Just these past few weeks, I've taken to trying the Sunday NYTimes crossword puzzle. I find it usually takes a bit of luck to finish the Sunday crossword. But this week's overarching theme (The Echo Effect) clicked into place in my brain and just now, after a few hours of working at it while cooking and cleaning, I finished it.
The Echo Effect meant that the solutions to the thematic clues included a repeated word. Guessing the thematic clues opened up the entire board.
WARNING: spoilers ahead
20 Across: "Flirting with a patient, e.g.?" Doctor no no.
23 Across: "What the mother of a dozen kids says just before turning out the light?" Twelfth night night.
52 Across: "Have a Star Wars character preserved?" Pickle Jar Jar.
69 Across: "Lively fish dance?" Sardine can can.
86 Across: "What the impatient reader of English essays requested?" Lamb chop chop.
117 Across: "Phrase describing an offerer of sympathy?" Who goes there there.
122 Across: "Royal rebuke?" Royal tut tut.
3 Down: "Give either a wholly good or bad review?" Say it isn't so so.
59 Down: "Drum that makes tiny bird sounds?" Peeping tom tom.