0613-21 NY Times Crossword 13 Jun 21, Sunday

Constructed by: Stephen McCarthy
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Theme Maple Leaf

Themed answers each relate to Canada, and each includes a very Canadian “EH” as a hidden word:

  • 76A Like all the answers with pairs of circled letters, punnily : MEHDE (MADE) IN CANADA
  • 104A Six-time winner of the N.H.L.’s Art Ross Trophy, born in Saskatchewan : GORDIE HOWE
  • 108A “24” and “Suits” actress, born in Halifax : LESLIE HOPE
  • 4D Alberta city named for an eagle-feather headdress : MEDICINE HAT
  • 10D Two-player game invented in Toronto : TABLE HOCKEY
  • 16D Seasonal destination near Quebec City : WINTER ICE HOTEL
  • 19D Program introduced by the Trudeau government in 1984, colloquially : FREE HEALTHCARE

Bill’s time: 16m 22s

Bill’s errors: 2

  • QUINCEANERA (quincianera)
  • TATOOINE (Tatooini)

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Writer who created Oz : BAUM

L. Frank Baum (the “L” is for Lyman) is famous for writing “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”. Writing early in the 20th century, Baum actually described in his books things that had yet to be invented, like television, laptop computers and wireless telephones.

5 “Obviously,” in slang : NATCH

“Natch” is a slang term meaning “naturally, of course”. “Natch” is simply a shortening of the word “‘naturally”, and was first recorded at the end of WWII.

10 First word of “A Visit From St. Nicholas” : ‘TWAS

The poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” was published anonymously in 1823, and is better known today by its first line “‘Twas the night before Christmas”. Most scholars believe that the poem was written by Clement Clarke Moore, a theologian from New York City. Others say that it was written by Henry Livingston, Jr., a poet from Upstate New York.

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her ’kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash …

17 ___ Berliner, pioneer in phonograph records : EMILE

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.

18 Lex Luthor, to Superman : ARCHFOE

Lex Luthor is the nemesis of Superman in comics. Luthor has been portrayed in a number of guises in the comic world as well in movies and on the small screen. For example, he appeared as Atom Man in the 1950 film series “Atom Man vs. Superman”, and was played by actor Lyle Talbot, opposite Kirk Alyn’s Superman.

23 Bit of asparagus : SPEAR

Asparagus is a perennial flowering plant that is grown mainly for its edible shoots. The shoots must be harvested when they are very young, as they become woody very quickly.

30 M.L.B. team with a big “W” in its logo : NATS

The Washington Nationals (“Nats”) started out life as the Montreal Expos in 1969, and were the first Major League Baseball team in Canada. The Expos moved to Washington in 2005 becoming the Nats.

31 Rx order : SCRIP

Scrip isn’t legal tender, but operates just like currency in specific applications. It is in effect a form of credit. Originally the word “scrip” was used for a certificate giving one the right to receive something, often shares of a stock. “Scrip” is probably short for (sub)script(ion) receipt.

There seems to be some uncertainty about the origin of the symbol “Rx” that’s used for a medical prescription. One explanation is that it comes from the astrological sign for Jupiter, a symbol put on prescriptions in days of old to invoke Jupiter’s blessing to help a patient recover.

32 “Revolution,” to “Hey Jude” : SIDE-B

The recording and release of the Beatles song “Revolution” was very much driven by John Lennon. Lennon was then in a committed relationship with Yoko Ono, and well into the “revolutionary” phase of his life. One interesting thing to note about the original recording is the “scream” right at the start of the song. This had to come from Paul rather than John, because John couldn’t catch his breath after the scream in time to start into the song’s lyrics.

You say you want a revolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world

“Hey Jude” was originally a song titled “Hey Jules” written by Paul McCartney. He wrote the original song for John Lennon’s son Julian, in an attempt to comfort the boy during his parents’ divorce. There’s a phenomenal coda in “Hey Jude” after the fourth verse that lasts for over four minutes.

34 Space-scanning org. : SETI

“SETI” is the name given to a number of projects searching for extraterrestrial life. The acronym stands for “search for extraterrestrial intelligence”. One of the main SETI activities is the monitoring of electromagnetic radiation (such as radio waves) reaching the Earth in the hope of finding a transmission from a civilization in another world.

