Theme: "Totally Q-less" — Theme answers are familiar phrases with a QU sound changed to a W sound.
[Note: This is the puzzle that appears in the Sunday L.A. Times newspaper. If you don't get the paper, you can find the puzzle here. Scroll down to see today's syndicated puzzle.]
Theme answers:- 23A: Publicity photo from the film "Tombstone"? (WYATT ON THE SET).
- 31A: Basket? (THE WICKER PICKER UPPER).
- 50A/82A: One way to describe a home run derby? (HERE A WHACK THERE A WHACK / EVERYWHERE A WHACK WHACK).
- 65A: Warning on a Tim the Tool Man drill? (SOME ASSEMBLY REWIRED).
- 97A: Reacting to your first jog in 10 years? (FEELING A LITTLE WHEEZY).
- 112A: What they called Shakespeare after that really bad haircut? (PORCUPINE WILL).
Everything Else — 1A: King's place (CASTLE); 7A: Goya subject (MAJA); 11A: "Think of it!" ("IMAGINE!"); 18A: "Carefree" star (ASTAIRE); 20A: Ad of a sort (PROMO); 22A: Roustabout, e.g. (LABORER); 25A: Disperse (SCATTER); 26A: Shorter mo. (SEP.); 27A: Outdo (TOP); 28A: Yale students (ELIS); 30A: Pressure preceder (ACU-); 40A: Solidarity guy (LECH); 41A: Okinawan port (NAHA); 42A: Burly Burl (IVES); 43A: Nabokov novel (ADA); 44A: Do a mining job (SMELT); 47A: D.C. fundraiser (PAC); 48A: Strap (REIN); 49A: Whirled (SPUN); 56A: Arabia's Gulf of ___ (OMAN); 57A: Injured (HURT); 58A: Criticizes, slangily (RAPS); 59A: Questionnaire answers (YESES); 60A: Roast holder (POT); 61A: Ex-Laker outlined on the NBA logo (WEST); 62A: Window feature (SILL); 63A: What he is (MALE); 71A: Like Cheerios (OATY); 72A: Competes (VIES); 73A: Nurse Jackie portrayer (EDIE); 74A: Make the effort (TRY); 76A: Deep sleep (SOPOR); 79A: VMI program (ROTC); 80A: It rests on the violin (CHIN); 81A: Citi Field replaced it (SHEA); 87A: Red inside (RARE); 88A: 1985 U.S. Open winner Mandlikova (HANA); 89A: Joke (RIB); 90A: "Toy Story 3" voice (HANKS); 91A: "___ your dime" (IT'S); 92A: D.A. in "The Dark Knight" who becomes Two-Face, Harvey ___ (DENT); 93A: Come (from) (HAIL); 95A: Raced (SPED); 103A: St. crosser (AVE.); 104A: Wood strip (LATH); 105A: ___ Paulo (SÃO); 106A: Dead battery ... who ya gonna call? (AAA); 108A: In party mode (FESTIVE); 117A: Shunned (AVOIDED); 118A: Nosy one (SNOOP); 119A: "___ be seen again" (NEVER TO); 120A: Signs you unfurl (BANNERS); 121A: Decreases (EBBS); 122A: Do an usher's job (RESEAT); 1D: Gag answer to "Why are birds so noisy"? (CAWS); 2D: So far (AS YET); 3D: Infection type (STAPH); 4D: Make lace (TAT); 5D: English ___ (LIT); 6D: Provocative, in a way (EROTIC); 7D: Speed abbr. (MPH); 8D: Everyday verb (ARE); 9D: Mr. Pulitzer (JOSEPH); 10D: Flyer's first name (AMELIA); 11D: They, in Paris (ILS); 12D: 1990s dance craze (MACARENA); 13D: Early calculator (ABACUS); 14D: Rose (GOT UP); 15D: NYC subway (IRT); 16D: Born (NÉE); 17D: Speak out of turn, e.g. (ERR); 19D: Tennyson's Arden (ENOCH); 21D: Connected to the ear (OTIC); 24D: Toll rd. (TPK.); 29D: They schuss to be happy (SKIERS); 32D: Actress Page of "Juno" (ELLEN); 33D: D.C. PBS station that produces Jim Lehrer's "NewsHour" (WETA); 34D: Pass (a law) (ENACT); 35D: Pool hall device (RACK); 36D: "Stop the World - I Want To Get Off" girl (EVIE); 37D: Half a 1960s foursome (PAPAS); 38D: Draw out (EDUCE); 39D: Admiral and general, for example (RANKS); 44D: Buy things (SHOP); 45D: Staff notes (MEMOS); 46D: Muse with a lyre (ERATO); 47D: Hairlines? (PARTS); 48D: E-mail button (REPLY); 49D: Fine (SHEER); 51D: Major U.S. farm export (WHEAT); 52D: Bold, saucy girl (HUSSY); 53D: Neighbor of SoHo (TRIBECA); 54D: Corridors (HALLS); 55D: "Generation of Vipers" author Philip (WYLIE); 61D: Pooped (WEARY); 62D: Bash, biblically (SMITE); 63D: Battlefield shout (MEDIC); 64D: Quick as ___ (A WINK); 66D: Bond before Dalton (MOORE); 67D: City in central Portugal (EVORA); 68D: Drew Barrymore went through it at 13 (REHAB); 69D: Historical Allen (ETHAN); 70D: Rubbish (DRECK); 75D: Tibetans own them (YAKS); 76D: Font flourish (SERIF); 77D: Egg-shaped (OVATE); 78D: Intrinsically (PER SE); 79D: Car for the duration (RENTAL); 80D: Icy sensation (CHILL); 81D: Hue (SHADE); 83D: Sometime or another (WHENEVER); 84D: Loiter, nowadays (HANG); 85D: Legal document (WRIT); 86D: Kid's sliding board cry (WHEE); 92D: Cause to disagree (DIVIDE); 93D: ___ out of the park (HIT ONE); 94D: Pulsating (ATHROB); 95D: Lover boy (SWAIN); 96D: One initiating a call (PHONER); 98D: "Amo, amas" class (LATIN); 99D: Cat resting places (LAPS); 100D: Medium ability? (ESP); 101D: The Congo, previously (ZAIRE); 102D: Conference site of 1945 (YALTA); 107D: Oodles (A LOT); 108D: Terrif (FAB); 109D: Sister of Zsa Zsa (EVA); 110D: Part of the Holy Trinity (SON); 111D: Redundancy removers: abbr. (EDS.); 113D: It has corn all over it (COB); 114D: Word with lock or mock (UPS); 115D: The day before (EVE); 116D: "Scream" director Craven (WES).
5 comments:
Managed to finish without googling, so that's a plus. Took me a long time to "get" the theme, but even then sometimes the Q is replaced by W and sometimes by WH, and I couldn't figure out the difference, if there is one. Nothing too much stands out. OATY crossing WHEATY was cute. Probably a coincidence, but when I googled EVORA after I finished the puzzle I found that it's also a car (Lotus), and it's right next to RENTAL. Even after I was done with the puzzle, I couldn't understand how PERSE meant intrinsic--it took googling it to finally see it as PER SE, which is now obvious.
Took a little longer than usual due to the NW corner. LECH crossing with ENOCH hung me up, plus originally having palace instead of CASTLE.
But it was entertaining. Thanks Merl and PG.
I finished it well before the Dodgers game, but they aren't much to watch these days.
One of the things I like about doing the Sunday puzzle on paper instead of online is reading the constructor's note, in this case a hint from Merl as to the theme.
The PERSE/SOPOR cross defeated me. Nothing worse than having only one empty box on the page and not being able to finish it.
PG, do you know how many unpublished Reagles remain?
Since I was able to complete the whole thing with no look-ups and only two erasures (49D, swell to SHEER for "fine", and 70D, dross to DRECK for "rubbish") I felt compelled to do a little analysis to try and figure out why it was so easy.
All I could come up to start with was this: If you can break the theme quickly, (in this case the 2-liner was as close to a freebie as you can get. And the title made it a snap), and the fill isn't atrociously hard (it was mostly just plain atrocious), then things should go well.
And then it probably didn't hurt that I was on the Tombstone, AZ website for quite a while last night, or that I wheeze after my less-than-daily walk/jogs, or that I have seen "Shakespeare in Love" (and watched Will writing with a quill) several dozen times.
WOTD: MAJA. Simply because I've learned not to write in a 4-letter answer to any Goya-based clue without first checking for a cross that will tell me whether its MAJA or nude. Do I get a Pulitzer Prize now?
I found it pretty easy, without really thinking about the theme. My only WTF was MAJA but all the downs behaved themselves. PER SE always looks wrong to me but SOPOR was a word I knew.
The double line theme answer was a clean fill for the second line so really allowed me to increase my speed. EVIE, WYLIE, NAHA, and EVORA were learning moments. WETA doesn't belong in there, but can't see an easy way to clean that section up.
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