Wednesday, September 2, 2026 - Guilherme Gilioli

 

Theme:  Order in the Court!

 

It was so ordered; until it wasn't ...

 

 

 

Perhaps you'll like this video instead? (for anyone who's a Boomer or older)

 

Puzzling thoughts:

Chairman Moe here.  Today's constructor Guilherme Gilioli (the link will take you to his last appearance at the Crossword Corner) has been featured as a constructor @ the LATimes a total of four times now.  He also has 3 published puzzles @ NYT and has his own webpage for crosswords (in his native, Portuguese) - very impressive

Today's puzzle has the dreaded circles (side-eye shout out to SS); however, without them I am not sure that you would have noticed the reveal:

59 across. Judge's directive, or a feature of each set of circled letters?: COURT ORDER. 

The reveal is supported by the following entries; I highlighted the circled letters in red text:

17 across. 1990s grunge icon: KURT COBAIN.  There is far too much to write about him to fit into this blog. I'm pretty sure that he was quite polarizing, but then again, aren't we all to some degree?  When I read his biography @ Wikipedia I noticed this fact about him, straight away: he died at the age of 27 (this link will provide the names of the other iconic rock stars who passed at this specific age, which began the use of the term, "27 Club")

23 across. Some street food vendors: TACO TRUCKS.  These are quite popular here in the desert SW but I hear that they are becoming popular in more and more places across the country, not just in Arizona or other states that border Mexico.  Does your city have one?  Do tell!

 

This is one that we frequent

37 across. Going the faster way, hopefully: TAKING A SHORTCUT.  This brings back some not so fond memories of taking road trips with my parents and sister.  Earliest memory probably was at the age of 6 or so.  Dad was "infamous" for trying to find a shortcut rather than stick to the beaten path.  I guess that he swore by the adage that the shortest distance between two spots is a straight line.  Well, often that "straight line" that dad drove resulted in a dead end.  Many times at a farm house!  My mom had an expression for his shortcuts and called them "two-mile roads", as we always seemed to drive two miles in and then two miles back out

48 across. Easy A's: GUT COURSES. [from AI] "A gut course is college slang for an easy, undemanding academic class. The term arose in the early 20th century from the older slang notion of a "feast" or "belly-full"—implying a course so simple that a student could easily "swallow" or consume it without mental strain. Campus slang dictionaries and historical references (such as the Online Etymology Dictionary) note student use of "gut" for an easy class emerging around 1916, though some major lexicons trace its widespread recorded use to the mid-20th century."  I did not know this

After solving the puzzle and revisiting the circles, I noticed that the "order" of the letters in the word COURT were correct in only 3 of the four entries.  37 across (TAKING A SHORTCUT) was the exception, and the added T next to the circled letters felt "odd".  I suppose that is a nit but when I do my recaps and rate the puzzles I take everything into account; I WANT ORDER!! 🤨

To his credit, Guilherme used very few three-letter words; the entries were quite fresh; and he used 55 letters for the reveal and entries (that's a lot). Overall, I rate this ⭐⭐⭐ ⭐.   Bom trabalho!

Here is the grid: 

 

On to the rest:

Across:
1. Rascal: SCAMP.

6. With 30-Across, FIFA women's powerhouse: TEAM (30 across. See 6-Across) USA.  [from AI] "Team USA women hold elite historic milestones across sports, highlighted by the soccer team's 4 World Cup titles, basketball's dominant Olympic streak, and a record-breaking 12 gold medals for female athletes at the 2026 Winter Games"

10. Rip-off: SCAM. Moe-ku:

        A Generic brand

        Ripped-off Hormel with canned meat.

