LA Times Crossword 9 Apr 23, Sunday

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Constructed by: Gary Larson & Amy Ensz
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: Back Issues

Themed answers are common phrases reinterpreted as TROUBLES. The second (“BACK”) of each two-word phrase is a synonym of “ISSUE”:

  • 22A Trouble for an orthodox rabbi? : KOSHER PICKLE
  • 27A Trouble with the sewer line? : MAIN SQUEEZE
  • 65A Trouble in a candy store? : SWEET SPOT
  • 100A Trouble for a barista? : CAFFEINE FIX
  • 107A Trouble with an alibi? : STORY PROBLEM
  • 30D Trouble with a movie promo? : TRAILER HITCH
  • 40D Trouble with a Bronx cheer? : RASPBERRY JAM

Read on, or jump to …
… a complete list of answers

Bill’s time: 14m 45s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

11 Smitten Kitchen blogger Perelman : DEB

“Smitten Kitchen” is a cooking blog that Deb Perelman has been publishing since 2006. She parlayed her successful blog into a cookbook, also called “Smitten Kitchen”, which was published in 2012. The fourth person to comment on Deb’s blog was a gentleman named Alex Perelman. After that first meeting, Alex and Deb became friends, and years later got married.

17 Quaint desktop item : ROLODEX

The brand name “Rolodex” is short for “rolling index”, and applies to a device that was invented back in 1956. Even in today’s world that is run by computers, Rolodexes are still quite popular.

21 AC meas. : BTU

In the world of heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), the power of a heating or cooling unit can be measured using the British Thermal Unit (BTU). This dated unit is the amount of energy required to heat a pound of water so that the water’s temperature increases by one degree Fahrenheit.

22 Trouble for an orthodox rabbi? : KOSHER PICKLE

According to Jewish dietary laws, kosher food is fit to eat, and food that is not fit to eat is referred to as treif (or “tref”). The usage of “kosher” has extended to include anything considered legitimate.

31 “Hallelujah” songwriter Cohen : LEONARD

I’ve never been a big fan of the music of Canadian singer Leonard Cohen (don’t all yell at me at the same time!). That said, his 1984 song “Hallelujah” is superb, and I particularly like the version recorded by Jeff Buckley in 1994. Then again, “Suzanne” is pretty special too. Just ignore me …

34 Black-footed pet : FERRET

A group of ferrets is called a “business”. An older collective noun for ferrets is a “fesnyng”.

46 Frosty coat : HOAR

The Old English word “har” meant “gray, venerable, old”, and came into English as “hoar” (and later “hoary”) with the same meaning. The term “hoar-frost” dates back to the 13th century, and reflects the similarity of the white feathers of frost to the gray/white of an old man’s beard.

47 Bingham of “Baywatch” : TRACI

Actress and model Traci Bingham played Jordan Tate on “Baywatch” from 1996 to 1998.

48 Jewelry retailer Alex and __ : ANI

The jewelry retailer Alex and Ani was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Cranston, Rhode Island. The founder Carolyn Rafaelian named her business for her two daughters: Alex and Ani.

50 Perfume name : COTY

Coty is a producer of beauty products that was founded in 1904 in Paris. The company was named for founder François Coty.

51 Sparkly threads : TINSEL

Back in the mid-1400s, the word “tinsel” applied to cloth into which was woven gold or silver thread. The term came from the Middle French word “estincelle” meaning “spark, spangle”, which ultimately derived from the Latin “scintilla” meaning “spark”. By the end of the 1500s, “tinsel” described thin strips of shiny metal. The word “Tinseltown” wasn’t applied to Hollywood until 1972.

52 Guinness superlative : TALLEST

“The Guinness Book of World Records” holds some records of its own. It is the best-selling, copyrighted series of books of all time and is one of the books most often stolen from public libraries! The book was first published in 1954 by two twins, Norris and Ross McWhirter. The McWhirter twins found themselves with a smash hit, and eventually became very famous in Britain hosting a TV show based on world records.

