0123-22 NY Times Crossword 23 Jan 22, Sunday

Constructed by: Nancy Stark & Will Nediger
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Theme: Turns of Phrase

Themed answers are common “x OF y” PHRASES, but TURNED into “y OF x” PHRASES:

  • 21A Artists sketching pectorals? : DRAWERS OF CHESTS (from “chests of drawers”)
  • 33A Vow to remain mum about hotel guests’ secrets? : HONOR OF MAIDS (from “maids of honor”)
  • 52A Small distance covered by a naval armada? : FOOT OF FLEET (from “fleet of foot”)
  • 73A Boxer lacking a left hook? : MAN OF RIGHTS (from “Rights of Man”)
  • 89A What brass band music has? : PLENTY OF HORN (from “horn of plenty”)
  • 107A Tree feature in winter? : ABSENCE OF LEAVES (from “leaves of absence”)
  • 14D What a dog walker and a strong-willed pooch might vie for? : COMMAND OF CHAIN (from “chain of command”)
  • 45D The Bee Gees’ Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb? : BROTHERS OF BAND (from “band of brothers”)

Bill’s time: 15m 39s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Web site? : ATTIC

An attic or loft is a room or space located below the roof of a building. The term “attic” is a shortened form of “attic story”, the uppermost story or level of a house. This term “attic story” originally applied to a low, decorative level built on top of the uppermost story behind a building’s decorative facade. This use of decoration at the top of buildings was common in ancient Greece, and was particularly important in the Attica style. That Attica style was so called because it originated in the historical region of Attica that encompassed the city of Athens. And that’s how our attics are linked to ancient Greece.

6 Browser window : TAB

A web browser is a piece of software used to access the World Wide Web. The first web browser was called “WorldWideWeb” and was invented in 1990 by Tim Berners-Lee, the man who created the World Wide Web. The browser known as Mosaic came out in 1993, and it was this browser that drove so much interest in the World Wide Web, and indeed in the Internet in general. Marc Andreessen led the team that created Mosaic, and he then set up his own company called Netscape. Netscape created the Netscape Navigator browser that further popularized the use of the Web starting in 1994. Microsoft responded by introducing Internet Explorer in 1995, which sparked the so-called “browser war”, a war that Microsoft clearly won. As Netscape floundered, the company launched the open-source Mozilla project which eventually led to the Firefox browser. Apple then came out with it’s own Safari browser in 2003. Google’s Chrome browser, introduced in 2008, is by far the most popular way to view the Web today.

13 Civil rights grp. once led by M.L.K. : SCLC

Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)

17 Fictional character who says “I will take the ring, though I do not know the way” : FRODO

Frodo Baggins is a principal character in J. R. R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings”. Frodo is a Hobbit, and is charged with the quest of destroying Sauron’s Ring in the fires of Mount Doom. Frodo is portrayed by American actor Elijah Wood in Peter Jackson’s film adaptations of the novels.

18 Scorpion, for one : ARACHNID

Arachnids are creatures with eight jointed legs. The name of the class Arachnida comes from the Greek “aráchnē” meaning “spider”.

There are about 1750 different species of scorpion in the world, but only 25 or so have venom sufficiently toxic to kill a human.

21 Artists sketching pectorals? : DRAWERS OF CHESTS (from “chests of drawers”)

“Pecs” is the familiar name for the chest muscle, which is more correctly known as the pectoralis major muscle. “Pectus” is the Latin word for “breast, chest”.

25 Work rotations : SHIFTS

In a three-shift working system, the shifts are known by various names:

  1. First shift, day shift
  2. Second shift, swing shift
  3. Third shift, night shift, graveyard shift

28 Spot at a casino : PIP

A pip is a dot on a die or a domino, or a mark on a playing card.

31 Tony winner McDonald : AUDRA

Audra McDonald is an actress and singer best known for her work on the stage. McDonald has won six competitive Tony Awards, which is more than any other actor. She is also the only person to have won Tony Awards in all four categories: featured actress in a play, leading actress in a play, featured actress in a musical, and leading actress in a musical.

33 Vow to remain mum about hotel guests’ secrets? : HONOR OF MAIDS (from “maids of honor”)

The members of the bride’s party in a wedding are the bridesmaids. The principal bridesmaid is the maid of honor. The principal bridesmaid might be referred to as the matron of honor if she is married.

