1115-15 New York Times Crossword Answers 15 Nov 15, Sunday

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CROSSWORD SETTER: Alan Arbesfeld
THEME: Having Aspirations … each of today’s themed answers sounds like a common phrase with an “h-sound” inserted after a W-sound:

23A. “So You Think You Can Dance,” say? : THE WHIRLED SERIES (from “The World Series”)
41A. Roller coaster shout from Queen Elizabeth? : THE ROYAL WHEE (from “the royal ‘we’”)
68A. “Did you mean Doom or Dolittle?”? : WHICH DOCTOR (from “witch doctor”)
89A. Mob Boss Hall of Fame? : WHACKS MUSEUM (from “wax museum”)
113A. Making a complaint at a restaurant? : WHINING AND DINING (from “wining and dining”)
17D. “That milky liquid belongs to me!”? : GET OUT OF MY WHEY (from “get out of my way”)
48D. One in line to rule the ocean? : PRINCE OF WHALES (from “Prince of Wales”)

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 25m 13s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 2 … GUARE (Guage), ERDOS (Egdos)

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

1. Animals at a football game : MASCOTS
Edmond Audran wrote an operetta called “La Mascotte” which was first performed in Paris in 1880. The storyline was about a farm girl who brought good luck to people. She was called “la mascotte”, a provincial French word for a good luck charm. It was because of the success of this operetta that we started using “mascot” in English to mean something that brought luck.

20. Case for a lawyer : ATTACHE
Attaché is a French term which literally means “attached”, and is used for a person who is assigned to the administrative staff of some agency or other service. The term is most recognized as it applies to someone assigned to an Ambassador’s staff at an embassy. The word was extended to “attaché case” at the beginning of the twentieth century, meaning a leather case used for carrying papers, perhaps by an attaché at an embassy.

22. Worker hardly making a living wage : PEON
A peon is a lowly worker with no real control over his/her working conditions. The word comes into English from Spanish where it has the same meaning.

23. “So You Think You Can Dance,” say? : THE WHIRLED SERIES (from “The World Series”)
“So You Think You Can Dance” is reality show, a dance competition for aspiring performers. The show is a worldwide franchise now, with the original series created here in the US. The show’s producers are Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe, the same guys who produce “American Idol”.

25. School for James Bond : ETON
The world-famous Eton College is just a brisk walk from Windsor Castle, which itself is just outside London. Eton is noted for producing many British leaders including David Cameron who took power in the last UK general election. The list of Old Etonians also includes Princes William and Harry, the Duke of Wellington, George Orwell, and the creator of James Bond, Ian Fleming (as well as 007 himself as described in the Fleming novels).

27. East German secret police : STASI
The Ministry for State Security in East Germany was commonly referred to as the Stasi. “Stasi” is an abbreviation for “Staatssicherheit”, which translates as “State Security”.

28. Some letter enclosures, for short : SASES
Self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE)

30. Punk offshoot : EMO
The musical genre of “emo” originated in Washington D.C. in the 80s, and takes its name from “emotional hardcore”. Not my cup of tea …

31. Kigali native : RWANDAN
Kigali is the capital of the African nation of Rwanda, and is located in the center of the country. That location led to the city being picked as the capital in 1962, over the traditional capital of Nyanza. The choice was made on the occasion of Rwanda’s independence from Belgium. Kigali was the center of the Rwandan Genocide of 1994, in which half a million to one million Rwandans were killed, perhaps 20% of the country’s total population in the space of four months.

33. A mean Amin : IDI
Idi Amin received most of his military training in the British armed forces, eventually achieving the highest rank possible for a Black African in the British Colonial Army in 1959, that of Warrant Officer. On his return to Uganda Amin joined his country’s military and quickly rose to the rank of Deputy Commander of the Army. During that time he was quite the athlete. He was a noted rugby player and swimmer, and for nine years held the Ugandan national light-heavyweight boxing title. By the early seventies, Amin was commander of all the armed forces of Uganda and in 1971 seized power in a military coup, displacing the country’s president Milton Obote. There followed seven years of brutal rule by Amin during which it is estimated that between 100,000 and 500,000 people were murdered. Amin was ousted from power in 1979 after a war with Tanzania, and fled to Libya where he stayed for a year. He then moved to Saudi Arabia, where he was financially supported by the Saudi Royal Family for the remainder of his life. Amin died in 2003.

