54D: Much like the clue for SATAN, this was an odd one, unless you’re used to dogs on the table like ODIE, Garfield’s fall guy (meaning, the guy Garfield would kick off the table).

Today’s Theme

There are seven theme entries today, all running across, at 22, 33, 49, 68, 86, 105 and 116, that all adhere to a strict rule (that gets pretty esoteric by the final clue). I really struggled to explain the requirement plainly, so I’m especially grateful for the constructor for his notes this week. Without them, the finer point of the theme was somewhat lost on me — I knew to be impressed, on completion, but I couldn’t put my finger on why.

For the sake of suspense, and also to be true to my own solve, let’s start at the topmost entry. It isn’t a very difficult one, and I imagine that many of us first stumbled on the trick today right here. Assuming that you know what baked alaska is (and also the admiring moniker of many annelids), this clue kind of solves itself: a “Cruise that specializes in baked alaska, e.g.?” is a SHIP OF THE DESSERT. There are two apparent alterations here, an added letter “S” (to the common expression “ship of the desert”), and a shift in emphasis from DES-ert to des-SERT, should you choose to pronounce these expressions aloud. So now we have two angles to go on for the rest of the solve.

Moving down to 33A, “Like ambitious scientists?” we find an entry that adheres to the second rule of emphasis, but instead of adding a letter, we have to do a nano-anagram of “noble” to NOBEL, as in NOBEL MINDED. So now things are seemingly getting more flexible or, perhaps, we’re down to the one requirement of emphasis.

If we rely on that one requirement, then we can start having fun with guesses. A couple of the remaining entries rewarded this, at least. I saw the “high kicks” in the clue at 68A and I confess that I thought of the cancan for a minute before “lab studies” led to “rocket science,” which led to ITS NOT ROCKETTE SCIENCE. The other one that was kind of doable was THE MORALE OF THE STORY, which followed that original “add a letter” notion.

The last three entries were the toughest, for me at least, and required somewhat more complex relettering to get the puns. 86A, “the summary of an easy negotiation?”, wasn’t easy to figure out: