July 8, 2011 Don Gagliardo and C.C. Burnikel

Theme: Twisted NEWS, North, East, West, South describing the DIRECTION of the fill. Each of the ten (10!) theme answers represent a way to read, West to east (left to right); east to west (right to left) ; north to south (top to bottom) and south to north (bottom to top). See a simple diagram here. English for example is East, Hebrew West, Chinese South ,and ancient Korean North. What an wonderfully creative grid, which really makes you shake up your thought process and see things upside down and backwards. All theme answers are connected by the clecho: APT. And the answers flow around the edge of the grid.

Lemonade here, and we have back to back corner denizen puzzles, so let us see what the dynamic duo have wrought.

1A. Aptly, Chinese, e.g.: ASIAN. East Asian. The inscrutable East and an immediate shout out to C.C.'s heritage.

6A. Aptly, Park Avenue area: SIDE. The East Side of Manhattan; everything west of Fifth avenue is West Side, everything east...

10A. Aptly, New Jersey beach phenomenon: WIND. East wind. The wind blowing to the ocean. They even named an airline based in Trenton,  EASTWIND AIRLINES.

37A. "Apt" geographical element needed to complete the answers to 10 of this puzzle's clues: DIRECTION. The unifier smack dab in the middle.

67A. Aptly, Israeli-occupied territory: KNAB. The West Bank, written right to left as Israelis and Arabs alike do.

68A. Aptly, Oval Office site: GNIW. The West Wing of the White House and a long running TV show. Also, present occupant accused of moving the country from right to left.

69A. Aptly, Hollywood locale: TSAOC. The West Coast, California here I come.

1D. Aptly, about 5 percent of the Earth's surface: ACIREMA. North America, bottom to top.

13D. Aptly, Pierre's state: DAKOTA. South Dakota, read top to bottom. Pierre is the capital.

45D. Aptly, "Happy Talk" musical: PACIFIC. South Pacific, the Broadway Musical.

46D. Aptly, Pyongyang resident: NAEROK. North Korean form this CITY .

Across:

14. Treinta � seis: CINCO. Thirty divided by six equals five, Spanish lesson 1.

15. Some Neruda works: ODES. CA has given us some of PABLO NERUDA'S work.

16. Conscription category: ONE-A. Draft status.

17. "What else __?": IS NEW. The structure of this puzzle is new.

18. Tour de force: FEAT. A major accomplishment, like have a puzzle published.

19. Terrible: WACK. This is such a cool clue, really current slang meaning awful, slowly derived from wacky, with the "H" removed to distinguish it from whacked, the mob version of killed.

20. Bona fide: REAL. Literally in good faith in Latin.

21. Wall makeup, maybe: STONES. Gee, I thought PINK FLOYD sang this SONG .

23. Intl. commerce group: WTO. World Trade Organization.

24. Anger: ENRAGE. I hope none of you were put off by the extra layer of thought required to solve this puzzle.

26. Main vessel: SEA BOAT. Once again, the bounding main, and a beautiful PAINTING.

28. '60s chic: MOD.  MEMORIES?

29. Virgil contemporary: OVID. A Roman poet, who had his own course back when I was studying Latin. Speaking of Latin, 32A. Earth, to 29-Across: TERRA. And, 33A. 29-Across's "__ amatoria": ARS. The Art of Love, which you can read part of translated for you in this LINK. I guess it would be a Friday so I could give a little Latin Lesson.

34. Contradict: BELIE.

36. Pop-ups, perhaps: ADS. Does anyone not have a pop-up blocker?

40. Diamond stat: RBI. Baseball, not gemstone.

42. Assault: STORM. I always associate this usage with a tower.

43. Spot in a poker game: PIP. The little things there are three of on a trey.

46. Isn't far from reaching: NEARS.

48. Like some blog comments: Abbr.: ANON. Another great inside joke from our constructors; I feel like I am watching an episode of the old George Burns and Gracie Allen Show.

49. Peruvian pronoun: ESA. Feminine, ESO, masculine.

50. "So soon?": ALREADY. You are back, oh oh.

