Merl Reagle's Crossword

5. Diving bird

8. It may be fleeting

12. Writer

18. Melville opus

19. Bearded beast

20. Rapper-turned-actor

21. Corrupts

23. Conversation starter

25. Subject of an Al Franken book

27. Mean mien?

28. Bjorn contemporary

30. Coral, for one

31. Relax, dog-style

32. Authors of a classic style manual

35. Play unit

37. Design sense

38. Greeley or Mann

39. Adder of shiny finishes

40. Stick

44. Like the ZIP code system

45. In ___ (going nowhere)

46. A native of

47. "___ the Walrus"

48. SOS, for one

54. Persnickety one

58. Tapers?

59. Insect wings

60. Up-to-something tyke

61. Primero numero

62. Not hitched

65. ___ all (speaks volumes)

67. Jackie married him

68. Cereal brand

72. Fluor finish

73. Restaurant policy, sometimes

75. Bit of lit, in French

76. Malt ending

77. Here/there insert

78. Clean, as erasers

79. Taj Mahal site

81. Cereal brand

85. Diner co-star

89. Old TV letters

90. Untied

91. Heartless

92. Thugs

94. Where Memphis is, gazetteer-style

96. Jabberwock advice

99. Preserves, as remains

101. Timber tree

102. Precise

103. Line from a 1999 thriller

108. Actor Bellows

109. Sheds feathers

110. Red sign

111. Spondulix

113. NASA OK

117. Hairy role? (this one's hiding backwards)

119. Mosaic piece

120. "... purse out of ___'s ear"

121. Collar

122. Actor Morales

123. Toting conveniences

124. Showdown time

125. ___ Lanka

126. Breather

1. D.C. players

2. Portents

3. Choral piece

4. Puzzle

5. ___ Khan

6. Dissimilar to

7. Ollie's pal

8. Shot at

9. Pressure prelude

10. Where G.I.s get their G.I. tracts tested

11. Of a population segment

12. EEG peak

13. Show up

14. Eve starter

15. "This ___ test ..."

16. Conductor Pierre

17. Locomotive

22. Downright

24. Less specious

26. Past one's bedtime

29. Involving no commute

33. Loopy Louis

34. Sandwich alternative

35. Pronounce poorly

36. China, once

39. Most flagrant

40. Promise of marriage

41. Dramatic intro

42. Bedlam, for one

43. Type units

44. Sharp turn

45. 70 Down's home: abbr.

47. Person on a poster

49. Equalize

50. Current choice

51. Hamlet setting

52. Exposed

53. Paul who played son Jeff on The Donna Reed Show

55. Displace, as from a flight

56. Worthless

57. Rubber ducky locales

63. Big D.C. lobby

64. Oliver Twist, e.g.

66. Feat on ice

69. Stomping grounds: abbr.

70. Author Dinesen

71. Horseshoe site

74. Drug used to treat poisoning

80. Wander (about)

82. Charges

83. Cries of surprise

84. Frequently

86. Man's nickname

87. Tepid assent

88. Sud's opposite

93. On ___ (alone)

94. Jet heading, perh.

95. Reply of wide-eyed innocence

96. Sired

97. Outcasts

98. 1929 headline subj.

99. Getaway spot

100. Federer, e.g.

101. Show up

103. Greek letters

104. About half of these clues

105. King's thing

106. Unstructured

107. Fitzgerald et al.

109. Dealership's full amt.

112. Throw ___ (flip out)

114. Letters from old Russia

115. Passing comment?

116. Honey, e.g.

118. Bat stat