34. Toni Morrison novel : SULA
The writer Toni Morrison won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993. Amongst other things, Morrison is noted for first coining the phrase, “our first black President”, a reference to President Bill Clinton.

37. Shakespeare’s Claudius and others : DANES
In William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”, Hamlet’s nemesis is King Claudius, his father’s brother. It’s felt that Shakespeare chose the name “Claudius” as in those days the Roman Emperor Claudius was considered to be the archetype of an evil ruler.

41. Roller coaster shout from Queen Elizabeth? : THE ROYAL WHEE (from “the royal ‘we’”)
The royal “we” is more correctly called the majestic plural, and is the use of a plural pronoun to describe a single person in a high office. I suppose the most often quoted phrase that uses the majestic plural is, “We are not amused”, often attributed to Queen Victoria.

45. Geezers : COOTS
Geezer and coot are two not-so-nice terms for an old man.

49. Nuevo ___, state in Mexico : LEON
Nuevo León is a Mexican state located across the border from the US state of Texas. The capital city of Nuevo León is Monterrey.

50. Klingon on “Star Trek: T.N.G.” : WORF
In the television series “Star Trek: The Next Generation”, Mr. Worf is one of the main characters. Work is a Klingon officer on the Enterprise, and is played by Michael Dorn. Worf is a unique character in the “Star Trek” franchise in that he also appeared regularly in another “Star Trek” show: “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”.

52. Make out : NECK
The term “necking” applies to kissing and caressing. I like what Groucho Marx had to say on the subject: “Whoever named it necking was a poor judge of anatomy.”

58. AOL competitor : MSN
MSN was originally called The Microsoft Network, and was introduced in 1995 as an integral part of Microsoft’s Windows 95 operating system. MSN is a whole bundle of services including email, instant messaging, and the MSN.com portal (which is the 9th most visited site on the Internet).

61. Actor Hirsch of “Into the Wild” : EMILE
Emile Hirsch is an actor from Topanga, California. Hirsch’s most famous role was the lead in the 2007 drama “Into the Wild”.

“Into the Wild” is an interesting film, directed by Sean Penn and based on a nonfiction book of the same name by Jon Krakauer. The book and movie tell the true story of Christopher McCandless, a young man who hiked into the Alaskan wilderness with very little food and equipment, seeking an extended period of solitude. After four months alone he was found dead from starvation. At time of death, he weighed only 67 pounds.

65. Antique photo : TINTYPE
Tintypes are photographs made on a thin sheet of metal, rather than the traditional paper. Tintypes were popular at fairs and carnivals in the 1860s and 1870s, as they did not need to the long drying time that was required for images printed on paper. There is actually no tin involved in the process, and the thin metal substrate is made from iron. A such, tintypes are also known as ferrotypes.

67. ___ Ration (old dog food brand) : KEN-L
Ken-L Ration was a brand of dog food introduced by Quaker Oats. The brand sponsored the pet kennel at Disneyland back in the sixties, and so visitors could board their dogs at “Ken-L Land”.

68. “Did you mean Doom or Dolittle?”? : WHICH DOCTOR (from “witch doctor”)
Doctor Doom is a supervillain created in the Marvel Comics universe, an archenemy of the Fantastic Four.

I must have read all the “Doctor Dolittle” books when I was growing up. They were written by the English novelist Hugh Lofting. Doctor Dolittle was the man who “talked to the animals”.

71. Inverse trig function : ARCSINE
The most familiar trigonometric functions are sine, cosine and tangent. Each of these is a ratio, a ratio of two sides of a right-angled triangle. The “reciprocal” of these three functions are secant, cosecant and cotangent. The reciprocal functions are simply the inverted ratios, the inverted sine, cosine and tangent. These inverted ratios should not be confused with the “inverse” trigonometric functions e.g. arcsine, arccosine and arctangent. These inverse functions are the reverse of the sine, cosine and tangent. For example, the arctangent can be read as “What angle is equivalent to the following ratio of opposite over adjacent?”

