Theme: "I'll Be Waiting" - "Call me" needs to be inserted to all answers to the starred clues.
25A. *2012 Hot 100 #1 song in both the U.S. and Canada : MAYBE. "Call me Maybe". And 98A. See 25-Across : CARLY RAE JEPSEN HIT. Every girl & her mother were singing this song 2 years ago. Linked relentlessly on our blog. This is still my favorite cover.
47A. *Source of the song "The Hostess With the Mostes' on the Ball" : MADAM. "Call me Madam". And 27A. See 47-Across : BROADWAY MUSICAL
71A. *Memorable 1851 novel line : ISHMAEL. Call me Ishmael. And 34A. See 71-Across : OPENING OF MOBY DICK
91. *Parting request : LATER. Call me later. And 58A. See 91-Across : DO KEEP IN TOUCH
78A. *Van Heusen/Cahn classic : IRRESPONSIBLE. "Call Me Irresponsible". And 110A. See 78-Across : SINATRA STANDARD.
119. *"This is going to sound dumb ..." : CRAZY. Call me crazy. 65A. See 119-Across : AM I NUTS?
122A. 1980 Blondie chart-topper, and what's needed to make sense of the answers to starred clues : CALL ME
I grokked gimmick early on, still a difficult solve. Cross-references drove me crazy.
This puzzle is very tough to construct as well, as all the long & short entries have to be placed symmetrically. Heavy themage.
Total 124 theme squares & 13 theme entries. As I mentioned before,
the more theme answers you have, the more challenging the gridding become. So, a total 124 theme squares of 7 or 9 theme entries is much much easier than 12 or 13. Hence a special black square allowances today: 86. Rich's Sunday limit is 78.
Across:
1. Hardly orderly : SLOPPY
7. Angler's quarry : BASS
11. Suffix with einstein : IUM. Thought of IAN, though I knew Rich would not clue a solid name as a prefix or suffix.
14. Clench : GRIP
18. More arch : WILIER
19. Type of exam : ORAL
20. Kinshasa-to-Cairo dir. : NNE. Kinshasa the capitol of Democratic Republic of the Congo, the largest French-speaking country.
21. Inclined (to) : PRONE
22. Cherubim, e.g. : ANGELS
23. Storybook meanie : OGRE
24. HCH successor : FDR. Never knew Hoover's middle name: Herbert Clark Hoover. And 11D. "... a date which will live in __": 24-Across : INFAMY
26. "Cool!" : NEATO
30. Golfer Aoki : ISAO
32. Humble : DEMEAN
33. Some airport displays, briefly : LEDs
41. "I Guess __ Rather Be in Colorado": John Denver song : HE'D
42. Bogus blazer : GAS LOG. Blaze-r. I was picturing a jacket.
43. Breakfast pastry : DANISH. Have you tried avocado toast for breakfast? Heaven!
50. Regretful one : RUER
51. Actress Joanne : DRU
54. Chiwere speakers : OTOES
56. Most clichéd : STALEST
62. Literary hodgepodge : ANA. The girl in "Fifty Shades of Grey" is called Ana also.
63. Pod-bearing tree : ACACIA
64. Ship substitute : SHE
69. It may be false : LABOR
74. Blot : MAR
75. Of last month : ULTIMO. So what are "Of this month" & "Of next month" then?
77. Energizer choice : AAA
83. Hurling goo at : SLIMING
87. Wintry mix component : SLEET
88. Small bit : TAD
89. Henriette, to Henri : AMIE. I don't know who Henriette is.
92. Lakota tribe : OGLALA
95. Rapscallions : KNAVES
97. X, to Xanthippe : CHI
104. Serious, as a reader : AVID
108. Clarifier beginning : I MEANT
109. Fluency : EASE. I don't get this clue either.
115. Lion __ : TAMER
120. Courtroom VIPs : DAs (District Attorneys)
121. Emilia's husband : IAGO. "Othello".
123. Eyes a little too long : OGLES. Marti
must have seen "Jupiter and Io" in person. The painting will be in
Minneapolis next year. Can you see Jupiter's head? I'd like to hear PK's musings on dark clouds or this particular dark cloud.
