0414-13 New York Times Crossword Answers 14 Apr 13, Sunday

QuickLinks:
Solution to today’s crossword in the New York Times
Solution to today’s SYNDICATED New York Times crossword in all other publications

CROSSWORD SETTER: Elizabeth C. Gorski
THEME: My Treat … each of the themed answers today starts with a word that can precede CHOCOLATE i.e. the CHOCOLATE is DROPPED to give us each starting word:

3D. 1984 “educational” Van Halen song : HOT FOR TEACHER (hot chocolate)
5D. 1998 Grammy-nominated song by the Verve : BITTERSWEET SYMPHONY (bittersweet chocolate)
10D. Setting of Barbara Kingsolver’s “The Poisonwood Bible” : BELGIAN CONGO (Belgian chocolate)
14D. 2012 film starring Johnny Depp as a bloodsucker : DARK SHADOWS (dark chocolate)
26D. Classic novel subtitled “Adventures in a Desert Island,” with “The” : SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON (Swiss chocolate)
64D. Light, fruity alcoholic drink : WHITE SANGRIA (white chocolate)
68D. Flowering plant used to treat liver ailments : MILK THISTLE (milk chocolate)

59D. Kiss alternative … or a hint to the starts of 3-, 5-, 10-, 14-, 26-, 64- and 68-Down : CHOCOLATE DROP

COMPLETION TIME: 26m 53s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

13. Pelé’s given name : EDSON
Pelé is the nickname of Edson de Nascimento, a soccer player who has used the name Pelé for most of his life. Pelé is now retired, and for my money was the world’s greatest ever player of the game. He is the only person to have been part of three World Cup winning squads, and is a national treasure in his native Brazil.

18. Jesus, for one : ALOU
Jesus Alou played major league baseball, as did his brothers Matty and Felipe, and as does Felipe’s son, Moises.

21. It starts every March in N.Y.C. : EDT
On the other side of the Atlantic, Daylight Saving Time (DST) is known as “summer time”. The idea behind summer/daylight-savings is to move clocks forward an hour in spring and backwards in the fall so that afternoons have more daylight.

22. New Age pianist : YANNI
Yanni is a remarkable Greek musician, very successful in the world of New Age music. What I find so remarkable is that he is a self-taught musician.

24. One paying a flat rate : TENANT
“Flat” is a word more commonly used in the British Isles than here. A flat is basically an apartment or condominium. The word “flat” is Scottish in origin, in which language it meant a “floor in a house”.

27. Actress Lorna : LUFT
Lorna Luft is an actress and singer. She is the half-sister of Liza Minnelli as she is the daughter of Judy Garland and Garland’s third husband Sid Luft.

31. “Kitchy-___!” : KOO
“Kitchy-kitchy-koo” is a taunt uttered while tickling someone.

32. Lead-in to meter : ODO-
An odometer measures distance traveled. The name derives from the Greek “hodos” meaning “path” and “metron” meaning “measure”.

33. 2012 film title character who was computer-generated : TED
“Ted” is a movie written, directed, produced and starring Seth MacFarlane. In the story, MacFarlane voices a teddy bear who is the best friend of a character played by Mark Wahlberg.

34. Italian Renaissance composer Giovanni : GABRIELI
Giovanni Gabrieli was a composer and organist who was active at the end of the Renaissance Period and beginning of the Baroque. As well as composing, Gabrieli was the principal organist at St. Mark’s Basilica in his home city of Venice, Italy.

37. It’s high in West Africa : BIRTH RATE
The country with the highest birth rate in the world is Niger in west central Africa (at 51.3 births per 1,000 people. The country with the lowest birth rate is Japan (at 7.4 births per 1,000 people.

43. Odor-___ : EATERS
Odor Eater insoles were first introduced in the early seventies, and are manufactured by Combe. Combe sponsors a national contest held every year in Montpelier, Vermont, called “The Odor Eaters Rotten Sneaker Contest”. Very pleasant …

48. Sufficient, in “Macbeth” : ENOW
There is a superstition in the theatrical world that uttering the name “Macbeth” in a theater will bring disaster of some sort. To avoid this, the euphemism “the Scottish Play” is used instead.

50. Govt. agent : FED
What we know today as the FBI was set up in 1908 as the BOI, the Bureau of Investigation. The name was changed to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1935. The Bureau was set up at the behest of President Theodore Roosevelt. President Roosevelt was largely moved to do so after the 1901 assassination of President McKinley, as there was a perception that anarchists were threatening law and order .

