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Constructed by: Gary Larson
Edited by: Rich Norris
Today’s Theme: Sounds Like a Snooze
Themed answer sound like well-known phrases, but with an S-sound replaced with a Z-sound:
- 23A. Liquor store? : BUZZ DEPOT (from “bus depot”)
- 25A. Feeding time for the herd? : GRAZE PERIOD (from “grace period”)
- 46A. Caribbean island chain? : CAYS BY CAYS (from “case by case”)
- 67A. Make change for a five? : GIVE THE ONES OVER (from “give the once over”)
- 93A. Funding for cops? : FUZZ BUDGET (from “fussbudget”)
- 115A. “No legumes for me, please”? : KEEP THE PEAS (from “keep the peace”)
- 117A. Slept through the alarm? : OVER-DOZED (from “overdosed”)
- 16D. Much-admired cooktop? : PRIZE RANGE (from “price range”)
- 73D. Withhold enthusiasm? : HARBOR ZEAL (from “harbor seal”)
Read on, or jump to …
… a complete list of answers
Want to discuss the puzzle? Then …
… leave a comment
Bill’s time: 13m 30s
Bill’s errors: 0
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Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies
Across
19. “American Gigolo” star : GERE
Richard Gere has played such great roles on the screen, and I find him to be a very interesting character off the screen. Gere has been studying Buddhism since 1978 and is a very visible supporter of the Dalai Lama and the people of Tibet. Gere has been married twice; to supermodel Cindy Crawford from 1991 to 1995, and to model/actress Carey Lowell from 2002 until 2016. Gere’s breakthrough role was as the male lead in the 1980 film “American Gigolo”.
“American Gigolo” is a 1980 film starring Richard Gere as a Los Angeles male escort. “American Gigolo” is famous for being the first movie in which a major Hollywood actor appeared in a full-frontal nude scene.
20. Pocket often filled : PITA
Pita is a lovely bread from Middle-Eastern and Mediterranean cuisines. Pita is usually round, and has a “pocket” in the center. The pocket is created by steam that puffs up the dough during cooking leaving a void when the bread cools.
22. First name at Woodstock : ARLO
Singer Arlo Guthrie is known for his protest songs, just like his father Woody Guthrie. The younger Guthrie only ever had one song in the top 40: a cover version of “City of New Orleans”. He has lived for years in the town of Washington, just outside Pittsfield, Massachusetts. His 1976 song “Massachusetts” has been the official folk song of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts since 1981.
1969’s Woodstock Music & Art Fair was held on a dairy farm located 43 miles southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York. 400,000 young people attended, and saw 32 bands and singers perform over three days.
23. Liquor store? : BUZZ DEPOT (from “bus depot”)
Our term “depot”, meaning “station, warehouse”, comes from the French word “dépôt”. The French term translates into English as “deposit” or “place of deposit”.
27. Post-Thanksgiving dinner feeling, for many : FOOD COMA
Thanksgiving Day was observed on different dates in different states for many years, until Abraham Lincoln fixed the date for the whole country in 1863. Lincoln’s presidential proclamation set that date as the last Thursday in November. In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the holiday to the fourth Thursday in November, arguing that the earlier date would give the economy a much-needed boost.
28. City near Düsseldorf : ESSEN
Essen is a large industrial city located on the River Ruhr in western Germany. The city experienced major population growth in the mid-1800s that was driven by the iron works established by the Krupp family.
Düsseldorf lies in the west of Germany, fairly close to the border with France. The city is located on the River Rhine.
30. Dante’s half-dozen : SEI
Dante Alighieri (usually just “Dante”) was an Italian poet of the Middle Ages. Dante’s “Divine Comedy” is widely considered to be the greatest literary work ever written in the Italian language.
31. L.A. Clippers’ org. : NBA
The Los Angeles Clippers NBA team started off life as the Buffalo Braves in 1970. The Braves took on the Clippers name when the franchise moved to San Diego in 1978. The new team name was chosen in honor of the great clipper ships that used to pass through San Diego Bay. The San Diego Clippers were sold in 1982 to real estate developer Donald Sterling, who moved the team to his native Los Angeles two years later. That move was not approved by the NBA, which resulted in a lawsuit and a $6 million fine, but the team was allowed to stay in its new home.