The phrase “mum’s the word” has been around since the early 1700s. “Mum” has been used to mean “silent” for centuries, the idea being that “mum” is the sound made when the lips are tightly sealed.

37 Hoops org. : WNBA

The Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) was founded in 1996. The WNBA had to compete with the American Basketball League (ABL), a professional women’s basketball league that started playing games the same year the WNBA was founded. The ABL folded in its third season.

42 Driver of film : ADAM

Adam Driver is an actor perhaps best known to TV audiences for playing Adam Sackler on the show “Girls” that airs on HBO. Driver’s movie career got a huge boost in 2015 when he played villain Kylo Ren in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”.

43 Nonbinary people, informally : ENBIES

The non-binary (NB, enbie) spectrum of gender identities covers those that do not qualify as exclusively masculine or feminine.

50 Modern-day “carpe diem” : YOLO

You only live once (YOLO)

“Carpe diem” is a quotation from Horace, one of ancient Rome’s leading lyric poets. “Carpe diem” translates from Latin as “seize the day” or “enjoy the day”. The satirical motto of a procrastinator is “carpe mañana”, “translating” as “seize tomorrow”.

52 Small distance covered by a naval armada? : FOOT OF FLEET (from “fleet of foot”)

The most famous armada was the Spanish fleet that sailed against England in order to overthrow Queen Elizabeth I in 1588. It failed in its mission, partly due to bad weather encountered en route. Ironically, the English mounted a similar naval attack against Spain the following year, and it failed as well.

58 Hyperbolic wait time : EON

Hyperbole is the use of exaggerated speech. The term “hyperbole” is Greek, coming from “hyper-” meaning “beyond” and “bole” meaning “a throwing”. When using hyperbole, our choice of words is “thrown beyond” what is normally necessary to get our point across.

59 Like climates where cacti thrive : ARID

The cactus (plural “cacti”) is a member of a family of plants that are particularly well-adapted to extremely dry environments. Almost all cacti are native to the Americas, although some succulent plants from the old world are similar in appearance and are often mislabeled as “cacti”.

60 Pointy part of a charger? : LANCE

Lancers (also “lancemen”) were a special type of cavalry soldier, ones who fought with lances!

62 Group of followers : RETINUE

A retinue is a body of aides who attend an important person. The term “retinue” comes from the Old French “retenue” that had the same meaning, although the literal translation is “that which is retained”. The idea is that the aides are retained to attend the VIP.

64 Willem who played Jesus in “The Last Temptation of Christ” : DAFOE

Willem Dafoe is an American actor, one from Wisconsin. He was born just plain “William” Dafoe, but didn’t like being called “Billy”. So, he changed his name to “Willem”, which was the pronunciation of his name by his Scottish babysitter.

The 1988 drama “The Last Temptation of Christ” was directed by Martin Scorsese and is a film adaptation of a 1953 novel of the same name by Nikos Kazantzakis. The film and novel are controversial fictional accounts of the life of Jesus and his struggle with various forms of temptation. Willem Dafoe plays the title character, with Barbara Hershey playing Mary Magdalene.

66 Some pianos and motorcycles : YAMAHAS

The Japanese company Yamaha started out way back in 1888 as a manufacturer of pianos and reed organs. Even though the company has diversified since then, Yamaha’s logo still reflects its musical roots. Said logo is made up of three intersecting tuning forks, and can even be seen on Yamaha motorcycles and ATVs.

68 2000s Fox teen drama : THE OC

“The O.C.” is a teen drama that aired for four seasons on Fox finishing up in 2007. I never watched it, but I understand that it is set in Newport Beach in Southern California. And, “O.C.” stands for “Orange County”.

69 Playwright Simon : NEIL

Neil Simon was one of my favorite playwrights. He wrote over thirty plays and about thirty screenplays. My favorite play penned by Simon has to be “Brighton Beach Memoirs”, but the list of his great stage works seems endless and includes “Barefoot in the Park”, “The Odd Couple”, “Sweet Charity”, “Plaza Suite”, “California Suite”, “Biloxi Blues” and “The Goodbye Girl”.