        It was a Spam SCAM 

14. Green growth in a pond: ALGAE.  Moe-ku: (this one will test your knowledge of soul music)

        Hi Records star Green

       ("Let's Stay Together") 

        Has homo-phonic nickname 

        I think it's ALGAE

15. Rotating shaft: AXLE.

16. Salt-N-Pepa, e.g.: TRIO. Soul music was what I grew up with; the next generation was into Hip-Hop (I think!).  Salt-N-Pepa was formed in 1985 in NYC.  Salt (Cheryl James) Pepa (Sandra Denton) and DJ Spinderella (Deidra Roper) are the trio [Wikipedia].  Their website

[entry #1]

19. Learning tools: AIDS.  Anyone remember these?

 

20. Manatee habitat: SEA. But the Malodorous Manatee's habitat is here, at the Crossword Corner!

21. Ray of McDonald's history: KROC. Moe-ku: (this will test your knowledge of TV sitcoms)

       "New Girl" actor Max

        Played McDonald's founder Ray;

        That's a Kroc of Schmidt 

22. General locations: AREAS.  As opposed to "Dollar General" locations: everywhere! 

[entry #2]

26. VEX creations: ROBOTS. Perps helped solve this one

29. Make a choice: OPT.

[see above @ 6]

33. Azerbaijan neighbor: IRAN. Today's geography lesson

34. Right-hand page: RECTO. Today's Latin lesson.  Recto in Spanish, though, means "straight" (as in straight ahead)

36. Only word spoken in "Silent Movie": NON.  Ironically spoken by famed mime artist Marcel Marceau

[entry #3]

41. Former quarterback Manning: ELI.  Eli and his NY Giants Football Team won two Super Bowls: Super Bowl XLII and XLVI - both versus the New England Patriots.  Not sure if this video will load, but the highlight of SB 42 was this catch:

 

42. 1/16 of a pound: OUNCE. 

43. 2026 "Legally Blonde" prequel: ELLE. Any fans here of this movie or its prequel?

44. Taxpayer ID: SSN. Entered as a nine-digit number: xxx-xx-xxxx.  It helps to remember your last four digits

45. "Sweet!": RAD. The word "rad" became popular in the mid-1980's.  My generation used the word "cool"

46. Make a value judgment: ASSESS. 

[entry #4]

52. Result of haste, in an adage: WASTE.  

54. Colossal: VAST.

55. Prefix with -tainment: EDU.  Hand up for trying CON first?  

Learning moe-ment: [from AI and Wiki]: "Edutainment is a blended word combining education and entertainment. It means media or activities designed to teach people while keeping them amused and interested. This approach turns learning into a fun experience instead of a chore".  So is this a portmanteau?

58. So much: A LOT.  Would "very" much have been A TON??

[reveal]

62. Junction point: NODE.  Moe-ku:

 

        The energy flow

        Was all catawampus, but

        The NODE knowed the way

63. Hayride seat, say: BALE.  Why I chose LOFT first befuddles me; I was on a hayride, not on a "ride in the hay" 😂😂😂

64. "All sales are __": FINAL.

65. Beloved: DEAR.

66. Scrabble board symbol covered in the first play of the game: STAR.  It also is a Double Word symbol.  Helps to get off to a good start.  The image below was a game I played against another person (you'll notice the score for the "Chairman".  The word RALPHED was my star-ter.  I also made a few Triples

67. Young horses: FOALS. Very young horses.  Newborns

Down:
1. Fifth Avenue retailer: SAKS.  

2. Game with secret passages: CLUE.  Colonel Mustard, in the kitchen, with a knife

3. Taj Mahal city: AGRA.  Moe-ku:

 

        Magicians say this

        Magic word in India:

        AGRA-cadabara 

  

4. Yoga surface: MAT.

5. Eat like a bird?: PECK AT.  These birds know

6. Frowned upon: TABOO.  I've always instructed people not to wear cologne or perfume at wine tastings, so I guess THIS would also be

7. Spot-on: EXACT.

8. Legend in the ring: ALI.  Father or daughter?? 

9. Big boys: MEN.

10. Severely plain: STARK.  But not THIS Stark:

11. Throws in the towel: CRIES UNCLE.

12. Verdi opera: AIDA.

13. Green growth in a terrarium: MOSS.  Are you one who believes that moss only grows on the north side of a tree?  That sounds a bit shady, to me

18. Middle-earth monsters: ORCS. 

22. Many a Hollywood Walk of Fame honoree: ACTOR.

There are exceptions though 

23. "Un-Break My Heart" singer Braxton: TONI.