36 Like bees : APIAN

Something described as apian is related to bees. “Apis” is Latin for “bee”.

40 Part “missing” from p.s.i. : PER

Pounds per square inch (PSI) is a measure of pressure.

41 Mystery writer Deighton : LEN

I used to walk my dog right past author Len Deighton’s house years ago, as we lived in the same seaside village in Ireland (probably my only claim to “fame”). Deighton wrote the excellent espionage thriller “The IPCRESS File”, which was made into a 1965 movie starring Michael Caine.

46 Abbr. after a price in a Craigslist ad : OBO

Or best offer (OBO)

Craigslist (usually written as “craiglist”) is an online network of communities that features classified advertisements organized geographically. Craigslist was started by Craig Newmark in 1995, originally as an email distribution list for his friends who lived and worked in the San Francisco Bay Area.

47 Lt.’s inferior : ENS

Ensign is (usually) the most junior rank of commissioned officer in the armed forces. The name comes from the tradition that the junior officer would be given the task of carrying the ensign flag.

52 Soft drink since 1905 : RC COLA

Claude A. Hatcher ran a grocery store in Columbus, Georgia. He decided to develop his own soft drink formula when he balked at the price his store was being charged for Coca-Cola syrup. Hatcher launched the Union Bottling Works in his own grocery store, and introduced Royal Crown Ginger Ale in 1905. The Union Bottling Works was renamed to Chero-Cola in 1910, the Nehi Corporation in 1925, and Royal Crown Company in the mid-fifties. The first RC Cola hit the market in 1934.

54 Young hombre : MUCHACHO

In Spanish a boy is a “niño” or a “muchacho”. One can also call an adult male a “muchacho”, as in “one of the boys”. Calling an adult male a “niño” would be an insult.

57 Instruments for Israel Kamakawiwo’ole : UKULELES

The ukulele (uke) originated in the 1800s and mimicked a small guitar brought to the Hawaiian Islands by Portuguese immigrants.

Israel Kamakawiwo’ole was a musician from Honolulu who had a hit in 1993 with a medley of “Somewhere over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World”. Kamakawiwo’ole passed away in 1997 at only 38 years of age, due to complications from morbid obesity. At one point, Kamakawiwo’ole weighed 757 pounds.

60 German auto since 1899 : OPEL

Adam Opel founded his company in 1863, first making sewing machines in a cowshed. Commercial success brought new premises and a new product line in 1886, namely penny-farthing bicycles. Adam Opel died in 1895, leaving his two sons with a company that made more penny-farthings and sewing machines than any other company in the world. In 1899 the two sons partnered with a locksmith and started to make cars, but not very successfully. Two years later, the locksmith was dropped in favor of a licensing arrangement with a French car company. By 1914, Opel was the largest manufacturer of automobiles in Germany. My Dad had an Opel in the seventies, a station wagon (we’d say “estate car” in Ireland) called an Opel Kadett.

62 Pigeon English? : COO

Taxonomically, doves and pigeons are the only members of the order Columbidae. The terms “dove” and “pigeon” are often used interchangeably. Scientifically speaking, dove species tend to be smaller than pigeon species. Colloquially though, many refer to doves as the white or nearly white species in the family.

64 Gillette brand : ATRA

Fortunately for crossword constructors, the Atra was introduced by Gillette in 1977, as the first razor with a pivoting head. The Atra was sold as the Contour in some markets and its derivative products are still around today.

67 “Love is love,” e.g. : TAUTOLOGY

“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.

75 High school hurdle whose first two letters, phonetically, sound like one of its former components : SAT

Today, the standardized test for admission to colleges is known as the SAT Reasoning Test, but it used to be called the Scholastic Aptitude Test and Scholastic Assessment Test, which led to the abbreviation “SAT”.

