Theme hint:  Ok, a fairly standard theme:  Long answers ending with a question mark to indicate there’s wordplay afoot.  The type of wordplay is a little unusual this time.  The title tells us its something about TV and Movies.  The first such clue is 23-Across which begins with “TV movie about…”  This phrase really precedes all the long across answers.   The most common wordplay is to give an unusual clue for a common phrase.   That isn’t what’s going on here.   This is more of a portmanteau phrase.  “Portmanteau’s” — amalgams that put two things together that don’t normally go together — are common crossword themes…And that’s what we have here.  Some of the answers are cute, though really nothing spectacular here.  As usual, get one of them and you’ll get the idea that works for all of them.

10 specific hints (since the theme answers are all across, again this Sunday, the hints are all DOWN clues):

3-Down Ones going to Washington:  These “ones” are usually accompanied by lots of larger denomination “contributions,” though occasionally you get some back.

6-Down Whale of an exhibition:  Or “in” or “at” an exhibition.

7-Down Miles Davis ____ (cool jazz group):   A relatively large group for Miles.  Think numerically.

49-Down Start to matter?:   Think prefix.   (Why are people against this stuff anyway?)

95-Down “I never played the game” memoirist:  In Woody Allen’s Sleeper watching this person was believed (in the 22nd century) to have been a particularly cruel form of punishment.  Many people in the 20th century agreed.

83-Down Retro dos:  “Dos”  can be:  1) big parties; 2) notes on a scale or, as here, 3) hairdos.  This big!

100-Down Long-tailed beach fliers:  Can be birds, but some come with strings attached.

35-Down Jerseys and such:  No, not the kind of jersey you wear

13-Down Become lenient:  2 words;  Somewhat deprecatory.  Or:  What may happen to the ice cream after a long shopping trip.

61-Down Standard part of a limerick:  Could be:  a loose  (very loose) homonym for what you don’t say aloud when you say how cute your grandchild is.

Here we have one of the more standard large puzzle themes:  Common phrases given a little “twist” hinted at by the title the puzzle.    You might think that “Befitting” is telling you that several letters will squeeze into a single box, but it’s actually much simpler than that.  A simple switch.  Once you get one of them, you’ll get the others.   So this one where it pays to get a bunch of the down clues crossing the long acrosses and see if you can get the wordplay that’s going on.

So I’ll concentrate my specific hints on down clues that cross them answers.  Here are this Sunday’s 10 hints:

(All Down clues)

3.  Near perfect rating:  Think Olympic gymnastics. Of course, these days, the answer that’s right here is actually less than what you’re going to need to get the gold medal.

4.  No longer fizzy:  Two words.   Think an opened soda can after a few hours.

26 Slowing down, musically:  If the second letter of the answer were and “E,” and being politically correct weren’t a requirement of a puzzle, the clue could be what the slow kid in school used to be called all the time.

65- Al _____ :  No, not Queda.  Think pasta.

87- Game of tag?:  Though in this game you’re not “it” but “out.”

11- Taverna offerings:  Remember that tavernas are Greek “restaurants,”  though the places you get these are more often “hole-in-the-walls” than “restaurants”

85- Fish trap:  Remember that you don’t have to have much in the way fins to be a fish.  Think of something akin to a lobster trap.

38- Leafy green:  Apparently eating these are what keep people living forever.  Is the health value of food proportional to its bitterness?

13- Salad ingredient:  Not for you vegans!

75- It has buttons but no button holes:  Clue could be:  An ancient communication device before iPhones, iPads, iWhatevers toook over the universe!

Bonus hint on long theme answers: 116-Across Fortuneteller’s protest demand:   The clue could be a Multiple Personality person’s protest demand.

Theme hint:

Interesting theme today.  A very “long-winded” answer comprising 5 long acrosses (see 29-Across for which they are) in sequence, summed up in a (very common) phrase going down the center of the puzzle at 24-down.   There’s no indication in the clues of what either the long or short version is going to be, so the approach to the puzzle is pretty straight forward:  Solve as many of the crossing clues and the long answers will gradually take shape.