38. Second Amendment concern : FIREARMS
The Second Amendment of the US Constitution was adopted in 1791 as part of the Bill of Rights. The actual text of the amendment is:
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
The wording and punctuation in the original text has led to some controversy over the years, and some debate over the original intent. That might be an understatement …
46. Caribbean island chain? : CAYS BY CAYS (from “case by case”)
A “key” (also “cay”) is a low offshore island, as in the Florida Keys. Our term in English comes from the Spanish “cayo” meaning “shoal, reef”.
51. Capital NNW of Albany : OTTAWA
Ottawa is the second largest city in the Province of Ontario (after Toronto) and is the capital city of Canada. The name “Ottawa” comes from an Algonquin word “adawe” which means “to trade”.
New York’s state capital of Albany was founded as a Dutch trading post called Fort Nassau in 1614. The English took over the settlement in 1664 and called it Albany, naming it after the future King of England James II, whose title at the time was the Duke of Albany. It became the capital of New York State in 1797.
56. Like neat freaks : ANAL
The use of the word “anal” to mean “stiffly conventional” is an abbreviated form of “anal-retentive”, a term derived from Freudian psychology. Regardless, I’m not a big fan of the term …
62. Actress Scala : GIA
Gia Scala’s most famous role was the mute resistance fighter in “The Guns of Navarone”. Scala was born in Liverpool, England to an Irish mother and Italian father. She lived some years in Italy before moving to New York City. It’s probably good that she played a mute character in “The Guns of Navarone”, as who knows what her accent was like!
64. Sound file extension : WAV
WAV files are in the Waveform Audio File Format. WAV is the principal format used on the Windows platform for the storage of uncompressed audio files.
65. 2007 Will Smith sci-fi flick : I AM LEGEND
“I Am Legend” is a 1955 science fiction novel by Richard Matheson that tells of an apparent sole survivor of a pandemic. The survivor has to fight off zombie-like vampires who come out at night. “I Am Legend” was famously adapted into a 1971 movie called “The Omega Man” starring Charlton Heston, and then into a 2007 film using the same title as the novel, which stars Will Smith.
71. Itemized deductions form : SCHEDULE A
Schedule A is an attachment that can be filed with IRS Form 1040. Many taxpayers use Schedule A to itemize deductions, which is an alternative to taking the standard deduction.
74. Yellow Sea peninsula: Abbr. : KOR
The Yellow Sea is the northern part of the East China Sea, and is located between the Korean peninsula and China. The water surface does indeed take on a golden yellow hue at times when it picks up sand particles from sand storms in the Gobi Desert, which lies to the west of the Yellow Sea.
75. Phrase often abbreviated : ET ALIA
Et alii (et al.) is the equivalent of et cetera (etc.), with et cetera being used in place of a list of objects, and et alii used for a list of names. In fact “et al.” can stand for et alii (for a group of males, or males and females), aliae (for a group of women) and et alia (for a group of neuter nouns, or for a group of people where the intent is to retain gender-neutrality).
79. Spat suffix : -ULA
A spatula is a tool or implement used for mixing, lifting or spreading. “Spatula” is the Latin name for the tool, and is a diminutive of the word “spatha” meaning “broad, flat blade”. “Spatha” gives rise to our related term “spade”.
80. Paul’s letters : EPISTLES
St. Paul the Apostle wrote thirteen epistles, all of which are found in the New Testament of the Bible (although authorship of some is disputed).
85. Hodgepodges : OLIOS
“Hochepot” is an Old French word for stew or soup, and this gave rise to an Anglo-French legal term for a collection of property that was gathered prior to being divided up. This became our “hodgepodge” in the early 1400s.
97. Rats : STOOLIES
Stoolies, also called “canaries”, will sing to the cops given the right incentive. “Stoolie” is short for “stool pigeon”. A stool pigeon was a decoy bird tied to a stool so as to lure other pigeons. Originally a stoolie was a decoy for the police, rather than an informer, hence the name.
99. Trains over roads : ELS
Elevated railroad (El)
102. Cartoon collectible : CEL
In the world of animation, a cel is a transparent sheet on which objects and characters are drawn. In the first half of the 20th century the sheet was actually made of celluloid, giving the “cel” its name.
103. Some laptops : HPS
The giant multinational called HP (originally Hewlett-Packard) was founded in 1939 with an investment of $538, in a one-car garage in Palo Alto, California by Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard. The company name would have been Packard-Hewlett if Dave Packard had won a coin toss!