55. Lasagna cheese : RICOTTA
Ricotta is an Italian cheese made from sheep or cow’s milk. Ricotta is actually produced from the whey of the milk, the liquid left after the curds have been separated out (curds are used to make “traditional” cheese). The whey is heated again so that the remaining protein, above and beyond that in the curd already removed, precipitates out making ricotta cheese. The word “ricotta” literally means “recooked”, which makes sense to me now …

Lasagna was originally the name of a cooking pot, but it came to mean a dish that was cooked in it. Lasagna also became the name of the flat noodle used in the dish. If you order lasagna on the other side of the Atlantic, you’ll notice the “lasagne” spelling, the plural of “lasagna”. The plural is used as there is more than one layer of pasta in the dish.

58. “Love Me, I’m a Liberal” singer : OCHS
Phil Ochs was an American protest singer, active in the days of the Vietnam War.

62. Party org. : DNC
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) was set up way back in 1848, and governs the day-to-day affairs of the Democratic Party. Past chairpersons of the DNC include Howard Dean from Vermont and Chris Dodd from Connecticut.

63. “The Matrix” hero : NEO
Neo is the character played by Keanu Reeves in “The Matrix” series of films.

The 1999 movie sensation “The Matrix” was meant to be set in a nondescript urban environment. It was actually shot in Australia, as one of the co-producers of the film was the Australian company, Village Roadshow Pictures. You can pick up all sorts of clues about the location when watching the film, including a view of Sydney Harbour Bridge in a background shot. Also, traffic drives along on the left and there are signs for the “lift” instead of an “elevator”.

65. Linguist Chomsky : NOAM
Noam Chomsky is a professor of linguistics at MIT. Chomsky is known as one of the fathers of modern linguistics.

67. Chicago mayor Emanuel : RAHM
The current Mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, was an Illinois representative in the US House before resigning to take up President Obama’s offer to become the White House Chief of Staff.

69. Sitting area? : TUSH
“Tush” is a slang term for the backside, an abbreviation of “tochus” that comes from the Yiddish “tokhes”.

71. Broadway title role for Audrey Hepburn : GIGI
In the lovely musical film “Gigi”, released in 1958, the title song is sung by Louis Jourdan who plays Gaston. My favorite number though, has to be “Thank Heaven for Little Girls” sung by Maurice Chevalier. Many say that “Gigi” is the last in the long line of great MGM musicals. It won a record 9 Academy Awards, a record that only lasted one year. Twelve months later “Ben Hur” won 11 Oscars. In the 1958 film, Gigi was played by the lovely Leslie Caron. A few years earlier, “Gigi” was a successful stage play on Broadway. Chosen for the title role on stage was the then unknown Audrey Hepburn.

72. TriBeCa neighbor : SOHO
The Manhattan neighborhood known today as SoHo was very fashionable in the early 1900s, but as the well-heeled started to move uptown the area became very run down and poorly maintained. Noted for the number of fires that erupted in derelict buildings, SoHo earned the nickname “Hell’s Hundred Acres”. The area was then zoned for manufacturing and became home to many sweatshops. In the mid-1900s artists started to move into open loft spaces and renovating old buildings as the lofts were ideal locations in which an artist could both live and work. In 1968, artists and others organized themselves so that they could legalize their residential use of an area zoned for manufacturing. The group they formed took its name from the name given to the area by the city’s Planning Commission i.e “South of Houston”. This was shortened from So-uth of Ho-uston to SoHo as in the SoHo Artists Association, and the name stuck.

TriBeCa is a clever little abbreviation that expands into “TRI-angle BE-low CA-nal Street”. The name was developed by local residents who basically copied the naming technique used by residents of the neighboring area of SoHo, which is short for “SO-uth of HO-uston Street”.

73. “The ___ Love” (R.E.M. hit) : ONE I
R.E.M. was a rock band from Athens, Georgia formed in 1980. The name “R.E.M.” was chosen randomly from a dictionary, apparently.

75. ___ Balls (bygone snack cakes) : SNO
The Hostess cakes called Sno Balls are usually pink in color, although in its original form each packet of two cakes contained one white and one pink. Around Halloween you can buy Sno Balls in the form of Scary Cakes and Glo Balls that are colored orange and green. and on St. Paddy’s Day there’s a green one available. Yoo hoo!