81 Programming pioneer Lovelace : ADA

Ada Lovelace’s real name and title was Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace. She was the only legitimate child of Lord Byron, the poet. Lovelace was fascinated by mathematics and wrote about the work done by Charles Babbage in building his groundbreaking mechanical computer. In some of her notes, she proposed an algorithm for Babbage’s machine to compute Bernoulli numbers. This algorithm is recognized by many as the world’s first computer program and so Lovelace is sometimes called the first “computer programmer”. There is a computer language called “Ada” that was named in her honor. The Ada language was developed from 1977 to 1983 for the US Department of Defense.

82 Seasons in Québec : ETES

In French, the season of “été” (summer) starts in “juin” (June) and ends in septembre (September). Note that the names of months are not capitalized in French.

The name of the province Québec comes from an Algonquin word “kebec” meaning “where the river narrows”. This refers to the area around Quebec City where the St. Lawrence River narrows as it flows through a gap lined by steep cliffs.

84 15th birthday celebration : QUINCEANERA

“Quinceañera” is a celebration of a girl’s fifteenth birthday, and is an event common in many parts of Latin America.

88 Classical Icelandic literary work : EDDA

“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.

89 Title letters chanted in a 2011 Katy Perry hit : TGIF

“Thank God It’s Friday” (TGIF) is a relatively new expression that apparently originated in Akron, Ohio. It was a catchphrase used first by disk jockey Jerry Healy of WAKR in the early seventies. That said, one blog reader wrote to me to say that he had been using the phrase in the fifties.

Katy Perry is an American singer who grew up listening to and singing gospel music, as she was the daughter of two Christian pastors. In fact, her first musical release was a gospel album in 2001. She has branched out since then. Her first successful single was “Ur so Gay”, followed by “I Kissed A Girl”. She was married (only for a year) to the British comedian Russell Brand, until 2012.

90 Oldsmobile Cutlass model : CIERA

Oldsmobile made the Cutlass Ciera from 1982 to 1996. The Ciera was the most successful model that bore the Oldsmobile badge.

91 Financial org. once deemed “too big to fail” : AIG

“AIG” is an initialism used by the American International Group, a giant insurance corporation. After repeated bailouts by American taxpayers starting in 2008, the company made some serious PR blunders by spending large amounts of money on executive entertainment and middle management rewards. These included a $444,000 California retreat, an $86,000 hunting trip in England, and a $343,000 getaway to a luxury resort in Phoenix. Poor judgment, I’d say …

“Too Big to Fail” is a 2009 book written by Andrew Ross Sorkin that describes the events surrounding the 2008 financial crisis and the collapse of Lehman Brothers in particular. Sorkin’s book was adapted into an excellent HBO television movie of the same name in 2011.

95 Root beer brand : MUG

Mug Root Beer is produced in San Francisco. The beverage was introduced in the city in the 1940s under the name Belfast Root Beer.

104 Six-time winner of the N.H.L.’s Art Ross Trophy, born in Saskatchewan : GORDIE HOWE

Gordie Howe was a Canadian hockey player. Regarded as one of the game’s greatest players, Howe was sometimes referred to as “Mr Hockey”. He was the only hockey player to have competed in the NHL for five decades (from the forties through the eighties), and held the NHL record for most games and most seasons played.

111 Princess who says “Why, you stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf herder!” : LEIA

Princess Leia is Luke Skywalker’s twin sister in the original “Star Wars” trilogy and was played by Carrie Fisher. Carrie Fisher has stated that she hated the famous “cinnamon bun hairstyle” that she had to wear in the films, as she felt it made her face look too round. She also had to sit for two hours every day just to get her hair styled. Two hours to get your hair done? It takes me just two seconds …

112 Dish served on a skewer : SATAY

The dish known as “satay” originated in Java, Indonesia and is marinated pieces of meat served on a skewer in a sauce, often a spicy peanut sauce. “Satay” is the Indonesian spelling, and “sate” is the Malay spelling.

113 Congresswoman Omar : ILHAN

Ilhan Omar has been representing Minnesota’s 5th congressional district in the US House since 2019. At that time, she became one of the first two Muslim women, as well as the first Somali American, to serve in the US Congress.

