0211-24 NY Times Crossword 11 Feb 24, Sunday

Constructed by: Peter Koetters
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Theme: Bright Ideas

Themed answers are INVENTIONS attributed to THOMAS ALVA EDISON. The circled letters in the center of the grid are in the shape of a light bulb, one of the “BRIGHTEST” of his IDEAS:

  • 36D Legacy of 72-Down, seven of which appear among this puzzle’s answers and one more suggested by the black squares in the middle of the grid : INVENTIONS
  • 72D With [circled letters reading clockwise], American icon born 2/11/1847 : THOMAS ALVA [EDISON]
  1. 27A It helps you get the picture : MOVIE CAMERA
  2. 3D Duplicating machine : MIMEOGRAPH
  3. 15D The “thing” in “Is this thing on?” : MICROPHONE
  4. 38D Something that’s big with the current generation? : POWER PLANT
  5. 64D Bygone tape dispenser : STOCK TICKER
  6. 66D Failed device meant to communicate with the dead : SPIRIT PHONE
  7. 69D Object in the classic painting “His Master’s Voice” : PHONOGRAPH

Bill’s time: 19m 47s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 ___ Pérignon : DOM

Dom Pérignon is a prestige label of champagne from Moët et Chandon, the French winery. The label’s name honors the Benedictine monk, Dom Pérignon, who helped to improve the quality and production of champagne in the early 18th century. Although Dom Pérignon made major contributions to champagne production, many of the stories in which he figures are just myths. He did not “invent” champagne, nor sparkling wine in general. Nor did he say the famous words, “Come quickly, I am drinking the stars!”. That lovely line first appeared in a print advertisement in the late 1800s!

18 Computer text standard : UNICODE

ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) lists codes for 32 “control” characters, as well as the 95 printable characters. These binary codes are the way that our computers can understand what we mean when we type, say a letter or a number. Unicode is a more contemporary standard, and is like “Ascii on steroids”, encompassing more characters.

24 Baseball manager who once instructed his team to “Pair up in threes” : BERRA

Yogi Berra is regarded by many as the greatest catcher ever to play in Major League Baseball, and has to be America’s most celebrated “author” of malapropisms. Here are some great “Yogi-isms”:

  • It ain’t over till it’s over.
  • 90% of the game is half mental.
  • Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.
  • When you come to a fork in the road, take it.
  • It’s déjà vu all over again.
  • Always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise they won’t go to yours.
  • A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore.

30 Sportscaster Hershiser : OREL

Orel Hershiser is big into poker now that he has retired from Major League Baseball. Hershiser lives in Las Vegas and when he isn’t working for ESPN, apparently he is at the poker tables, playing professionally. When Hershiser is eliminated in a poker tournament, he is in the habit of presenting the person who ousts him with an autographed baseball.

31 Annual Pebble Beach event : PRO-AM

The AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am golf tournament was established as an annual event in 1937, when it was hosted by Bing Crosby, who was a huge fan of the sport. The Bing Crosby name was used for the tournament even after his death in 1977, eventually giving way to corporate sponsor AT&T in 1985.

35 Food pyramid group : GRAINS

The first food guide pyramid was issued in 1974, in Sweden. The food pyramid that we’re most familiar with in this country is the one published by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 1992, which was replaced in 2011. Instead of a pyramid, we now have a guide called MyPlate (available on the website ChooseMyPlate.gov). MyPlate urges us to eat about 30% grains, 30% vegetables, 20% fruits, 20% proteins on our plates, accompanied by a small serving of dairy.

39 Place for poissons : MER

In French, “poissons” (fish) are found in the “mer” (sea).

48 Blue ___ (symbol of Delaware) : HEN

The Delaware Blue Hen has been the state bird of Delaware since 1939. As a result, the athletic teams of the University of Delaware are known as the Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens.

51 “The Terrible” czar : IVAN IV

The Grand Prince of Moscow, and first Tsar of Russia, Ivan IV became known as “Ivan the Terrible”. The name “terrible” is a translation from Russian, and perhaps creates the wrong impression about the man. The Russian word is “Grozny”, which is more akin to “strict” and “powerful” rather than “cruel” or “abominable”.

65 Absinthe flavoring : ANISE

Absinthe is an alcoholic spirit that is distilled from various plants and herbs including wormwood, anise and fennel. Absinthe was banned in the US in 1915 as it was deemed to be an addictive psychoactive drug. However, the accepted opinion today seems to be that absinthe is no more addictive or dangerous than any other spirit.

