French is “Mme.” (Madame) and in Spanish is “Sra.” (Señora).

61. Aromatic fir BALSAM
The Balsam fir is an evergreen tree that is native to eastern and central North America. The Balsam is commonly used as a Christmas tree, especially in the northeastern US.

62. Annual parade celeb ST PAT
There is a fair amount known about St. Patrick, some of which comes from two letters written in his own hand. St. Patrick lived in the fifth century, but was not born in Ireland. He was first brought to Ireland at about 16 years of age from his native Britain, by Irish raiders who made him a slave for six years. Patrick managed to escape and returned to his homeland where he studied and entered the Church. He went back to Ireland as a bishop and a missionary and there lived out the rest of his life. There seems to be good evidence that he died on March 17th (now celebrated annually as St. Patrick’s Day), although the year is less clear. The stories about shamrock and snakes, I am afraid they are the stuff of legend.

64. Boston-D.C. service ACELA
The Acela Express is the fastest train routinely running in the US, getting up to 150 mph at times. The service runs between Boston and Washington D.C. via Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York. The brand name “Acela” was created to evoke “acceleration” and “excellence”.

68. Pilot maker HONDA
The Honda Pilot is mid-size crossover SUV that was introduced in 2002. The luxury version of the vehicle is sold as the Acura MDX.

69. Hatred ODIUM
“Odium” is a strong dislike or aversion. The term is Latin in origin and relates to the Latin word “odi” meaning “I hate”.

70. Moved with Scotty’s help TELEPORTED
In the “Star Trek” series on television and in the movies, the colorful character of “Scotty” was played by the Canadian actor James Doohan. Doohan joined the Royal Canadian Artillery at the start of WWII, and participated in the D-Day Invasion of Normandy. After surviving the landing, that same day Doohan was shot by one of his own men in a tragic mishap. Doohan was hit six times, with a bullet to his chest stopped by a silver cigarette case he was carrying. One of Doohan’s fingers was shot off in the incident, an injury that he successfully concealed during his acting career.

72. Eighth Commandment taboo, per KJV THEFT
Depending on one’s religion, the Eighth Commandment is either “Thou shalt not steal”, or “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor”.

73. __ Dame NOTRE
Notre Dame de Paris is the spectacular Gothic cathedral that sits on the Île de la Cité, one of the islands in the middle on the River Seine in Paris. Notre Dame is home to many beautiful and significant artifacts, the most famous of which is the Crown of Thorns supposedly worn by Jesus Christ at his execution, placed in the cathedral in 1239. It’s also home to some magnificent gargoyles on the roof, and you can climb up to the roof and take a very close look at them.

75. Ohio natives ERIES
The Erie people lived on lands south of Lake Erie, in what is now western New York, northwestern Pennsylvania, and northern Ohio. The Erie were sometimes referred to as the Cat Nation, a reference to the mountain lions that were ever-present in the area that they lived. The name “Erie” is a shortened form of “Erielhonan” meaning “long tail”, possibly a further reference to the mountain lion or cat, which was possibly used as a totem. The Erie people gave their name to the Great Lake.

77. Parade twirler MAJORETTE
A drum major is a the leader of a marching band, and is a position that originated in the British Army’s Corp of Drums in 1650. The drum major’s job is to lead the group and ensure that the whole ensemble keeps time. To help him do so, a drum major often uses a large baton. Over time, it became customary for the baton to be twirled and tossed in an elaborate display. The drum major tradition was embraced by high school marching bands in America. Drum-majorettes became popular in the 1930s, with groups of females taking up baton-twirling and marching with bands. According to an article in “Life” magazine published on October 10th, 1938, “the perfect majorette is a pert, shapely, smiling extrovert, who loves big, noisy crowds and knows how to make those crowds love her.” It was a different time …

85. “24 Caprices for Solo Violin” composer PAGANINI
Niccolò Paganini was a famed Italian violinist and composer. Paganini was perhaps the most celebrated violinist of the 19th century. His most famous composition has to be his Caprice No. 24 in A minor, Op. 1. This work is the basis for many derivative masterpieces by other composers, including the wonderful “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini” by Rachmaninoff.

89. “Rubáiyát” vessel WINE JUG
Omar Khayyam was a Persian with many talents. He was a poet as well as an important mathematician, astronomer and physician. A selection of his poems were translated by one Edward Fitzgerald in a collection called “Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam”. Here are some lines from that collection:

Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough,
A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse — and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness —
And Wilderness is Paradise enow.

