| Asset-freezing org. (CONTEST ALERT! My new all-skill, solve-at-home crossword contest benefiting the Alzheimer's Foundation of America is Sept. 30. First prize, $2,500. For details visit www.alzfdn. | 204 |
| Award won by lead actors in this puzzle's starred films: the winners' names are hidden "word search"-style in the grid (across, down or diagonally, and forward or backward) | 190 |
| All-in-one breakfast foods popularized by a song from "Adventure Time" (having it instantly get stuck in your head will be your punishment for cheating and Googling it) | 178 |
| Actress/singer Helen with the CD "Crossword" (the title track starts "I found my true love today doing the crossword on the back of the 6 train") | 165 |
| “You don’t know about me without you have read a book by the name of ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,’ but that ain’t no matter” | 150 |
| A2: "Say, what's the 'sensitive document' our guy grabbed?" A1: "A ___, of course." A2: "Ah! Figures." | 146 |
| Alt.country singer Case whose "The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You" comes out tomorrow | 142 |
| Angle irons graphically represented by four sets of black squares in this grid, and by letter formations starting in the four longest answers | 141 |
| “___ Rand is one of those things that a lot of us, when we were 17 or 18 and feeling misunderstood, we’d pick up": Barack Obama | 140 |
| A fake "RIP" tweet about him (after the VMA broadcast) made PopEater.com's "Best Celebrity Twitter Stories of 2009" | 139 |
| Amazon tablet (Yeah, I probably should have included this as part of the theme, but I couldn't come up with a suitable answer.Sue me.) | 138 |
| About whom Nabokov said "She was like the composition of a beautiful puzzle - its composition and its solution at the same time" | 138 |
| A clip of his "Inside Edition" meltdown made Huffington Post's #1 spot on "YouTube's Best of 2008: Top Ten" | 135 |
| A. J. ___, author of the best seller "The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World" | 135 |
| Après-___ (following a day on the slopes -- and, literally, where the first words of the four longest puzzle answers can be found) | 133 |
| American lake every constructor is sick of cluing, and "American lake" was probably enough to give it to you, so screw it | 131 |
| Acme product that doesn't require snow (or brains), making it perfect for certain coyotes, from "Lickety Splat," 1961 | 131 |
| “Should that say ‘American,’ or will we really be studying the past by watching widescreen ’60s films in ___?” | 130 |
| A rewrite of “Mary Had a Little Lamb” using ___: “A lamb quite little, Mary had / A lamb, fleece white as snow” | 127 |
| A. "Mommie Dearest" B. "Lonesome Dove" C. "Angela's Ashes" D. "Times to Remember" | 125 |
| “The good news is, I told the professor about your lab contributions and she gave us an A for our assignment on ...” | 124 |
| Add vertical line 13 (word 3) and vertical line 3 (word 1) together and enter the answer to the resulting clue on this line | 123 |
| A French military strategist described it in 1918 as "an interesting toy" but "with no military value" | 122 |
| Answer to the question, "In your opinion, what do you suppose is the object most likely to scare away Dracula?"? | 122 |
| And you even managed to do 24 ___ in the strip mall parking lot, when the sign clearly said Five Guys Burgers and Fries... | 122 |
| Acme vehicle made for those who are a bit "unbalanced" (like coyotes), from "Hot Rod & Reel," 1959 | 122 |
| Author of "Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players" | 121 |
| Acme product intended for recreational use (not for dropping bombs on roadrunners), from "Zipping Along," 1953 | 120 |
| “If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born ...” | 119 |
| Adjective for the man who shirtlessly plays "Careless Whisper" on his saxophone in malls and grocery stores | 117 |
| Agcy. that sets (often surprisingly high) maximum standards for the amounts of the circled materials in edible goods | 116 |
| Artist and chess player who said "While all artists are not chess players, all chess players are artists" | 115 |
| Anti-abuse org. [To see the original color version of this puzzle's unusual grid, visit sundaycrosswords.com.] | 115 |
| A: You have 24 hours to arrange payment. T: (to himself) Looks like we'll be a __ (Paul McCartney & Wings) | 114 |
| Add vertical line 1 (word 1) and vertical line 15 (word 3) and enter the answer to the resulting clue on this line | 114 |
| Add vertical line 15 (word 1) and vertical line 1 (word 3) and enter the answer to the resulting clue on this line | 114 |
| Add vertical line 9 (word 2) and vertical line 7 (word 2) and enter the answer to the resulting clue on this line | 113 |
| Author who "a lot of us ... pick[ed] up ... when we were 17 or 18 and feeling misunderstood," per Obama | 113 |
| Answer to the riddle "What has rivers without water, forests without trees, and cities without houses?" | 113 |
| Actor who supposedly "destroyed the periodic table, because he only recognizes the element of surprise" | 113 |
| After following the instructions to make a big one, hint that tells you where to look around to find hidden booty | 113 |
| American swimmer whose relay team set a world record in the women's 4×100 freestyle at the 1924 Olympics | 112 |
| Apt word to substitute for each of four black squares to make sense of the across answers on either side of them | 112 |
| As a 16-year-old actor, youngest nonroyal with an individual portrait in Britain's National Portrait Gallery | 112 |