66 1974 C.I.A. spoof : S*P*Y*S

“S*P*Y*S” is a 1974 comedy starring Elliott Gould and Donald Sutherland as two men mistaken as spies and targeted by the KGB. With all those asterisks in the film’s title, one has to assume the movie was intended to capitalize on the success of the 1970 Gould/Sutherland vehicle called “M*A*S*H”.

67 Brand name on a Go-Gurt box : YOPLAIT

Yoplait started out as a farmer’s cooperative in France. The company is the result of a 1965 merger between the cooperatives “Yola” and “Coplait”.

71 Like a tuxedo bib : PLEATED

Apparently, the style of men’s evening dress called a “tuxedo” was first worn to a country club event in 1886 in New York. The use of a dark dinner jacket without tails became fashionable at the club with the members, and the tradition spread from there. The country club was located in Tuxedo Park, New York, giving the style of dress its name.

75 Athlete Arthur : ASHE

The great American tennis player Arthur Ashe spent the last years of his life writing his memoir called “Days of Grace”. He finished the manuscript just a few days before he passed away, dying from AIDS caused by a tainted blood transfusion.

76 Alley ___ : OOP

“Alley Oop” is a comic strip that ran for four decades starting in 1932. “Alley Oop” was drawn by V. T. Hamlin. The title character lived in the prehistoric kingdom of Moo, although for much of the strip’s life, Alley Oop had access to a time machine. Alley Oop also had a girlfriend called Ooola. I had assumed that Ooola’s name was a play on “hula hoop”, but that little toy wasn’t invented until the 1950s (a kind blog reader informs me) …

79 Sportage automaker : KIA

Kia’s Sportage is a compact SUV that has been manufactured since 1993.

84 Rubik with a cube : ERNO

What was originally called the “Magic Cube” became better known as “Rubik’s Cube”, and was named for its inventor Ernő Rubik. Rubik’s Cube is the world’s biggest selling puzzle game, with over 350 million sold in just over 30 years.

87 Ohio home to Cedar Point, the “Roller Coaster Capital of the World” : SANDUSKY

Cedar Point is an amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio and is the second-oldest such park in the country that is still operating (the oldest is Lake Compounce in Bristol, Connecticut, which opened in 1846). Cedar Point specializes in roller coasters.

89 Airline to Oslo : SAS

SAS was formerly known as Scandinavian Airlines System and is the flag carrier of three countries: Denmark, Norway and Sweden. SAS is based at Stockholm Arlanda Airport located just north of the Swedish capital.

95 Giant Mel : OTT

96 Shelley’s “___ Skylark” : TO A

“To a Skylark” is an 1820 poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley. The opening line “Hail to thee, blithe Spirit” is the inspiration used by Noël Coward for the title of his famous comic play called “Blithe Spirit”.

100 One with two years to go, informally : SOPH

The term “sophomore” has been used for a student in the second year of university since the 1680’s. The original meaning of the word was “arguer”. The term has Greek roots, from two Greek words that have been artificially combined in English. The Greek “sophos” means “wise”, and “moros” means “foolish”.

102 270° from sur : ESTE

The cardinal directions in Spanish are “norte” (north), “este” (east), “sur” (south) and “oeste” (west).

105 Hide ___ hair : NOR

The phrase “neither hide nor hair” means “nothing whatsoever”. This peculiarly American phrase arose in the mid 1800s, and paradoxically may have its origins in a much older English expression that means exactly the opposite. The older “in hide and hair” meant “wholly, entirely”.

108 Soldier’s helmet, in old slang : TIN HAT

The helmet worn by British and American soldiers for much of WWI was known colloquially as a “tin hat”, and more formally as a “Brodie helmet”. Inventor John Leopold Brodie patented the design in 1915 in London. The helmet was pressed from a single sheet of steel, lined with leather and included a leather chin strap.

111 Downhearted : IN A FUNK

Funk is ill humor. The term “funk” dates back to the mid-1700s, and probably came from Scottish and northern English.

117 Lab dropper : PIPETTE

A pipette (also “pipet”) is a tool used in a lab to transport an accurately measured volume of liquid. Back in my day, we would suck up the liquid into the pipette by applying our mouths to the top of the instrument. This could be quite dangerous, as one ends up with a mouthful of something unsavory if one lifts the top of the pipette out of the liquid too soon. Nowadays, things are much safer.

118 Character with character : EMOJI

An emoji is a character found on many cell phones that is much like an emoticon, but is more elaborate. The use of emojis originated in 1997 on mobile phones in Japan, and within a few years spread around the world. “Emoji” is a Japanese word meaning “picture word”.

120 Bagel topper : SCHMEAR

The word “schmear” comes from the Yiddish word “shmir” meaning “spread”. The phrase “the whole schmear” is a relatively recent one, dating back to around 1969 and coming from the world of business.

122 Seventh heaven : ECSTASY

In cosmology associated with some religious traditions, the universe is said to be made up of Seven Heavens. The highest of these is the “seventh heaven”.

Down

3 Duplicating machine : MIMEOGRAPH

A mimeograph (also “mimeo”) is a cheap printing press that applies ink to paper through a stencil wrapped around a rotating drum. Mimeographs are still around, but have largely been replaced by offset printers and photocopiers.

7 Bone attached to the patellar tendon : TIBIA

The tibia is the shinbone, and is the larger of the two bones right below the knee. It is the strongest weight-bearing bone in the human body. “Tibia” is the Roman name for a Greek flute and it is thought that the shinbone was given the same name because flutes were often fashioned out of the shinbones of animals.

The patella is the kneecap. The bone’s Latin name “patella” is a diminutive form of “patina”, the word for “pan”. The idea is that the kneecap is pan-shaped.

9 Poet Federico García ___ : LORCA

Federico García Lorca was a Spanish poet and dramatist. He is as famous for his poems and his plays as he is for the circumstances of his death. Although it has never been irrefutably proven, many believe that Lorca was shot and killed while in the custody of Nationalist militia, one month after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War.

11 Whisper from Don Juan : TE AMO

“I love you” translates into “te amo” in Spanish, “Ich liebe dich” in German, and “je t’aime” in French.

Don Juan is a flighty character who has been featured by a number of authors, poets and composers, including Molière, Byron, and Mozart. In the underlying legend, Don Juan ends up talking to the statue of the dead father of one of his conquests. He dines with the ghost of the dead man and when shaking the hand of the ghost he is dragged away to hell. We now use the term “Don Juan” to describe any womanizer or ladies’ man.

14 Verb in some tautologies : ARE

“Tautology” is one of my favorite words. It describes needless repetition, the redundant use of words to convey the same message, perhaps in the same sentence.

16 Che Guevara wore one : BERET

“Guerrillero Heroico” is the name of an iconic photograph taken by Alberto Korda of the revolutionary Che Guevara. With the title translating into English as “Heroic Guerrilla Fighter”, the image shows Guevara in a dark beret, with an “implacable” stare. Versions of this photo have been used so many times in tattoos, posters, paintings, etc. The Victoria and Albert Museum in London has determined that “Guerrillero Heroico” has been reproduced more than any other image in the history of photography.

17 “Easy on Me” singer : ADELE

“Easy on Me” is a 2021 song co-written and recorded by Adele. In the song, Adele is directly addressing her 9-year-old son, asking him to be “easy on” her following her divorce from his father.

19 Activist Chavez : CESAR

César Chávez was a Mexican-American farm worker, and co-founder of the union today known as the United Farm Workers. Chávez was born in Yuma, Arizona, but moved to California as a child with his family. He never attended high school, dropping out to become a full-time migrant farm worker. In 1944, at 17 years of age, he joined the US Navy and served for two years. 5-6 years after returning from the military, back working as a farm laborer, Chávez became politically active and rose to national attention as an articulate union leader during some high profile strikes. He is remembered annually here in California on his birthday, March 31, which is a state holiday.

28 Bygone tape type : VHS

The VHS video standard is more fully referred to as the Video Home System. VHS was one of many standards touted by various manufacturers in the seventies. The biggest rival to VHS was Betamax, but we all knew which of the two standards won the final round in that fight.

32 Italian dipping sauce : MARINARA

Italians use the term “marinara” not for a sauce, but in the name of a recipe that includes a tomato-based sauce. For example, “spaghetti alla marinara” would be a spaghetti dish, served “mariner’s style”. The tomato sauce that we call “marinara” is called “salsa di pomodoro” in Italy.

34 Netflix series starring the Fab Five : QUEER EYE

“Queer Eye” is a reality TV show that was launched in 2003 as “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy”. Each episode features a panel of gay professional experts in the fields of fashion and design giving a makeover to a straight man. The show was given a new life in 2018 when it was launched on Netflix as “Queer Eye” with a new “Fab Five” cast.

36 Legacy of 72-Down, seven of which appear among this puzzle’s answers and one more suggested by the black squares in the middle of the grid : INVENTIONS
(72D With [circled letters reading clockwise], American icon born 2/11/1847 : THOMAS ALVA [EDISON])

Thomas Alva Edison (TAE) was a very successful inventor. He held over a thousand US patents in his name. Included in the list of Edison’s inventions is the phonograph, the movie camera and the long-lasting light bulb. He passed away in 1931. There is a test tube at the Henry Ford Museum that supposedly holds Edison’s last breath. Ford convinced Thomas’s son Charles to seal up a tube of air in the room just after the inventor died, as a memento.

39 Actress Sorvino : MIRA

Mira Sorvino is an American actress, and a winner of an Oscar for her supporting role in the 1995 Woody Allen movie “Mighty Aphrodite”. Sorvino also played a title role opposite Lisa Kudrow in the very forgettable “Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion”.

44 When the original Big Five ruled Hollywood : STUDIO ERA

During the Golden Age of Cinema (roughly, the thirties and forties), the “Big Five” Hollywood studios were:

  • Lowe’s/MGM
  • Paramount
  • Fox (later “20th Century Fox”)
  • Warner Bros.
  • RKO

45 Magical objects : TALISMANS

A talisman is an object used as a charm to protect against evil and attract good fortune.

46 Union members : STATES

The first known use of the phrase “United States of America” is in a letter dated January 2nd, 1776 from Irish-American Stephen Moylan, who was serving as acting secretary to General George Washington. Writing to Washington’s aide-de-camp Colonel Joseph Reed, Moylan stated:

I should like vastly to go with full and ample powers from the United States of America to Spain [to seek foreign assistance for the cause].

53 Relative of Ltd. : INC

A company that has incorporated uses the abbreviation “Inc.” after its name. By incorporating, a company forms a corporation, which is a legal entity that has legal rights similar to those of an individual. For example, a corporation can sue another corporation or individual. However, a corporation does not have all the rights of citizens. A corporation does not have the Fifth Amendment right of protections against self-incrimination, for example. It is perhaps understandable that the concept of “corporations as persons” is a frequent subject for debate.

In Britain and Ireland, the most common type of business (my perception anyway) is one that has private shareholders whose liability is limited to the value of their investment. Such a company is known as a private limited company, and has the abbreviation “Ltd.” after the name. If the shares are publicly traded, then the company is a public limited company, and has the letters “plc” after the name.

64 Bygone tape dispenser : STOCK TICKER

Stock price information used to be transmitted over telegraph lines by “stock tickers” that produced the famous “ticker tape”, a paper tape with stock symbols and prices printed on it. The “ticker” got its name from the noise it created when it was printing. Even though ticker tape is no longer used, the concept lives on in the scrolling electronic tickers that stream across the bottom of a television screen when there’s a financial program airing.

68 Org. that sets worker exposure limits : OSHA

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

69 Object in the classic painting “His Master’s Voice” : PHONOGRAPH

Famously, Thomas Edison invented the phonograph in 1877, which was a device that recorded sound onto wax phonograph cylinders. The flat disc phonograph record was developed by Emile Berliner, a German-born American inventor. Berliner called his flat disc record player a “gramophone”, and started selling Berliner Gramophone records in 1894.

The RCA logo features a dog named Nipper. Nipper was a real dog from England whose owner, Francis Barraud, made a painting of Nipper listening to a gramophone. Barraud then approached several gramophone manufacturers in the hope they would be interested in using the image for advertising. Nipper’s likeness was indeed picked up, and around that time it was Barraud himself who came up with the slogan “His Master’s Voice”.

72 With [circled letters reading clockwise], American icon born 2/11/1847 : THOMAS ALVA [EDISON]

Thomas Edison didn’t invent the light bulb as such. What he came up with was a long-lasting bulb, one that enabled the development of electric lighting as a viable alternative to gas- and oil-based illumination. Key to Edison’s success was the use of a carbon filament.

74 Primatologist Fossey : DIAN

Dian Fossey carried out her famous study of gorilla populations in the mountain forests of Rwanda. She wrote a 1983 autobiographical account of her work titled “Gorillas in the Mist”, which served as a basis for a 1988 film of the same name starring Sigourney Weaver as Fossey. Sadly, Fossey was found dead in her cabin in Rwanda in 1986, murdered in her bedroom, her skull split open by a machete. The crime was never solved.

77 You can trip on it in the desert : PEYOTE

The peyote is a small, spineless cactus that is native to southwestern Texas and Mexico. When ingested, the peyote is known to have a psychoactive effect. One of the psychoactive alkaloids in peyote is mescaline, a recreational drug of choice for the likes of Aldous Huxley and Pablo Picasso.

88 Novelist Brown : DAN

Dan Brown is a somewhat controversial author who is best known for his 2003 novel “The Da Vinci Code”. I’ve read all of Brown’s books and must say that his early ones are awful (“Digital Fortress” and “Deception Point”). Having said that, I loved “Angels and Demons”, and found “The Da Vinci Code” to be a great read.

95 Egyptian god of death and rebirth : OSIRIS

Osiris was the Egyptian god of the underworld. He was the son of Geb the Earth god, and Nut the sky goddess. His wife Isis was also his sister. Osiris was killed and mutilated by Set, his own brother. Isis reassembled Osiris and revived him, just long enough that they could conceive their son Horus.

98 Kind of bond : IONIC

An ionic bond is formed between two oppositely-charged ions. A common example is the bond between positively-charged sodium atoms and negatively-charged chlorine atoms to form table salt (NaCl). A covalent bond, on the other hand, is formed when two atoms share electrons. Atoms sharing electrons tend to be stable, so they prefer to stay together rather than apart.

101 Chaos : HAVOC

Havoc is great damage or destruction. The term “havoc” comes from the Anglo-French phrase “crier havok”, which was an order given in the late 1500s to soldiers, instructing them to seize plunder.

104 Board of a cosmetics company? : EMERY

Emery is a very hard type of rock that is crushed for use as an abrasive. Emery paper is made by gluing small particles of emery to paper. Emery boards are just emery paper with a cardboard backing. And emery boards are primarily used for filing nails.

107 Cougar : PUMA

The mountain lion is found in much of the Americas from the Yukon in Canada right down to the southern Andes in South America. Because the mountain lion is found over such a vast area, it has many different names applied by local peoples, such as “cougar” and “puma”. In fact, the mountain lion holds the Guinness record for the animal with the most number of different names, with over 40 in English alone.

108 Hideki ___, W.W. II prime minister : TOJO

Hideki Tojo was a general and the Prime Minister of Japan during most of WWII. Although the attack on Pearl Harbor was planned before he took office, Tojo was the Prime Minister who made the decision to declare war on the US. After Japan surrendered, General MacArthur ordered Tojo’s arrest. Tojo attempted to commit suicide by shooting himself in the heart, but missed. There is a story that while recovering, Tojo was given a set of replacement dentures that were made by an American dentist. Apparently the dentist drilled the message “Remember Pearl Harbor” into the teeth in Morse code. Tojo was hanged for war crimes in 1948.

109 P.I.s, e.g. : TECS

“Tec” is a slang term meaning “private detective” or “private investigator” (PI).

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 ___ Pérignon : DOM
4 Result of a sand save, in golf : PAR
7 Letter-shaped groove used in framing : T-SLOT
12 Subway stop: Abbr. : STA
15 Chicago Booth offering, in brief : MBA
18 Computer text standard : UNICODE
20 “If all goes well …” : I HOPE …
21 Shook a leg : HURRIED
23 Traditional Indonesian percussion orchestra : GAMELAN
24 Baseball manager who once instructed his team to “Pair up in threes” : BERRA
25 It may be a lot outside the city : ONE ACRE
26 180s : UIES
27 It helps you get the picture : MOVIE CAMERA
30 Sportscaster Hershiser : OREL
31 Annual Pebble Beach event : PRO-AM
33 “That is hilarious!” : WHAT A HOOT!
34 Cite : QUOTE
35 Food pyramid group : GRAINS
37 Orange juice specification : NO PULP
39 Place for poissons : MER
41 IV placers : RNS
42 Support staff: Abbr. : ASSTS
47 Hostile party : FOE
48 Blue ___ (symbol of Delaware) : HEN
51 “The Terrible” czar : IVAN IV
53 Mirror : IMITATE
55 Sad response to “How was the game?” : WE LOST
57 Feel discontented : REPINE
58 Having knobby bumps : NODULAR
59 Heretofore, poetically : ERE NOW
60 Metal receptacle by a fireplace : ASH CAN
61 College student’s earnings : CREDITS
62 Student’s do-over : RETEST
63 Table scraps : ORTS
65 Absinthe flavoring : ANISE
66 1974 C.I.A. spoof : S*P*Y*S
67 Brand name on a Go-Gurt box : YOPLAIT
70 Hovers menacingly : LOOMS
71 Like a tuxedo bib : PLEATED
75 Athlete Arthur : ASHE
76 Alley ___ : OOP
78 Leaves on the shelf? : TEA
79 Sportage automaker : KIA
80 Language with 44 consonant symbols : THAI
81 “___ knows?” : WHO
82 Back in the day : ONCE
83 Suffix with east or west : -ERN
84 Rubik with a cube : ERNO
86 Fertility clinic donations : OVA
87 Ohio home to Cedar Point, the “Roller Coaster Capital of the World” : SANDUSKY
89 Airline to Oslo : SAS
90 Guys in commercials : PITCHMEN
92 Steering implement : OAR
93 Burdensome amount : TON
95 Giant Mel : OTT
96 Shelley’s “___ Skylark” : TO A
97 Leave one’s mark, in a way : SIGN
99 Spot : SITE
100 One with two years to go, informally : SOPH
102 270° from sur : ESTE
105 Hide ___ hair : NOR
106 Prepare to skate : LACE UP
108 Soldier’s helmet, in old slang : TIN HAT
110 Place to find a crook : ARM
111 Downhearted : IN A FUNK
113 After-school helper : TUTOR
115 Blanket : OVERLIE
117 Lab dropper : PIPETTE
118 Character with character : EMOJI
119 Welcome policy at a bar : NO COVER
120 Bagel topper : SCHMEAR
121 Anthony of “In the Heights” and “Hamilton” : RAMOS
122 Seventh heaven : ECSTASY