24. Swiss pharmaceutical giant: ROCHE.  [Wikipedia] "F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, commonly known as Roche, is a Swiss multinational holding healthcare company that operates worldwide under two divisions: Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. Its holding company, Roche Holding AG, has shares listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange. The company headquarters are located in Basel.

25. As many as: UP TO.  There may be up to six Moe-ku's today

26. Ceremonial events: RITES. And one Moe-l'ick, for a change ... and the rite is probably well-known to our Jewish cornerites:

        After birth, couple's son had his Bris

        
But just wait 'til you hear about this!

        The Mohel arrived drunk;

        Then butchered baby's junk.

        Looks like something's become quite a Miss.

27. Spoken exams: ORALS. 

28. Science fair volcano ingredient: BAKING SODA.  [From AI]: "A classic science fair volcano uses baking soda and vinegar to create a fizzy, foaming chemical reaction"

The video below is a tad juvenile but it's still pretty cool 😎😎

 

31. Spiritual essences: SOULS.

32. Pays to play: ANTES.  Today's grammar lesson:  Why would you say ante versus antes? "Ante is the base form of the verb used for I, you, we, they, or plural nouns in the present tense, while antes is the third-person singular form used for he, she, it, or singular nouns.  Did I say this correctly??

34. Total stranger: RANDO.  [AI explanation]: "The slang word "rando" comes from shortening the word "random" and adding the suffix -o (similar to words like weirdo or sicko). It first appeared in American youth slang during the 1990s and 2000s before becoming mainstream in the 2010s"

35. Key near F1: ESC.

38. America del __: Mexico's continent: NORTE.  North America

39. Green dip, briefly: GUAC.  I make a mean guac if I do say so myself.  My recipe includes (besides avocados) fresh cilantro, chopped red onion, diced Hatch chili peppers (when in season) or jalapeño peppers, lime juice, and low-sodium tajin.  I put everything into a food processor and puree, maintaining just a bit of "chunkiness" 

40. Model/activist Holliday: TESS.  Ryann Maegen Hoven, known professionally as Tess Holliday and formerly known as Tess Munster, is an American plus-size model, blogger, and make-up artist based in Los Angeles - she is unknown to me

46. Helper: Abbr.: ASST.  One of the other nits I had with today's puzzle was the number of abbr's

47. Trigger, as an alarm: SET OFF.  

49. Total: UTTER.  

50. Throat dangler: UVULA.  This was one from Jim Davis that was a bit surprising ... 

51. More uncommon: RARER.

52. Steam __: latte-making gadget: WAND.  

53. Sunburn treatment: ALOE.

55. "Giant" novelist Ferber: EDNA.

56. "Works for me!": DEAL.

57. Web addresses: URLS.  Moe-ku #6

        Websites in Russia

        Are all named after mountains:

        The Urals' URLs 

 

(hey, they can't all be winners ...)          

59. "48 Hours" airer: CBS.  I always thought that "60 Minutes" was all I could watch in one sitting.  "48 Hours"?  My attention span now lasts for maybe 30 seconds ... 😉

60. Breakfast bit that might soak overnight: OAT.

61. Home of Sugarloaf Mountain: RIO.  Here is a fun fact:  There are no less than 450 mountains, hills, and rock formations named Sugarloaf worldwide, with over 200 located in the United States alone.  Bet you didn't know THAT!  

Now, when it comes to rock bands named Sugarloaf, the one featured in the video below is the Chairman's favorite - not sure when in 1970 that this one became a "hit"; either before I graduated HS or after I became a freshman in college.  But I still like this song (Green-Eyed Lady) some 56 years later ...