56 Quran scholar : IMAM

The Koran is also known as the “Qur’an” and “Quran” in English. “Qur’an” a transliteration of the Arabic name for the holy text of the Muslim faith. The literal translation of “Koran” is “the recitation”.

58 Inflation fig. : PSI

Pounds per square inch (PSI) is a measure of pressure.

59 Ragtime legend Blake : EUBIE

James Hubert “Eubie” Blake was a composer and pianist from Baltimore, Maryland. Blake was a noted composer and performer of ragtime music. The 1978 musical revue “Eubie!” features his music. Apparently Blake claimed to have started smoking cigarettes at the age of 10 years, and died 85 years later in 1983. Blake’s celebrity status and long life as a smoker was often cited by politicians who opposed anti-tobacco legislation.

60 Port-of-Spain’s island : TRINIDAD

Port of Spain is the capital of Trinidad and Tobago. The city is located on the northwest coast of Trinidad. Cocktail drinkers might like to know that Port of Spain is home to the factory producing the world’s supply of Angostura bitters.

63 Jazz singer Carmen : MCRAE

Carmen McRae was a jazz singer from Harlem in New York City. McRae’s inspiration was singer Billie Holiday, whom McRae met when she was 17 years old.

68 Interstate H-1 locale : OAHU

The westernmost and southernmost “interstate” highway in the US is the H-1 on the island of Oahu.

69 Zoological kingdom : ANIMALIA

Biological classification is a method used to group organisms by biological type. The method uses a hierarchy of nested classes, with an organism being classified with reference to evolutionary traits. The major taxonomic ranks used are:

  • Life
  • Domain
  • Kingdom
  • Phylum (plural “phyla”)
  • Class
  • Order
  • Family
  • Genus (plural “genera”)
  • Species

70 TWA rival : USAIR

From 1953, what we recently referred to as US Airways was called Allegheny Airlines. In the seventies, customers became very dissatisfied with the company’s service levels as it struggled to manage a rapid expansion in its number of flights. These problems earned the airline the nickname “Agony Air”. Allegheny tried to leave the “agony” behind in 1979 and changed its name to USAir, but commuters then just used the nickname “Unfortunately Still Allegheny”. The name was changed again, in 1997, to US Airways. US Airways merged with American Airlines in 2013, and the “US Airways” brand name was gradually replaced with “American Airlines”.

72 Slugger’s stat : RBI

Run batted in (RBI)

84 Dried poblano : ANCHO

An ancho is a dried poblano pepper used in Mexican cuisine. The poblano is a mild chili.

85 Part of Q.E.D. : QUOD

The initialism “QED” is used at the end of a mathematical proof or a philosophical argument. QED stands for the Latin “quod erat demonstrandum” meaning “that which was to be demonstrated”.

86 __ parade : PRIDE

The first gay pride parades were held all on the same weekend in 1970, in New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

88 Open some : AJAR

Our word “ajar” is thought to come from Scottish dialect, in which “a char” means “slightly open”.

89 Cowardly Lion portrayer : LAHR

Bert Lahr’s most famous role was the cowardly lion in “The Wizard of Oz”. Lahr had a long career in burlesque, vaudeville and on Broadway. Remember the catchphrase made famous by the cartoon character Snagglepuss, “Heavens to Murgatroyd!”? Snagglepuss stole that line from a 1944 movie called “Meet the People” in which it was first uttered by none other than Bert Lahr.

92 Djibouti language : SOMALI

Djibouti is a country in the Horn of Africa that is located to the northwest of Somalia, with coasts on the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Once known as French Somaliland, the country gained independence from France in 1977. The newly independent nation adopted the same name as Djibouti, the capital city.

94 Calvary inscription : INRI

The letters written on the cross on which Jesus died were INRI. “INRI” is an initialism standing for the Latin “Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum”, which translates into English as “Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews”.