53. Kind of acid: NITRIC. A highly corrosive acid; horrible. Want to make SOME?

55. Width measure: EEE. My clue Bigfoot?

56. Relax: GO EASY.

59. European wine area: ASTI.

60. "Shoot!": RATS. This was tricky for me.

62. Relative position: RANK. When I started practicing law in Gainesville many years ago, the old southerners would call me Colonel. Not sure why lawyers were so ranked, but I wanted to get a cigar and go cook some fried chicken.

63. "... __ of Bread ...": A LOAF. " A jug of wine, a loaf of bread and thou." A small piece of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, and a classic example of ARS AMATORIA.

64. "__ take arms against a sea ...": Hamlet: OR TO. I do loves me my Shakespeare.

"To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die, to sleep,
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to: 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep."

65. Prado display: ARTE. Oops we slipped into Spanish again; this is the premier MUSEUM  in Madrid.

66. Morels, e.g.: FUNGI. The perfect inside DF reference from our fearless leader, understood by only the corner, but like the PICTURE we all stand fully at attention to salute you in our best Dennis mode.

No rest though, we have more

Down:

2. Latin agreement: SI SENOR. Tricky, not that Latin, the other one. Yes mister!

3. Machine makeup, informally: INNARDS. Guts to me.

4. Amtrak's bullet train: ACELA . Any of you remaining New Englanders ridden it?

5. Word of impatience: NOW. "I want it on my desk...."

6. Lax: SOFT.

7. Prefix with logical: IDEO. IDEOLOGICAL. I wonder why this was not clued Logical head, to lead into....

8. Heads with lists: DEANS. Department heads who put out the List of Honor Students.

9. Big name in compacts: ESTEE. Lauder the make up queen.

10. Eye-popper response: WOW. My favorite, wowee kazowee.

11. Succinctly: IN A WORD. Very succinctly.

12. Bee drawers: NECTARS. No not little bitty knickers but the plant yummies from which bees make their honey.

21. Break off: SEVER. Like diplomatic ties.

22. Warmed the bench: SAT. Yes this (benchwarmer) was my position when I played basketball.

25. "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" setting: GOBI.  Chinese: ??, pinyin: Geb�. Another China reference, and a multi-award winning movie which I found difficult to follow.

27. Certain counter's unit?: BEAN. Bean counter, our euphemism for an accountant.

30. Quebec's Sept-__: ILES. The northernmost seaport in Quebec Province. LINK .

31. Orders: DICTA. From the Latin, I have given you my dicta speech before.

35. Thames landmark: ETON. Crosswordese.

36. Urgent: DIRE. Like STRAITS.

38. It may be dramatic: IRONY. One of many popular literary devices.

39. Luxury hotel: OMNI. They had them in Miami and Atlanta.

40. Freshen one's familiarity with: RELEARN.

41. '70s Robert Blake cop show: BARETTA. Look for his new reality show co-starring Casey Anthony.

43. Public projection: PERSONA. My sarcasm leaves often, non grata.

44. "Are we in?": IS IT A GO. A nice Naddorish misdirection of letters.

47. Slump: SAG.

51. Trendy headgear: DO RAG. I am not sure they are still in.

52. Long: YEARN. I'm burning, yearning for your loving.

54. Foot bone: TALUS. Ankle bone, and the name of Dr. Who's ship?

57. Objector : ANTI. Latin meaning against.

58. Slant, as to a specific audience: SKEW.

61. Graveside sound: SOB. My first thought was why would someone call another an SOB at a graveside.

63. Popeye's behind?: AFT. The sailor man's rear of the ship.  Love this clue, what a great laugh to end what for me has been a great ride, with a really creative visual puzzle.  Until next time.

Answer grid.

Lemonade

1) Constructors' note:

I thought it would be fun to make a theme taking advantage of directional heading of the edge words in the grid. As is usually the case with collaborating, we (mostly Don) developed a central unifier CLOCKWISE, which was changed to DIRECTION at Rich's suggestion. The number of words that can follow the headings are rather limited. We were lucky to get them to join in the corners. Filling was weird at spots, the bottom and left-edge words can be somewhat disorienting.