90. Minsk’s country BELARUS
Minsk is the capital of Belarus, formerly known as the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. One of Minsk’s more infamous residents was Lee Harvey Oswald who lived there from 1960 to 1962.

92. Brett who played Oscar Madison’s TV wife SOMERS
Brett Somers was a Canadian-American actress and comedian. Somers played the character Blanche Madison on TV’s “The Odd Couple”. Blanche is the ex-wife of Oscar Madison, played by Jack Klugman. Madison and Klugman were real-life spouses at the time the show was airing in the 1970s.

94. LeBron, again, briefly CAV
Basketball player LeBron James seems to be in demand for the covers of magazines. James became the first African American man to adorn the front cover of “Vogue” in March 2008. That made him only the third male to make the “Vogue” cover, following Richard Gere and George Clooney.

97. __ Kids: “Sesame Street” brand PBS
Children’s programming on the Public Broadcasting Service has gone by the name “PBS Kids” since 1994.

101. Conniving Shakespearean soldier IAGO
Iago is the schemer in Shakespeare’s “Othello”. Iago is a soldier who fought alongside Othello and feels hard done by, missing out on promotion. He hatches a plot designed to discredit his rival Cassio by insinuating that Cassio is having an affair with Desdemona, Othello’s wife. By the end of the play it’s Iago himself who is discredited and Othello (before committing suicide) apologizes to Cassio for having believed Iago’s lies. Heavy stuff …

103. “Mission: Impossible” theme composer Schifrin LALO
Lalo Schifrin is an Argentine pianist and composer best-known for writing film and television scores. Famously, Schifrin wrote the theme for “Mission: Impossible”, but also for “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.”, “Mannix” and “Starsky and Hutch”.

104. Retired Monopoly token IRON
There are currently eight tokens used in the board game Monopoly:

Scottish Terrier
Battleship
Automobile
Top Hat
Thimble
Shoe (or Boot)
Wheelbarrow
Cat – (replaced the iron in August 2013)

105. Poet Silverstein SHEL
Author Shel Silverstein had a varied career and did a lot more than write books. Silverstein was a poet, composer, cartoonist and screenwriter among other things. One of his successful children’s books is “The Giving Tree”, which was first published in 1964. “The Giving Tree” tells of a young boy who has a special relationship with a tree in a forest. The message of the book seems to be that the tree provides the little boy with everything he needs.

107. “Those Guys Have All the Fun” subject ESPN
“Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN” is a 2011 book by James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales.

110. Part of FEMA: Abbr. EMER
Federal emergency management has been structured for over 200 years, but what we know today as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was created in 1979 in an Executive Order issued by President Jimmy Carter.

113. Nancy Drew’s guy NED
I loved the Nancy Drew mysteries as a kid (I know, as a boy I “shouldn’t” have been reading girls’ books!). The Nancy Drew stories were written by a number of ghost writers, although the character was introduced by Edward Stratemeyer in 1930. Nancy Drew’s boyfriend was Ned Nickerson, a college student from Emerson.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Google __ CHROME
7. Propels, as shells OARS
11. Back to school, once? MARM
15. Triangle calculation AREA
19. Clipper’s find COUPON
20. Dry and crack CHAP
21. City near Santa Barbara OJAI
22. “A Few Good Men” co-star Moore DEMI
23. *Protectorate, e.g. CLIENT STATE (giving “The Client”)
25. Drive aimlessly TAKE A SPIN
27. Mythological name meaning “all-gifted” PANDORA
28. *Pirate lords’ group in “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” BRETHREN COURT (giving “The Brethren”)
30. Post-bath powder TALC
32. Cooper’s tool ADZE
33. City, quickly URB
34. *Rises to the occasion SUMMONS UP COURAGE (giving “The Summons”)
42. Divulge BLAB
45. Set right ORIENT
46. Matches in a pot SEES
47. Sheeps’ clothing? WOOLS
49. Far from 100% ILL
50. Unbelievable FISHY
51. Fillers of envs. LTRS
52. Physicist Tesla NIKOLA
53. Romantic murmur COO
54. Some univ. staff TAS
55. Relative of -ship -HOOD
56. Battleship success HIT
57. Super Bowl III winning coach EWBANK
59. *Trios and quartets, e.g. CHAMBER MUSIC (giving “The Chamber”)
63. Italian who was a contemporary of Euler LAGRANGE
65. Strategic WWI river MARNE
66. Word that precedes the start of each answer to a starred clue to form a 112-Across best-seller THE
67. Trickier to drive on ICIER
68. Traveler’s oasis HOTEL BAR
71. *Salsa, e.g. PARTNER DANCE (giving “The Partner”)
76. Texas oil city ODESSA
77. Welcome home? MAT
78. “Other people,” to Sartre HELL
79. “__ work is done” OUR
80. Zip NIL
81. Co-Nobelist with Rabin and Peres ARAFAT
84. Lucas princess LEIA
85. Clothing prefix meaning “small” PETTI-
87. Proper DUE
88. “Super Bass” singer Nicki MINAJ
89. Weaving component WEFT
90. Neverland creator BARRIE
91. Increases, with “up” AMPS
93. *Some undergrad awards ASSOCIATE DEGREES (giving “The Associate”)
96. Alley __ OOP
98. Currency honoring Mandela RAND
99. Actress Kunis MILA
100. *They’re hard to sway FIRM BELIEVERS (giving “The Firm”)
106. Soloist in a 1925 Broadway title song NANETTE
111. Result of sleeping in LATE START
112. Author with over 275 million books in print JOHN GRISHAM
114. Disney CEO since 2005 IGER
115. Coagulate CLOT
116. 84-Down for Fonda ULEE
117. Disentangle after a fumble recovery UNPILE
118. Sci-fi escape vehicles PODS
119. Touch up HONE
120. Neuter, in a way GELD
121. Transgressor SINNER