106. “Master of None” star Ansari : AZIZ
Aziz Ansari is an actor and comedian from Columbia, South Carolina who is best known for playing Tom Haverford on the sitcom “Parks and Recreation”. Ansari also stars in the Netflix comedy-drama series “Master of None”.
107. Many a Bob Marley fan : RASTA
I must admit that I don’t really know much about Rastafarianism. I do know that a “Rasta”, such as Bob Marley, is a follower of the movement. Some say that Rastafarianism is a religion, some not. I also know that it involves the worship of Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia.
Bob Marley is the most widely known reggae performer, with big hits such as “I Shot the Sheriff”, “Woman, No Cry” and “One Love”. A little sadly perhaps, Marley’s best selling album was released three years after he died. That album would be the “legendary” album called “Legend”.
110. Toy mentioned in “The Chipmunk Song” : HULA HOOP
Hula hoops were a big craze in the 1950s, but they have been around in various forms at least since the year 500 BCE.
Alvin and the Chipmunks is a cartoon musical group that was created for the recording of a novelty song in 1958 called “The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late)”. The three Chipmunks (Alvin, Simon and Theodore) were all voiced by singer Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. but with a speedy playback to create high-pitched voices.
115. “No legumes for me, please”? : KEEP THE PEAS (from “keep the peace”)
Plants called legumes are notable in that they work symbiotically with nitrogen-fixing bacteria, microorganisms found in the root nodules that convert atmospheric nitrogen into ammonium ions. As nitrogen is an essential component of proteins, legumes are exceptionally rich sources of plant protein.
122. Ness’ feds : T-MEN
A T-man is a law-enforcement agent of the US Treasury (T stands for “Treasury”).
Eliot Ness was the Treasury agent charged with the task of bringing down the notorious Chicago gangster Al Capone. When Ness took on the job in 1930, Chicago law-enforcement agents were renowned for being corrupt, for being on the take. Ness handpicked 50 prohibition agents who he thought he could rely on, later reducing the group to a cadre of 15 and ultimately just 11 trusted men. That group of 11 earned the nickname “The Untouchables”, the agents who couldn’t be bought.
123. News pg. units : COLS
Column (col.)
124. Co-star of TV’s “Dr. Kildare” : MASSEY
Raymond Massey was a Canadian-American actor. As well as having a very successful movie career, Massey was also well known for playing Dr. Gillespie in the TV show “Dr. Kildare” in the 1960s. Offscreen, he served his country in the military in both WWI and WWII.
Dr. Kildare started off as the main character in a series of films in the thirties and forties. He then became the central persona in a fifties radio show, and a very successful sixties television drama starring Richard Chamberlain in the title role.
126. First name in desserts : SARA
In 1935, businessman Charles Lubin bought a chain of three bakeries in Chicago called Community Bake Shops, and soon expanded the operation into seven stores. Lubin introduced a cream cheesecake that he named after his daughter who was only 8-years-old at the time, Sara Lee Lubin. The cheesecake was a hit and he renamed the bakeries to Kitchen of Sara Lee. The business was bought out by Consolidated foods in 1956, but the brand name Sara Lee persists to this day, as does Ms. Sara Lee herself who now goes by the name Sara Lee Schupf.
Down
1. Cold War gp. : KGB
The “Komitet gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti” (KGB) was the national security agency of the Soviet Union until 1991. The KGB was dissolved after the agency’s chairman led a failed attempt at a coup d’état designed to depose President Mikhail Gorbachev.
The term “Cold War” was coined by the novelist George Orwell in a 1945 essay about the atomic bomb. Orwell described a world under threat of nuclear war as having a “peace that is no peace”, in a permanent state of “cold war”. The specific use of “cold war” to describe the tension between the Eastern bloc and the Western allies is attributed to a 1947 speech by Bernard Baruch, adviser to Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
2. Nice nine? : NEUF
“Neuf” is French for “nine”.
The French city of Nice is on the Mediterranean coast in the southeast of the country. Although Nice is only the fifth most populous city in France, it is home to the busiest airport outside of Paris. That’s because of all the tourists flocking to the French Riviera.
3. Ricelike pasta : ORZO
Orzo is pasta that has been formed into granular shapes, much like barley. And indeed, “orzo” is the Italian word for “barley”.
