Since I'm only familiar with the very basics of pinball, I may very well miss a theme answer...or include one that shouldn't have been. I trust that someone will let me/us know.
22A: Fight imaginary foes (tilt at windmills).
115A: Former L.A. Ram who holds the N.F.L. record for most receiving yards in a game (336) (Flipper Anderson).
5D: Test extras (bonus questions).
15D: Opening track of "The Beatles' Second Album" (Roll Over Beethoven). I'm sure of the answer...not sure how roll over relates to pinball.
30D: Einstein subject (special relativity). Again...special?
33D: Push for more business orders (ramp up sales).
46D: Good farming results (bumper crops).
53D: Awarding of huge settlements to plaintiffs, in modern lingo (jackpot justice).
What about 39D: Sloping surfaces next to sinks (drainboards)? Does drain have something to do with pinball?
Favorites (clues and/or answers) include 6A: Ancient pueblo dwellers (Anasazi), 18A: Muse with a wreath of myrtle and roses (Erato), 19A: Together (in unison)...same clue recently for as a team, 27A: Sylph in Pope's "The Rape of the Lock" (Ariel)...a mermaid wouldn't have been a Sunday clue, 32A: "Sixteen Tons" singer, 1955 (Ernie Ford), 45A: Italian restaurant chain (Sbarro)...thanks to Don for that one, 49A: "Alice in Wonderland" sister (Lacie), 53A: "Lawrence of Arabia" composer Maurice (Jarre), 63A: How headings 
are often typed (in caps), 75A: Certain T-shirt design (iron-on), 83A: "Pearly Shells" singer (Don Ho), 107A: Starts, as rehab (checks into), 110A: Upper __ (Volta), 128A: Post with a column (Emily), 1D: Missal location (pew), 8D: Aardvark (ant bear), 9D: __ Phillips, who played Livia in "I, Claudius" (Siân)...pictured at right, 29D: Peripatetic sort (nomad), 34D: House of Lancaster symbol (red rose), 67D: Marathoner Alberto (Salazar)...check out his time on the clock, 82D: "Were that so!" (I wish), 93D: "Bambi" author (Salten) and 96D: Sovereign's representative (Viceroy).It was interesting to see both of my childhood homes in the puzzle...64D: The Nutmeg State: Abbr. (Conn.) and 115D: Fourth-most populous state, just after N.Y. (Fla.). I was born in the first...raised in the second. Since I can no longer tolerate humidity, I'm very happy to be in Colorado rather than either of those places.
In order to breeze through this one (have I mentioned that I didn't?), you had to be up on television, literature, music...
13A: Norm of "This Old House" (Abram). We've had it before, and I still didn't remember it.
21A: Bill formerly of the Rolling Stones (Wyman).
24A: Richard __, 2002 Pulitzer winner for Fiction (Russo).
99D: "Deadwood" figure (Earp).10D: Old film pooch (Asta)...the first crosswordese I committed to memory.
20D: Oscar-winning Brody (Adrien). I don't know how I've missed seeing this guy in a single movie, but I have.
48D: Klinger portrayer on "M*A*S*H" (Farr).
74D: Actor James (Caan).
Most favorite clue in the puzzle...20A: Tell things? (arrows). I was on the right track, except that I had apples.
Other crosswordese appearances...for which I was extremely grateful...include 26A: __ B'rith (B'nai), 41A: Nails (aces), 51A: Each (a pop), 68A: "Survivor" setting, often (isle), 59D: Early anti-Communist (tsar), 62D: Mix (olio), 91D: Edsel driver's gas choice (Esso) and 112D: Month in which Moses is said to have been born and died (Adar)...the only Hebrew month I know.
Time to wrap this up. I'm looking forward to spending what will be a beautiful sunny day in the yard...planting my herb garden and tomatoes, doing a bit of pruning, maybe some weeding.
Here's the grid...
...and I'll see you tomorrow.
Linda G
8 comments:
On the pinball board, the lanes that usually are placed to the far sides at the bottom of the platfield lead to a drain.
Incidentally, in NYC, the BQE is the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.
I enjoyed the older, more mechanical machines. No lucite, no tunnels, just one level, clunky sounds, every third one being repaired, great flipper and bumper action, very few dead spots, 3-plays-for-a-quarter, score numbers on rollers like old odometers, the satisfying feeling of pushing the plunger to elevate a new ball to the launch pad, five balls per play: "Baseball" and "Aquarius" were particularly good.
I fell for "post with a column", and thought the cluing was generally very clever. Never heard of Jackpot Justice, Salten, Ant Bear, Sbarro, or Connecticut being the nutmeg state. Live and learn (and then forget much of what I've learned).
Hey, Linda, we used the same photo again! Great minds, or something.
If there's a more wonderful actress than Siân Phillips, I can't think who it might be.
The biggest irritant with today's puzzle was that I, too, had apples for ARROWS, making it impossible for me to get ROLL OVER BEETHOVEN even though I knew it was right. Arrows never occurred to me. Lately I think I'm losing my touch and regressing to a dumber brain plane.
I saw Sian Phillips in an episode of the old series La Femme Nikita. She was spellbinding.
Of course, having been born in Connecticut as well, I knew CONN was the nutmeg state.
not to be a curmudgeon, more as a point of information...anasazi is a navajo word meaning "enemy ancestors" and is generally offensive to people of the pueblo culture.
You kept me from going crazy!! Gobs of Thanks!! I do the NY Puzzle daily, but this one was a real teaser!
Sone said thx! Real saver!
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