2) Here is another Hard to Believe picture. Tell in the Comments section who do you think that sweet boy is.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Don Gagliardo and C.C. Burnikel

Theme: Solve This Puzzle. Each theme answer is a 3-word, common, in-the-language phrase beginning with the letters S, T, and P, in that order.

16A. Makes an offer more desirable : SWEETENS THE POT. Adds some inducements or incentives to an offer you can otherwise refuse.

27A. Hopelessly ruined : SHOT TO PIECES. Literally destroyed by firearms, figuratively in a bad state for any reason.

36A. Stock trader's goal : SHORT TERM PROFIT. The average holding period of stocks purchased on the NYSE is about 20 seconds. I am not making this up.

44A. "Satisfaction guaranteed" catchphrase : SURE TO PLEASE. Ad slogan.

58A. Editor's "Whoa!" : STOP THE PRESSES. Wait a minute, something just came up . . .

And the unifier:

58. Auto additives co. that hints at this puzzle's theme : STP. A company that makes engine oil and fuel additives, functional fluids and appearance products for your car or truck, and sponsors racers.

Hi gang, it's JazzBumpa, fresh from rehearsal and finishing off a busy day with an outing with our good friends C.C. and Don. Hop aboard and let's see where they take us.

Across:

1. Religious ritual : MASS. Not just any RITE (my first shot) but the Catholic service.

5. Bell sound : PEAL. Ding-dong, not this appealing belle.

9. Like freshly washed hair : DAMP. Or today's weather in S-E Michigan.

13. Skip : OMIT. My peer group demonstrates what can happen if you OMIT your partner.

14. Used cars : RODE. Nice misdirection - not pre-owned vehicles, but motor trips you have taken.

15. Jacob's twin : ESAU. He was the hungry one who gave up his birthright for a not particularly appetizing meal.

19. Entertain at one's loft : HAVE UP. Or, perhaps, invite someone up to your 6th floor walk-up.

20. Big rig : SEMI. Trucking. The tractor part of a tractor-trailer rig.

21. Lookers : EYERS. Lookers use their eyes, for sure; but "lookers" can also mean "those worth looking at." Here is a cross-section.

22. Org. that provides handicaps : U.S.G.A. U. S. Golf Association. A handicap is a numerical representation of a player's ability. A low number indicates higher ability.

24. They appear before U : R-S-T. Clever clue for an alphabet string.

31. Digital comm. method? : A.S.L. American Sign Language - a nice misdirection - here, digital means "of the fingers," rather than something expressed in discrete numerical form.

34. Santa __ winds : ANA. Strong, hot winds from inland towards the sea. Perhaps our California contingent can elaborate.

35. Dumbbell : STUPE. Someone who's not very bright, possibly even stupid.

41. Former country on its own peninsula : KOREA. I guess it's a former country because it has been severed into two separate current countries.

42. Little piggy, so to speak : TOE. Remember the "low digits" clue from not too long ago?

43. Govt. Rx watchdog : F.D.A. Food and Drug Administration

49. Ranch handle : TEX. Typical nickname for a cowpoke.

50. Votes of support : AYES. I agree.

51. Editor's ruthless overhaul, informally : AX JOB. Not an expression I'm familiar with, though the meaning is clear. "Hatchet job" seems more natural.

55. Blog comment : POST

57. Take to the air : AVIATE. It's plane to see, you can entertain at a much higher elevation than a mere loft.

62. Shock with a stun gun : TASE. "Don't tase me, bro!"

63. Cookie since 1912 : OREO. A cream filled sandwich cookie, in black and white.

64. Ripped : TORE

65. Multicolored : PIED

66. Geeky type : NERD

67. Foul mood : SNIT

Down:

1. Mideast statesman Dayan : MOSHE. MOSHE Dayan was an Israeli military leader and politician.

2. Network marketing giant : AMWAY. Founded by Richard DeVos and Jay Van Andel in Ada, MI.

3. Strainer : SIEVE. Kitchen gadget.

4. Takes the helm : STEERS.

5. SAT practice : PREP. SAT used to stand for something - Scholastic Aptitude or Scholastic Assessment Test. Now it's just a three letter name (like STP) for a standardized test used in college admissions. To PREP is to prepare, which sort of blows the purpose of the test.