124. Bracketing criterion : AGE
125. Place for a coin : SLOT
126. Apathetic : STOLID
127. Ratted (on) : TOLD
128. Many a pol. talk show guest : SEN
129. Voiced relief : SIGH
130. Group doctrines : TENETS
Down:
1. Adult cygnet : SWAN
2. Conga formation : LINE
3. Actress Kurylenko of "Oblivion" : OLGA. Never saw "Oblivion". But Olga is in "Quantum of Solace".
4. Cobbler holder : PIE TIN
5. Hastert's successor : PELOSI. House Speaker. Dennis Hastert.
6. Jr. and sr. : YRS
7. Philistine : BOOR
8. 2012 political thriller : ARGO
9. Poet Teasdale : SARA
10. Iditarod critter : SLED DOG. Our JD met with Iditarod Hall of Famer Jeff King.
12. Staying gray, say : UNDYED
13. Siren relative : MERMAID. I don't know if Mermaids agree.
14. Holy quest vessel : GRAIL
15. Rolls partner : ROYCE
16. __ shape: not well : IN BAD
17. Preps, as potatoes : PEELS
21. Cameron and Blair of Eng. : PMs. Prime Ministers.
27. Spade player : BOGART. Sam Spade.
28. www word : WEB
29. Donald Duck, to his nephews : UNCA
31. Luanda is its cap. : ANG (Angola). I'd prefer Lee of course.
34. Electrician's units : OHMs
35. Three-__: consecutive sports titles : PEAT
36. Historic Icelandic work : EDDA
37. Corvallis sch. : OSU. Oregon State University.
38. Ran away : FLED
39. WWII Italian river : MORO. Learning moment for me.
40. Tie feature : KNOT
44. "Was __ blame?" : I TO. Of course.
45. March composer : SOUSA
46. Leigh's counterpart in the 1998 version of "Psycho" : HECHE (Anne)
48. Shepard in space : ALAN
49. Bill of fare : MENU
51. Art __ : DECO
52. Raise : REAR
53. Bars in stores : UPC
55. Silverstein of kid-lit : SHEL
57. Ate in bed, say : SAT UP. Do you eat in bed? I don't.
59. Skewered dish : KABOB
60. Shakespeare's "Richard __" : III
61. Sounding stuffy : NASAL
65. Novelist Kingsley : AMIS
66. Actress Thomas : MARLO
67. Like some marked-down mdse. : IRREG
68. __-mo : SLO
69. "Mona __" : LISA
70. Enclosed in : AMID
72. Thunderstorm formation, perhaps : HAIL
73. Bear whose porridge was too cold : MAMA
76. "We Know Drama" network : TNT
79. Unadon fish : EEL. Unadon is literally "eel bowl". Did your daughter-in-law ever treat you with grilled unagi, Yellowrocks?
80. Opp. of legato : STAC
81. Climbing or fast follower : LANE
82. Key of Haydn's Symphony No. 29 : E MAJ
83. Oozed : SEEPED
84. Hard-to-reach problem, at times : ITCH. Lovely clue.
85. Classic pop : NEHI
86. Backbone : GRIT
90. "__ been had!" : I'VE
93. Private retreat : LAIR
94. Large fleets : ARMADAS
95. "The Hunger Games" heroine : KATNISS. This might stump some. Katniss Everdeen. Played by Jennifer Lawrence.
96. FICA funds it : SSA
99. "Gil Blas" novelist : LESAGE. I learned this name from cluing BLAS.
100. China's Sun __ : YAT-SEN. The lady on the left is his wife Soong Ching-Ling. Sun & Chiang Kai-shek were brothers-in-law. The three Soong sisters were all married to the rich & powerful.
101. Genetic code carrier : RNA
102. Big spread : ESTATE
103. Kevin of "SNL" : NEALON
104. Cravat cousin : ASCOT
105. Sign of the maiden : VIRGO
106. Counting everything : IN ALL
107. Confused partner? : DAZED. Dazed and Confused.
111. Burrell and Pennington of TV : TYs
112. Spanish surrealist: DALI
113. All excited : AGOG
114. Van Halen's David Lee __ : ROTH
116. Lille girl: Abbr. : MLLE. De Gaulle was born in Lille.
117. Discharge : EMIT
118. Bordeaux, e.g. : REDs. Tricky clue. No obvious hint for plural.
122. Ala. clock setting : CST. Alabama. I first thought of Alaska.
C.C.