114 Actress Lena : OLIN

Lena Olin is a Swedish actress, and clearly someone who had acting in her blood. Her mother was the actress Britta Holmberg and her father the actor and director Stig Olin. Olin had a very successful career in Sweden, often working with the great Ingmar Bergman. Olin’s breakthrough international and English-speaking role was playing opposite Daniel Day-Lewis in “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” released in 1988. Way back in 1974, Miss Olin was crowned Miss Scandinavia in a beauty pageant for Nordic women held in Helsinki, Finland. Olin’s most famous performance was in “Chocolat” released in 2000, and then she won an Emmy in 2003 for Best Supporting Actress in the TV show “Alias”.

115 Suppliers of the milk for Roquefort cheese : EWES

Roquefort is a cheese made from sheep milk. It comes from the commune of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon in the South of France.

116 Singer Mary J. ___ : BLIGE

Mary J. Blige is a singer-songwriter from the Bronx, New York. Her best known album is probably “My Life”, released in 1994. Blige is also making a name for herself as an actress, and was nominated for several awards for her performance in the 2017 film “Mudbound”.

121 You can believe it : TENET

A tenet is an article of faith, something that is held to be true. “Tenet” is Latin for “he holds”.

Down

1 Pears with a sweet-spiced flavor : BOSCS

Bosc is a cultivar of the European pear that is grown mainly in the northwest of the United States. It is named for French horticulturist Louis Bosc. The cultivar originated in Belgium or France in the early 19th century. The Bosc is that pear with a skin the color of a potato, with a long neck.

2 Part of B.A. : ARTS

Bachelor of Arts (BA)

4 Alberta city named for an eagle-feather headdress : MEDICINE HAT

Medicine Hat is a city in Alberta. Canada. Medicine Hat is known for its extensive natural gas fields. In fact, English writer Rudyard Kipling described the city as having “all hell for a basement”.

5 Like some birds or dolls : NESTING

Matryoshka dolls are those wooden nesting dolls that are on sale at every tourist trap across Russia. “Matryoshka” is Russian for “little matron”.

9 Mettle that may merit a medal : HEROISM

“Mettle” is such a lovely word. It means “courage, fortitude, spirit”. “Mettle” is simply a variant spelling of the word “metal”.

19 Program introduced by the Trudeau government in 1984, colloquially : FREE HEALTHCARE

Pierre Trudeau was Prime Minister of Canada from 1968 to 1979, and again from 1980 to 1984. Trudeau resigned in 1984 after a period of reflection that he referred to as a “long walk in the snow”. That same phrase is still used by politicians to mean “stepping down from office”.

20 Approximate weight of the Liberty Bell : ONE TON

The Liberty Bell was commissioned in 1752 and installed in the steeple of the Pennsylvania State House, now known as Independence Hall in Philadelphia. The bell bears the inscription “Proclaim LIBERTY throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof”, a quotation from the Book of Leviticus in the Bible. Famously, the bell cracked when it was first rung in Philadelphia after arriving from the foundry where it was made in London, England. The bell’s fame originated with a short story by George Lippard published in 1847 that gave a fictional account of an old bell-ringer ringing it on July 4, 1776 upon hearing that the Second Continental Congress had voted for independence. That ringing of the bell never actually happened, even though the account was constantly presented as fact in school texts around the country for generations.

27 Advocacy grp. that filed for bankruptcy in 2021 : NRA

National Rifle Association (NRA)

33 Woman’s short hairstyle : BOB CUT

A bob cut is a short hairstyle in which the hair is cut straight around the head, at about the line of the jaw. Back in the 1570s, “bob” was the name given to a horse’s tail that was cut short, and about a century later it was being used to describe short hair on humans. The style became very popular with women in the early 1900s (as worn by actress Clara Bow, for example), with the fashion dying out in the thirties. The style reemerged in the sixties around the time the Beatles introduced their “mop tops”, with Vidal Sassoon leading the way in styling women’s hair in a bob cut again. Personally, I like it …

36 Portrayer of Senator Vinick on “The West Wing” : ALDA

Alan Alda has had a great television career, most notably as a lead actor in “M*A*S*H”. He was born Alphonso D’Abruzzo in the Bronx, New York City. Alda won his first Emmy in 1972, for playing surgeon Hawkeye Pierce on “M*A*S*H”. He also won an Emmy in 2006 for his portrayal of Presidential candidate Senator Arnold Vinick in “The West Wing”. When it comes to the big screen, my favorite of Alda’s movies is the 1978 romantic comedy “Same Time, Next Year” in which he starred opposite Ellen Burstyn.