6. Long time, even in the singular : EON. Still, two EONS are longer than one.

7. Paper back items? : ADS. More misdirection from the devious duo - not a paper-back book, but the back section of your news paper.

8. "Time to leave" : LET'S GO. �V�monos!" en Espa�ol.

9. Regard : DEEM

10. Aim for : ASPIRE TO. To ASPIRE is to aim high, from the Latin word for desire.

11. Statesman on a 100-yuan note : MAO. Chairman MAO Tse-Tung, former leader of the Chinese Communist Party and author of "The Little Red Book.

12. Delay, with "off" : PUT. Never do today what you can PUT off until tomorrow.

17. Fanny : TUSH. Human hindquarters. Does anyone have background on this word?

18. Clunker : HEAP. Either way, a decrepit automobile, possibly in need of STP.

22. __ Reader: eclectic bimonthly : UTNE. Magazine founded by Eric UTNE and Nina Rothschild UTNE.

23. Surprise with a "Boo!" : STARTLE. I stopped when she startled me, and didn't restart because I was estopped.

25. Shoe mark : SCUFF. A mark on the shoe, not a mark made by the shoe. I almost missed the mark.

26. Lukewarm : TEPID

28. Brittle cake grain : OAT

29. 1-Down's land: Abbr. : ISR. Israel. MOSHE Dayan was an Israeli military leader and politician.

30. Words with date or record : SET A. To SET A record you have to break a record. To SET A date, breaking a date is not usually required

31. Seeks, as permission : ASKS. Could I? Pretty please with sugar . . .

32. Loud tone : SHOUT. Tone of voice. I was thinking of a musical tone.

33. Moto player : LORRE. Peter Lorre portrayed Kentaro Moto, a Japanese detective, in a series of eight movies from 1937 to '39, based on the novels of John P. Marquand.

37. Uncover again : REEXPOSE. Imagine something being uncovered, recovered, then REEXPOSED. The imagery is quite amusing

38. What Tweety tawt he taw : TAT. Tweety is the famous EYER of a certain fat cat.

39. "The Simpsons" bar : MOES. Everything I know about the Simpsons I learned from crossword puzzles.

40. Green shade : PEA. From the eponymous legume.

45. Brewery oven : OAST. This is a kiln for drying hops.

46. Long boa : PYTHON. A snake, not a long, fluffy scarf.

47. Keep for later : SAVE

48. Lives : EXISTS. A singular verb, not a plural noun.

52. "Friday the 13th" villain : JASON. Jason is the slasher in an even dozen horror films. Why is there no Friday the 13th 13?

53. Ferrell's partner in "SNL" Spartan Cheerleaders bits : OTERI. On Saturday Night Live, Cheri OTERI and Will Ferrell, as Arianna and Craig, cheered for their High School chess team.

54. Harass : BESET. Cheri OTERI and Will Ferrell, as Craig and Arianna, BESET their H.S. chess team.

56. Guest columnist's piece : OP-ED. A feature or commentary printed on the page OPposite the EDitorial page.

57. 2007 signer of the richest contract in MLB history : AROD, aka Major League Baseball player Alexander Emmanuel (Alex) RODriguez of the New York Yankees. Of course, we will have baseball!

59. Mai __ : TAI. The rum concoction so familiar to cruciverbalists.

60. Long beginning? : ERE. Beginning signifies a prefix fragment. ERElong is an archaic way of saying "before long."

61. By authority of : PER.

Answer grid.

There you have it folks. Hope you enjoyed the ride. Constructor's notes follow ERElong, PER C.C.

Cheers!

JzB

Constructors' Notes:

Don came up with STP when we were brainstorming a common acronym expanding idea. Rather than going with THE for all the middle words, we tried our best to come up with different S* T* P* phrases. The long theme entries (13x2, 14x2 & 15) made the gridding challenging. Don tried various grids and finally decided to go with Rich's corner blacks suggestion (the three black squares along the top right and lower left edges of the grid). Don call them side pockets. Hope it's a smooth solve for you. A big Thank-you to eddyB for the quick and detailed STP info in our early brainstorming session.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011, Don Gagliardo and C.C. Burnikel

Theme: Swee' Pea. The four theme entries all have the word "pea" split between two words in the phrases. A clever, fun theme from our Dynamic Duo, even if you don't like split pea soup.