77. Sevilla cheer : OLE!
The city of Seville is the capital of Andalusia in southern Spain. Seville is a favored setting for many operas including “The Barber of Seville” by Rossini, “Fidelio” by Beethoven and Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” and “The Marriage of Figaro”.

80. Blackbird : MERL
A merl (or merle) is often called a blackbird over in Europe. The male merl is completely black, with a yellow beak.

81. Archer’s wood source : YEW TREE
Yew is the wood of choice for the longbow, a valued weapon in the history of England. The longbow is constructed with a core of yew heartwood (as the heartwood resists compression) that has a sheath of yew sapwood (as the sapwood resists stretching). The yew was in such demand for longbows that for centuries yew trees were in short supply in Britain and the wood had to be imported from all over Europe.

83. Panther figurine material : ONYX
Onyx is a form of quartz that comes in many different shades, but most often it’s the black version that’s used for jewelry. The name “onyx” comes from the Greek word for “fingernail”, as onyx in the flesh color is said to resemble a fingernail.

84. 51-Across forerunner : OSS
(51. Surveillance org. : CIA)
The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was formed during WWII in order to carry out espionage behind enemy lines. A few years after the end of the war, the OSS functions were taken up by a new group, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

85. Carrier to Amsterdam : KLM
The acronym KLM stands for “Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij”, which translates from Dutch as “Royal Aviation Company”. KLM is the flag carrier for the Netherlands, and is the oldest airline in the world still operating with its original name. It was founded in 1919.

89. OPEC nation currency : RIAL
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was founded in 1960 at a conference held in Baghdad, Iraq that was attended by Iraq, Kuwait, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Nine more countries joined the alliance soon after, and OPEC set up headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland and then Vienna, Austria in 1965. The basic aim of OPEC was to wrench control of oil prices from the oil companies and to put it in the hands of the sovereign states that own the natural resource.

95. Pontiac’s tribe : OTTAWA
Chief Pontiac was a leader of the Ottawa people in the 1700s. He is most famously associated with the fight against the British (called Pontiac’s Rebellion) after they emerged victorious from the French and Indian War. The most noted action during the rebellion was the attack led by Pontiac on Fort Detroit, and the subsequent siege. Although the siege was unsuccessful, it served to unite the local Native American peoples in the fight.

99. Writer Santha Rama ___ : RAU
Santha Rama Rau was a travel writer from India who lived much of her life in the US. As well as writing her own books, Rau also adapted for the stage the E. M. Forster novel “A Passage to India”.

109. Phone pad letters : PRS
In days gone by, telephone keypads had three letters written below each of the numbers 2 through 9. These eight numerical keys only allowed for 24 letters, so two letters had to be omitted, namely Q and Z. So, the 7-key has the letters PRS and 9-key the letters WXY.

111. Dutch painter Vermeer : JAN
Johannes Vermeer was born in the city of Delft in 1632, and died there some 43 years later. I just love Vermeer’s paintings, and his wonderful use of light. A great example of such a work is his “Girl with a Pearl Earring”. If you haven’t seen it, I thoroughly recommend the 2003 movie “Girl with a Pearl Earring” starring Scarlett Johansson as the girl in the painting, and Colin Firth as Vermeer. The movie is based on a novel of the same name by Tracy Chevalier, so it’s all just a great story as opposed to documentary. The way the movie is shot really reflects the qualities of a Vermeer work of art. And, my wife and i are planning on taking a peek at the original painting “Girl with a Pearl Earring” in a couple of weeks as it is visiting one of our galleries here in San Francisco.

112. Collection of Norse tales : EDDA
The Poetic Edda and Prose Edda are two ancient works that are the source for much of Norse mythology. Both Eddas were written in the 13th century, in Iceland.

113. Aunt of 1960s TV : BEE TAYLOR
Aunt Bee was a character in “The Andy Griffith Show”. The character’s full name was Beatrice Taylor but everyone in Mayberry called her “Aunt Bee”. In the storyline she was the aunt of the protagonist, Sheriff Andy Taylor, and great-aunt to Andy’s son Opie. Aunt Bee was played by actress Frances Bavier.