75. Literary inits. : TSE
The author T. S. Eliot was the son of Henry Ware Eliot and Charlotte Champe Stearns, so his full name was Thomas Stearns Eliot (TSE).

76. Actress Streep : MERYL
Meryl Streep has had more nominations for an Academy Award than any other actor, a tribute to her talent and the respect she has earned in the industry. I am not a huge fan of her earlier works but some of her recent movies are now on my list of all-time favorites. I recommend “Mamma Mia!” (you’ll either love it or hate it!), “Julie & Julia”, “It’s Complicated” and ”Hope Springs”.

79. Lisa, to Patty and Selma, on “The Simpsons” : NIECE
In “The Simpsons”, Marge Simpson has two older twin sisters. Their full names are Patricia “Patty” Bouvier and Selma Bouvier-Terwilliger-Hutz-McClure-Stu-Simpson. Selma acquired that multiple-barreled name through a string of unsuccessful marriages.

80. One-___ (old ball game) : O’-CAT
One-o’-cat, or more properly “one old cat”, is an abbreviated form of baseball with a home plate and just one base.

95. Onetime place for Saddam Hussein’s image : DINAR
The Dinar is the official currency in many countries, such as Iraq and Serbia. The Gold Dinar dates back to the early days of Islam, with the name deriving from the Roman currency called “denarius” meaning “ten times” (as it was originally a coin worth ten asses).

100. Spillane’s “___ Jury” : I, THE
“I, The Jury” is the first novel in the “Mike Hammer” series written by Mickey Spillane. The story was filmed twice, once in 1953 with Biff Elliot playing Hammer, and again in 1982 with Armand Assante taking the lead.

105. Wisk competitor : ERA
Era was the first liquid laundry detergent produced by Procter & Gamble.

Wisk is a laundry detergent made by Sun Products. It was introduced in 1956 as the first liquid detergent. The Wisk “ring around the collar” campaign was introduced in 1968.

107. Decorative moldings : OGEES
An ogee is a type of S-curve. Specifically it is a figure consisting of two arcs that curve in opposite directions (like an S) but both ends of the curve end up parallel to each other (which is not necessarily true for an S). An ogee arch is composed of two ogees, with one being the mirror of the other and meeting at the arch’s apex.

110. John ___, “The House of Blue Leaves” playwright : GUARE
John Guare is a New York playwright best known for his plays “The House of Blue Leaves”, “Six Degrees of Separation” and “Landscape of the Body”.

111. “Argo” setting : IRAN
“Argo” is a 2012 movie that is based on the true story of the rescue of six diplomats hiding out during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis. The film was directed by and stars Ben Affleck and is produced by Grant Heslov and George Clooney, the same pair who produced the excellent “Good Night, and Good Luck”. I saw “Argo” recently and recommend it highly, although I found the scenes of religious fervor pretty frightening …

116. Iowa State locale : AMES
Iowa State University of Science and Technology (ISU) is located in Ames, Iowa. Among many other notable events, ISU created the country’s first school of veterinary medicine, in 1879. The sports teams of ISU are known as the Cyclones.

119. Eighty-six : TOSS
“To eighty-six” something is to eject it, to throw it out. The origin of the term is unclear. One story is that it originated in the days of prohibition in the West Village of Lower Manhattan, New York City. Whenever there was a scheduled raid on the establishment called Chumley’s, an informant would call ahead and tell the bartender to “86” his customers i.e. to send them out the door on 86 Bedford Street. The cops would then turn up at the entrance on Pamela Court.

Down
1. Hot Wheels maker : MATTEL
The Hot Wheels brand of toy car was introduced by Mattel in 1968.

3. “Mad Men” extras : STENOS
Stenography is the process of writing in shorthand. The term comes from the Greek “steno” (narrow) and “graphe” (writing).

“Mad Men” is the flagship show on the AMC television channel. Set in the sixties, it’s all about an advertising agency located on Madison Avenue in New York (hence the title). “Mad Men” became the first show created by a basic cable channel to win an Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series.

5. “Gee,” in Glasgow : OCH
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and sits on the River Clyde. Back in the Victorian Era, Glasgow earned a reputation for excellence in shipbuilding and was known as “Second City of the British Empire”. Glasgow shipyards were the birthplaces of such famous vessels as the Lusitania, the Queen Mary and the Queen Elizabeth.

6. “Meet the Press” competitor : THIS WEEK
“This Week” is a Sunday morning talk show on ABC that is hosted by George Stephanopoulos.

7. Company that encourages people to lie? : SERTA
Serta was founded in 1931 when a group of 13 mattress manufacturers came together, essentially forming a cooperative. Today, the Serta company is owned by eight independent licensees in a similar arrangement.

8. Mardi Gras time : TUESDAY
“Mardi Gras” translates from French as “Fat Tuesday”, and gets its name from the practice of eating rich foods on the eve of the fasting season known as Lent. Lent starts on the next day, called Ash Wednesday.

9. Locale of the Battle of Tippecanoe : INDIANA
The Battle of Tippecanoe was fought in 1811 in the Indiana Territory by US forces and the American Indian confederation. Leader of the victorious US side was then-Governor William Henry Harrison, later to become President of the United States. In fact, one of Harrison’s nicknames became “Tippecanoe” or “Old Tippecanoe”.

10. Runs the show, briefly : MCS
The term “emcee” comes from “MC”, an initialism standing for Master or Mistress of Ceremonies.

11. Dots in la mer : ILES
The French would find “une île” (an island) in “la mer” (the sea).

12. ___ Maar (Picasso’s muse) : DORA
Dora Maar was a famous French photographer. She became Pablo Picasso’s lover and muse when she was 29, and Picasso 54. The pair had a complicated relationship that lasted nine years. Picasso painted a portrait of her called “Dora Maar with Cat” that was sold at auction in 2006 for almost $100 million, the second highest price ever paid for a painting.

13. Formal identification : IT IS I
The much debated statement “it is I” is actually grammatically correct, and should not be “corrected” to “it is me”. Traditionally, pronouns following linking verbs, such as “is”, “appear” and “seem”, are written in the nominative case. Examples are:

– It is I (who called)
– It was he (who did it)
– It is we (who care)

14. Bono bandmate : THE EDGE
The Edge is the stage name of U2 band member David Evans.

17. “That milky liquid belongs to me!”? : GET OUT OF MY WHEY (from “get out of my way”)
When milk curdles it separates into two parts, the solid curds and the liquid whey.

18. Cousin of a tendril : ROOTLET
A rootlet is a small or divided root.

A tendril is a specialized leaf or stem that is shaped like a spiral thread. Tendrils are used for support by climbing plants.

19. Baseball or Supreme Court lineups : ENNEADS
“Ennead” is the Greek word for “the nine”.

24. Calrissian of “Star Wars” films : LANDO
The character Lando Calrissian was played by actor Billy Dee Williams in two of the “Star Wars” movies.

32. Dudley Do-Right’s love : NELL
Dudley Do-Right appeared on the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, a cartoon that appeared on television in a couple of different versions from 1959-1964. Dudley was a bungling Mountie who struggled with his nemesis, the evil Snidely Whiplash, while pursuing the romantic intentions of Nell Fenwick (who always seemed to prefer Dudley’s horse!).

36. Moseys along : STROLLS
“Mosey” is American slang for “amble”, of unknown origin.

38. E.U. member not in NATO: Abbr. : SWE
The country of Sweden emerged during the Middle Ages, and became one of the great powers of Europe in the days of the Swedish Empire in 17th and early 18th century. Since then Sweden’s influence has waned. What was the eastern part of Sweden was lost to Russia in the early 1800s, and is now modern-day Finland. In the 20th century Sweden has adopted a very non-aggressive stance and was neutral in both World Wars. Sweden is not a member of NATO, but is a member of the European Union, although the country does not use the euro as its currency.