17A.Ali ring trademark : ROPE-A-DOPE. Made famous in the '74 Foreman match, where Ali laid against the ropes and let Foreman hit him, until Foreman tired and Ali struck the deciding blow.  

23A. Epcot's "giant golf ball" : SPACESHIP EARTH. I think I would have to use at least a 1-wood on that...

37A. Painter of outdoors scenes : LANDSCAPE ARTIST. Like Clear Ayes! 

50A. Rolling over, so to speak : GIVING UP EASILY. I wasn't going to roll over and let this puzzle beat me, no sir!

And the unifier:

62A. Soup ingredients, and a hint to the hidden theme in 17-, 23-, 37- and 50-Across : SPLIT PEAS

Marti here, trying to fill in, but really, honestly, who could ever fill Santa's shoes? Let's hope his computer is out of sick bay soon!  But I am so happy to have the chance to blog another one of Don and C.C.'s puzzles!

So here's the scoop on all the rest:

Across:

1. Ivan the Terrible, e.g. : TSAR. Ivan IV Vasilyevich. Intelligent, devout, but given to rages and irrational fits of temper. His contemporaries called him Ivan Groznyi (Ivan "Redoubtable" or "Severe"), which means more in lines of might and power, rather than terror or cruelty.

5. Deadly snakes : ASPS. In Egypt, the asp was a symbol of royalty, often shown in hieroglyphs on kings' tombs.

9. Simple hoops shot : LAYUP. Sure, simple for Michael Jordan. For me, at 5'4", not so easy.

14. Restrictive membership word : ONLY. "Members only". Also, a brand of clothing.

15. Digital water testers? : TOES. I loved this clue. Do you stick a toe in the water to test how cold it is, or do you dive right in? 

16. Make laugh : AMUSE. I am easy to amuse...

19. Alumnae, e.g. : WOMEN. Not girls!

20. La la lead-in : OOH 

21. Conestoga-made grooves : RUTS. Conestoga wagons were used by pioneers traveling west. And they made lots of ruts.

22. Church-owned Dallas sch. : SMU . Southern Methodist University.

28. Victoria in Africa : LAKE. Not this one.

29. Comics scream : EEK

30. Easter basket delivery gait? : HOP. Like a bunny. Cute imagery.

32. Miracle Mets' stadium : SHEA. OK, it's C.C., so I know we're going to have baseball involved in the clues/answers. The 1969 World Series was between the NY Mets and the Baltimore Orioles with the winning game at Shea Stadium. 

35. Eyelid annoyance : STYE 

36. Stat for Cliff Lee : ERA. Earned Run Average. Cliff Lee is a Major League baseball pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies. The stat is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number of innings pitched and multiplying by nine. (You should know that I know nothing about baseball!!)

42. Coffee hour vessel : URN. Boy, I could use an urn of coffee right about now...

43. It was often worn over a tunic : TOGA. Who knew? I thought they were only worn at frat parties...

44. Rocks to refine : ORES 

45. Academic address letters : EDU 

46. Carnival resort : RIO. de Janeiro. This looks like fun! 

47. Battling group : ARMY 

56. Fingers for the D.A. : IDS. Identifies, as a perp.

57. Opposite of pre- : POST 

58. Subside, with "down" : DIE . Or "dah", as my southern DH would say...And a nice clecho with 59. Subside : ABATE.  

64. Des Moines resident : IOWAN

65. Slithery fish : EELS. Ah, got me.  "Fish" is plural here. 

66. "Heck!" : DARN.  Drat, dang, damn...

67. Lived : DWELT. Past participle of dwell, or simple past tense. Also, "dwelled".

68. Home run jog : TROT. More baseball !

69. To boot : ALSO .

We have to do the downs, to boot!

