other Washington Post Sunday crossword, February 5 (contains answers)

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Title: Earsplitting
Theme entries: phrases that begin with E (or EA) and end with AR (or R)

Examples:
22A, The Les Paul, e.g.: ELECTRIC GUITAR
54A, Gung-ho type: EAGER BEAVER
102A, Like a spacewalk: EXTRAVEHICULAR

Things I learned, with web links so you can learn them too:

5A, Rummy group: MELD
27A, “Tru,” e.g.: PLAY [I have no idea. Someone explain this. Tru-Play is a term used by a couple brands of sports equipment, but that doesn’t really help here.]
43A, Dumbarton ___ (D.C. mansion): OAKS
61A, Lewis’s street: MAIN
93A, ICU readout: EEG [I always get this confused with EKG, which is heart, not brain]
112A, “Topper” pooch: NEIL
30D, Declare firmly: AVOUCH [I’m not sure why I didn’t know this word]
40D, Fragrant compound: ESTER
49D, Black Hawk‘s people: SAUKS
51D, Gets clean: LAVES
65D, Parkinson’s treatment: L-DOPA [I have no retention for this information and have looked it up several times in this space]
78D, Kitty player on “Gunsmoke”: AMANDA
82D, Hap Arnold, e.g.: GENERAL
97D, Prefix with resin: OLEO [this is in maybe 3 of every 4 crossword puzzles in the world and I finally decided to look it up]

Overall:
I changed 9 squares and looked up 14 things.