70 “Emotion in motion,” per Mae West : SEX

Comic actress Mae West can be quoted so easily, as she had so many great lines delivered so well. Here are a few:

  • When I’m good, I’m very good. When I’m bad, I’m better.
  • When choosing between two evils, I always like to try the one I’ve never tried before.
  • I’ll try anything once, twice if I like it, three times to make sure.
  • Marriage is a great institution, but I’m not ready for an institution yet.
  • I used to be Snow White, but I drifted.
  • Why don’t you come on up and see me sometime — when I’ve got nothin’ on but the radio.
  • It’s better to be looked over than overlooked.
  • To err is human, but it feels divine.
  • I like my clothes to be tight enough to show I’m a woman, but loose enough to show I’m a lady.
  • I never worry about diets. The only carrots that interest me are the number you get in a diamond.
  • Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?

71 Thomas ___, British general at Bunker Hill : GAGE

Thomas Gage was a British general who fought in the early days of the American War of Independence. It was General Gage who was in charge of the victorious forces in the Battle of Bunker Hill. However, the “victory” resulted in such huge losses for the British that Gage was recalled and dismissed from office.

72 Sweetie : BAE

“Bae” is a contemporary term of endearment. It is a pet name that is an abbreviation of “babe, baby”, although I’ve also read that it is an acronym standing for “before anyone else”.

73 Boxer lacking a left hook? : MAN OF RIGHTS (from “Rights of Man”)

“Rights of Man” is a 1791 book by Thomas Paine, that argues in favor of a popular revolution when the government is deemed not to be protecting the rights of the people nor the national interest. As such, the book comes out heavily in favor of the French Revolution.

77 One of the boxing Alis : LAILA

Laila Ali is the daughter of the great Muhammad Ali, and a very capable boxer in her own right. Laila’s professional record is an impressive 24 wins, including 21 knockouts. Now retired, she never lost a fight, and nor did she ever draw. One of those victories was against Jackie Frazier-Lyde, daughter of her father’s nemesis Joe Frazier. Laila is not a bad dancer either, coming in third place in the fourth season of “Dancing with the Stars”.

78 Gumbo ingredient : OKRA

Gumbo is a type of stew or soup that originated in Louisiana. The primary ingredient can be meat or fish, but to be true gumbo it must include the “holy trinity” of vegetables, namely celery, bell peppers and onion. Okra used to be a requirement but this is no longer the case. Okra gave the dish its name as the vernacular word for the African vegetable is “okingumbo”, from the Bantu language spoken by many of the slaves brought to America.

80 🙂 alternative : LOL

Laugh out loud (LOL)

82 Something unleashed in a denial-of-service attack : BOTNET

A botnet is a network of computers running cooperatively to send spam messages. The computers are usually private machines infected with malware that run the bots without the owners’ knowledge.

84 Himalayan humanoid : YETI

The yeti, also known as the abominable snowman, is a beast of legend. “Yeti” is a Tibetan term, and the beast is fabled to live in the Himalayan regions of Nepal and Tibet. Our equivalent legend in North America is that of Bigfoot, also known as Sasquatch. The study of animals whose existence have not yet been substantiated is called cryptozoology, and a cryptid is a creature or plant that isn’t recognized by the scientific community, but the existence of which has been suggested.

A humanoid is something that has a human-like appearance, and exhibits human-like characteristics. The term “humanoid” was coined in the latter half of the 19th century to describe indigenous peoples encountered in areas colonized by European nations. Nowadays, we’re more likely to use the term humanoid to describe a robotic device with a human appearance.

86 ___ eyes : GOO-GOO

Goo-goo eyes are amorous or loving eyes. The term “goo-goo” is often applied with tongue in cheek.

89 What brass band music has? : PLENTY OF HORN (from “horn of plenty”)

The horn of plenty is a symbol of abundance that has been used in Western art since the days of antiquity. It is usually depicted as a horn-shaped vessel containing flowers and edible delights. The horn of plenty may also be referred to as the cornucopia.

97 Watcher of the skies, for short : FAA

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was set up in 1958 (as the Federal Aviation Agency). The agency was established at that particular time largely in response to an increasing number of midair collisions. The worst of these disasters had taken place two years earlier over the Grand Canyon, a crash between two commercial passenger airplanes that resulted in 128 fatalities.