119. Fragrant necklace : LEI
“Lei” is the Hawaiian word for “garland, wreath”, although in more general terms a “lei” is any series of objects strung together as an adornment for the body.

120. Estevez of Hollywood : EMILIO
Emilio Estevez is one of the members of Hollywood’s famous “Brat Pack”, having appeared in “The Breakfast Club” and “St. Elmo’s Fire”. Estevez’s father (and can’t you tell it from looking at him?) is actor Martin Sheen. Estevez decided to keep his father’s real name, and not the stage name of “Sheen”. Charlie Sheen is Emilio’s brother, and Charlie’s real name is Carlos Estevez.

121. Rice-A-___ : RONI
Rice-a-Roni was introduced in 1958 by the Golden Grain Macaroni Company of San Francisco. The company was run by an Italian immigrant and his four sons. The wife of one of the sons served a pilaf dish at a family diner that was a big hit, so her brother-in-law created a commercial version by blending dry chicken soup mix with rice and macaroni. Sounds like “a San Francisco treat” to me …

123. Benefits agcy. : SSA
The Social Security Administration (SSA) was of course set up as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. The first person to receive a monthly retirement benefit was Ida May Fuller of Vermont who received her first check for the sum of $22.54 after having contributed for three years through payroll taxes. The New Deal turned out to be a good deal for Ms. Fuller, as she lived to 100 years of age and received a total benefit of almost $23,000, whereas her three years of contributions added up to just $24.75.

125. Org. for some good drivers : LPGA
The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) was founded in 1950 by a group of 13 lady golfers, and today it is the oldest ongoing women’s sports professional organization in the US.

Down
2. Lady Bird Johnson’s real first name : CLAUDIA
Claudia Alta Taylor was named after her mother’s brother Claud, but her more familiar name came from her childhood nurse, Alice Tittle, who remarked that as a little baby Claudia was “purty as a ladybird”. A ladybird is what we call a ladybug on the other side of the Atlantic. So, the moniker Lady Bird stuck with the future First Lady, from when she was just a little one.

3. 1984 “educational” Van Halen song : HOT FOR TEACHER (hot chocolate)
Van Halen is a heavy metal band formed in Pasadena, California back in 1972. Brothers Eddie and Alex Van Halen originally called the band Mammoth, changing the name to Van Halen in 1974 when they found out there was another Mammoth playing the circuit. Early on, the brothers were renting a sound system from David Lee Roth, and they decided to save some money by bringing him into the band and saving on the rental fee!

5. 1998 Grammy-nominated song by the Verve : BITTERSWEET SYMPHONY (bittersweet chocolate)
The Verve were an alternative rock band from the Manchester area in the north of England. The band formed in 1989, and it’s biggest hit was 1997’s “Bittersweet Symphony”.

6. New York native : ONEIDA
The Oneida people originally lived in the area that is now Central New York. The Oneida were one of the five founding nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, also known as the Five Nations (the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca).

8. Actress Long : NIA
Nia Long is an American actress, probably best known for playing Will Smith’s sometime girlfriend and fiancee Lisa Wilkes on the TV show “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air”.

9. Paganini’s birthplace : GENOA
Niccolò Paganini was a famed Italian violinist and composer. Paganini was perhaps the most celebrated violinist of the 19th century. His most famous composition has to be his Caprice No. 24 in A minor, Op. 1. This work is the basis for many derivative masterpieces by other composers, including the wonderful “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini” by Rachmaninoff.

10. Setting of Barbara Kingsolver’s “The Poisonwood Bible” : BELGIAN CONGO (Belgian chocolate)
Barbara Kingsolver is a writer who now lives in rural Virginia. She wrote a book that is a favorite of mine called “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” which tells of her family’s efforts to eat locally for a year. It is a very inspirational and educational tale that I highly recommend.

14. 2012 film starring Johnny Depp as a bloodsucker : DARK SHADOWS (dark chocolate)
“Dark Shadows” is a horror comedy film released in 2012 that is based on a gothic soap opera of the same name from the late sixties and early seventies. “Dark Shadows” is a Tim Burton movie (so I won’t be seeing it!) with Johnny Depp as the star.

26. Classic novel subtitled “Adventures in a Desert Island,” with “The” : SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON (Swiss chocolate)
“The Swiss Family Robinson” is an adventure novel by Johann David Wyss that was first published in 1812. Wyss was a pastor and wrote the novel as a series of episodes or lessons designed to teach his four sons good family values and the virtue of having a good relationship with the natural world. “Robinson” is of course not a Swiss name, and Wyss chose it in honor of Robinson Crusoe.