Down

1 Unearthed : DUG UP
2 ___ personality : ON-AIR
3 Duplicating machine : MIMEOGRAPH
4 Primary person, informally : POL
5 Primary person? : ADAM
6 Acclaims : RENOWNS
7 Bone attached to the patellar tendon : TIBIA
8 Unit of stamps : SHEET
9 Poet Federico García ___ : LORCA
10 Talk show host nominated for an Academy Award : OPRAH
11 Whisper from Don Juan : TE AMO
12 Lacking : SHORT OF
13 Sashimi choice : TUNA
14 Verb in some tautologies : ARE
15 The “thing” in “Is this thing on?” : MICROPHONE
16 Che Guevara wore one : BERET
17 “Easy on Me” singer : ADELE
19 Activist Chavez : CESAR
22 Director Walsh of old Hollywood : RAOUL
28 Bygone tape type : VHS
29 Seeming eternity : EON
32 Italian dipping sauce : MARINARA
34 Netflix series starring the Fab Five : QUEER EYE
36 Legacy of 72-Down, seven of which appear among this puzzle’s answers and one more suggested by the black squares in the middle of the grid : INVENTIONS
38 Something that’s big with the current generation? : POWER PLANT
39 Actress Sorvino : MIRA
40 Some nights of celebration : EVES
42 Ethically indifferent : AMORAL
43 Tangential remarks : SIDENOTES
44 When the original Big Five ruled Hollywood : STUDIO ERA
45 Magical objects : TALISMANS
46 Union members : STATES
49 Those, in Spanish : ESOS
50 Cereal box abbr. : NT WT
52 Designer Miller : NICOLE
53 Relative of Ltd. : INC
54 Hosp. areas : ERS
56 Unleashes upon : LETS AT
64 Bygone tape dispenser : STOCK TICKER
66 Failed device meant to communicate with the dead : SPIRIT PHONE
67 Swerves at sea : YAWS
68 Org. that sets worker exposure limits : OSHA
69 Object in the classic painting “His Master’s Voice” : PHONOGRAPH
72 With [circled letters reading clockwise], American icon born 2/11/1847 : THOMAS ALVA [EDISON]
73 Common spot for a wasp nest : EAVE
74 Primatologist Fossey : DIAN
77 You can trip on it in the desert : PEYOTE
79 Didn’t stop : KEPT ON
82 Sharer’s possessive : OUR
85 Late harvest mo. : OCT
88 Novelist Brown : DAN
91 Tilling tool : HOE
94 Without gender, in Latin : NEUTER
95 Egyptian god of death and rebirth : OSIRIS
97 Barbershop sounds : SNIPS
98 Kind of bond : IONIC
99 Seasonal inflatable : SANTA
101 Chaos : HAVOC
103 Tastes : TRIES
104 Board of a cosmetics company? : EMERY
106 Bard’s instrument : LUTE
107 Cougar : PUMA
108 Hideki ___, W.W. II prime minister : TOJO
109 P.I.s, e.g. : TECS
112 Gender abbr. : FEM
114 Cat’s pa : TOM
116 Turn bad : ROT