SUNDAY, February 14, 2010 — Natalie Dyvens

Theme: You'll Never Guess — You're right! Valentine's Day! Theme answers are all anagrams of today's holiday.

Theme answers:

• 24A: Run-down old Roman truck? (SEEDY LATIN VAN).
• 32A: Tax expiration headline? (LEVY IS AT AN END).
• 59A: Out-of-work Baltic natives? (NEEDY LATVIANS).
• 80A: Attack the Falkland Islands' capital? (INVADE STANLEY).
• 106A: Cowgirl in a crib? (TINY DALE EVANS).
• 118A: Some gondola passengers? (LADY VENETIANS).
• 16D: Shrink everyone wants to be like? (ENVIED ANALYST).
• 58D: This puzzle's theme — each of seven answers is a 77-Down of it (VALENTINE'S DAY).
• 77D: Roped, to Pedro (ANAGRAM).

And a Happy Valentine's Day to everyone. I hope that if you're not able to spend the day with a loved one that you're at least eating a lot of chocolate.

A couple tricky/misleading clues in today's puzzle.

• 40A: Chelsea zoo opening? (ZED). Chelsea is an area of London, so the people there would say the word zoo starts with the letter zed.
• 115A: John, to Paul (LOO). This one's pretty cute. Your first thought was the Beatles, right? Well, that puts you in the right part of the world. Again, loo is a British word for bathroom (or john).
• 86D: Price of many operas (LEONTYNE). See how the word price is right at the beginning of the clue? That's to trick you into thinking it's not a proper name, but that it's capitalized only because it's the first word.
• 93D: SUV part (UTILITY). Not part of an SUV like steering wheel or axle or brakes, but part of the abbreviation SUV: Sports Utility Vehicle.
• 112D: Sandwich guy? (EARL). Did you know that an earl's wife is called a countess? There's no feminine form of earl.
• 114D: Owed money (DEBT). Owed, in this case, is an adjective, not a verb.

I know there's a ton of other stuff to talk about in this puzzle. (For example, did you notice anything odd about the constructor's name??) So please have at it in the comments. See you there.

Crosswordese 101: A surprisingly small amount of crosswordese in today's puzzle. Usually, the Sundays are just full of the stuff. But the only crosswords I found in the puzzle that we've already covered is OLAV I (50A: 10th century Norwegian king), AAR (102A: Berne's river), and APERY (47D: Mimic's talent). So let's just talk for a minute about Anaïs NIN. She's frequently clued just like today, 105D: Diarist Anaïs. Other than that, it's good to know a few of her titles: "Henry & June," "Seduction of the Minotaur," "Collages," and "Delta of Venus" are the most common.