100 You can count on them : ABACI

The abacus (plural “abaci”) was used as a counting frame long before man had invented a numbering system. It is a remarkable invention, particularly when one notes that abaci are still widely used today across Africa and Asia.

111 Lumberjack’s favorite kind of beer? : LAGER

Lager is so called because of the tradition of cold-storing the beer during fermentation. “Lager” is the German word for “storage”.

114 Omega’s place : END

Omega is the last letter of the Greek alphabet and is the one that looks like a horseshoe when in uppercase. The lowercase omega looks like a Latin W. The word “omega” literally means “great O” (O-mega). Compare this with the Greek letter Omicron, meaning “little O” (O-micron).

115 Columns with angles : OP-EDS

“Op-ed” is an abbreviation for “opposite the editorial page”. Op-eds started in “The New York Evening World” in 1921 when the page opposite the editorials was used for articles written by a named guest writer, someone independent of the editorial board.

Down

1 Home with a pointy roof : A-FRAME

An A-frame house is one that has a steeply-angled roof, one forming the shape of the letter “A”. The A-frame design is popular in snowy regions, as the roof is so steeply pitched that it does not collect snow.

2 Worked on Wall Street : TRADED

New York’s famous Wall Street was originally named by the Dutch “de Waalstraat”.

5 Cereal once advertised by Woody Woodpecker : CORN POPS

Kellogg’s Corn Pops was introduced in 1951 as Sugar Pops. The “Sugar” name was dropped in the eighties when sugar was labeled as nutritionally “bad”. But, the sugar remained in the cereal …

6 Subject for Laozi : TAO

Lao Tse (also “Lao-Tzu”, “Laozi”) was a central figure in the development of the religion/philosophy of Taoism. Tradition holds that Lao-Tzu wrote the “Tao Te Ching”, a classical Chinese text that is fundamental to the philosophy of Taoism.

7 Sounds from a lab : ARFS

The Labrador (Lab) breed of dog has been around at least since 1814, and the chocolate Labrador appeared over a century later in the 1930s. The name “Labrador Retriever” is simply a reference to the breed’s origin and behavior. Labs originally “retrieved” from the “Labrador Sea”.

8 “The Art of Fugue” composer : BACH

“The Art of Fugue” is a collection of 14 fugues and 4 canons composed by Johann Sebastian Bach in the last decade of his life, and which was left unfinished.

11 Some zeros and ones : BITS

We use a base-ten numbering system, with ten digits (0 – 9). The binary system, or base-two, uses just two digits (0 & 1). The binary system is used at a fundamental level in computing, because the number 0 and 1 can be represented by microcircuits being switched “on” or “off”.

12 Bar necessities, at times : IDS

Identity document (ID)

16 Makeup of some music libraries : CDS

The compact disc (CD) was developed jointly by Philips and Sony as a medium for storing and playing sound recordings. When the first commercial CD was introduced back in 1982, a CD’s storage capacity was far greater than the amount of data that could be stored on the hard drive of personal computers available at that time.

20 Huge quantity : SCAD

The origin of the word “scads”, meaning “lots and lots”, is unclear. That said, “scads” was used to mean “dollars” back in the mid-1800s.

21 Lacking color : DRAB

We now use the word “drab” to mean “dull, cheerless”. Back in the late 17th century, “drab” was the color of natural, undyed cloth.

29 Bottle marked with a skull and crossbones : POISON

We’ve been using the skull and crossbones symbol to mark poisons since the 1800s. The image itself dates back to the Late Middle Ages, when it was a symbol of death.

34 Caramel-filled candy : ROLO

Rolo was a hugely popular chocolate candy in Ireland when I was growing up. Rolo was introduced in the thirties in the UK, and is produced under license in the US by Hershey. I was a little disappointed when I had my first taste of the American version as the center is very hard and chewy. The recipe used on the other side of the Atlantic calls for a soft gooey center.

38 Benjamin Franklin famously considered it “a rank coward” with “bad moral character” : BALD EAGLE

There’s an urban myth out there that Benjamin Franklin was not happy with the choice of the bald eagle as the national bird for the US, and opined that the turkey should fill that role. Letters written by Franklin show that indeed, he was not happy with the choice of the bald eagle, but did not propose the turkey as an alternative. He deemed the bald eagle to be “a bird of bad moral character” that “does not get [its] living honestly”. Franklin went on to describe the image of the bald eagle on the nation’s Great Seal as “more like a turkey”. And that is how urban myths get started …

43 Mideast V.I.P. : EMIR

An emir is a prince or chieftain, one most notably from the Middle East in Islamic countries. In English, “emir” can also be written variously as “emeer, amir, ameer” (watch out for those spellings in crosswords!).

