Pun of a Kind

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! Coming at you shortly after my Thanksgiving feast! Hoping you and yours had a restful, blessed day. (And we saw lots of good doggos on the dog show, of course! Congratulations, Stache!) --- 1.  Puzzle #74 answer: KEN JENNINGS Correct entries: 51 Shortest explanation: As hinted by 11-Down, EMCEE = M.C. is important. Ten clues begin with the initials "M.C."; their entries are BARB-EASE-BOW-ABE-BEE-SEE-GNUS-MANN-PEAT-HUR. Phonetically (per "I Hear"), these become "Barbie's beau" (KEN) and "ABC newsman Peter" (JENNINGS), which gives us KEN JENNINGS , the answer to the meta (and the winner of 74 consecutive games of Jeopardy!  in 2004). --- 2. We have a supersized puzzle for this Thanksgiving holiday! Thanks to Jay for test-solving, feedback, and valuable comments. This could go either way, but I'll say  Level 3  is fair (maybe 3.25). Good luck, and may all your solves be beautiful! Mikey G The answer to the meta is a

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! What will I do without baseball for three months?? Wait on all the hot stove rumors to see if Shohei Ohtani will come to the Cubs, of course! (The Craig Counsell managerial move shocked me.) Congrats also to the Rangers on winning the World Series! Would've liked D-backs to get to a 6th game at least, but there were so many great storylines in it: Corey Seager's second MVP, Will Smith getting a World Series ring in three  consecutive years with three different  teams, the legend of García growing (injured halfway through), and simply the fact that the Rangers have their first-ever title! Oh, yeah, this is a puzzle blog. Onward! --- 1.  Puzzle #73 answer:  TOOTH DECAY (or TOOTH FAIRY ) Correct entries: 43 . Shortest explanation: Six entries' had TOOTH-related words missing, and per the last across "anchor" entry, two letters were missing from the entire grid (and all the clues!); these were "D" and "K," respectively, whi