Wednesday, August 5, 2020, Bruce Haight & Blair Bas

Theme: ROUND FIGURES

17. Sitcom pioneer in the first class of inductees to the Television Academy Hall of Fame: LUCILLE BALL. Wikipedia.

25. Grand Ole Opry comedian for more than 50 years: MINNIE PEARL. Wikipedia.

35. #2 on Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Drummers of All Time: KEITH MOON. Drummer for the Who. Keith Moon's 10 Wildest Pranks.

48. Winner of 18 Grand Slam tennis titles from 1936 to 1940: ALICE MARBLE. Wikipedia.

56. Like 17-, 25-, 35- and 48-Across?: WELL ROUNDED.

Melissa here. Awesome theme. Each of these people were icons in their day and field. All have passed but left their mark. I wonder which was the seed entry. Crossword constructors have 3D vision when they see names and words.

Across:

1. Pitch-altering guitar clamps: CAPOS.

6. Actor Kinnear: GREG. He recently played real life attorney Justin Brooks with the California Innocence Project in the movie The Brian Banks Story.

10. Former Fed chair Bernanke: BEN.

13. Jordanian seaport: AQABA. Tough one - very few words with letter Q that are not paired with U. Crossing the rarely seen plural AQUARIA.

14. Fishing gear: LURES.

16. Texter's "As I see it": IMO. In my opinion.

19. Rte. finder: GPS.

20. Receipts: TAKE. This gave me fits. My eyes first saw "recipients." Then I was looking for a plural word. Third definition: the act of receiving or the state of being received. Alright then.

21. Game with a spinoff called DOS: UNO. I did not know about DOS, but it was an obvious answer.

22. Milo of "Ulysses": O'SHEA. Irish actor, died in 2013. James Joyce's novel Ulysses was the continuation of his first novel, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.

24. Poetic before: ERE.

28. Florence and Charlotte: CITIES. Nice misdirection.

30. "Cats" poet: TS ELIOT. Finally remember there's only one L in his name.

31. Lacks: HASN'T. Great clue.

32. Forest floor plant: MOSS.

34. Flub: ERR.

38. Humanities degs.: BAS. Bachelor of Arts.

40. "Pencils down": TIME. Evocative of test-taking in a classroom.

41. Assumed as fact: GIVEN.

45. Assigned a new title: RENAMED.

47. Recess: ALCOVE.

51. __-Mex cuisine: TEX.

52. Mad Dog Radio host Chris: RUSSO. Host of former sports radio show the Mike and the Mad Dog with co-host Mike Francesca.

53. Unfashionable: OUT.

54. "Mary Poppins" chimney sweep: BERT. Played perfectly by Dick Van Dyke.

55. Baltimore winter hrs.: EST. Eastern Standard Time.

60. "Billions" airer, briefly: SHO. Showtime. Too many shows to keep up with anymore.

61. Stainless __: STEEL. What is stainless steel?

62. Mrs. Gorbachev: RAISA. Russian activist who was the wife of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

63. Pewter component: TIN. What is pewter?

64. Hot: SEXY. My husband spells that HOTT.

65. Like a fuzzy navel?: LINTY. Ha.

Down:

1. Pasadena engineering sch.: CAL TECH.

2. Display idea that's a bit fishy?: AQUARIA.

3. Sugar servings at a coffee bar: PACKETS.

4. Kin of a Tony: OBIE. Obies are awarded for theater. This year's were virtual.

5. Muppet chimp __ Minella: SAL.

6. "The Wife" Oscar nominee Close: GLENN. What is The Wife about? Close earned a best actress Oscar for her role.

7. Apply, as lotion: RUB ON.

8. The "E" in BCE: ERA. Before the Common (or Current) Era.

9. Salon goop: GEL.

10. Result of much teasing?: BIG HAIR. Cute.

11. Claudius or Nero: EMPEROR.

12. Margarita preference: NO SALT.

15. Calculus calculation: SLOPE. I was told there would be no math.

18. California's San __ Obispo: LUIS.

23. Of the moon: SELENIC. Same root (selḗnē) as chemical element selenium.

25. Dole (out): METE.

26. "Who's there?" reply: IT'S ME.

27. Pump name: ESSO.

29. Squid organs: INK SACS. Another tough one.

32. Crete peak: Abbr.: MT. IDA.

33. Electrical unit: OHM.

36. One of an express lane's 15 maximum: ITEM.

37. Eye rudely: OGLE.

38. "SNL" legend John: BELUSHI.

39. "Friends" co-star: ANISTON. Jennifer.

42. Elected: VOTED IN.

43. Hillary's conquest: EVEREST. Sir Edmund Hillary. He and his sherpa Tenzing Norgay were the first confirmed to reach the summit in May of 1953. Norgay does not get enough credit for this, IMO.

44. Like fast UPS service: NEXT DAY. Not so much, these days.

45. Least available: RAREST.

46. Siamese sounds: MEOWS. More like MEOWS! Our part-siamese has the loudest howl I have ever heard. Fortunately she saves it for when she's really trying to tell us something.

47. Choir voice: ALTO.

49. Bulova rival: ROLEX.

50. Husky: BURLY.

54. __ B'rith: BNAI. Hebrew for “Sons of the Covenant,” the oldest and largest Jewish service organization in the world, with men's lodges, women's chapters, and youth chapters in countries all over the world.

57. Aliens, briefly: ETS. Extra terrestrials.

58. Jeans brand: LEE.

59. Link letters: URL. Prounounced "earl." Universal Resource Locator, or the long string that appears in your browser address bar.