45 The Bee Gees’ Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb? : BROTHERS OF BAND (from “band of brothers”)

The Brothers Gibb (hence, the name “Bee Gees”) were born in England but grew up and started their musical careers in Australia. They moved back to Manchester in the north of England as youths, and there hit the big time.

46 It might gather lint : INNIE

The navel is basically the scar left behind when the umbilical cord is removed from a newborn baby. One interesting use of the umbilicus (navel, belly button) is to differentiate between identical twins, especially when they are very young.

55 Scottish cap : TAM

A tam o’shanter is a man’s cap worn traditionally by Scotsmen. “Tams” were originally all blue (and called “blue bonnets”) but as more dyes became readily available they became more colorful. The name of the cap comes from the title character of the Robert Burns poem “Tam o’ Shanter”.

58 Aromatic trees : EUCALYPTI

Eucalyptus (plural “eucalypti”) is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs that is particularly widespread in Australia. The species known as mountain ash or swamp gum is the tallest flowering plant in the world, with the tallest example located in Tasmania and standing at over 325 feet tall.

63 Jacqueline or Jacques : NOM

In French, one might look up a “nom” (name) in “un annuaire” (a directory).

66 Last word of “Ulysses” : YES

Here are the last seven words of the novel “Ulysses” by James Joyce:

… yes I said yes I will Yes.

69 Nick of “48 Hrs.” : NOLTE

Actor Nick Nolte got his big break playing opposite Jacqueline Bisset and Robert Shaw in “The Deep”, a film released in 1976.

“48 HRS.” is a hilarious 1982 movie starring Eddie Murphy and Nick Nolte. Even though the lead characters play a convict and a cop who team up, “48 HRS.” is often cited as the first of the modern “buddy cop” movies, a precursor to the likes of “Beverly Hills Cop” and “Lethal Weapon”.

70 Beer brand whose name spells an article of apparel backward : STROH’S

Bernard Stroh was the son of a German brewer. Bernard immigrated to the US in 1848 and set up his own brewery in 1850 in Detroit. Years later, the Stroh Brewing Company introduced a European process called fire-brewing. This results in higher temperatures at a crucial stage in the brewing process, supposedly bringing out flavor. Apparently, Stroh’s is the only mainstream American beer that still uses this process.

74 Carolers’ repertoire : NOELS

“Noël” is the French word for the Christmas season, and ultimately comes from the Latin word for “birth” (natalis). “Noel” has come to be used as an alternative for “Christmas carol”.

75 ___ dancer : GO-GO

Go-go dancing started in the early sixties. Apparently, the first go-go dancers were women at the Peppermint Lounge in New York City who would spontaneously jump up onto tables and dance the twist. It wasn’t long before clubs everywhere started hiring women to dance on tables for the entertainment of their patrons. Out in Los Angeles, the “Whisky a Go Go” club on Sunset Strip added a twist (pun intended!), as they had their dancers perform in cages suspended from the ceiling, creating the profession of “cage dancing”. The name “go-go” actually comes from two expressions. The expression in English “go-go-go” describes someone who is high energy, and the French expression “à gogo” describes something in abundance.

76 Minotaur’s foot : HOOF

Minos was the King of Crete in Greek mythology, and the son of Zeus and Europa. Minos had an elaborate labyrinth built under the island that was designed by the architect Daedalus and his son Icarus (who famously died trying to escape from the island by “flying” away). In the labyrinth, King Minos kept the Minotaur, a dreadful creature with the head of a bull on the body of a man.

77 Bird known in the U.K. as a diver : LOON

The bird known as a loon here in North America is called a diver in Britain and Ireland. The name “diver” comes from the bird’s habit of swimming calmly and then suddenly diving below the surface to catch a fish. The name “loon” comes from an Old English word meaning “clumsy” and reflects the awkward gait of the bird when walking on land.

85 Like some vodkas : INFUSED

The distilled beverage vodka takes its name from the Slavic word “voda” meaning “water”, with “vodka” translating as “little water”.