10 Specific hints (of answers that cross the long theme clues):

First a few that cross the “simply put” phrase:

27-Across Swearing:  Though the clue is a gerund (-ing) the answer is a noun.

36-Across Validates: Letters, not a word as such

53-Across Shoes without heels:  Well, sandals won’t fit.   CLOGS would, but these are  a little more likely to be found in a workplace.

85-Across 180s:  As in turns drivers make.

90-Across Stout _____ :  Well, the clue gives with the blank after the word “stout,” though it could be considered an alternative to stout.  Don’t think fat, think pub.

And 5 Downs crossing the long acrosses:

4-Down Works the room:  Well, it isn’t GLAD HANDS, but that’s the idea and it’s also 2 words.

51-Down Not go beyond:  2 words.  Think of a time limit of an appointment

81-Down “Yeah, yeah”:  Only 4 letters, but 2 words

79-Down Nov. 11 Honoree:  And whose day is Nov. 11?  Not mom’s, though they could be mom’s.  4 letters, no words

76-Down Let someone else take over:  2 words.  Clue could be “Get out of my way, I’ve got to do the crossword puzzle before you!”

This is one of those themes where once you get the first one, it’s a big help to solving the other long clues.  Observe a couple things:  First the title,  crunch time should get you thinking about whether there might be a situation where a space holds more than it ought to be able to.   The second part of the title (Time) is also a clue to what might be crunched.   Your third indication 0f what’s up is that the long clues don’t have question marks at the end, so it isn’t about puns on familiar phrases.   And, last but not least, there are precisely seven long across answers.  Still stumped?  Check out the last specific hint, below.

10 specific clue/answer hints (since the long answer are all across, I’ll limit the specific hints to the down clues):

1-D   Gunfight locales:  Nope, not corrals.   Doc Holliday’s hangout.

8-D  It needs a signature:  Think government, not credit card

98-D “Fuhgeddaboudit”:  Remember that quotes around a word mean it’s something that usually spoken, not written and usually slangy, not proper.  2 words.  I’ve never heard anyone actually say “Fuhgeddaboudit!”  but it apparently means you aren’t gonna do what was asked.

102-D Sleep problem, to Brits:  You probably know that “to Brits” and such tell you that it’s how those people who don’t drive on the correct side of the road spell ordinary works incorrectly.   I know they say we’re the ones who don’t know what we’re doing.   That’s definitely possible.  I still don’t know why they keep sticking extra letters in words (“colour”  for “color”) for example.  Isn’t less more?

54-D Precipitousness:  What a word!  It doesn’t mean steep, so be quick about it.

50-D  Deli offerings:  Lox on a bagel with cream cheese?  No, that won’t fit, but maybe just as fattening!

82-D “Great” kid-lit detective:  Psst:  his name rhymes with his sobriquet.   (Sorry, I just have never had the chance to use “sobriquet” in a sentence before!)

58-D “Well, well”:  2 words.  The answer usually starts with “Well,” also.

17-D Corroded: 2 words.   Clue could be:  “What the imp did to the ice cream cake when no one was looking!”

88-D  Isak Dinesen novel setting (Double bonus hint:  This will help you with the theme if you haven’t got it yet):  It’s the name of a continent and it isn’t ASIA.  What could be going on here???

A little late getting to the puzzle today, but, as promised, hints by noon.

Fairly straightforward wordplay for the theme clues here.  Nothing fancy.  Could be titled “Speech impediment” but obviously that wouldn’t be politically correct.  A very simple switch turns common phrases into long across answers that literally mean what the clue says.    As is often the case, get one of them and you’ll be set knowing the same “trick” will be used in all of the long acrosses.

10 Specific clue hints (I’ll go mostly for down clues, so to help more with the long acrosses):

(All down):

39 – New releases?:  Think prison, not CDs

47- Plows leave them:  So do worries.

59- Show polite interest in: 2 words;  The “interest in” here is in someone who is not the person you’re talking with.

87- Late finisher: 2 words; Think horse race

38- Sidewalk cafe sight:  If the person at the sidewalk cafe has an fancy drink like a Mai Tai, you’d might have one of these under a much bigger one of these.

19- Lacking meat:  No, not vegan.  Think of physique, not food.