  

See you next month - my carpal tunnel surgery on hand number two is manaña

Tuesday, September 1, 2026, Derek Hinsey

 

Good Tuesday Morning, Cruciverbalists.  Malodorous Manatee here (yes, you read that correctly) pinch hitting for our witty and insightful Hahtoolah with the recap of a Tuesday puzzle.  That's twice in one week for this blogger bringing new meaning to semi-retirement.  I know that you all will miss, among other things, the wonderful cartoons that Hahtoolah finds, sorts through, chooses and shares with us but I will try to make up for that lack somehow.

In this, his LAT debut, constructor Derek Hinsey has riffed on a theme where the compound word answers to the five themed-clues can each be split into two parts (duh, M.M, that's why they call them compound words).  Each of those now-separated words can be combined with the word POINT to form a common expression.  Let's start with the reveal:

58 Across:  Slam dunk's value, or what 16-, 23-, 34-, 36-, and 49-Across have: TWO POINTS.  A basketball reference that is used here, instead, to indicate that each answer contains two "pointed" references.

Here are the five places where the gimmick is employed:

16 Across:  Major multistate lottery: POWERBALL.  POWERPoint is a presentation program developed by Microsoft. It was originally released in 1987.  A BALL Point is, of course, a type of pen.

23 Across:  Opening bid: STARTING PRICE.  The STARTING point is when/where to begin and the PRICE point denotes the niche in the market price-wise (the price point of a Cadillac, for example, places it in competition with other luxury vehicles.

34 Across:  Final part of a chess match: END GAME.  The END point is where, well, something stops and GAME point is a sports reference for what might turn out to be the final play of a game.

36 Across:  Florida home of the Harry S. Truman Little White House: KEY WEST.  A KEY point is the gist of the matter and WEST Point is the U.S. military academy.

49. Cool way to keep food fresh?: FLASH FREEZING.  FLASH FREEZING is a rapid freezing process that uses cryogenic temperatures, such as liquid nitrogen at −196 °C (−320.8 °F), to quickly freeze an object for food and tissue preservation. A FLASH point the origin of a conflagration (physical or intellectual) and the FREEZING point is where water turns to ice.

This is how the completed grid appears:

Here are the more numerous non-themed clues and answers:

Across:

1. "Furthermore ... ": PLUS.  Hand up for first thinking of ALSO which we then got at 65 Across.

5. Moral transgressions: SINS.  Everyone knows Las Vegas is SIN City but are you familiar with Den City?  Mass over volume.

9. Picnic race bag: SACK.

13. + or - particles: IONS.  I went online and ordered some atoms but received IONS  instead.  They replaced them free of charge.

14. Need ibuprofen, say: ACHE.

15. Stash: CACHE.  The juxtaposition with ACHE is interesting.  Should CACHE be pronounced like CAKE?

18. Salsa ingredient: ONION.

19. Music genre with Jamaican roots: SKA.  A genre with which most regular solvers are quite familiar. . . at least in name.

20. Japanese currency: YEN.

21. Began gradually: EASED IN.

26. __ Allen furniture: ETHAN.  All You Might Wish To Know

28. Dog's warning sound: SNARL.

29. Animation frame: CEL.  Back in the day when cartoons were hand drawn the movement was achieved by drawing and then photographing a series of individual, slightly altered hand painted CELs.  Now it's all computer generated.

30. Sharp-witted: KEEN.

31. Short time?: SEC.  Shortened form of SECond

32. Break a fast: EAT.  Sometimes you can get two points on a fast break.

40. Buckeyes' sch.: OSU.

41. Way cool: RAD.  80's slang.  Bitchen.  Far out.  Groovy.  Boss.

42. __ vera: ALOE.  A plant that seems to thrive in our puzzles

43. Six-pack muscles: ABS.  ABdominal MuscleS

46. "Jurassic World" actor Chris: PRATT.  Thanks, perps.