90 Spuds : TATERS

The word “spud”, used as a slang term for “potato”, was first recorded in the mid-1800s, in New Zealand would you believe?

91 Tall tales : YARNS

The phrase “to spin a yarn”, meaning “to tell a tall tale”, originated in the early 1800s with seamen. The idea was that sailors would tell stories to each other while engaged in mindless work such as twisting yarn.

93 N.H.L. team with five championship-winning seasons in the 1980s : OILERS

The National Hockey League’s Edmonton Oilers are so called because they are located in Alberta, Canada … oil country.

103 Like the Radio City Music Hall sign : NEON

The basic design of neon lighting was first demonstrated at the Paris Motor Show in 1910. Such lighting is made up of glass tubes containing a vacuum into which has been introduced a small amount of neon gas. When a voltage is applied between two electrodes inside the tube, the neon gas “glows” and gives off the familiar light.

New York City’s Radio City Music Hall in Rockefeller Center opened for business in 1932. Originally to be named International Music Hall, the current name was chosen in honor of the Radio Corporation of America, which was one of Rockefeller Center’s first tenants.

107 Totally fine : A-OK

Our term “A-OK” is supposedly an abbreviation for “A(ll systems are) OK”, and arose at NASA in the sixties during the space program.

108 Alternative to Webster’s, in brief : OED

Oxford English Dictionary (OED)

Not only is Noah Webster’s name inextricably linked with his series of dictionaries, but he is also renowned as an advocate for English spelling reform. He argued that “traditional” English is hard to learn, and that it should be simplified and standardized (instead of “standardised”). He published spelling books that were used in schools, and from edition to edition he changed the spelling of words in order to simplify the language. Examples are the use of “s” over “c” in words like “defense” (in Ireland we have defence and defense depending on usage), “-re” became “-er” as in center instead of centre (reversing the influence of French), and he dropped one of the Ls in words like traveler (I learned “traveller”). Mind you, he also spelled “tongue” as “tung”, but he didn’t get very far with that one.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Web site? : ATTIC
6 Browser window : TAB
9 Streaming service acquired by Fox in 2020 : TUBI
13 Civil rights grp. once led by M.L.K. : SCLC
17 Fictional character who says “I will take the ring, though I do not know the way” : FRODO
18 Scorpion, for one : ARACHNID
20 Wasn’t overturned on appeal : STOOD
21 Artists sketching pectorals? : DRAWERS OF CHESTS (from “chests of drawers”)
23 Stays out all night? : CAMPS
24 Glowing or shining : RADIANT
25 Work rotations : SHIFTS
26 French “I like” : J’AIME
27 “Right on!” : AMEN!
28 Spot at a casino : PIP
30 Either side of a beaming grin, in a phrase : EAR
31 Tony winner McDonald : AUDRA
32 Something to make after you wake : BED
33 Vow to remain mum about hotel guests’ secrets? : HONOR OF MAIDS (from “maids of honor”)
37 Hoops org. : WNBA
40 Possibility : OPTION
41 Scoffing sound : PFFT!
42 Driver of film : ADAM
43 Nonbinary people, informally : ENBIES
47 Declined : SLID
49 Over-poetical? : O’ER
50 Modern-day “carpe diem” : YOLO
51 Early times in verse : MORNS
52 Small distance covered by a naval armada? : FOOT OF FLEET (from “fleet of foot”)
56 First sitting prez to fly in an airplane : FDR
57 Words after walk or cash : … IN ON
58 Hyperbolic wait time : EON
59 Like climates where cacti thrive : ARID
60 Pointy part of a charger? : LANCE
62 Group of followers : RETINUE
64 Willem who played Jesus in “The Last Temptation of Christ” : DAFOE
66 Some pianos and motorcycles : YAMAHAS
68 2000s Fox teen drama : THE OC
69 Playwright Simon : NEIL
70 “Emotion in motion,” per Mae West : SEX
71 Thomas ___, British general at Bunker Hill : GAGE
72 Sweetie : BAE
73 Boxer lacking a left hook? : MAN OF RIGHTS (from “Rights of Man”)
77 One of the boxing Alis : LAILA
78 Gumbo ingredient : OKRA
80 🙂 alternative : LOL
81 Below par : POOR
82 Something unleashed in a denial-of-service attack : BOTNET
83 Destination for a return flight : NEST
84 Himalayan humanoid : YETI
86 ___ eyes : GOO-GOO
88 “I’m a frayed ___” (punch line of a classic joke) : KNOT
89 What brass band music has? : PLENTY OF HORN (from “horn of plenty”)
92 Court : WOO
95 Groups of Greeks, informally : FRATS
97 Watcher of the skies, for short : FAA
98 Old ___ (motherland, affectionately) : SOD
99 Announced : SAID
100 You can count on them : ABACI
101 Beat in a race : OUTRAN
104 Very productive : FERTILE
106 Not even a little off : EXACT
107 Tree feature in winter? : ABSENCE OF LEAVES (from “leaves of absence”)
109 Quaint bathroom sign : GENTS
110 Galosh : OVERSHOE
111 Lumberjack’s favorite kind of beer? : LAGER
112 “What are the ___?” : ODDS
113 Audience for Cocomelon, the most-viewed YouTube channel in the U.S. : KIDS
114 Omega’s place : END
115 Columns with angles : OP-EDS

