Old Venetian money / SUN 1-28-24 / 2017 musical retelling of the stories of Henry VIII's wives / Cotton fabric often used in hosiery / Fifth-century pope dubbed "the Great" / Cotton fabric used in bandages / Like "t,""k" and "p," in phonetics / Aviator's maneuver in a crossword landing / Lowercase letter that resembles an "n" / Primitive camera feature / Oregon-based athletic brand / Flowerlike sea creature

Constructor: Nathan Hasegawa

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (9:35)

THEME: "Hammer Time": a visual representation of the game WHAC-A-MOLE (113A: Game represented visually in this puzzle) — five [HOLE] squares, one of which is occupied by a [MOLE]—if you hit the mole (with the hammer you undoubtedly keep at your desk), you will achieve a SMASHING SUCCESS (26A: Massive victory ... or a high score in 113-Across?):

Theme answers:

• OZONE (HOLE) / (HOLE) CARD (56A: Climate issue addressed in the Montreal Protocol / 57D: It's facedown on a poker table)
• GO W(HOLE) HOG / PIN(HOLE) (58A: Approach something with gusto / 43D: Primitive camera feature)
• (MOLE)CULES / (MOLE)SKIN (60A: What's the matter? / 60D: Cotton fabric used in bandages)
• BLACK (HOLE) / FOX(HOLE) (92A: Point of no return? / 76D: Military hiding spot)
• (HOLE)-IN-ONE / RAT(HOLE) (95A: Ace / 77D: Place that's cramped and squalid)

Word of the Day: PLOSIVE (13A: Like "t,""k" and "p," in phonetics) —

In phonetics, a plosive, also known as an occlusive or simply a stop, is a pulmonic consonant in which the vocal tract is blocked so that all airflow ceases. [...] The terms stop, occlusive, and plosive are often used interchangeably. Linguists who distinguish them may not agree on the distinction being made. The terms refer to different features of the consonant. "Stop" refers to the airflow that is stopped. "Occlusive" refers to the articulation, which occludes (blocks) the vocal tract. "Plosive" refers to the release burst (plosion) of the consonant. (wikipedia)

I don't know anything about WHAC-A-MOLE except that you whac(k) moles that pop up out of holes. I think I have that right? It always looked like the stupidest game in the arcade, so I never played. Does it have five holes? I assume it does, since this puzzle is allegedly a "visual representation" of the game, and why would the puzzle lie to me? But five seems like ... not a lot of holes. How hard can it be to whac(k) that mole if you've only got five holes to cover. Is it a drinking game? I can see it being hard if you get increasingly drunk somehow. I don't know what to think of this theme. It's not a corny pun theme or a contrived story theme or a change-a-letter low-watt wackiness theme, so it's got that going for it. Seems like the puzzle is pretty light on theme material (just the five rebus squares, plus the straightforward revealer and the "bonus" punny answer up top). But I do like that there was one MOLE square among all the HOLE squares. That really came as a surprise, and confused me for a bit (I double and triple-checked that MOLE square, for sure). Then I got the revealer, and all was clear. I probably should've seen the revealer coming after I got that MOLE square, but I did not. The revealer did, in fact, do its job and reveal the theme to me. It also revealed to me how one is supposed to spell the game, which I did not do properly at first. I had WACK-A-MOLE, I think, but then DUCAT came through with an extremely unlikely assist (when has DUCAT ever done anything for anyone except be a dated form of currency?). DUCAT forced the "C," which forced a recalculation of the revealer spelling. WHACAMOLE looks ... bad, like a guacamole substitute you make out of rodent roadkill. By the time the revealer was in place, I was basically done—although I didn't even try to guess what the software was going to accept as "correct" answers for those rebus squares, so I just left them blank and hit "Reveal > Entire Puzzle," letting the puzzle tell me what was supposed to go there (the (w)hole word, apparently).