THEME: OUT replaces IN in familiar phrases
GOOD ONES: Fight over a washing machine? LAUNDRY-BOUT [bin]
Campaign oratory? POLITICAL-SPOUT [spin]
Big toe, often? GOUT-JOINT [gin]
Beligerent headliner? SHOUTING-STAR [shining]
Blasts from the past A-TESTS
Point of writing? NIB
Italian who pulled a lot of strings AMATI [the violin maker, not the more well-known if fictional Don Corleone]
Magic home ORLANDO [both the b-ball team and the Kingdom]
IV monitors NURSES [never thought of it that way]
Called a strike, say UMPED [not a labor strike --- though umps did that once]
Reward for sitting, maybe TREAT [dogs, not child tenders]
They're often pickled SOUSES [not vegetables]
Signs of fullness, briefly SRO'S [I thought food, not theater]
BTW: In addition to the clever theme, we got a French lesson:
One before
dix/NEUF; BREST; Jacques
ou Pierre/
NOM; A, in Arles/UNE; Bastille Day
saison/ETE Good things PLUSES [well, mostly --- golf and women's clothing come to mind]
Puzzle solver's smudges ERASURES [well, mostly --- many use pens]
Light gas NEON [used for lighting so this heavy gas is in a way a light gas]
Subway hangers STRAPS [yes, but you'd have to be about 70 to have seen them]
Black colors, in poetry EBONS [I'd have gone with "Blacks in poetry" --- no
colors, no comma]
Letter-shaped track T-SLOT [yes, and sometimes it's called a t-track, which has a t-slot, and which makes more sense to me]
RATING:
Three grins = Loved it; Two grins = Enjoyed it; One grin = A bit bland for my taste; One teardrop = Not much fun