34. MTV’s early fan base : GEN-X
The term Generation X originated in the UK where it was the name of a book by Jane Deverson. Her book detailed the results of a study of British youths in 1964, contrasting their lifestyle to those of previous generations. It was Canadian author Douglas Coupland who was responsible for popularizing the term, with his more successful publication “Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture”. By the latest accepted definition, Gen-Xers were born between 1961 and 1981.

36. Vintage vehicle : REO
The REO Motor Company was founded by Ransom E. Olds (hence the name REO). The company made cars, trucks and buses, and was in business from 1905 to 1975 in Lansing, Michigan.

38. A VHF channel : TEN
VHF radio frequencies are divided into a number of “channels” in the US. Channel 16 is reserved as the international distress, safety and calling channel. Someone wishing to communicate via VHF radio with another party uses channel 16 to make immediate contact and to determine which other channel the parties will use to continue the conversation. In other words, they use channel 16 as briefly as possible and then clear it for any potential emergency traffic.

42. “The Black Cat” writer : POE
Edgar Allan Poe lived a life of many firsts. He is considered to be the inventor of the detective-fiction genre. He was also the first notable American author to make his living through his writing, something that didn’t really go too well for him as he was always financially strapped. In 1849 he was found on the streets of Baltimore, delirious from either drugs or alcohol. He died a few days later in hospital at 39 years of age.

“The Black Cat” is a short story written by Edgar Allen Poe, first published in 1843. It is a dark tale about a man who murders his wife and is taunted by the couple’s black cat.

46. Medical suffix : -ITIS
The suffix “-itis” is used to denote inflammation, as in laryngitis (inflammation of the larynx) and sinusitis (inflammation of the sinuses).

54. When repeated, a 1963 #2 hit : LOUIE
“Louie Louie” is a rock ‘n’ roll classic released in 1963 by the Kingsmen. A few months after the release, there was a complaint by a parent that the lyrics of “Louie Louie” were obscene. The FBI investigated this claim over a two-year period, and found no evidence of any obscenity. However, the obscenity claim does still pop up every now and then.

56. French 101 pronoun : TOI
“Toi” is the French word for “you”, when talking to someone with whom you are familiar.

59. Kiss alternative … or a hint to the starts of 3-, 5-, 10-, 14-, 26-, 64- and 68-Down : CHOCOLATE DROP
The Hershey Company produces over 80 million Kisses each day, and has been making them since 1907.

64. Light, fruity alcoholic drink : WHITE SANGRIA (white chocolate)
Sangria is red wine punch, usually associated with Portugal and Spain. Recipes for sangria vary, but almost all include a robust red wine, sliced fruit, something sweet (e.g. orange juice, sugar), a spirit (e.g. brandy, triple sec), carbonated water or perhaps 7up, and ice. The drink is named for its color, as “sangre” is the Spanish for blood. White wine can be substituted for red wine, in which case the beverage is called sangria blanca or white sangria.

68. Flowering plant used to treat liver ailments : MILK THISTLE (milk chocolate)
Milk thistle is a plant in the daisy family, a type of thistle. The name “milk” comes the splashes of white found on the leaves. There is a chemical extracted from the milk thistle’s seed shells that is used for its liver-protective properties, and as a treatment for hepatitis.

76. Actor ___ Patrick Harris : NEIL
Neil Patrick Harris got his big break very early in his career, playing the title role in television’s “Doogie Howser, M.D.” He is now seen regularly on the sitcom “How I Met Your Mother”, playing the shallow womanizer Barney Stinson. Harris is also quite the magician and serves on the Board of Directors of Hollywood’s Magic Castle, a nightclub for magicians and magic enthusiasts.

86. John, to Elton John : LOO
When I was growing up in Ireland, a “bathroom” was a room that had a bath and no toilet. The separate room with the commode was called “the toilet” or sometimes the W.C. (the water closet). Apparently the term closet was used because in the 1800s when homeowners started installing toilets indoors they often displaced clothes and linens in a “closet”, as a closet was the right size to take the commode. It has been suggested that the British term “loo” comes from Waterloo (water-closet … water-loo), but no one seems to know for sure. Another suggestion is that the term comes from the card game of “lanterloo” in which the pot was called the loo!