According to the Gospels of the Christian New Testament, Jesus was crucified just outside the walls of Jerusalem at the location called Golgotha. The Bible translates “Golgotha” as the “place of the skull”. This phrase translates into Latin as “Calvariæ Locus”, from which we get the English name “Calvary”.

96 Tony Stark’s alter ego : IRONMAN

Iron Man is another comic book superhero, this one created by Stan Lee for Marvel Comics. The character is the alter ego of Tony Stark, and has become very famous in recent years since the appearance of the 2008 action movie “Iron Man” starring Robert Downey, Jr. in the title role. Iron Man’s love interest, Pepper Potts, is routinely played by Gwyneth Paltrow in the same series of films.

100 Trouble for a barista? : CAFFEINE FIX

A barista is a person who serves coffee in a coffee shop. “Barista” is Italian for “bartender”.

104 World’s largest peninsula : ARABIA

The Arabian Peninsula (also “Arabia”) is part of Western Asia that is located just north-east of Africa. The peninsula is bordered to the west by the Red Sea, to the northeast by the Persian Gulf, and to the southeast by the Indian Ocean. Most of the Arabian Peninsula is taken up by Saudi Arabia, but also included are Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Yemen. And, it’s the largest peninsula in the world, covering about 1¼ million square miles.

114 Oddball : KOOK

“Kooky” is a slang word meaning “out there, crazy”. The term has been around since the beatnik era, and it may be a shortened version of the word “cuckoo”.

116 Melancholy : SAD

Melancholy is a dejection, depression of spirits. Melancholia was one of the body’s four basic substances of medieval science, the so-called four humors. All diseases were caused by these four substances getting out of balance. The four humors were:

  • Black bile (melancholia)
  • Yellow bile (cholera)
  • Phlegm (phlegma)
  • Blood (sanguis)

118 UV-blocker rating syst. : SPF

In theory, the sun protection factor (SPF) is a calibrated measure of the effectiveness of a sunscreen in protecting the skin from harmful UV rays. The idea is that if you wear a lotion with say SPF 20, then it takes 20 times as much UV radiation to cause the skin to burn than it would take without protection. I say just stay out of the sun …

Down

1 Deluge refuge : ARK

The term “ark”, when used with reference to Noah, is a translation of the Hebrew word “tebah”. The word “tebah” is also used in the Bible for the basket in which Moses was placed by his mother when she floated him down the Nile. It seems that the word “tebah” doesn’t mean “boat” and nor does it mean “basket”. Rather, a more appropriate translation is “life-preserver” or “life-saver”. So, Noah’s ark was Noah’s life-preserver during the flood.

3 Thrilling pair? : ELS

The is a pair of letters L (els) in the word “thrilling”.

4 Some expensive sweaters : MOHAIRS

The Angora goat produces the wool known as mohair. On the other hand, Angora wool comes from the Angora rabbit. Both rabbit and goat are named for Turkey’s capital Ankara, which was known as “Angora” in many European languages.

5 “__ Fideles” : ADESTE

The lovely Christmas hymn “Adeste Fideles” (entitled “O Come, All Ye Faithful” in English) was written by one John Francis Wade in the 13th century. Well, he wrote the original four verses, with four more verses being added over time. A kind blog reader pointed out to me that the English translation is in fact a little “off”. The term “adeste” best translates from Latin as “be present, attend”, rather than “come”. The verb “come” appears later in the lyrics in “venite adoremus”, meaning “come, let us worship”.

6 Maryland athlete, for short : TERP

The sports teams of the University of Maryland are called the Maryland Terrapins, or “Terps” for short. The name dates back to 1932 when it was coined by the university’s president at the time, Curley Byrd. He took the name from the diamondback terrapins that are native to the Chesapeake Bay.

8 Dental care suffix : -PIK

Waterpik is a brand of oral irrigator, a device that uses a stream of water to remove food debris and dental plaque from the teeth. There are claims made that water irrigators are more effective than dental floss.