44 Desert planet of “Star Wars” : TATOOINE

Tatooine is the desert planet that features in almost every “Star Wars” movie. It is the home planet of Anakin and Luke Skywalker, and is also where Obi-Wan Kenobi first met Han Solo.

45 Be batty, in a way? : ECHOLOCATE

Echolocation, when used by animals, is known as biosonar. The best-known example of an animal using biosonar is probably the bat, although not all species of bat use sounds to locate objects.

49 Canuck, e.g., for short : NHLER

The Canucks are Vancouver’s professional hockey team, a franchise that joined the National Hockey League in 1970 as an expansion team. “Canuck” is a slang term for “Canadian”.

50 Capital of Qatar : DOHA

Doha is the capital city of the Persian Gulf state of Qatar. The name “Doha” translates from Arabic as “the big tree”.

52 Like bells in carillons : RUNG

A carillon is a musical instrument usually found in a belfry. A carillon is a collection of bells that is connected to a keyboard.

53 Part of L.C.D. : LEAST

The lowest/least common denominator (LCD) of a set of fractions is the least common multiple of the denominators of those fractions. For example, the LCD of ⅓ and ¼ is 12 as both ⅓ and ¼ can be expressed in multiples of 1/12 (⅓ is 4/12 and ¼ is 3/12).

54 Some salon supplies : MOUSSES

Our word “mousse” is an Old French term meaning “froth”.

55 Like Rochester and Syracuse, but not New York City : UPSTATE

The city in upstate New York called Rochester started off as a tract of land on the Genesee River purchased in 1803 by three army officers from Maryland, including Col. Nathaniel Rochester. Within a few years the land had been developed into the village of Rochesterville, and in 1823 the name was simplified to Rochester.

Syracuse is a large city in Central New York. The settlement that eventually became Syracuse was given its name in 1825, in honor of the city of Syracuse in Sicily. It just so happens that the US company that employed me in Ireland transferred me to Syracuse, New York, way back in 1983. As a result, I have fond memories of the city, and visit as often as I can …

59 Band whose 1999 hit “Smooth” spent 12 weeks at #1 : SANTANA

Santana is a Latin rock band formed by guitarist Carlos Santana in San Francisco in 1967. Santana’s big break came with a well-received performance at Woodstock in 1969, before which the band was completely unknown.

66 Sleep stage : REM

“REM” is an acronym standing for “rapid eye movement”. REM sleep takes up 20-25% of the sleeping hours and is the period associated with one’s most vivid dreams.

72 Et ___ (footnote abbr.) : SEQ

The Latin phrase “et sequens” or “et sequentia” is used in English to mean “and following”, and is abbreviated to “et seq.”

74 Federal regulatory org. : FDA

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has its roots in the Division of Chemistry (later “Bureau of Chemistry”) that was part of the US Department of Agriculture. President Theodore Roosevelt gave responsibility for examination of food and drugs to the Bureau of Chemistry with the signing of the Pure Food and Drug Act. The Bureau’s name was changed to the Food, Drug and Insecticide Organization in 1927, and to the Food and Drug Administration in 1930.

79 Novelist Gaiman : NEIL

Neil Gaiman is an English author whose works include novels, comic books and graphic novels.

87 One with a phony personality? : SIRI

Siri is a software application that works with Apple’s iOS operating system. “Siri” is an acronym standing for Speech Interpretation and Recognition Interface. Voice-over artist Susan Bennett revealed herself as the female American voice of Siri a few years ago. The British version of Siri is called Daniel, and the Australian version is called Karen. Also, “Siri” is a Norwegian name meaning “beautiful woman who leads you to victory”, and was the name the developer had chosen for his first child.

Something or someone described as phony (sometimes “phoney”) is not genuine or real. There is a suggestion that the term “phony” comes from “fawney”, which was a gold-plated brass ring used by swindlers in place of a one made of pure gold.