| Alistair Horne book subtitled "A Short History" that begins with the division of Gaul into three parts | 112 |
| “We’ve just learned that two of the graph’s dimensions have been secured by a squadron of ___!” | 111 |
| According to Oscar Levant, it's "the lowest form of humor--when you don't think of it first" | 110 |
| A's hurler (1989 champs) / Eurythmics musician on "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" (#1 in 1983) | 110 |
| “Iggy, this picture you doctored to make us look like a prom couple is of no use to our study on ...” | 109 |
| Author who said "Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve" | 109 |
| “Should that say ‘English,’ or will we really be reading nothing but roofing manuals in ___?” | 109 |
| Answer to "Charlie Sheen, do you remember the name of your 'Bad Day on the Block' co-star?" | 109 |
| Acme product that coyotes shouldn't be seen using (so to speak), from "War & Pieces," 1964 | 108 |
| Acme product for unsuspecting rabbits to swallow (comes with magnet), from "Compressed Hare," 1961 | 108 |
| A. "Les Troyens" B. "Pelléas et Melisande" C. "La Mer" D. "Faust" | 108 |
| Author who famously ended a short story with the line "Romance at short notice was her specialty" | 107 |
| Actress Wright of Hitchcock's "Shadow of a Doubt" and Coppola's "The Rainmaker" | 107 |
| Acquisition of "substantially identical" stocks or securities within 30 days of trading at a loss | 107 |
| “Should that say ‘Forensic,’ or will we really be practicing criminology on trees in ___?” | 106 |
| “Iggy, these biographies of Stokowski and Toscanini don’t really apply to our project on ...” | 105 |
| A-list screenwriter (and crossword fan) who won an Oscar for "Schindler's List," Steven ___ | 105 |
| According to Kin Hubbard, it's "like life insurance: the older you get, the more it costs" | 104 |
| About whom Shakespeare wrote "Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale / Her infinite variety" | 103 |
| “My dull day began in my History of Free Silver class, where we were discussing 1878’s ___” | 103 |
| Alcoholic beverage made with jalapeño? (and three words that can follow RED and WHITE, but not BLUE) | 103 |
| Acme weapon that makes you feel like a kid again (literally), from "Mad as a Mars Hare," 1963 | 103 |
| Actress who played Edna Garrett on "Diff'rent Strokes" and "The Facts of Life" | 102 |
| “Should that say ‘Art,’ or will we really be practicing psychology on rodents in ___?” | 102 |
| According to legend, its continued presence on Gibraltar allows the British to retain control thereof | 101 |
| Assistant D.A. who joined McKenzie Brackman in season 4 after a brief stint as a judge (126 episodes) | 101 |
| Agcy. whose FAQ page includes "Is there an age limit on claiming my child as a dependent?" | 100 |
| Abbr. for windsurfer Gal Fridman, who recently became his country's first Olympic gold medalist | 99 |
| And after being convicted, he feels like Sid the Skydiver again, right down to his colorful new ___ | 99 |
| Actress Anderson who said: "Natural beauty takes at least two hours in front of a mirror" | 99 |
| “Next I endured the tedium of my Home Economics class, where the lecture was all about ___” | 99 |
| A1: "... for ___ a sensitive document from the Something-or-other Embassy in Copenhagen." | 99 |
| A series of "insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster," per Tom Stoppard | 99 |
| Article in a German paper?[For the explanation to last week's puzzle, see the last clue down.] | 98 |
| Acidity or alkalinity measurement, which is literally 8 for this puzzle's four longest answers | 98 |
| Advice during a solar eclipse (and a homophonic hint to uncovering this puzzle's secret image) | 98 |
| Actual protest activity for tax-and-spend opponents that sets the tone for this puzzle's theme | 98 |
| Award for which "The Godfather, Part III" was nominated seven times, but didn't win | 97 |
| Ancient playwright who originated the phrase "While there's life, there's hope" | 97 |
| Annual solving competition held in Brooklyn, briefly ... and a hint to nine squares in this grid | 96 |
| Arrest a mako in an African river? (and three words that can follow WHITE and BLUE, but not RED) | 96 |
| Arcade game in which characters can pass through tunnels to get to the other side of the screen | 95 |
| Author who wrote "One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other" | 95 |
| “And I could barely keep my eyes open in Economics, where the topic of the day was ___” | 95 |
| After "The," 1970 John Jay Osborn Jr. novel or the movie or TV series adapted from it | 95 |
| Accidental portmanteau from Sarah Palin that made a few "2010 Word of the Year" lists | 95 |
| About whom Churchill purportedly said "A modest man who has much to be modest about" | 94 |
| Ancient stone once thought to be man-made but now believed to have been produced by glaciation | 94 |
| Artwork using both paint and collage, e.g. ... and a hint to this puzzle's circled letters | 94 |
| Actress Jessica wrongly criticized by Bill O'Reilly for saying Sweden was neutral in WWII | 93 |
| Athlete who said: "I don't want to be remembered for my tennis accomplishments" | 93 |
| Action hero's garb, and what each first word in this puzzle's four longest answers is | 93 |
| Auntie who said "Life's a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death!" | 93 |
| Actor Ostrum who played Charlie Bucket in "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory" | 93 |
| Actress Beulah who played James Stewart's mother in "It's A Wonderful Life" | 93 |
| An orb-weaving spider with black markings resembling a mustache was named after this musician | 93 |