4. Amazon founder : BEZOS
Amazon.com is the largest online retailer in the world. It is also the most largest Internet company in the world by revenue. The company was founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos, in his garage in Bellevue, Washington. I’m a big fan of Amazon’s approach to customer service …
6. Cosmetic surg. option : LIPO
Liposuction (lipo) dates back to the 1920s when it was developed by a surgeon in France. However, the procedure quickly lost favor when a French model developed gangrene after surgery. As a result, it wasn’t until the mid-seventies that modern liposuction took off, after being popularized by two Italian-American surgeons in Rome.
8. React, barely : BAT AN EYE
At least as far back as the 1800s, the term “batting” was used in falconry to describe the fluttering of a hawk’s wings while on a perch or a fist, as if the bird intended to fly away. The usage of “batting” extended to the fluttering of a human’s eyelids, giving us the expressions “batting an eye” and “batting an eyelid”.
9. California-based shoe company : LA GEAR
LA Gear is an athletic shoe manufacturer based in Los Angeles.
11. Span. titles : SRAS
The equivalent of “Mrs.” in French is “Mme.” (Madame), in Spanish is “Sra.” (Señora) and in Portuguese is also “Sra.” (Senhora).
15. City south of Tampa : SARASOTA
Sarasota is a city on Florida’s Gulf Coast. The area was noted on maps in the mid-1700s as “Zara Zote”, which was perhaps a local name. The name became “Sara Sota” when European settlers arrived in the late 1840s, and finally “Sarasota” in 1902.
24. ’50s political monogram : DDE
Dwight D. Eisenhower (DDE) was the 34th US president, but he wanted to be remembered as a soldier. He was a five-star general during WWII in charge of the Allied Forces in the European Theater of Operations (ETO). President Eisenhower died in 1969 at Walter Reed Army Hospital. He was buried in an $80 standard soldier’s casket in his army uniform in a chapel on the grounds of the beautiful Eisenhower Presidential Library in Abilene, Kansas.
32. __-relief : BAS
In bas-relief, an image projects just a little above the background, as in perhaps a head depicted on a coin.
36. He pitched in the majors at age 59 : PAIGE
Satchel Paige pitched baseball in the Negro leagues and then the majors, before retiring in 1966. When he moved to the Major League, Paige was 42 as he pitched his first game, making him the oldest ever “rookie” to play Major League Baseball. When he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971, Paige was the first person to be so honored from the Negro leagues.
37. Gomer and Goober of old TV : PYLES
Jim Nabors was discovered by Andy Griffith and brought onto “The Andy Griffith Show” as Gomer Pyle, the gas station attendant. Famously, Nabors then got his own show called “Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.” Gomer had a cousin on the “The Andy Griffiths Show” called Goober Pyle. Goober was played by George Lindsay. Lindsay had auditioned for the Gomer part, but that went to Nabors.
41. Year Columbus’ fourth and last voyage began : MDII
Christopher Columbus set off on four voyages of exploration from Spain. The initial intent of the expeditions was to establish an ocean link with the Indian subcontinent, by sailing westward. Columbus reached the Americas instead of India, yet insisted on calling the natives “indios”, the Spanish word for “Indians”.
Christopher Columbus made four voyages of discovery across the Atlantic Ocean. The fourth and final voyage started from the Spanish port of Cádiz in 1502, with Columbus in charge of four vessels, including his flagship the Santa Maria. Much of the journey was taken up exploring the eastern coast of Central America. The expedition remained stranded on the island of Jamaica for a full year, after all of the vessels sustained damage in a storm. Columbus finally returned to Spain in 1504.
44. Clemens, familiarly : TWAIN
“Samuel Langhorne Clemens” was the real name of the author Mark Twain. Twain wasn’t the only pen name used by Clemens. Early in his career he signed some sketches as “Josh”, and signed some humorous letters that he wrote under the name “Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass”. The name of Mark Twain came from the days when Clemens was working on riverboats on the Mississippi. A riverboatman would call out “by the mark twain” when measuring the depth of water. This meant that on the sounding line, according to the “mark” on the line, the depth was two (“twain”) fathoms, and so it was safe for the riverboat to proceed.