48. Demon: FIEND.

52. Let go: RELEASE.  Ever hear Eddie Izzard riff on this guy's name?

53. Meh, slangily: MID.  New to this solver but it does make sense.

54. Viper in 43-Down: ASP.  How's your ASP been? (a skier's joke).

57. Volunteer's phrase: I WILL.

61. Long for: COVET.  As in "Thou shall not COVET."

62. Door fastener: HASP.

63. Important cards in solitaire: ACES.  Important in many card games.

64. Santa __: hot California winds: ANAS.  Santa Ana winds are strong, extremely dry winds that blow from inland desert areas across coastal Southern California, often bringing hot, dry conditions and very low humidity.

65. "Furthermore ... ": ALSO.  See ALSO 1 Across.

66. Small salamander: NEWT.

Down:

1. Domino spots: PIPS.  By definition.

2. "Check this out": LOOK.

3. Like dirty dishes: UNWASHED.

4. NNW opposite: SSE.  A direction/navigation reference.

5. Curved fencing sword: SABER.

6. "Down in front!": I CANT SEE.

7. Anaheim Ducks' org.: NHL.  National Hockey League

8. Gomez of "Only Murders in the Building": SELENA.

9. More rational: SANER.

10. Not basic, in chemistry: ACIDIC.

11. Beef grade below prime: CHOICE.

12. Animal shelter shelter: KENNEL.

15. Dress up at a fan convention: COSPLAY.  From COStume

17. Olympic swimmer Lochte: RYAN.

22. "I was thinking the same thing": AGREED.

24. Dramatic ballroom dance: TANGO.

25. LLC alternative: INC.  Forms of business organizations.

26. __ out a win: EKE.

27. Square root of 100: TEN.

31. Blue cartoon characters: SMURFS.

33. Creator of Finn and Sawyer: TWAIN.

35. Parking lot surface: ASPHALT.

36. Supermodel who is a contributing editor for British Vogue: KATE MOSS.

37. Refinement: ELEGANCE.

38. Anderson Cooper, to Gloria Vanderbilt: SON.

39. Apple TV's "__ Lasso": TED.

41. GPS suggestion: RTE.  RouTE

43. Continent with the most countries: AFRICA.  There are 54 countries in Africa according to the United Nations.

44. Tried to cool down, as hot soup: BLEW ON.

45. DNA sample source: SALIVA.  SWAB was too short.

47. Soul legend Franklin: ARETHA.

48. Classic dog name: FIDO.  

The name FIDO comes from the Latin word "fidus," meaning "faithful." It became widely associated with dogs due to President Abraham Lincoln's pet dog, Fido, who was well-known during his time.

50. 1990s tennis star Monica: SELES.

51. Zilch: ZIPPO.  Slangy

55. Hearty meal: STEW.

56. Quiet "Hey!": PSST.  A summons frequently heard in our puzzles.

59. "The __-Mart Effect": 2006 economics book: WAL.

60. Bond novelist Fleming: IAN.

Well, there are only two more points to make today . . .

__________________________________________

That's Manatee, M. Manatee
MM Out

Monday, August 31, 2026, Justin Werfel

Theme:  Idiot box

How does today's constructor, Justin Werfel, find time for TV?  When he's not publishing crossword puzzles -- at least 27 so far, including two in the LA Times -- he is skiing, diving, juggling, storytelling, glassblowing, blacksmithing, writing, mountain unicyling, and -- oh, yeah -- running a robotics lab at Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.  I am not worthy to review his puzzle, and yet, here I am.  Check him out at: people.seas.harvard.edu/~jkwerfel/

Justin Werfel, homo extraordinarius

In case you missed it while solving, Justin kindly provided a key to the theme here:

72-Across. Screen found in many a living room, or what 16-, 29-, 49-, and 63-Across can be called: TV SET.  Indeed, each of the theme entries is a SET in which the first word begins with T, and the second word begins with V.

