Thu., 8/13 Mark Brickham

[magus]

THEME:   last word of phrase can follow HOLDING making a new phrase
   
GOOD ONES:     
Five long theme answers along with WITHHOLDING ,which was the key.

Hodges of the Dodgers   GIL [growing up in Brooklyn, I rhymed these words; we dropped R's where they belonged and added them where they did not (sofa = /sofer/; brother = /brotha/)]   
   
BTW:   
Act decisively   OPT [OPT means simply a decision to act; the action may or may not be decisive: "She opted for Biff, but Buff was really the better choice."]   
   
   
RATING:    
Three grins = Loved it; Two grins = Enjoyed it; One grin = A bit bland for my taste; One teardrop = Not much fun   

[Thomps2525]

Today's Universal crossword made me think of Rex Allen Jr.'s No No No and Ringo Starr's The No-No Song. The theme answers are NOCAUSEFORALARM, NOCONCERNOFMINE and NOSTONEUNTURNED.

Today's NEA crossword set a new low: Thirty-eight black squares in a 13x13 grid and only two seven-letter words; all the rest were six letters or fewer. There were Roman numerals (XVI) and an above-average number of overused three-letter words: ACE, ADD, AFT, ALE, AMP, ASP, ERS, GEE, GEM, INN, LAP, MAC, OWE, SEA, SIR, SIT and TEA.