Elton John’s real name is Reginald Dwight. John was knighted in 1998, not for his music but for his charitable work. He founded his own Elton John AIDS Foundation back in 1992.

88. Breyers competitor : EDY’S
Dreyers’ ice cream sells its products under the name Dreyers in the Western United States, and Edy’s in the Eastern states. The company’s founders were William Dryer and Joseph Edy.

90. “The Good Wife” fig. : ATT
“The Good Wife” is a legal drama showing on CBS starring Julianna Margulies. I haven’t seen it, but I hear good things …

91. Kind of voyage? : BON
“Bon voyage” translates literally from French into English as “good journey”.

97. Place of peace and simplicity : ARCADIA
Arcadia was a mountainous region of Ancient Greece, well known for the innocence and contentment of its people who lived a simple, pastoral life. Arcadia has been used ever since as the name of a place offering peace and simplicity.

101. Muse of astronomy : URANIA
In Greek mythology, the muses are the goddesses who inspire the creation of literature and the arts. The number of muses is a subject of debate at times, but the most popular view is that there are nine:

– Calliope (epic poetry)
– Clio (history)
– Erato (lyric poetry)
– Euterpe (music)
– Melpomene (tragedy)
– Polyhymnia (choral poetry)
– Terpsichore (dance)
– Thalia (comedy)
– Urania (astronomy)

105. Scot’s language : ERSE
There are actually three Erse languages: Irish, Manx (spoken on the Isle of Man) and Scots Gaelic. In their own tongues, these would be Gaeilge (in Ireland), Gaelg (on the Isle of Man) and Gàidhlig (in Scotland).

111. Spurn, as a lover : JILT
To “jilt” someone with whom you have a relationship is to drop them suddenly or callously. “Jilt” is an obsolete noun that used to mean “harlot” or “loose woman”.

112. Monroe of the N.B.A. : EARL
Earl Monroe is a retired professional basketball player who played for the Baltimore Bullets and the New York Knicks.

116. “___ for Evidence” : E IS
Sue Grafton writes detective novels, and her “alphabet series” features the private investigator Kinsey Millhone. She started off with “A Is for Alibi” in 1982 and is working her way through the alphabet, most recently publishing “U Is for Undertow” in 2009. What a clever naming system!

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Parrot : ECHO
5. Jumping-on-a-mattress sound : BOING!
10. What hist. and econ. majors get : BAS
13. Pelé’s given name : EDSON
18. Jesus, for one : ALOU
19. Some navels : INNIES
21. It starts every March in N.Y.C. : EDT
22. New Age pianist : YANNI
23. “Bummer!” : RATS!
24. One paying a flat rate : TENANT
25. Mountain-climbing hazard : LOOSE ROCK
27. Actress Lorna : LUFT
28. Contracted agreement : ‘TIS
29. No longer fit in : OUTGROW
31. “Kitchy-___!” : KOO
32. Lead-in to meter : ODO-
33. 2012 film title character who was computer-generated : TED
34. Italian Renaissance composer Giovanni : GABRIELI
35. Provoke : SPUR
37. It’s high in West Africa : BIRTH RATE
40. Some rechargeables : AAS
41. Worldly figure? : SPHERE
43. Odor-___ : EATERS
44. Naval flier : ENSIGN
47. Reach, as new heights : SOAR TO
48. Sufficient, in “Macbeth” : ENOW
49. Other-worldly? : EXOTIC
50. Govt. agent : FED
51. Surveillance org. : CIA
53. Join, in a way : WELD
55. Lasagna cheese : RICOTTA
58. “Love Me, I’m a Liberal” singer : OCHS
62. Party org. : DNC
63. “The Matrix” hero : NEO
64. Lb. and oz. : WTS
65. Linguist Chomsky : NOAM
66. “Say that again?” : WHAT?
67. Chicago mayor Emanuel : RAHM
69. Sitting area? : TUSH
71. Broadway title role for Audrey Hepburn : GIGI
72. TriBeCa neighbor : SOHO
73. “The ___ Love” (R.E.M. hit) : ONE I
74. “Of course, señor!” : SI SI!
75. ___ Balls (bygone snack cakes) : SNO
77. Sevilla cheer : OLE!
79. Topper : CAP
80. Blackbird : MERL
81. Archer’s wood source : YEW TREE
83. Panther figurine material : ONYX
84. 51-Across forerunner : OSS
85. Carrier to Amsterdam : KLM
87. More spine-tingling : EERIER
89. OPEC nation currency : RIAL
91. Circus tent : BIG TOP
94. Burns in the kitchen, maybe : SCALDS
95. Pontiac’s tribe : OTTAWA
98. “I know the answer!” : OH! OH! OH!
99. Writer Santha Rama ___ : RAU
100. Response to “I promise I will” : YOU BETTER
102. Words of denial : NOT I
103. Where cruisers cruise : OPEN SEAS
107. Free : RID
108. Pkg. insert : ENC
109. Phone pad letters : PRS
110. Pushy types? : NUDGERS
111. Dutch painter Vermeer : JAN
112. Collection of Norse tales : EDDA
113. Aunt of 1960s TV : BEE TAYLOR
115. Knitter’s stash : SKEINS
117. Dry as a bone : ARID
118. “The pleasure ___ mine” : IS ALL
119. Fragrant necklace : LEI
120. Estevez of Hollywood : EMILIO
121. Rice-A-___ : RONI
122. Apartment rental sign : TO LET
123. Benefits agcy. : SSA
124. “They are,” in Spanish class : ESTAN
125. Org. for some good drivers : LPGA