16-Across. Avian scavengers with red heads: TURKEY VULTURES.

29-Across. Demo release: TRIAL VERSION.

49-Across. Paperwork for leisure travelers: TOURIST VISAS.

63-Across. Part of speech that requires a direct object: TRANSITIVE VERB.

The theme entries are symmetrically placed in the grid.  Yours truly is a sucker for symmetry.  There are exceptional solvers among us who like a hidden theme that comes as a delightful surprise when revealed, but I appreciate a theme that is plain to see, and that helps with the solving process, so this one was right up my alley.  Or on my TV wavelength.  Let's see what other shows are on ....

Across:

1. Confess (to): ADMIT.

6. __ at the moon: HOWL.

10. 23-Down fig.: POL.  A member of the SENATE (answer to 23-Down) is a POLitician -- abbreviated in the answer because of the abbreviation in the clue.

13. Extract, as minerals from soil: LEACH.  When water (or another liquid) passes through a material, chemical substances may leach out.  I have always thought of this in terms of a natural process, like rain washing minerals out of soil, but in industry and chemistry, people may deliberately extract substances by leaching.  

14. Gobi Desert continent: ASIA.  A vast, cold desert in southern Mongolia and northern China.

But it's a dry cold ... !

15. Egg cells: OVA.

16. [Theme clue]

19. Tread the boards: ACT.  This idiom for acting comes from walking on the floorboards of the stage.

20. Feathery neckwear: BOA.

21. Smitten Kitchen blogger Perelman: DEB.  Deb Perelman's food blog, Smitten Kitchen, is 16 years old, and has generated several print cookbooks along with a good deal of press (all of it under this blogger's radar).  Deb's NYC kitchen is only 80 square feet, which presents challenges, but also suggests that you can probably achieve her results in your kitchen, too.

Deb Perelman's Smitten Kitchen

22. Some QB protectors: RTS.  Some quarterback protectors are Right Tackles.  Football aficionados, please discuss.

24. Neatens up text boxes, say: REALIGNS.  I don't know about you, but I sometimes have to add a text box to an Adobe PDF, and after composing the contents, I take a moment to align it with other text blocks on the page.  If you have managed to avoid this particular task, the answer might not have come as quickly.

27. Hangry plea: FEED ME.  Have we all encountered the word "hangry," a blend of "hungry" and "angry"?  We have probably all encountered a hangry person, who is irritable because they are hungry.

29. [Theme entry]

31. Secretly included on an email: BCCED.  Abbreviations look weird when conjugated as verbs!  Merriam-Webster prefers BCC'D.  (For blind carbon copied -- an anachronism preserved in email.)

34. Pop singer Carly __ Jepsen: RAE.  Carly Rae Jepsen is a Canadian singer/songwriter who came into the public eye when she placed third on the fifth season of Canadian Idol in 2007.  Her first hit song was "Call Me Maybe" in 2012.

35. "The Incredibles" supersuit designer Mode: EDNA.  In Pixar's animated Incredibles movies, the character Edna Mode designs costumes for superheroes.  For instance, a superhero who can turn invisible needs a suit that turns invisible along with her.  And no capes!  Edna considers them dangerous; costumes should not get sucked into jet engines or caught in elevators.

Edna Mode

36. Portuguese phone greeting: ALO.

37. Health retreat: SPA.

40. Recipe amt.: TSP.  I searched "tsp" at SmittenKitchen.com and found 717 results.  The abbreviation for teaspoon is common in recipes.

42. Addams cousin: ITT.  The fictional Addams Family was created by cartoonist Charles Addams, and originally appeared in a series of 150 single panel comics, many of which were published in The New Yorker between 1938 and 1988.  Actors portrayed the characters in a live action television series in 1964-65, and then in various films and animated series.  The very hairy cousin Itt debuted in a cartoon in 1963, before the TV producers changed his name from It to Itt.