90 Snake oil, purportedly : CURE

There is actually a real snake oil, a Chinese medicine made from fat extracted from snakes. You can buy snake oil at traditional Chinese pharmacies and it is supposed to be very efficacious in the treatment of joint pain. Snake oil was introduced into the US by Chinese laborers working on the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad. Medicine salesmen started to ridicule the snake oil as it competed with their own remedies, and in time the term “snake oil” became associated with any cure-all potion.

97 Frederick who composed “Camelot” : LOEWE

Frederick Loewe was a composer who was best known for his collaborations with the lyricist Alan Jay Lerner, the most famous of which were “My Fair Lady”, “Gigi” and “Camelot”.

“Camelot” is a Lerner and Loewe musical based on the legend of King Arthur. The show was first shown on Broadway in 1960 and ran for 873 performances, with Julie Andrews and Richard Burton starring. “Camelot” was made into a very successful film version that was released in 1967 starring Richard Harris as King Arthur and Vanessa Redgrave as Guinevere.

105 Big elevator maker : OTIS

Elevators (simple hoists) have been around for a long time. What Elisha Otis did was come up with the “safety elevator”, a design that he showcased at the 1853 World’s Fair in New York. At the Fair, Otis would stand on an elevated platform in front of onlookers and order his assistant to cut the single rope holding up the platform. His safety system kicked in when the platform had only fallen a few inches, amazing the crowd. After this demonstration, the orders came rolling in.

109 International fashion magazine : ELLE

“Elle” magazine was founded in 1945 in France and today has the highest circulation of any fashion magazine in the world. “Elle” is the French word for “she”. “Elle” is published monthly worldwide, although you can pick up a weekly edition if you live in France.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Writer who created Oz : BAUM
5 “Obviously,” in slang : NATCH
10 First word of “A Visit From St. Nicholas” : ‘TWAS
14 “… with possibly direr consequences” : … OR WORSE
17 ___ Berliner, pioneer in phonograph records : EMILE
18 Lex Luthor, to Superman : ARCHFOE
22 Raised : HOISTED
23 Bit of asparagus : SPEAR
24 Alternately : BY TURNS
25 Lines up : SYNCS
26 Agitated : IN TURMOIL
29 Pricey : STEEP
30 M.L.B. team with a big “W” in its logo : NATS
31 Rx order : SCRIP
32 “Revolution,” to “Hey Jude” : SIDE-B
34 Space-scanning org. : SETI
35 It may be bitter : ALE
36 Like bees : APIAN
37 Not ___ (mediocre) : SO HOT
39 Clear weeds, in a way : HOE
40 Part “missing” from p.s.i. : PER
41 Mystery writer Deighton : LEN
42 Words cried after “Go” : GET ‘EM
46 Abbr. after a price in a Craigslist ad : OBO
47 Lt.’s inferior : ENS
48 Decidedly : INDEED
51 Québec’s ___ St.-Jean : LAC
52 Soft drink since 1905 : RC COLA
54 Young hombre : MUCHACHO
56 Biblical verb ending : -ETH
57 Instruments for Israel Kamakawiwo’ole : UKULELES
60 German auto since 1899 : OPEL
61 “That’ll teach you!” : HAH!
62 Pigeon English? : COO
63 Basketball champions’ “trophy” : NET
64 Gillette brand : ATRA
65 Leader of the house? : USHER
67 “Love is love,” e.g. : TAUTOLOGY
70 Pallid : ASHEN
71 Outlets, e.g. : STORES
73 Something that might lengthen a sentence? : PRIOR
74 Moneybags : FAT CAT
75 High school hurdle whose first two letters, phonetically, sound like one of its former components : SAT
76 Like all the answers with pairs of circled letters, punnily : MEHDE (MADE) IN CANADA
81 Programming pioneer Lovelace : ADA
82 Seasons in Québec : ETES
84 15th birthday celebration : QUINCEANERA
85 Tomtit is another name for it : WREN
86 Talks up : SELLS
88 Classical Icelandic literary work : EDDA
89 Title letters chanted in a 2011 Katy Perry hit : TGIF
90 Oldsmobile Cutlass model : CIERA
91 Financial org. once deemed “too big to fail” : AIG
93 Newfoundland, e.g.: Abbr. : ISL
94 Serpentine swimmer : EEL
95 Root beer brand : MUG
96 Veterans : OLD PROS
100 Range within which you can answer the question “Can you hear me now?” : EARSHOT
104 Six-time winner of the N.H.L.’s Art Ross Trophy, born in Saskatchewan : GORDIE HOWE
108 “24” and “Suits” actress, born in Halifax : LESLIE HOPE
111 Princess who says “Why, you stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf herder!” : LEIA
112 Dish served on a skewer : SATAY
113 Congresswoman Omar : ILHAN
114 Actress Lena : OLIN
115 Suppliers of the milk for Roquefort cheese : EWES
116 Singer Mary J. ___ : BLIGE
117 Moves quickly and lightly : FLITS
118 Not only that : PLUS
119 Rehearsal, e.g., in slang : SESH
120 Approvals : YESES
121 You can believe it : TENET
122 “Likewise” : SAME