48. Trite comment : BROMIDE
A bromide is a compound containing a bromide ion i.e. a bromine atom with a singular negative charge. Potassium bromide was commonly used as a sedative in the 19th century, and this led to our use of the term “bromide” to mean “boring cliché” or “verbal sedative”.
50. Small plateaus : MESAS
“What’s the difference between a butte and a mesa?” Both are hills with flat tops, but a mesa has a top that is wider than it is tall. A butte is a much narrower formation, and taller than it is wide.
55. Sport for heavyweights : SUMO
Sumo is a sport that is practiced professionally only in Japan, the country of its origin. There is an international federation of sumo wrestling now, and one of the organization’s aims is to have the sport accepted as an Olympic event.
59. “Norma __” : RAE
“Norma Rae” is a 1979 movie starring Sally Field as Norma Rae Webster in a tale of union activities in a textile factory in Alabama. The film is based on the true story of Crystal Lee Sutton told in a 1975 book called “Crystal Lee, a Woman of Inheritance”.
68. Former Belgian prime minister Di Rupo : ELIO
Elio Di Rupo served as Prime Minister of Belgium from 2011 until 2014. Di Rupo had the honor of being the first openly gay leader of a country in the European Union.
69. Edison contemporary : TESLA
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.
Thomas Edison was a very successful inventor. He held over a thousand US patents in his name. Included in the list of Edison’s inventions is the phonograph, the movie camera and the long-lasting light bulb. He passed away in 1931. There is a test tube at the Henry Ford Museum that supposedly holds Edison’s last breath. Ford convinced Thomas’s son Charles to seal up a tube of air in the room just after the inventor died, as a memento.
71. Old Toyota : SUPRA
The Supra is a sporty car made by Toyota from 1979 to 2002. The Supra is, in effect, a longer and wider Celica.
73. Withhold enthusiasm? : HARBOR ZEAL (from “harbor seal”)
”Sea calf” is an alternative name for the harbor seal, also known as the common seal.
76. “Tootsie” Oscar winner : LANGE
The actress Jessica Lange is also an accomplished and published photographer. She was married for ten years to Spanish photographer Paco Grande. After separating from Grande, Lange was partnered with the great Russian dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov, with whom she had her first child.
“Tootsie” is a hilarious 1982 comedy starring Dustin Hoffman in the title role, a male actor who adopts a female identity in order to land an acting job. Jessica Lange won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance in the film. “Tootsie” was also provided Geena Davis with her first movie role.
77. Silicon Valley giant : INTEL
Intel is the world’s largest manufacturer of semiconductor chips. The company was founded in 1968, and the name “Intel” is a derived from the term “int(egrated) el(ectronics)”. Recognition of the Intel brand has been greatly helped by the success of the “Intel Inside” campaign that started back in 1991.
81. 1990s-2000s Senate majority leader : LOTT
Trent Lott is a political figure who first went to Washington to work as an administrative assistant to Representative William M. Colmer, from Mississippi. After four years working for Colmer, Lott ran for the House seat that Colmer was to leave vacant on his retirement. Colmer endorsed Lott in that election, even though Colmer was a Democrat and Lott ran as a Republican. Lott won the race very handily, launching a 35-year career representing his home state of Mississippi in both the House and the Senate. Lott eventually ran into trouble for remarks he made that were interpreted as being racially motivated, and ended up resigning in 2007.
82. Axlike tool : ADZE
An adze (also “adz”) is similar to an axe, but is different in that the blade of an adze is set at right angles to the tool’s shaft. An axe blade is set in line with the shaft.
84. Box office : RECEIPTS
The term “box office” may date back to Shakespearean times. In those days long past, patrons would deposit fees for seeing theater performances in boxes. The full boxes would be collected and placed in an office called, imaginatively enough, the “box office”.
87. Special forces weapon : UZI
The first Uzi submachine gun was designed in the late 1940s by Major Uziel “Uzi” Gal of the Israel Defense Forces, who gave his name to the gun.
90. “Mephisto Waltz” composer : LISZT
The “Mephisto Waltzes” are four waltzes composed by Franz Liszt. The most commonly performed of the four is “Mephisto Waltz No. 1”. All four pieces feature prominently in the 1971 horror film “The Mephisto Waltz”.
96. Ochoa who was the top-ranked female golfer when she retired : LORENA
Lorena Ochoa is a retired professional golfer from Mexico who was ranked as the number one female golfer in the world from 2007 to 2010.