The New Yorker, October 12, 1963
"This is It speaking."

43. Gambling town near Tahoe: RENO.

45. One of eight on an octopus: ARM.

47. Supple: LITHE.

49. [Theme clue]

53. Nonprofit journalism agcy.: AP NEWS.  The Associated Press is a not-for-profit agency headquartered in New York City.  It operates as a cooperative association, producing news reports distributed to its members, which include newspapers and radio and TV broadcasters.

54. Most civil: POLITEST.  Two syllable adjectives usually take "most" in the superlative -- i.e. MOST POLITE -- but POLITEST appears to be blessed by Merriam-Webster.  They like "civilest," too!

58. Rotten: BAD.  POLITEST isn't the BADDEST word we've seen in a grid.

59. 20-vol. lexicon: OED.  I wonder what the Oxford English Dictionary says about POLITEST?  I don't have an online subscription and can't tell.  Long ago, I owned the two volume, micro print edition that came with a big magnifying glass.  I sometimes miss that set.

61. Karate rank: DAN.  Kyu ranks are student level, and the belts are various colors.  Dan ranks are all black belts, and are refined by: 1st Dan (Shodan): Junior black belt; 2nd Dan (Nidan): Second-degree black belt; 3rd Dan (Sandan): Third-degree black belt; 4th to 10th Dan (Yondan to Judan): High-level expert and master ranks.

62. Dallas City Hall architect I.M. __: PEI.  I. M. Pei (1917-2019) was born in China and moved to the United States to attend college.  He became a highly productive and distinguished modern architect with major buildings in the United States and abroad.  Unfortunately, Dallas City Hall, opened in 1978, is under consideration for demolition due to the high cost of deferred maintenance.   

Dallas City Hall

63. [Theme clue]

67. Enter a race: RUN.

68. Benefit: GAIN.

69. Baking tool with holes: SIEVE.  This simple mesh tool helps break up lumps in flour.

sieve

70. Actress Adams of "The Muppets": AMY.  Amy Adams achieved stardom in 2007's Enchanted, and went on to act in many more films and plays, portraying Lois Lane in DC Extended Universe superhero movies.  She played a primary school teacher in The Muppets (2011).

I remember being Enchanted by the 2007 film.

71. Fairy tale opening: ONCE.

72. [Theme clue]

Down:

1. "I do" location: ALTAR.

2. Card with two pips: DEUCE.  A playing card with two pips has the value of two and is called a deuce, from the French "deux" which comes from the Latin "duo."

Deuces

3. "Knives Out" protagonist: MARTA.  In the 2019 film Knives Out, Ana de Armas plays Marta Cabrera, the nurse of a wealthy mystery novelist who dies under suspicious circumstances on the night of his big birthday party.

Stunning beauty as plain Jane.

4. "Grody!": ICK.  Oh, didn't we love the word "grody" in the 1980s!  It is said to have started in 1960s surf culture as a clipped form of "grotesque," and then surged in pop culture thanks to Moon Unit Zappa's 1982 song "Valley Girl."  Immortal words from that track:

Like, my mother, like, makes me do the dishes

It's, like, so gross, like, all the stuff, like, sticks to the plates

And it's like, it's like somebody else's food, y'know

It's like grody, grody to the max

I'm sure, it's, like, really nauseating

Like, barf out

Gag me with a spoon, gross

I am sure, totally

5. Hitchcock film with nonhuman villains: THE BIRDS.  Things that terrified audiences in 1963 seem tame today.

Tippi Hedren in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds

6. Capital of Cuba: HAVANA.

7. Columbus sch.: OSU.  Ohio State University.

8. Untamed: WILD.

9. Penalties for missing due dates: LATE FEES.  From library books to credit card payments, you've got to pay on time to avoid late fees.  They encourage us to act in a timely manner.