44. Brian who wrote the score for “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” : ENO
Brian Eno is a musician, composer and record producer from England who first achieved fame as the synthesiser player with Roxy Music. As a producer, Eno has worked with David Bowie, Devo and U2.

“Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” is a 2015 film. Jesse Andrews wrote both the screenplay for the movie and the 2012 novel from which the film was adapted. It’s all about an awkward teen who reluctantly befriends a fellow student who has been diagnosed with leukemia.

48. One in line to rule the ocean? : PRINCE OF WHALES (from “Prince of Wales”)
The tradition in the UK is to invest the heir-apparent to the throne with the title of Prince of Wales. Since Prince Charles is that heir today, he is called Prince of Wales and his first wife was known as Diana, Princess of Wales. Both of their children also use the title, Prince William of Wales and Prince Henry of Wales. That said, now that Prince William is married, he uses the title Duke of Cambridge.

50. Peter who directed “Picnic at Hanging Rock” : WEIR
Peter Weir is a film director from Australia who made some very successful Australian films early in his career, such as “Picnic at Hanging Rock” (1975) and “Gallipoli” (1981). Later in his career, Weir made more American and international films, including “Witness” (1985), “Dead Poet’s Society” (1989), “The Truman Show” (1998) and “Master and Commander” (2003).

54. 1970 hit with the lyric “I’m down on my knees, / I’m begging you please to come home” : CECILIA
Simon and Garfunkel’s hit song “Cecilia” tells of an untrustworthy lover. Paul Simon, who wrote the song, is in fact referring to Saint Cecilia, the Roman Catholic patron saint of music.

55. Roger who wrote “The Boys of Summer” : KAHN
Roger Kahn is an author who is best known for his nonfiction book about baseball titled “The Boys of Summer”. The book’s title comes a Dylan Thomas poem “I See the Boys of Summer”.

63. Nutritional fig. : RDA
Recommended Daily Allowances (RDAs) were introduced during WWII and are a set of recommendations for the standard daily allowances of specific nutrients. RDAs were effectively absorbed into a broader set of dietary guidelines in 1997 called Recommended Daily Intakes (RDIs). RDIs are used to determine the Daily Values (DV) of foods that are printed on nutrition fact labels on most food that we purchase.

66. ___ Trail (Everglades highway) : TAMIAMI
The Tamiami Trail is a section of US Highway 41 in Florida that connects Tampa to Miami. The name “Tamiami” is a portmanteau of “Tampa” and “Miami”.

68. PBS station in the Big Apple : WNET
WNET is a television station located in Newark, New Jersey. It is PBS’s station that covers New York City, as well as the rest of the tri-state area.

72. Japanese porcelain : IMARI
Imari is a port city located on the island of Kyushu in Japan. What Europeans know as Imari porcelain actually isn’t made in Imari, but rather in the nearby town of Arita. The name Imari was given to the porcelain because it was the port through which the ceramic ware was shipped. In Japan, the porcelains are called Arita-yaki.

74. Dis but not dat? : INSULT
“Dis” is a slang term meaning “insult” that originated in the eighties. It is a shortened form of “disrespect” or “dismiss”.

77. “Fargo” assent : YAH
I guess that someone from North Dakota might pronounce “yeah” as “yah”.

“Fargo” is one of my favorite films of all time, and stars perhaps my favorite actress, Frances McDormand. “Fargo” was directed by the Coen brothers, Joel and Ethan. Frances McDormand is Joel’s wife.

83. Screen abbr. : LCD
Liquid crystal display (LCD)

88. Declaration on Día de San Valentín : YO TE AMO
In Spanish, one might say “I love you” (yo te amo) with flowers (con flores).

In Spanish, Saint Valentine’s Day is a usually translated as “el Día de San Valentín”. Another possibility is “el Día de los Enamorados”, which translates literally as “the day of those who have fallen in love”.

89. Add one’s two cents : WEIGH IN
“To put in one’s two cents” is to add one’s opinion. The American expression derives from the older English version, which is “to put in one’s two pennies worth”.