98. Dublin-born playwright : O’CASEY
Seán O’Casey was an Irish playwright noted for his works exploring the plight of the working class in Dublin. O’Casey’s most famous works are “Juno and the Paycock” and “The Plough and the Stars”.
104. High deg. : PHD
“Ph.D.” is an abbreviation for “philosophiae doctor”, Latin for “teacher of philosophy”. Often, candidates for an earned PhD already hold a bachelor’s and a master’s degree, so a PhD might be considered a “third degree”.
111. Eye layer : UVEA
The uvea is the middle of the three layers that make up the eyeball. The outer layer is called the fibrous tunic, and the inner layer is the retina.
113. Baum princess : OZMA
L. Frank Baum wrote a whole series of books about the Land of Oz, and Princess Ozma appears in all of them except the one that’s most famous, namely “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”.
115. Prominent poultry purveyor : KFC
The famous “Colonel” of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) fame was Harland Sanders, an entrepreneur from Henryville, Indiana. Although not really a “Colonel”, Sanders did indeed serve in the military. He enlisted in the Army as a private in 1906 at the age of 16, lying about his age. He spent the whole of his time in the Army as a soldier in Cuba. It was much later, in the 1930s, that Sanders went into the restaurant business making his specialty deep-fried chicken. By 1935 his reputation as a “character” had grown, so much so that Governor Ruby Laffoon of Kentucky gave Sanders the honorary title of “Kentucky Colonel”. Later in the fifties, Sanders developed his trademark look with the white suit, string tie, mustache and goatee. When Sanders was 65 however, his business failed and in stepped Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy’s. Thomas simplified the Sanders menu, cutting it back from over a hundred items to just fried chicken and salads. That was enough to launch KFC into the fast food business. Sanders sold the US franchise in 1964 for just $2 million and moved to Canada to grow KFC north of the border. He died in 1980 and is buried in Louisville, Kentucky. The Colonel’s secret recipe of 11 herbs and spices is indeed a trade secret. Apparently there is only one copy of the recipe, a handwritten piece of paper, written in pencil and signed by Colonel Sanders. Since 2009, the piece of paper has been locked in a computerized vault surrounded with motion detectors and security cameras.
118. It’s in our genes : DNA
DNA contains nucleotide base sequences called genes, which are blueprints used in the manufacture of proteins needed by the body. Our DNA is also “decorated” with epigenetic markers that modify the activity level of genes, and can even turn genes off. These epigenetic markers respond to environmental conditions, so that organisms with the same DNA can exhibit differences in behavior and appearance, as a result of differing environments. This explains why identical twins develop differences in appearance over time.
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Complete List of Clues/Answers
Across
1. Door feature : KNOB
5. Butcher shop section : SLAB
9. Minor : LESSER
15. Bridge : SPAN
19. “American Gigolo” star : GERE
20. Pocket often filled : PITA
21. Get there : ARRIVE
22. First name at Woodstock : ARLO
23. Liquor store? : BUZZ DEPOT (from “bus depot”)
25. Feeding time for the herd? : GRAZE PERIOD (from “grace period”)
27. Post-Thanksgiving dinner feeling, for many : FOOD COMA
28. City near Düsseldorf : ESSEN
29. Bring down : RAZE
30. Dante’s half-dozen : SEI
31. L.A. Clippers’ org. : NBA
33. Disqualify (oneself), as a judge : RECUSE
35. One of many on most phones : APP
38. Second Amendment concern : FIREARMS
43. Kicks out, in a way : DEPORTS
46. Caribbean island chain? : CAYS BY CAYS (from “case by case”)
