Something's Rotten in Puzzledom! The last word of each theme answer can describe something that has SPOILED, or gone bad.
20-Across. * Do something in a whole new way: BREAK THE MOLD.
34-Across. * Clever twists in a story: NEW WRINKLES.
41-Across * Depressed, colorfully: IN A BLUE FUNK.
51-Across. Movie reviewer's warning ... or what the last words of each starred answer can be?: SPOILER ALERT.
Across:
1. Gallery event: SHOW.
George Rodrigue (Mar. 13, 1944 ~ Dec. 14, 2013)
5. 24 Hours of Le __: auto race: MANS. The Le Mans is an auto endurance event. The 87th race took place just this past weekend ~ Saturday, June 15 to Sunday, June 16, 2019. Fernando Alonso's Toyota team won for the second consecutive year.
9. Out in front: AHEAD.
14. __ Field: Mets' ballpark: CITI.
15. Frantically: AMOK. Amok also a style of steam cooking in southeast Asia. It is a traditional dish in Cambodia.
16. Prom queen's crown: TIARA. Also the headgear of married royals, or maybe not.
17. Geological age: AEON. A long, long time.
18. 10-Down princess: RANI. // And 10-Down: Diwali celebrant = HINDU. Diwali is the Hindu festival of lights and is a very important celebration.
19. Chipped in a chip: ANTED. Think of playing a game of poker.
23. Chinese-born architect I.M. __: PEI. I.M. Pei (né Ieoh Ming Pei; Apr. 26, 1917 ~ May 16, 2019) died just last month at age 102. He was a very innovative architect.
24. Semisoft cheeses: GOUDAs. Gouda is a mild cheese from the Netherlands, often wrapped in red wax.
28. Accomplish: ATTAIN.
31. Fish caught in pots: EELS.
33. Mont Blanc, e.g.: ALP. Also the brand of a very expensive, luxury pen.
36. Sched. uncertainty: TBA. As in To Be Announced. It could just as easily have been TBD, which stands for To Be Determined.
37. Club used for chipping: IRON. As in a golf club, not to be confused with a Flat Iron, which could help with today's WRINKLES.
38. Narc's org.: DEA. As in the Drug Enforcement Administration, which is housed within the United States Department of Justice.
39. "Beauty __ the eye ... ": IS IN.
40. Line of work: Abbr.: OCC. As in an Occupation.
45. Teachers' org.: NEA. As in the National Education Association.
46. Like dried soil: CAKY. More often this would be spelled as Cakey, but both are acceptable.
47. Dictation takers: STENOs. Short for Steographer. This is probably an occupation that is pretty much obsolete now. There are still court reporters, but even they used electronic recordings.
50. Summer in Lyon: ÉTÉ. Today's French lesson.
58. "Prince Valiant" queen: ALETA. Prince Valiant was a comic strip created in 1937 set in the days of King Arthur's England. Apparently, Aleta was the love interest of Prince Valiant.
61. Most burger meat: BEEF. Non-beef burgers are becoming trendy.
62. Scottish hillside: BRAE. Today's Scottish lesson.
63. Trig function: COSEC. Raise your hand if you remember all the trig functions from high school geometry. Cosec is the abbreviation for Cosecant. It's the reciprocal of sine. I'm sure that clears things up.
64. Slight advantage: EDGE.
65. Not supportin': AGIN'.
66. Smooth and glossy: SLEEK.
67. Shock, as a perp: TASE.
Anatomy of a Taser®.
68. Doofus: DOLT. Anyone else remember the old Goofus and Gallant cartoons instructing children on manners? Goofus was a Doofus.
Down:
1. Natural wound protection: SCAB.
2. Yesterday, on the French Riviera: HIER. More of today's French lesson. Today is aujourd'hui, and tomorrow is demain.
3. Native Nebraskan: OTOE.
4. Capture the first piece in chess, typically: WIN A PAWN.
5. Bond order: MARTINI. Shaken, not stirred.
6. Indian nurse: AMAH. This word used to be a crossword staple.
7. __ of the above: NONE.
8. Take off the top: SKIM.
9. Completely flummoxed: AT A LOSS.
11. Consume: EAT.
12. "We __ Marshall": 2006 football drama: ARE. Matthew McConaughey was one of the stars in the movie.
13. Pop: DAD.
21. Actor Dullea of "2001" films: KEIR. The name Keir Dullea (b. May 30, 1936) did not immediately come to mind, but he played the astronaut Dave Bowman in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
22. Look at creepily: OGLE.
25. Nissan brand relaunched in 2013: DATSUN.
26. One lacking pigment: ALBINO. When I was in grade school, we learned about Snowflake, the albino gorilla. He lived in the Barcelona zoo from the time he was a youngster until his death in 2003. He was believed to have been about 40 years old at the time of his death.
27. Swats on the rear: SPANKS.
28. Negatively charged particles: ANIONS.
29. Half a sestet, in an Italian sonnet: TERCET. According to Webster, a Tercet is "one of the two groups of three lines forming the sestet in an Italian sonnet". All clear?
30. Like a good-sized garage: TWO CAR. Is your garage attached to your house, or a stand-alone?
31. Barely manage: EKE BY.
32. Airline to Tel Aviv: EL AL.
35. Fargo's state: Abbr.: N. DAK. As in North Dakota. The 1996 movie, Fargo, however, actually took place in Minnesota.
39. Words of regret, perhaps: I FEEL BAD. The opposite of how James Brown felt.
41. Treatment for swelling: ICE PACK.
42. Defense acronym: NATO. As in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
43. Highway toll, e.g.: USER FEE.
44. Soul singer James: ETTA. Etta and I have become good friends. This is the third time she has been my guest when it's my turn to provide blog commentary.
49. Lauder with fragrances: ESTÉE. Estée Lauder (née Josephine Esther Mentzer; July 1, 1906 ~ Apr. 24, 2004), was the founder of the cosmetics company that bears her name.
52. "Fat chance": I BET!
53. Mother of Castor and Pollux: LEDA. They're all Greek to me.
54. Hosp. brain tests: EEGs. As in the ElectroEncphaloGraphs. These tests can detect electrical activity in the brain and are useful in diagnosing such things as brain tumors, strokes, and sleep disorders.
55. "Logically, then ... ": ERGO.
56. Train wheel guide: RAIL.
57. Camp shelter: TENT. Roughing it in the wilderness.
58. Window cooling units, briefly: A/Cs. As in Air Conditioners.
59. "Gr8 joke!": LOL. Textspeak.
60. Legal conclusion?: -ESE. As in Legalese.
Here's the Grid:
I'll leave you with a QOD: Every great film should seem new every time you see it. ~ Roger Ebert (né Roger Joseph Ebert; June 18, 1942 ~ Apr. 4, 2013)