Down

1 Pears with a sweet-spiced flavor : BOSCS
2 Part of B.A. : ARTS
3 Deploy : USE
4 Alberta city named for an eagle-feather headdress : MEDICINE HAT
5 Like some birds or dolls : NESTING
6 Excite : AMP UP
7 Rank : TIER
8 Stops talking, with “up” : CLAMS …
9 Mettle that may merit a medal : HEROISM
10 Two-player game invented in Toronto : TABLE HOCKEY
11 Sardonic : WRY
12 ___ of Parliament : ACTS
13 Stops talking, with “up” : SHUTS …
14 “Nice burn!” : OH SNAP!
15 Battle ___ : ROYALE
16 Seasonal destination near Quebec City : WINTER ICE HOTEL
19 Program introduced by the Trudeau government in 1984, colloquially : FREE HEALTHCARE
20 Approximate weight of the Liberty Bell : ONE TON
21 Spots : ESPIES
27 Advocacy grp. that filed for bankruptcy in 2021 : NRA
28 Words at an unveiling? : I DO
31 Cry after an award is announced : SPEECH!
33 Woman’s short hairstyle : BOB CUT
36 Portrayer of Senator Vinick on “The West Wing” : ALDA
38 Level or bevel : TOOL
43 Like some outlets : ELECTRICAL
44 Desert planet of “Star Wars” : TATOOINE
45 Be batty, in a way? : ECHOLOCATE
49 Canuck, e.g., for short : NHLER
50 Capital of Qatar : DOHA
52 Like bells in carillons : RUNG
53 Part of L.C.D. : LEAST
54 Some salon supplies : MOUSSES
55 Like Rochester and Syracuse, but not New York City : UPSTATE
58 Novel convenience? : E-READER
59 Band whose 1999 hit “Smooth” spent 12 weeks at #1 : SANTANA
66 Sleep stage : REM
68 Overturns : UPENDS
69 “Very high,” on a fire danger scale : ORANGE
70 Iowa Cubs baseball classification : AAA
72 Et ___ (footnote abbr.) : SEQ
74 Federal regulatory org. : FDA
77 Rose or lilac : HUE
78 “Where ___ go wrong?” : DID I
79 Novelist Gaiman : NEIL
80 Pound sound : ARF!
83 Thrown together : SLAPDASH
85 They might help with changing your locks : WIG SHOPS
87 One with a phony personality? : SIRI
90 Snake oil, purportedly : CURE
92 Passes : GOES BY
95 Central route thru town : MAIN ST
96 Leers at : OGLES
97 Frederick who composed “Camelot” : LOEWE
98 Helps a dish washer, say : DRIES
99 One source of oil : SHALE
100 Cheer : ELATE
101 Shout, informally : HOLLA
102 ___ Wars, conflicts of 1839-42 and 1856-60 : OPIUM
103 It may be perfect or simple, but not both : TENSE
105 Big elevator maker : OTIS
106 $15/hour, e.g. : WAGE
107 What most spiders have eight of : EYES
108 Hitchhiker’s need : LIFT
109 International fashion magazine : ELLE
110 Climb, as a rope : SHIN