49. Hydroelectric project : DAM
51. Capital NNW of Albany : OTTAWA
52. Home subcontractor : TILER
53. Literary tribute : ODE
54. Gets promoted : RISES
56. Like neat freaks : ANAL
57. Ravaged by time : AGE WORN
59. Updates, as a reference book : REISSUES
62. Actress Scala : GIA
63. __ oil : SESAME
64. Sound file extension : WAV
65. 2007 Will Smith sci-fi flick : I AM LEGEND
67. Make change for a five? : GIVE THE ONES OVER (from “give the once over”)
71. Itemized deductions form : SCHEDULE A
74. Yellow Sea peninsula: Abbr. : KOR
75. Phrase often abbreviated : ET ALIA
79. Spat suffix : -ULA
80. Paul’s letters : EPISTLES
82. Trash collectors : ASHCANS
83. Good sound at the garage : PURR
85. Hodgepodges : OLIOS
86. Flower starter : BUD
88. Property owner’s income : RENTS
89. Insurgency troops : REBELS
92. Back at sea? : AFT
93. Funding for cops? : FUZZ BUDGET (from “fussbudget”)
95. Reclusive : ASOCIAL
97. Rats : STOOLIES
99. Trains over roads : ELS
100. Use as support : REST ON
102. Cartoon collectible : CEL
103. Some laptops : HPS
106. “Master of None” star Ansari : AZIZ
107. Many a Bob Marley fan : RASTA
110. Toy mentioned in “The Chipmunk Song” : HULA HOOP
115. “No legumes for me, please”? : KEEP THE PEAS (from “keep the peace”)
117. Slept through the alarm? : OVER-DOZED (from “overdosed”)
119. Phi Delt, e.g. : FRAT
120. Discomfort : UNEASE
121. Gather : REAP
122. Ness’ feds : T-MEN
123. News pg. units : COLS
124. Co-star of TV’s “Dr. Kildare” : MASSEY
125. Drops off : NAPS
126. First name in desserts : SARA
Down
1. Cold War gp. : KGB
2. Nice nine? : NEUF
3. Ricelike pasta : ORZO
4. Amazon founder : BEZOS
5. Spell out : SPECIFY
6. Cosmetic surg. option : LIPO
7. Bit of physics : ATOM
8. React, barely : BAT AN EYE
9. California-based shoe company : LA GEAR
10. Bungles it : ERRS
11. Span. titles : SRAS
12. Jeweler’s fitting tool : SIZER
13. Smoothed : EVENED
14. Agent : REP
15. City south of Tampa : SARASOTA
16. Much-admired cooktop? : PRIZE RANGE (from “price range”)
17. Burn balm : ALOE
18. Silent signal : NOD
24. ’50s political monogram : DDE
26. Blow : ERUPT
32. __-relief : BAS
34. 4-Down, e.g. : CEO
35. Serve in the capacity of : ACT AS
36. He pitched in the majors at age 59 : PAIGE
37. Gomer and Goober of old TV : PYLES
39. Computer symbol : ICON
40. “Awesome!” : RAD!
41. Year Columbus’ fourth and last voyage began : MDII
42. More impertinent : SASSIER
44. Clemens, familiarly : TWAIN
45. __ fork : SALAD
47. Waste : SEWAGE
48. Trite comment : BROMIDE
50. Small plateaus : MESAS
54. Takes back : REVOKES
55. Sport for heavyweights : SUMO
58. Gun, as an engine : REV UP
59. “Norma __” : RAE
60. Fabled northern workers : ELVES
61. Transparent, informally : SEE-THRU
64. Alternative scenarios : WHAT-IFS
66. Favored : GRACED
68. Former Belgian prime minister Di Rupo : ELIO
69. Edison contemporary : TESLA
70. Rejections : NOS
71. Old Toyota : SUPRA
72. Hints : CLUES
73. Withhold enthusiasm? : HARBOR ZEAL (from “harbor seal”)
76. “Tootsie” Oscar winner : LANGE
77. Silicon Valley giant : INTEL
78. Staff members: Abbr. : ASSTS
81. 1990s-2000s Senate majority leader : LOTT
82. Axlike tool : ADZE
84. Box office : RECEIPTS
86. Megaphone kin : BULLHORN
87. Special forces weapon : UZI
90. “Mephisto Waltz” composer : LISZT
91. Idled : SAT
93. Other side : FOE
94. C equivalents : B-SHARPS
96. Ochoa who was the top-ranked female golfer when she retired : LORENA
98. Dublin-born playwright : O’CASEY
101. Scruffs : NAPES
104. High deg. : PHD
105. Blackens, in a way : SOOTS
106. Flight prefix : AERO-
108. Overwhelming quantities : SEAS
109. Electrify, in a way : TASE
111. Eye layer : UVEA
112. Logical omission : LEAP
113. Baum princess : OZMA
114. Jury member : PEER
115. Prominent poultry purveyor : KFC
116. Run smoothly : HUM
118. It’s in our genes : DNA
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