9 “Tracey Takes On … ” comedian : ULLMAN

Tracey Ullman is an outrageous comic actress from the UK. She moved to the US and brought out her own series in the late eighties called “The Tracey Ullman Show”. Famously, it was from “The Tracey Ullman Show” that “The Simpsons” was spun off in 1989.

12 Santa portrayer in “Elf” : ED ASNER

“Elf” is a comedy movie that was released for the 2003 Christmas season. It was directed by Jon Favreau and stars Will Ferrell in the title role, with James Caan supporting and Ed Asner playing Santa Claus. It’s all about one of Santa’s elves who finds out he is human and goes to meet his father in New York City. The film was adapted into a stage musical that premiered on Broadway during the Christmas season of 2010.

Ed Asner was most famous for playing the irascible but lovable Lou Grant on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and on the spin-off drama “Lou Grant”. Off-screen Asner was noted for his political activism. He served two terms as president of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), and was very involved in the 1980 SAG strike. When “Lou Grant” was canceled in 1982, despite decent ratings, there was a lot of talk that the cancellation was a move by the network against Asner personally. In fact, one of Asner’s activist colleagues, Howard Hesseman (who played Johnny Fever) found that his show “WKRP in Cincinnati” was also canceled … on the very same day.

13 Lobster soup : BISQUE

A traditional bisque is a creamy soup made from crustaceans such as lobster, crab or shrimp. The term “bisque” probably comes from the Bay of “Biscay” off the west coast of France, a nod to the French origin of the soup and its seafood content. So, if you see a vegetable “bisque” in a restaurant, you’ll know that the term is being misused …

15 The whole shebang : A TO Z

The word “shebang” is probably a derivative of “shebeen”, which is an Irish term describing a “speakeasy”, an establishment where liquor was drunk and sold illegally. In English, a “shebang” was originally a “hut” or a “shed”. Just how this evolved into the expression “the whole shebang”, meaning “everything”, is unclear.

18 Pixar’s Pearl and Hank, e.g. : OCTOPI

The characters Pearl and Hank are octopuses (octopodes!) that appear in the “”Finding Nemo” films.

28 “It is a tale / Told by an __”: Macbeth : IDIOT

There is a famous soliloquy in Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” that is spoken by the title character. It is usually referred to as “Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow”, from the second sentence:

She should have died hereafter;
There would have been a time for such a word.
— To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing.

29 Prudential alternative : AETNA

When the healthcare management and insurance company known as Aetna was founded, the name was chosen to evoke images of Mount Etna, the Italian volcano.

30 Trouble with a movie promo? : TRAILER HITCH

The term “trailer” was originally used in the film industry to describe advertisements for upcoming features. These trailers were originally shown at the end of a movie being screened, hence the name. This practice quickly fell out of favor as theater patrons usually left at the end of the movie without paying much attention to the trailers. So, the trailers were moved to the beginning of the show, but the term “trailer” persisted.

32 Zilch : NIL

We use the term “zilch” to mean “nothing”. Our current usage evolved in the sixties, before which the term was used to describe “meaningless speech”. There was a comic character called Mr. Zilch in the 1930s in “Ballyhoo” magazine. Mr. Zilch’s name probably came from the American college slang “Joe Zilch” that was used in the early 1900s for “an insignificant person”.

35 Anklebones : TARSI

The tarsals (also “tarsi”) are the ankle bones, and are equivalent to the carpals in the wrist.

40 Trouble with a Bronx cheer? : RASPBERRY JAM

What is known as a Bronx cheer in the US is called “blowing a raspberry” in other parts of the world. The term “Bronx cheer” is a reference to the sound made by some spectators in Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, in New York City.

42 Monet flowers : LILIES

“Water Lilies” by French Impressionist Claude Monet is actually a whole series of paintings, numbering about 250 in total. The subjects of the works were the water lilies in Monet’s flower garden at Giverny in northern France.