98. Cataleptic state : TRANCE
Catalepsy is a medical condition in which a person develops a rigid body and fixed posture, as well as a loss of response to external stimuli.

99. Margaret who founded Planned Parenthood : SANGER
Margaret Sanger was a nurse and birth control activist. Sanger is credited with popularizing the term “birth control” and opened the first birth control in the US in 1916. That action led to her arrest for distributing information on contraception.

102. Jefferson’s religious belief : DEISM
Deism (from the Latin “deus” meaning god) is the belief that a supreme being created the universe, a belief based on observation and reason and without the need for faith. Further, a deist does not accept divine intervention and rather believes that the supreme being, having created the universe, leaves the world to it own devices.

104. Mathematician who was the subject of the book “The Man Who Loved Only Numbers” : ERDOS
Paul Erdős was a famous Hungarian mathematician, and a very prolific writer. Erdős published more papers than any other mathematician in history.

108. Start of the Bay State’s motto : ENSE
The motto of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is “Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem”, a Latin phrase that can be translated as “By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty”. The quotation is from a passage written by English politician Algernon Sidney who was executed for treason by King Charles II.

“The Bay State” is one of the nicknames of Massachusetts. Other nicknames for Massachusetts are “The Old Colony State” and “The Codfish State”.

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

114. Book before Esth. : NEH
In the Bible, the book of Nehemiah is followed by the book of Esther, and the book of Esther is followed by the book of Job.

115. Skater Midori : ITO
Midori Ito is a Japanese figure skater. Ito was the first woman to land a triple/triple jump and a triple axel in competition. In fact she landed her first triple jump in training when she was only 8 years old …

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Animals at a football game : MASCOTS
8. Antithesis of brashness : TIMIDITY
16. One carrying a spiked club, maybe : OGRE
20. Case for a lawyer : ATTACHE
21. Lay bare : UNCLOTHE
22. Worker hardly making a living wage : PEON
23. “So You Think You Can Dance,” say? : THE WHIRLED SERIES (from “The World Series”)
25. School for James Bond : ETON
26. Plenty : TONS
27. East German secret police : STASI
28. Some letter enclosures, for short : SASES
29. A or B, but not O : NOTE
30. Punk offshoot : EMO
31. Kigali native : RWANDAN
33. A mean Amin : IDI
34. Toni Morrison novel : SULA
35. One with monthly payments : LESSEE
37. Shakespeare’s Claudius and others : DANES
39. Added on, botanically : GRAFTED
41. Roller coaster shout from Queen Elizabeth? : THE ROYAL WHEE (from “the royal ‘we’”)
45. Geezers : COOTS
46. Sprinkling on a deviled egg : PAPRIKA
49. Nuevo ___, state in Mexico : LEON
50. Klingon on “Star Trek: T.N.G.” : WORF
51. It may lead to an unearned run : ERROR
52. Make out : NECK
56. Sad sack : LOSER
58. AOL competitor : MSN
61. Actor Hirsch of “Into the Wild” : EMILE
62. Without doubt : CLEARLY
65. Antique photo : TINTYPE
67. ___ Ration (old dog food brand) : KEN-L
68. “Did you mean Doom or Dolittle?”? : WHICH DOCTOR (from “witch doctor”)
70. Tools for cobblers : AWLS
71. Inverse trig function : ARCSINE
73. Succinctly : IN A WORD
74. Battlefield cry : I’M HIT!
75. Literary inits. : TSE
76. Actress Streep : MERYL
78. Coolness, in modern slang : SWAG
79. Lisa, to Patty and Selma, on “The Simpsons” : NIECE
80. One-___ (old ball game) : O’-CAT
82. Is sick : AILS
85. Made an effort : ESSAYED
87. Easily : BY FAR
89. Mob Boss Hall of Fame? : WHACKS MUSEUM (from “wax museum”)
93. Like some jeans and apartment buildings : LOW-RISE
95. Onetime place for Saddam Hussein’s image : DINAR
96. Elite groups : A-LISTS
100. Spillane’s “___ Jury” : I, THE
101. Camouflaged : HID
103. Snowbird’s destination : SUNBELT
105. Wisk competitor : ERA
106. Sci-fi/historical fiction writer Stephenson : NEAL
107. Decorative moldings : OGEES
110. John ___, “The House of Blue Leaves” playwright : GUARE
111. “Argo” setting : IRAN
112. Some salad greens : KALE
113. Making a complaint at a restaurant? : WHINING AND DINING (from “wining and dining”)
116. Iowa State locale : AMES
117. Trigger autocorrect, say : MISSPELL
118. Beat to the finish : OUTRACE
119. Eighty-six : TOSS
120. Traps in a net : ENMESHES
121. You may want to stop reading when you see this : SPOILER