Down:

1. Bulls in Argentina : TOROS. My lawnmower is a real bull when it comes to getting the yard done!

2. Poke around : SNOOP. 

3. Pack leader : ALPHA. OK, I just can't resist this one.

4. Corned beef bread : RYE . With a side of slaw, please.

5. Just after sunset : AT DUSK

6. Relieve : SOOTHE

7. "For those who think young" soft drink : PEPSI 

8. Duluth-to-Dubuque dir. : SSE 

9. Member of Congress, say : LAWMAKER 

10. Love in Lille : AMOUR. Splynter, aren't you glad you're not on today? 

11. "Tasty" : YUM.  (I'm still thinking about that corned beef on rye...with a side of slaw.)

12. Exploit : USE. I was thinking of feat . But this is a different USE of the word USE.

13. Con's home : PEN. Short for penitentiary.

18. Vicinity : AREA 

22. "Gotta run!" : SEE YA.  (Not yet...I have to finish the downs.)

24. Dressed : CLAD

25. Red Rose : PETE. Sheez, more baseball.  This is like a foreign language to me, but I am learning! Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds was nicknamed "Charlie Hustle". His gambling on baseball got him into heaps of trouble

26. "A League of __ Own" : THEIR. Aww, c'mon C.C., you're killing me here with the baseball!  (Just kidding: this was actually a wonderful movie about sisters who are professional baseball players during WWII.)

27. Silver in old Westerns : HORSE. Whew, back to something I know about. The Lone Ranger's horse. Hi-Yo Silver, awaaaaay!

31. Loving strokes : PATS . Or, the New England football team.

32. Swing around : SLUE. We had this discussion a while ago, no? 

33. Game start? : HARD G. The word "game" begins with a hard consonant. I have a feeling it was C.C. who came up with this entry...

34. Listless feeling : ENNUI 

35. Hot tub : SPA 

38. Grating : STRIDENT. All I can think of is Edith's voice in "All in the Family".

39. Nickel and dime : COINS.  Great clue.

40. Wide-eyed : AGOG. From the old French "en gogues" meaning in jest, good humor or joyfulness.

41. Kids' stuff : TOYS. r Us

47. 17-mission NASA program : APOLLO. Did not know they had 17, but knew that Apollo went to at least 13.  So I wagged this one.

48. Fight back : RESIST 

49. Damon of "Invictus" : MATT. He is becoming the Pola Negri of modern crosswords, no?  

51. Indispensable : VITAL 

52. Berth place : UPPER. Clever play on "birth place". The UPPER berth is the one you have to use the little ladder for on the overnight train. But it's not so bad, even if you have to share with someone.

53. Perfect : IDEAL 

54. Some storytellers : LIARS. No, really??

55. Like some limited-choice questions : YES/NO 

59. Help : AID 

60. Gift decoration : BOW. I always have trouble tying those things. Thank goodness for the ready-made ones at Hallmark!  

61. Blow away : AWE 

62. Tennis unit : SET 

63. iPhone, e.g. : PDA. Personal digital assistant. It kinda makes me feel important, when you put it like that...

Answer grid.

Say Good Night, Marti.

Note from C.C. & Don:

Preparing Split Pea soup inspired this theme. We originally had HELP EACH OTHER instead of GIVING UP EASILY as 4th theme entry. Rich pointed out the differences between "in the language" and "Ordinary language" phrases and explained how former made for a strong theme entry. The theme idea seemed easy on the surface, but when it came time to matching up phrase lengths, etc., this was a challenging theme to put together. Which is your favorite fill? Mine is 33D of course.

Sunday, May 15th, 2011 Don Gagliardo & C.C. Burnikel

Theme: SALE ! Today's theme relates to the "two month" period preceding the end of business for a company filing Chapter 11 -

23A. Week 1 : BUY ONE GET ONE FREE

39A. Week 2 : INVENTORY REDUCTION

57A. Week 3 : DEEP DISCOUNTS

67A. Week 4 : HUGE SAVINGS

82A. Week 5 : BLOW-OUT PRICES

97A. Week 6 : STORE-WIDE CLEARANCE

115A. Week 7 : EVERYTHING MUST GO

129A. Week 8 : CLOSED

I was there for the final days of a local hardware/paint store Pergament in 2001.