46 Meddles : HORNS IN

To horn in is to intrude, to join in without invitation. The verb was coined around 1880 in American English, and was originally slang used by cowboys.

47 “The Things They Carried” writer O’Brien : TIM

“The Things They Carried” is a 1990 collection of related short stories based on the experiences of author Tim O’Brien as a soldier during the Vietnam War.

49 Tony winner Neuwirth : BEBE

Bebe Neuwirth is a wonderful actress and dancer who famously played Dr. Lilith Sternin, the wife of Dr. Frasier Crane on “Cheers” and “Frasier”. Neuwirth is a fabulous dancer, having studied ballet at Juilliard. In more recent years she has had starring roles on Broadway, and in 2010 played opposite Nathan Lane in “The Addams Family”. Neuwirth also played a leading role on the show “Madam Secretary”.

50 Sanchez who voiced Dora the Explorer : CAITLIN

“Dora the Explorer” is a cartoon series shown on Nickelodeon. Part of Dora’s remit is to introduce the show’s young viewers to some Spanish words and phrases. Dora’s constant companion is an anthropomorphic monkey named “Boots”, because he always wears red boots. She also hangs out with Isa, an iguana.

The title character in the “Dora the Explorer” cartoon series has been voiced by more than one actress over the years:

  • Kathleen Herles (2000–2007)
  • Caitlin Sanchez (2008–2012)
  • Fátima Ptacek (2012–2019)

53 Island feast : LUAU

The Hawaiian party or feast known as a “luau” really dates back to 1819, when King Kamehameha II removed religious laws that governed the eating of meals. These laws called for women and men to eat separately. At the same time as he changed the laws, the king initiated the luau tradition by symbolically eating with the women who moved in his circle.

61 GarageBand device : IPAD

Garageband is an application for Apple products that is used to create music.

62 Oberlin’s state : OHIO

Oberlin, Ohio is a city southwest of Cleveland. The city is home to Oberlin College, the biggest employer in town. Oberlin was named after Jean-Frédéric Oberlin, a pastor from Alsace. Oberlin was the first college in the country to admit African-American students (in 1835), and the first to admit female students (in 1837).

63 __ Kombat: video game franchise : MORTAL

Mortal Kombat is a series of video games launched in 1992 by Midway Games. It’s pretty violent stuff, apparently …

64 Beach shelter : CABANA

Our word “cabana” comes from the Spanish “cabaña”, the word for a small hut or a cabin. We often use the term to describe a tent-like structure beside a pool.

66 Lose it : WIG OUT

The idea behind the expression “to wig out”, meaning “to go crazy”, is that there is so much going on in your brain that it might “lift your hair/wig”.

67 Power measure : WATT

James Watt was a Scottish inventor. He figured prominently in the Industrial Revolution in Britain, largely due to the improvements he made to the fledgling steam engine. The SI unit of power is called the watt, and was named in his honor.

71 Tennis great Monica : SELES

Monica Seles has a Hungarian name as she was born to Hungarian parents in former Yugoslavia. Seles was the World No. 1 professional tennis player in 1991 and 1992 before being forced from the sport when she was stabbed by a spectator at a match in 1993. She did return to the game two years later, but never achieved the same level of success.

73 Rain-__ gum : BLO

Rain-Blo bubble gum balls were introduced in 1940 by Leaf Confectionery, a company that was then based in the Netherlands.

76 Freshwater ducks : TEALS

The beautiful color teal takes its name from the duck called a teal, which has dark greenish-blue (teal) markings on its head and wings.

77 Dress of draped silk : SARI

The item of clothing called a “sari” (also “saree”) is a strip of cloth, as one might imagine, unusual perhaps in that it is unstitched along the whole of its length. The strip of cloth can range from four to nine meters long (that’s a lot of material!). The sari is usually wrapped around the waist, then draped over the shoulder leaving the midriff bare. I must say, it can be a beautiful item of clothing.