Down
1. Ring site : EARLOBE
2. Lady Bird Johnson’s real first name : CLAUDIA
3. 1984 “educational” Van Halen song : HOT FOR TEACHER (hot chocolate)
4. Bump : OUST
5. 1998 Grammy-nominated song by the Verve : BITTERSWEET SYMPHONY (bittersweet chocolate)
6. New York native : ONEIDA
7. Quaint stopovers : INNS
8. Actress Long : NIA
9. Paganini’s birthplace : GENOA
10. Setting of Barbara Kingsolver’s “The Poisonwood Bible” : BELGIAN CONGO (Belgian chocolate)
11. Idolizes : ADORES
12. It can have three or four legs : STOOL
13. Lump of coal, to Frosty : EYE
14. 2012 film starring Johnny Depp as a bloodsucker : DARK SHADOWS (dark chocolate)
15. Buttinsky : SNOOPER
16. Like many basketball drills : ON-COURT
17. No-good end? : -NIK
20. Theater keepsake : STUB
26. Classic novel subtitled “Adventures in a Desert Island,” with “The” : SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON (Swiss chocolate)
30. “How sad” : TRAGIC
33. Discombobulated : THROWN
34. MTV’s early fan base : GEN-X
36. Vintage vehicle : REO
38. A VHF channel : TEN
39. Ready, with “up” : TEED
42. “The Black Cat” writer : POE
45. Collate : SORT
46. Medical suffix : -ITIS
51. Flat storage site : CD-ROM
52. Daft : INANE
54. When repeated, a 1963 #2 hit : LOUIE
56. French 101 pronoun : TOI
57. Attach : TAG ON
59. Kiss alternative … or a hint to the starts of 3-, 5-, 10-, 14-, 26-, 64- and 68-Down : CHOCOLATE DROP
60. Good laughs : HA-HAS
61. Points on a bus route : STOPS
64. Light, fruity alcoholic drink : WHITE SANGRIA (white chocolate)
68. Flowering plant used to treat liver ailments : MILK THISTLE(milk chocolate)
70. Waco-to-Austin dir. : SSW
75. Vial fluids : SERA
76. Actor ___ Patrick Harris : NEIL
78. Got off the stage : EXITED
82. Step aside, judicially : RECUSE
83. Approximately : OR SO
86. John, to Elton John : LOO
88. Breyers competitor : EDY’S
90. “The Good Wife” fig. : ATT
91. Kind of voyage? : BON
92. “With any luck!” : I HOPE SO!
93. Stopped playing games : GOT REAL
96. Making, as one’s way : WENDING
97. Place of peace and simplicity : ARCADIA
99. Makes over : REDOES
101. Muse of astronomy : URANIA
104. Plays tug of war : PULLS
105. Scot’s language : ERSE
106. “I’ll answer your questions” : ASK ME
111. Spurn, as a lover : JILT
112. Monroe of the N.B.A. : EARL
113. Comedy routine : BIT
114. ___-rock : ALT
116. “___ for Evidence” : E IS


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