Down
1. Soyuz insignia CCCP
2. Hidalgo greeting HOLA
3. Trash RUIN
4. Slanted column OP-ED
5. Speech problem MONOTONY
6. Fee payer, perhaps ENTRANT
7. 31-day mo. OCT
8. “… thou damned whale!” speaker AHAB
9. Sources of daily pressure RAT RACES
10. Some small suits SPEEDOS
11. Good sense MOTHER WIT
12. Close to closed AJAR
13. Earn big time, with “in” RAKE
14. Look MIEN
15. Accumulate on a surface ADSORB
16. Lincoln or Bush REPUBLICAN
17. Arabian commander EMIR
18. Informal negative AIN’T
24. “Do the Right Thing” pizzeria SAL’S
26. Puncture lead-in ACU-
29. Lao-__ TZU
31. One who’s always right? CUSTOMER
34. Capital of Cyprus? SOFT C
35. Dickens’ Heep URIAH
36. “__ Solemnis”: Beethoven work MISSA
37. Word of indifference MEH
38. Unseen PERDU
39. Mission control go-ahead A-OK
40. Ooze GOO
41. Fashion magazine spin-off ELLE GIRL
43. Word after string or sing ALONG
44. British fellow BLOKE
48. Got steamed SAW RED
51. Literary Doone LORNA
52. Not as inclement NICER
55. Collections of plant specimens HERBARIA
56. Pair of cymbals HI-HAT
58. Vamp Theda BARA
60. Fr. titles MMES
61. Aromatic fir BALSAM
62. Annual parade celeb ST PAT
63. Accounting entry LINE ITEM
64. Boston-D.C. service ACELA
68. Pilot maker HONDA
69. Hatred ODIUM
70. Moved with Scotty’s help TELEPORTED
72. Eighth Commandment taboo, per KJV THEFT
73. __ Dame NOTRE
74. Affectionate nickname CUTIE
75. Ohio natives ERIES
77. Parade twirler MAJORETTE
82. Q&A part: Abbr. ANS
83. Musical fourths FAS
84. Something for a star LEAD ROLE
85. “24 Caprices for Solo Violin” composer PAGANINI
86. Fumble, say ERR
89. “Rubáiyát” vessel WINE JUG
90. Minsk’s country BELARUS
92. Brett who played Oscar Madison’s TV wife SOMERS
94. LeBron, again, briefly CAV
95. Parking lot mishap DING
97. __ Kids: “Sesame Street” brand PBS
100. Go wild FLIP
101. Conniving Shakespearean soldier IAGO
102. Permanently mark ETCH
103. “Mission: Impossible” theme composer Schifrin LALO
104. Retired Monopoly token IRON
105. Poet Silverstein SHEL
107. “Those Guys Have All the Fun” subject ESPN
108. Slender THIN
109. Account TALE
110. Part of FEMA: Abbr. EMER
113. Nancy Drew’s guy NED

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