79 “__ Shop”: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis hit : THRIFT

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis were a hip-hop duo from Seattle who were active from 2009 to 2017. “Macklemore” is the stage name of rap artist Benjamin Haggerty. Ryan Lewis is a record producer and DJ.

85 The Dave Clark Five, e.g. : QUINTET

The Dave Clark Five came right on the heels of the Beatles in the British Invasion of the sixties. They had a great hit single “Glad All Over” that knocked the Beatles’ “I Want to Hold Your Hand” off the top of the charts in 1964. My favorite tune of theirs, “Bits and Pieces”, followed later that year, and “I Like it Like That” was a hit in 1965. The band’s popularity waned in the late sixties, as they didn’t follow the Beatles and others into the “psychedelic sound”, and they broke up in 1970.

90 Consumer Reports data : PRICES

“Consumer Reports” is a monthly magazine that has been published by Consumers Union since 1936. Consumers Union was established as a non-profit organization with the mission to “test products, inform the public, and protect customers.”

93 Colorful songbird : ORIOLE

The songbird called an oriole builds an interesting nest. It is a woven cup-like structure that is suspended from a branch like a hammock.

100 IRS form experts : CPAS

Certified public accountant (CPA)

102 Soufflé recipe word : FOLD

A soufflé is a French dish that is usually served as a dessert. The verb “souffler” means “to blow, blow up”.

105 Cy Young winner Saberhagen : BRET

Bret Saberhagen is a retired Major League Baseball pitcher who started his career with the Kansas City Royals in 1984. He retired in 2001, while playing for the Boston Red Sox.

109 Guff : LIP

The word “guff” has been around since the late 1800s and means “empty talk”. The term comes from the sense of a “puff of air”.

111 Club __ : MED

Club Méditerranée is usually referred to as “Club Med”. It is a French company that started in 1950 with a resort on the Spanish island of Mallorca in the Mediterranean. It was originally a “club” with annual membership dues. Now it is an operator of numerous all-inclusive resorts located all over the world.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Contemporary : AGE-MATE
8 Place to grab a pint : PUB
11 Smitten Kitchen blogger Perelman : DEB
14 Butterfingers : OAF
17 Quaint desktop item : ROLODEX
18 Not to be trusted : OILY
19 Lyrical : ODIC
21 AC meas. : BTU
22 Trouble for an orthodox rabbi? : KOSHER PICKLE
24 Place to clean up : WASHROOM
26 Appearance : ASPECT
27 Trouble with the sewer line? : MAIN SQUEEZE
29 Fighting : AT IT
31 “Hallelujah” songwriter Cohen : LEONARD
33 Unfeeling : NUMB
34 Black-footed pet : FERRET
36 Public relations effort : SPIN
37 “Mm-hmm” : I SEE
39 Thermometer type : ORAL
43 Rideshare predictions, briefly : ETAS
44 “But to no __” : AVAIL
46 Frosty coat : HOAR
47 Bingham of “Baywatch” : TRACI
48 Jewelry retailer Alex and __ : ANI
49 Makeup pencil target : BROW
50 Perfume name : COTY
51 Sparkly threads : TINSEL
52 Guinness superlative : TALLEST
54 Lasting impression : SCAR
56 Quran scholar : IMAM
58 Inflation fig. : PSI
59 Ragtime legend Blake : EUBIE
60 Port-of-Spain’s island : TRINIDAD
62 Playwright’s prize : OBIE
63 Jazz singer Carmen : MCRAE
65 Trouble in a candy store? : SWEET SPOT
67 Sharpens : WHETS
68 Interstate H-1 locale : OAHU
69 Zoological kingdom : ANIMALIA
70 TWA rival : USAIR
72 Slugger’s stat : RBI
73 Write online : BLOG
74 Warmhearted : KIND
75 Comebacks : RETORTS
78 Squeal : TATTLE
80 Gathering clouds, say : OMEN
82 Boxing champion’s prize : BELT
83 Word of support : YEA
84 Dried poblano : ANCHO
85 Part of Q.E.D. : QUOD
86 __ parade : PRIDE
88 Open some : AJAR
89 Cowardly Lion portrayer : LAHR
90 Green shot : PUTT
91 “How’ve you __?” : BEEN
92 Djibouti language : SOMALI
94 Calvary inscription : INRI
96 Tony Stark’s alter ego : IRONMAN
99 Tire holders : RIMS
100 Trouble for a barista? : CAFFEINE FIX
104 World’s largest peninsula : ARABIA
106 Keeps safe : PROTECTS
107 Trouble with an alibi? : STORY PROBLEM
112 Afflict : AIL
113 “Whoa … that’s food for thought” : DEEP
114 Oddball : KOOK
115 Long and slippery : EELLIKE
116 Melancholy : SAD
117 Farm area : STY
118 UV-blocker rating syst. : SPF
119 Like tea leaves : STEEPED

