| Baffles (ABOUT THIS PUZZLE: If you saw the headline "Fiend Found!" you might instantly notice that, between the two words, only the vowels change — the consonants stay put. Okay, if you were me, you' | 221 |
| Book whose title character "had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her" at the start of the story | 151 |
| Bush aide who claimed knowledge of "THE math" before incorrectly predicting the outcome of the 2006 U.S. elections | 124 |
| Book that begins "It was the middle of a bright tropical afternoon that we made good our escape from the bay." | 120 |
| Basketball player who was part of Time Magazine's 2012 "Top 100 Most Influential People in the World" | 115 |
| Box sets containing "The Right Stuff," "A Man in Full" and "I Am Charlotte Simmons"? | 114 |
| Brian who is a rare example of someone whose prominence in crosswords is commensurate with his actual prominence | 112 |
| Band with the albums "Intravenus de Milo," "Shark Sandwich," and "Smell The Glove" | 112 |
| Book whose last chapter of Part I is titled "Jermin Serves Us a Good Turn--Friendships in Polynesia" | 110 |
| Band that sang the "Friends" theme song "I'll Be There for You," with "the" | 109 |
| Brief comment written by a teacher perhaps when grading an essay because they read a sentence like this one | 107 |
| Bert and __ ("Sesame Street" regulars or two characters in "It's a Wonderful Life") | 107 |
| Best-of-seven mid-October baseball playoff round that doesn't use the designated hitter rule: Abbr. | 103 |
| Bogart told her "You're good ... you're very good" in "The Maltese Falcon" | 102 |
| Band that simultaneously released the albums "Greatest Hits" and "Greatest Misses" | 102 |
| Beyonce's "Irreplaceable" and Hall & Oates's "She's Gone," for two | 102 |
| Best-selling author who wrote "I did not write it. God wrote it. I merely did his dictation" | 102 |
| Bertrand Russell supposedly said that it "does not determine who is right--only who is left" | 102 |
| Boxer who boasted "If you even dream of beating me you'd better wake up and apologize" | 100 |
| Boy band that appeared on the "New Kids on the Blecch" episode of "The Simpsons" | 100 |
| Bobby ___, the only N.H.L.'er to win the Hart, Norris, Ross and Smythe trophies in the same year | 100 |
| Bob Dylan song ... or a hint to the object found by connecting the four circled letters in a diamond | 100 |
| Bulwer-___ Fiction Contest (yearly contest involving deliberately awful opening sentences to novels) | 100 |
| Body part in a "Wayne's World" joke used to get the other guy to say "What?" | 100 |
| Ben Tausig foretells the future! Pose a yes-or-no question, and solve the puzzle to find the answer | 99 |
| Boll whose films are so badly reviewed that he challenged his most severe critics to a boxing match | 99 |
| Band with the albums "Alpha," "Astra," "Aqua"... (you get the point) | 98 |
| Band whose name comes from the Latin for "all-encompassing," not from a movie character | 97 |
| Beer Obama sent to the Canadian P.M. to settle their bet over the Olympic hockey gold medal game | 96 |
| Broadway title character whose "special fascination'll prove to be inspirational" | 95 |
| Band who appeared on "The Simpsons" in the episode "New Kids on the Blecch" | 95 |
| Bullfighter who's the subject of the book "Or I'll Dress You in the Mourning" | 95 |
| Bill who said of his TV monologues "It's all been satirized for your protection" | 94 |
| Biography by James Fenimore Cooper with the alternate title "A Life Before the Mast" | 94 |
| Best-selling novelist about whom Gore Vidal said "She doesn't write, she types!" | 94 |
| Baseball star who reportedly said, "I think there's a sexiness in infield hits" | 93 |
| Branch of geometry dealing with curved spaces (named after the German mathematician Bernhard) | 93 |
| Bohemian writer whose last request was that all his manuscripts be "burned unread" | 92 |
| Brand with the old slogan "Stop making those 'no more coffee' resolutions" | 92 |
| Beginning of a private message that all the readers of the A.V. Club now get to listen in on | 92 |
| Book featuring a Whisper-ma-Phone, a Super-Axe-Hacker, Gluppity-Glupp and Schloppity-Schlopp | 92 |
| Biker club for Jewish guys? (This one's real; their shirts say, is hog is kosher") | 91 |
| Bygone publication subtitled "America's Only Rock 'n' Roll Magazine" | 90 |
| Blanche DuBois's "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers," e.g. | 90 |
| British politician lands a devastating uppercut against Phoenix Suns' star Steve Nash? | 90 |
| Big letters, for short (and what your answers must be written in to understand the theme) | 89 |