10. __ favor: "please," in Spanish: POR.  The English "please" comes from Latin placere, to be acceptable -- e.g. "if it please you" -- while the Spanish "por favor" means "by way of a favor."

11. Indulged too much: OVERDID IT.  And this is how we learn our limits.

You can only party so hearty.

12. May, in June: LAST MONTH.

17. Bear who steals "pic-a-nic" baskets: YOGI.  The animated Yogi Bear was introduced as a supporting character on The Huckleberry Hound Show in 1958, and got his own show in 1961.  

18. __ Eats: DoorDash rival: UBER.  Food delivery services that boomed during the COVID-19 pandemic and have remained popular.

23. Upper house of Congress: SENATE.

25. Cell service initials: LTE.  Long Term Evolution is a standard for wireless communication for cellular devices.

26. High-end camera, for short: SLR.  A single-lens reflex camera uses a mirror and prism system to allow photographers to view through the lens and see what will be captured.  These days, mirrorless cameras are higher-end than SLRs.

28. Language ending: ESE.  Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese ... English sometimes adds "ese" to a place name, based on the Latin "ensis," "belonging to a place."   We use these forms to refer not just to the language of a place, but also to the people who live there.

30. Large cask: VAT.

31. Running tally of drinks at a pub: BAR TAB.

32. Pharaoh played by Elizabeth Taylor: CLEOPATRA.  Cleopatra was the last pharoah of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt.  With her death, Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire.

Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra

33. Puzzle: CONUNDRUM.

38. Collects $200 in Monopoly: PASSES GO.  Parker Brothers published the first edition of this board game in 1935.

39. Class with easels: ART.

41. Least fancy: PLAINEST.

44. Valuable excavation find: ORE.

46. Team VIP: MVP.  One very important person on a team is the most valuable player.

48. Real or ideal suffix: IST.

50. Cry of victory: I WON.

51. Antiseptic fluid: IODINE.

52. Czech or Pole: SLAV.  Slavs are defined as groups of people who speak Slavic languages.  The three groups of present-day Slavs include: 

- West Slavs (Czechs, Kashubians, Moravians, Poles, Silesians, Slovaks, and Sorbs);

- East Slavs (Belarusians, Russians, Rusyns, and Ukrainians);

- South Slavs (Bosniaks, Bulgarians, Croats, Gorani, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Pomaks, Serbs, Slovenes and Torbeši).

Did you Czech the list for Poles? 

55. Olympic swords: ÉPÉES.  Olympic fencing uses three types of sword:  the épée, the foil, and the sabre.  Of these, the épée is the largest and heaviest.  Épée and foil are “point thrusting” weapons, while the sabre can both thrust and slash with its blade edge.

Olympic swords and their target areas

56. Start a tennis rally: SERVE.

57. Neighbor of Nepal: TIBET.

60. Gorilla researcher Fossey: DIAN.  American primatologist Dian Fossey devoted her life to the study and conservation of mountain gorillas in Rwanda from 1966 until she was murdered in 1985.

Dian Fossey

64. Indefinite amount: ANY.

65. Nervous twitch: TIC.

66. "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" aunt, familiarly: VIV.  Vivian Banks was portrayed by Janet Hubert from 1990 to 1993, and then by Daphne Maxwell Reid from 1993 to 1996.

Will Smith and Janet Hubert on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

Here's the grid:

Solvers,

I'll ADMIT to a few names I could not have filled without the help of perpendicular entries:  the Smitten Kitchen blogger DEB Perelman; "The Incredibles" supersuit designer EDNA Mode; "Knives Out" protagonist MARTA Cabrera, and "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" aunt VIV.  The karate rank DAN was also unfamiliar.  But I WON because the "perps" were fair!  

How about you?  Did you think this puzzle was for THE BIRDS?  Or were you WILD about it?

Tell us in your PLAINEST yet POLITEST words in the comments!

-- NaomiZ