Down

1 Deluge refuge : ARK
2 Failed fudge, maybe : GOO
3 Thrilling pair? : ELS
4 Some expensive sweaters : MOHAIRS
5 “__ Fideles” : ADESTE
6 Maryland athlete, for short : TERP
7 Kick out : EXPEL
8 Dental care suffix : -PIK
9 “Tracey Takes On … ” comedian : ULLMAN
10 How some musicians play : BY EAR
11 Blue : DOWN
12 Santa portrayer in “Elf” : ED ASNER
13 Lobster soup : BISQUE
14 Soprano woodwind : OBOE
15 The whole shebang : A TO Z
16 Stew : FUME
18 Pixar’s Pearl and Hank, e.g. : OCTOPI
20 Bud : CHUM
23 Winter fishing tool : ICE SAW
25 Converted, in a way : REBORN
28 “It is a tale / Told by an __”: Macbeth : IDIOT
29 Prudential alternative : AETNA
30 Trouble with a movie promo? : TRAILER HITCH
32 Zilch : NIL
34 Achievement : FEAT
35 Anklebones : TARSI
38 Tie the knot : SAY “I DO”
40 Trouble with a Bronx cheer? : RASPBERRY JAM
41 Crushes the final : ACES IT
42 Monet flowers : LILIES
45 Says nay : VOTES NO
46 Meddles : HORNS IN
47 “The Things They Carried” writer O’Brien : TIM
49 Tony winner Neuwirth : BEBE
50 Sanchez who voiced Dora the Explorer : CAITLIN
51 Just a __ : TAD
53 Island feast : LUAU
54 Originate (from) : STEM
55 Sounded like a loose floorboard : CREAKED
57 Got older and wiser, perhaps : MATURED
61 GarageBand device : IPAD
62 Oberlin’s state : OHIO
63 __ Kombat: video game franchise : MORTAL
64 Beach shelter : CABANA
66 Lose it : WIG OUT
67 Power measure : WATT
69 Drink in a mug : ALE
71 Tennis great Monica : SELES
73 Rain-__ gum : BLO
76 Freshwater ducks : TEALS
77 Dress of draped silk : SARI
79 “__ Shop”: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis hit : THRIFT
81 Theme : MOTIF
82 Twofold : BINARY
85 The Dave Clark Five, e.g. : QUINTET
86 Farm area : PEN
87 Comment : REMARK
88 Friendly : AMIABLE
90 Consumer Reports data : PRICES
91 Proof of purchase : BOXTOP
93 Colorful songbird : ORIOLE
95 Have to have : NEED
97 Hazards : RISKS
98 Scruffs : NAPES
100 IRS form experts : CPAS
101 Solo often sung in Italian : ARIA
102 Soufflé recipe word : FOLD
103 Glimpse : ESPY
105 Cy Young winner Saberhagen : BRET
108 “That sounds painful” : OOF!
109 Guff : LIP
110 Make (out) : EKE
111 Club __ : MED