Everything Else — 1A: Register (SIGN IN); 7A: '70s-'80s FBI sting aimed at corrupt politicians (ABSCAM); 13A: Be there (ATTEND); 19A: Frito-Lay corn snacks (CHEETOS); 21A: Secret (ARCANE); 22A: Biden predecessor (CHENEY); 23A: Crisis phone service (HOTLINE); 26A: Ajar, in poems (OPE); 27A: Drudge (SERF); 29A: Salem-to-Portland dir. (NNE); 30A: CNN launcher (TBS); 31A: Desperate (DIRE); 36A: Start of a French oath (SACRE); 38A: Sailing or whaling (ASEA); 39A: CFO's degree, maybe (MBA); 42A: Mug with a hinged lid (SEIDEL); 45A: "G.T.O." singers __ & the Daytonas (RONNY); 47A: Million-millennia period (AEON); 48A: Schooners' contents (ALES); 51A: Numerical entry aid (KEYPAD); 53A: A big fan of (INTO); 55A: Quick cut (SNIP); 56A: Service abbr. (NAV.); 64A: Jolson and Jarreau (ALS); 65A: List ender: Abbr. (ET AL.); 67A: "__ you sure?" (ARE); 68A: Stephanie's dad (EFREM); 69A: Easy to use (WIELDY); 71A: Ginger ale type (PALE DRY); 73A: Not seen as much (RARER); 74A: Near the beginning (EARLY ON); 75A: Bullfight cheer (OLÉ OLÉ); 76A: English cattle breed (DEVON); 77A: Flying stat. (ALT.); 78A: Electronics time meas. (MSEC); 79A: Salon acquisition (TAN); 84A: __-80: old computer model (TRS); 85A: Like SFO and LAX (INTL.); 87A: Senior housing? (DORM); 88A: Scottish property owners (LAIRDS); 90A: All-time Blue Jays' winningest pitcher Dave (STIEB); 92A: In __ of (LIEU); 94A: Cranberry sources (BOGS); 95A: Golfer's problem (SLICE); 99A: Medieval estates (MANORS); 101A: D.C. player (NAT); 103A: Auth. of many quotes? (ANON); 104A: Scandal-plagued giant (ENRON); 111A: Egg holder (NEST); 113A: Clear (RID); 116A: "__-Dick" (MOBY); 117A: Morgantown sch. (WVU); 122A: Graceful antlered critter (ROE DEER); 124A: Head cases? (CRANIA); 125A: Renoir subject (BATHER); 126A: "Let's Make a Deal" option (DOOR ONE); 127A: Most insidious (SLYEST); 128A: Risky dates (TRYSTS); 129A: Barely made a ripple in, as during a dive (KNIFED); 1D: Bookman (SCHOLAR); 2D: "God willing!" ("I HOPE SO!"); 3D: Settle a score (GET EVEN); 4D: Donizetti aria "Regnava __ silenzio" (NEL); 5D: Response at the door (IT IS I); 6D: Canonical hour (NONES); 7D: Battery types (AAS); 8D: Three-time Oscar-winning character actor Walter (BRENNAN); 9D: Hollywood shooting (SCENE); 10D: Concerto's extended solo passage (CADENZA); 11D: To some degree (ANY); 12D: Soften (MELT); 13D: Takes the role of (ACTS AS); 14D: How-hot-it-feels meas. (THI); 15D: They can climb the walls (TENDRILS); 17D: Close (NEAR); 18D: Force unit (DYNE); 20D: Fluids in shots (SERA); 25D: Six-pack makeup (ABS); 28D: NSA headquarters site (FT. MEADE); 33D: Pull hard (YANK); 34D: "Gin __ meet ...": Burns (A BODY); 35D: Drop off (DELIVER); 37D: Co. leader (CEO); 41D: Leisure fabric (DENIM); 43D: Villain (EVIL-DOER); 44D: Fakes it, in a way (LIP SYNCS); 46D: Longing (YEN); 47D: Mimic's talent (APERY); 49D: Concourse locale: Abbr. (STA.); 52D: Time for an audit (YEAR END); 54D: Miraculous way to walk? (ON WATER); 56D: It's a family affair (NEPOTISM); 57D: Mythological woman raised by hunters (ATALANTA); 60D: Time off (LEAVE); 61D: Fuzzy dos (AFROS); 62D: 16th century council site (TRENT); 63D: Round Table title (SIR); 66D: Heavenly lion (LEO); 70D: Shade provider (ELM); 72D: Caesar's 551 (DLI); 73D: Lamb, e.g. (RED MEAT); 74D: Onetime immigration center __ Island (ELLIS); 76D: "Mack the Knife" singer (DARIN); 81D: OED unit (VOL.); 82D: Plenty (A LOAD); 83D: NFL rushing nos. (YDS.); 89D: Czech, for one (SLAV); 91D: "It's sooo cold!" ("BRR!"); 94D: Weapon attached to a rifle (BAYONET); 96D: Amazed by (IN AWE OF); 97D: Meet (CONVENE); 98D: Made certain (ENSURED); 100D: Not happy with (SORE AT); 107D: __ Ark (NOAH'S); 108D: Titled nobleman (LORD); 109D: Online read (EBOOK); 110D: "I've got my __ you!" (EYE ON); 111D: World Series qualifying matchup, briefly (NLCS); 119D: Haze reduces it: Abbr. (VIS.); 120D: Sailor (TAR); 121D: Many Soc. Sec. recipients (SRS.); 123D: Soft & __: deodorant (DRI).