Down
1. Hot Wheels maker : MATTEL
2. In : AT HOME
3. “Mad Men” extras : STENOS
4. Crows’ cries : CAWS
5. “Gee,” in Glasgow : OCH
6. “Meet the Press” competitor : THIS WEEK
7. Company that encourages people to lie? : SERTA
8. Mardi Gras time : TUESDAY
9. Locale of the Battle of Tippecanoe : INDIANA
10. Runs the show, briefly : MCS
11. Dots in la mer : ILES
12. ___ Maar (Picasso’s muse) : DORA
13. Formal identification : IT IS I
14. Bono bandmate : THE EDGE
15. Answer with a salute : YES, SIR!
16. Precedes at a concert : OPENS FOR
17. “That milky liquid belongs to me!”? : GET OUT OF MY WHEY (from “get out of my way”)
18. Cousin of a tendril : ROOTLET
19. Baseball or Supreme Court lineups : ENNEADS
24. Calrissian of “Star Wars” films : LANDO
31. Put back on the payroll : REHIRE
32. Dudley Do-Right’s love : NELL
36. Moseys along : STROLLS
38. E.U. member not in NATO: Abbr. : SWE
40. Part of a winter stash : ACORN
42. One with brand loyalty? : RANCHER
43. “Oh … my … God!” : HO … LY … COW!
44. Brian who wrote the score for “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” : ENO
46. Glimpse on the sly : PEEK AT
47. Munitions suppliers : ARMERS
48. One in line to rule the ocean? : PRINCE OF WHALES (from “Prince of Wales”)
50. Peter who directed “Picnic at Hanging Rock” : WEIR
53. Man’s name that’s Hebrew for “my God” : ELI
54. 1970 hit with the lyric “I’m down on my knees, / I’m begging you please to come home” : CECILIA
55. Roger who wrote “The Boys of Summer” : KAHN
57. Stick-in-the-mud types : STODGES
59. Edit some film : SPLICE
60. Like measuring cups, often : NESTED
63. Nutritional fig. : RDA
64. Cattle calls : LOWS
66. ___ Trail (Everglades highway) : TAMIAMI
68. PBS station in the Big Apple : WNET
69. Chorus line leader? : TRA-
72. Japanese porcelain : IMARI
74. Dis but not dat? : INSULT
77. “Fargo” assent : YAH
81. Negligent : CARELESS
83. Screen abbr. : LCD
84. Things found between the poles? : SKIS
86. Closed tight : SEALED UP
87. Show some dumbfoundedness about : BLINK AT
88. Declaration on Día de San Valentín : YO TE AMO
89. Add one’s two cents : WEIGH IN
90. Get cozy : SNUGGLE
91. Books often not read : MANUALS
92. Built-up : URBAN
94. “Prove it!” : SHOW ME!
97. Kind of number : SERIAL
98. Cataleptic state : TRANCE
99. Margaret who founded Planned Parenthood : SANGER
102. Jefferson’s religious belief : DEISM
104. Mathematician who was the subject of the book “The Man Who Loved Only Numbers” : ERDOS
108. Start of the Bay State’s motto : ENSE
109. Nurses at a bar : SIPS
111. Calvary inscription : INRI
114. Book before Esth. : NEH
115. Skater Midori : ITO

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