Splynter, filling in for today's blogger, who is actually today's co-constructor - C.C.~!

See both C.C. and Don's note at the end of the comments.

And Away We Go~!

ACROSS:

1. Lifetime job : CAREER

7. "Let __ eat cake!" : THEM

11. "__ meant was ..." : ALL I

15. "Loser" rocker : BECK - music; for me, his first 'hit', and "I" get mentioned at 2:00

19. Commonly thorny tree : ACACIA

20. Whit : IOTA

21. Like people in pews : LAIC - not 'of the cloth'

22. Wheel shaft : AXLE

26. No View, No Touch Trap maker : D-CON rat traps

27. Sis's sib : BRO

28. Like an ant. : OPPosite - antonym

29. Org. that can help you get started : AAA quite some clechos today;  4D. Car starter? : ECO. Ecocar.

30. Fastens, as a ship's rope : BELAYS  "Belay that belaying~!" I think of Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation

32. One-named New Ager : YANNI - lots of music today, but this one y'all can link for yourselves....

35. Some strings : VIOLAS

38. Common Latino newspaper name : EL SOL

45. Catch word? : HOWEVER - don't "get" it

48. Beans spiller : STOOLIE

49. Many NASA astronauts were in it : BSA - Boy Scouts of America - tricky; I was looking for something much more "rocket science" - then again, isn't that a badge?  I was never in.

50. "__ seen the light!" : I'VE

51. 1997-2006 U.N. leader : ANNAN

54. Foot or fathom : UNIT - of measure, in this case length; a fathom is 6 feet

55. Team : SQUAD

61. "Understood" : I HEAR YA

63. Els with clubs : ERNIE

64. 1968 U.S. Open champ : ASHE -, Arthur - the Queens, NY US Open tennis stadium is named for him

65. Put into law : ENACT

66. Group with the 1979 #1 hit "Babe" : STYX - sorry, but "lame", no link

71. __ world : ARAB

75. Silly : INANE - crossword standard

77. Lincoln in-law : TODD

78. Refrain syllables : TRA LA

79. Yacht feature? : SILENT C - love this, had the 'silent' part, and wondered if it was the "A" or "H", too - technically, it's "YOT"

86. Degrade : ABASE

87. Zeus' jealous wife : HERA

89. Chicago Eight defendant : SEALE - Bobby, the Black Panther co-founder, was the eighth member, and had his trial severed from the other seven

90. Mess up : ERR

91. Club __ : MED - I remember the commercial, the "antidote to civilization"

92. "Li'l Abner" and "Doonesbury," e.g. : SATIRES

95. Inner-city genre : GANGSTA - as in gangsta rap

102. Exeter's county : DEVON - map

103. As much as one cares to see : EYEFUL - went to Hooters for the hockey game, got my EYE FULL...

104. They may be childproofed : HOMES - I never had a baby, but I have been in these types of homes, where everything has a secondary catch on it

108. Place saver : DOG-EAR - as a book page

110. Got the gold : WON

112. __ Grande : RIO

113. Word to a masseuse : AAH

114. The mi. in Mile-High City : ELEVation

122. Ax : FIRE - Canned, 86'ed

123. Floor piece : TILE

124. Yahtzee quintet : DICE

125. Hall of Fame subject of "The Last Boy" : MANTLE - baseball, I am sure a C.C. contribution, Mickey Mantle

126. Lob : TOSS

127. Stops hedging : OPTS

128. Ton : SCAD

DOWN:

1. Hack : CABBY - hesitated, wanted CABBIE at first

2. Legend creator : ACURA -this car

3. Silky synthetic : RAYON

5. German article : EIN and, 33A. Freudian "never" : NIE

6. Arctic explorer John : RAE

7. Men's wear accessory : TIE PIN

8. East Asian stew : HOT POT - Wiki

9. Ike's command: Abbr. : ETO - Another crossword standard, the European Theater of Operations

10. "Oh, brother!" : MAN

11. Communications opener : ALFA - as in the pilot's alphabet, BRAVO CHARLIE, etc.

12. Zhivago's love : LARA

13. It's not good to get caught in one : LIE

14. Cool color for contacts : ICE BLUE - gotten cliche as 'vampire'

15. Rotten apples, so to speak : BAD LOT

16. Legendary sword : EXCALIBUR  - have to link this

17. Sate : CLOY - I thought this meant annoy, as in "I forget his name, and it cloys at me"

18. 50-year-old dolls : KENS - D'oh~!, I was thinking Barbie

24. Rules : GOVERNS

25. Routine grounder, say : EASY OUT - baseball again

31. F1 neighbor : ESC - keyboard, top row

34. Intrude upon, as one's space : INVADE

36. Part of 81-Down : LOS Angeles

37. Gallery fare : ART

38. Cutting, maybe : EDITING

40. One of a Latin trio : VENI - Veni, vidi, vici - I didn't know this, but "I came, I smoked, I quit" - the quitting part 4 years ago.

41. Silver and Glass : RONs

42. Yale Bowl rooter : ELI and 93D. Tarzan portrayer Ron : ELY

43. Anthem start : O SAY can you see...

44. Zippo : NADA - anyone else think lighter first?

45. Keeps secret : HIDES immediate clecho;

46. Hardly secret : OVERT

47. Squirt : WEENY

52. Confined, after "in" : A CAGE - this rocks

53. Inhaler? : NOSE - clecho, two "in" clues in a row

55. Dry, as wine : SEC

56. Doha native : QATARI - map #2

58. Playful sprites : PIXIES - had NAIADS at first

59. Hesitating sounds : UHS - had UMS first, made my Arthur "ASME" (64A)

60. "Peachy!" : NEAT-O

62. Owns : HAS

65. Assume, as a role : ENDUE

67. Bowler, for one : HAT

68. Let loose : UNCHAIN - gotta link it

69. Altar assurance : VOW immediate clecho;

70. Altar assurances : I DOs - and I had them reversed; I DO, then VOWS

72. Darts : RACES

73. It may be red : ALERT - Star Trek again

74. Iraqi seaport : BASRA

76. Manila-to-Seoul dir. : NNE

78. Dug-out area : TRENCH - ah, semi-baseball

79. __ Club: Costco rival : SAM'S

80. "Yeah, right!" : I BET

81. Six-time World Series-winning MLB franchise : L.A. DODGERS

82. Party wheel : BRIE - cheese wheel

83. It may be grand : LARCENY - as OPPosed to Petit

84. Manila tongue : TAGALOG - I have heard the word

85. Blueprint : PLAN

88. Airport stat. : ETD - Estimated Time of Departure

92. Affirmed in court : SWORE TO

94. "Get it?" : SEE?

96. Old Prizm maker : GEO - interesting history

98. "Speed" actor : REEVES

99. Uncle Tom rescues her from drowning : EVA - from the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe - and an awesome song from Warrant

100. Aardvarks' land : AFRICA - Argyle had this Monday; linked one of my favorite all-time songs

101. Undone : RUINED

105. Dillon and Damon : MATTs

106. Hole in one, e.g. : EAGLE - the rarest of eagles, or "two under par" on a par three

107. Did a smithy's job : SHOED

108. Nimble : DEFT - I think the word sounds DEFT; crafty and skilled

109. Mixed bag : OLIO

110. Whip mark : WELT

111. Mined metals : ORES

116. Big shot : VIP

117. Favre's 508, briefly : TDs - Brett Favre, Quarterback, and his 1A touchdown passes

118. Fruit drink named for a vitamin : Hi-C

119. III x DCC : MMC - Roman math, 3 X (500+100+100) = 2100(1000+1000+100)

120. "Friendly skies" co. : UAL - United Airlines

121. __-Cat : SNO - image

Answer grid.

Splynter

Notes from C.C. & Don:

This "Sale" idea first came to us last August. We had to change a few theme entries that are either too plain or did not resonate with Rich. We originally had different clues for the theme entries. Rich went a step forward and came up with the "Week 1, 2..." idea. Putting the final punch line CLOSED in the lower right corner created the greatest challenge to completing the fill smoothly. It took 8 months of back and forth with Rich before the puzzle was finally accepted.