Down

1 Home with a pointy roof : A-FRAME
2 Worked on Wall Street : TRADED
3 Bring to a repair shop, say : TOW IN
4 Creative springboard : IDEA
5 Cereal once advertised by Woody Woodpecker : CORN POPS
6 Subject for Laozi : TAO
7 Sounds from a lab : ARFS
8 “The Art of Fugue” composer : BACH
9 One’s kin, casually : THE FAM
10 Loosen, in a way : UNSTRAP
11 Some zeros and ones : BITS
12 Bar necessities, at times : IDS
13 It has several steps : STAIRWAY
14 What a dog walker and a strong-willed pooch might vie for? : COMMAND OF CHAIN (from “chain of command”)
15 Run easily : LOPE
16 Makeup of some music libraries : CDS
19 Main : CHIEF
20 Huge quantity : SCAD
21 Lacking color : DRAB
22 Brief period of work : STINT
26 “Easy … everything’s going to be OK” : JUST RELAX
29 Bottle marked with a skull and crossbones : POISON
31 Cost for a spot : AD FEE
33 Garden shed items : HOES
34 Caramel-filled candy : ROLO
35 “You can leave this to me” : ON IT
36 Declaration by one who’s done playing : I FOLD
38 Benjamin Franklin famously considered it “a rank coward” with “bad moral character” : BALD EAGLE
39 “Te quiero” sentiment : AMOR
43 Mideast V.I.P. : EMIR
44 Response to “No offense” : NONE TAKEN
45 The Bee Gees’ Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb? : BROTHERS OF BAND (from “band of brothers”)
46 It might gather lint : INNIE
48 Somersault : DO A FLIP
52 Adversary : FOE
53 To’s opposite : FRO
54 Old-timey reproach : FIE
55 Scottish cap : TAM
58 Aromatic trees : EUCALYPTI
61 Really bother : NAG AT
63 Jacqueline or Jacques : NOM
64 For sure, for short : DEF
65 Something a snowboarder catches : AIR
66 Last word of “Ulysses” : YES
67 Goal in musical chairs : SEAT
69 Nick of “48 Hrs.” : NOLTE
70 Beer brand whose name spells an article of apparel backward : STROH’S
72 Knock on the head : BONK
74 Carolers’ repertoire : NOELS
75 ___ dancer : GO-GO
76 Minotaur’s foot : HOOF
77 Bird known in the U.K. as a diver : LOON
79 Draws : ATTRACTS
82 Red-light district establishment : BORDELLO
85 Like some vodkas : INFUSED
87 Fly into a rant : GO OFF
90 Spuds : TATERS
91 Tall tales : YARNS
92 Dispensed with : WAIVED
93 N.H.L. team with five championship-winning seasons in the 1980s : OILERS
94 Praising poetry : ODES
96 Ballet sections : ACTS
99 Play station? : STAGE
100 Got rid of : AXED
101 “Duh,” in modern slang : OBVI
102 Pine : ACHE
103 Like the Radio City Music Hall sign : NEON
105 Harvest : REAP
106 Something swollen on a pro athlete? : EGO
107 Totally fine : A-OK
108 Alternative to Webster’s, in brief : OED