| Bombeck who wrote "If Life is a Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits?" | 89 |
| Brother of Dori and Nori, in "The Hobbit: This Should Have Been Just One Movie" | 89 |
| Browning work "__ Passes," source of "All's right with the world" | 89 |
| Beginning of labor, and, in another sense, the beginning of each answer to a starred clue | 89 |
| Band whose frontman passes through the audience in a plastic bubble, with "The" | 89 |
| Blanche __, pseudonymous author of the 1983 best-seller "Truly Tasteless Jokes" | 89 |
| Best-selling novelist who wrote the children's poetry volume "Father Goose" | 89 |
| Band that will change your life, according to Natalie Portman in "Garden State" | 89 |
| Broadway composer Matthew who was nominated for a Tony for "The Wedding Singer" | 89 |
| Ballplayer Campaneris who was the first ever to play all nine positions in a single game | 88 |
| Brian who said "I donÂ’t really have a musical identity outside of studios" | 88 |
| Botanist who arranged "On the Origin of Species" to be published in the States | 88 |
| Band that headlines the annual "Gathering of the Juggalos" festival, for short | 88 |
| Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavor based on a "Saturday Night Live" sketch | 88 |
| Best Supporting Actress of 1990 who later supplied a voice for "The Lion King" | 88 |
| Band that sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" a cappella at the 2000 World Series | 87 |
| Britpop band with the 1998 compilation "Freshly Squeezed ... The Early Years" | 87 |
| Ballplayer arrested for possession of cocaine, driving under the influence, and battery | 87 |
| Broadway producer Liz, Tony winner for "Elephant Man" and "Amadeus" | 87 |
| Beatles hit with the line, "Treasure these few words till we're together" | 87 |
| Belle Fourche, in this state, is about 20 mi. south of the U.S.'s geographic center | 87 |
| Bill Callahan covering Scottish math metal with "I Know What Boys Like" band? | 87 |
| Band originally snubbed by a label that said "Guitar music is on the way out" | 87 |
| Book subtitled "Inside the Amazing Success of Today's Most Popular Chef" | 86 |
| Beliefs [Ink Well is always free, but yr tips help sustain us!: bentausig.com/tip.htm] | 86 |
| Brand whose limited edition wasabi ginger flavor had damn well better become permanent | 86 |
| Baseball Hall-of-Famer with the autobiography "Maybe I'll Pitch Forever" | 86 |
| Board game where you might hear, "Colonel Ecru, with the riata, in the oda"? | 86 |
| Blitzen's seating instruction to his sleigh driver? (No dark forces at work here!) | 86 |
| Bruce Springsteen hit whose first words are "With her killer graces …" | 86 |
| Ballplayer Martinez who played in the postseason eight straight years starting in 1995 | 86 |
| Brian who said "As soon as I hear a sound, it always suggests a mood to me" | 85 |
| Book that says "Mordecai rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes" | 85 |
| Branch of the govt. whose number of employees and annual budget are classified, aptly | 85 |
| Blur frontman who sings "And the mind gets dirty / As you get closer to 30" | 85 |
| Big Band star who sang "I Wanna Be Like You" in "The Jungle Book" | 85 |
| Brit with the B-side "Love Cheat" on his 1998 "Millennium" single | 85 |
| Bill Withers song whose title follows "all you want to do is" in the lyrics | 85 |
| Bob Woodward book subtitled "The Short Life and Fast Times of John Belushi" | 85 |
| Band with the second-highest-selling album of all time (behind "Thriller") | 84 |
| Band with the lyric "We're heading for Venus, and still we stand tall" | 84 |
| Broadway show whose title woman can "coax the blues right out of the horn" | 84 |
| Band who guest starred on "The Simpsons" episode "Homer the Moe" | 84 |
| Bob who gets away with saying "just for shiggles" on "1 vs. 100" | 84 |
| Band whose name is based on the name of several members' high school gym teacher | 84 |
| Breath mint mentioned in "Ya Got Trouble" (from "The Music Man") | 84 |
| Blender magazine's #1 song (by Usher and Ludacris) on the 100 Best Songs of 2004 | 84 |
| Band with the 2006 album "I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass" | 84 |
| British sitcom with the theme song "This Wheel's on Fire," familiarly | 83 |
| Big fight, and clue to this puzzle's theme that begins the four longest answers | 83 |
| Bombeck who said "A friend doesn't go on a diet because you are fat." | 83 |
| Black Kids "I'm ___ Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You" | 83 |
| Baseball Hall of Famer Buck whose autobiography was "I Was Right On Time" | 83 |
| Based on this week's performance, Iggy's assignment next week will be a ... | 83 |