13- Trouser fabric:  I’ve worn these for years not realizing the word referred to their fabric rather than their color.  As my hint indicates, commonly pluralized, though singular here.

97- Cabinet members?:  Note the question mark (indicates that it’s a “joke” of some kind) and think of an office, not government meetings.

1- Elementary school group?:  Not the three R’s, but similar

35- E Equivalent:  Think musical scale.   Sometimes notes, depending on the key of the music, get named unusually.  This one is rarely seen, but one often sees this kind of thing in a puzzle (probably because it person who wrote the puzzle needed it to make things work puzzle wise).    For example, you’ll occasionally see B Sharp, which is far more commonly called C.   For your edification, these are called “enharmonic”:   A B-Sharp and a C sound exactly alike, but may be named this way by score writers under certain circumstances.

Enjoy your Sunday puzzle!

Theme:  A very pun-y theme this week.   Keep the the tile in mind and solve the crossing clues of the long answers with question marks.  A common premise:  Word play changes a common phrase to a phrase that literally means what the clue says.   Many of them are pretty funny once you get ’em.  The common phrase, in several of these, is close to the meaning of the altered phrase.  If you know any recreational/medicinal drug slang, look at 64-Across after getting as many of the down clues that cross it.  This is the pattern you’ll find repeated in all the clues that indicate they’re puns by the “?” at the end.  (One thing that’s a bit unusual here is that many answers that aren’t super-long also fit the theme.)

10 specific Hints:

107-Down Kipling’s “Follow Me ____”:   Remember that ‘e is English, like Eliza Doolittle.

108-Down It can be refined:  Yeh, I thought it was ORE, too.  As gunky as this stuff is, it still is far more refined than it was when it came out of the ground.

5-Down Regain clarity:  Think a night on the town, not wiping off your glasses.

31-Across Poetic pause:  The answer contains a relatively rare vowel sequence more commonly found associated with a type of salad named for a Roman emperor.

40-Across Piazza parts:  Not all “?” clues are theme clues.   Think letters.

97-Across Some tennis play:  Actually, one of the two kinds of tennis play that exist, so far as I know.

20-Across Dramatic response to “Who’s there?”:  More commonly clued as an overly formal response.

11-Across Hollywood hrs.:  Whenever you see the name of a place in the U.S. and something related to time, think of setting your watch as you fly across the country.

41-Down No. between 0 and 4:  Think college.

109-Across Cartoon boy with an antenna on his cap: Think of the TV cartoon family of prehistory transported to the space age future.

Theme:  See if you can get 59-Down, the “key” or “reveal” clue that explains how the theme works.   (Do this by solving as many of the clues that cross it as possible.)    A fairly straightforward one this week.  As soon you get one of the long down clues (unusual aspect this week is that all the theme answers are down clues).  Getting one will help with the others.

10 Specific hints:  (I’m going to give just across clues this time, to help with the theme answers.)

1.  91-Across  Circus Tent:  2 words

2.  98-Across  “I know the answer” : Amazingly enough 3 words.  Think little kid.

3.  29-Across No longer fit it:  Think plant that’s still in its original pot

4.  44-Across Naval flier:  Not a jet, but something on a pole

5.  24-Across One paying a flat rate:  This clue could easily have a “?” at the end;  i.e. it’s a form of word play.

6.  41-Across Worldly figure:  Think shape, not person

7.  81-Across Archer’s wood source:  Again, 2 words and the second one isn’t bush.

8.  23-Across “Bummer!”:  I had “Darn” or “Dang” at first;  the answer’s similar to these, but doesn’t start with “D”

9.  100-Across Response to “I promise I will”:   Yet again, 2 words.   Not the nicest response one could hope for.

10.  103-Across Where cruisers cruise:  And yet again, 2 words.  Well, the clue really should be where some cruisers cruise.  Think literally here:  We’re not talking about police cruisers or teens cruising the streets, here, your first association to cruiser is probably right.

And one extra (because it had me stumped for a long time):  18-Across Jesus for one:  No, not The Jesus.  This  particular Jesus is normally associated, in xwords, to other members of a particular sports family.