Thursday, June 1, 2023, Ed Sessa

 

 *Basta Pasta

Today's constructor is Dr. Ed Sessa.  I had the privilege of reviewing his last outing on December 15, 2022, and this marks his 139th appearance here.  Today he carefully selects six types of Italian pastas and pairs them with the professionals most likely to choose them.  And from the plethora of pasta shapes from which Dr. Ed could have chosen, the absence of this one will delight some ...

Anelli

Plus there are no asterisks (*), obscure P&P, or reveal to spoil your solving fun! So let's dig in ...

Here are the themers with only the PRO TIPS highlighted.   Recipes are no extra charge ...

18A. Dentist's pasta choice?: CAPELLINI.   But before you have a CAP put on you have to see an Endodontist who might prefer CANALONI.  But I'm sure they'll both prefer their pasta Al Dente.  Capellini originated in Northern Italy ...

Capellini

24A. Jeweler's pasta choice?: GEMELLI.  From the southern Italian region of Puglia ...

Gemelli
w/Garlic and Cream

31A. Lawyer's pasta choice?:  TORTELLI.  CSOs to Jason and Susan.  AKA TORTELLINI, this pasta is from Tuscany .

Tuscan Tortellini
w/Spinach and Sausage

..
46A. Trucker's pasta choice?: RIGATONI.  Here's a pasta made for long hauls.  Originally from South/Central Italy, it has a tubular shape without the slanted ends you see in PENNE pasta.

Vodka Rigatoni

51A. Electrician's pasta choice?: FUS[E]ILLI.  The classic spiral shaped pasta.  Here's a simple recipe you're not likely to blow ...

Fusilli
w/butter and sliced veggies

58A. Nail technician's pasta choice?: MANICOTTI.  MANICOTTI pasta are large, tubular shells,  traditionally stuffed with a cheese mixture and baked in a tomato sauce.  They're rumored to be one of Lucina's favorites!

Manicotti
(also one of Teri's favorites)

Add an Insalata Verde with a vinaigrette dressing, a hardy Italian bread and a bottle of Chianti to any of these and you've got dinner!

Here's the grid ...
 

Here's the rest ...

Across:

1. Basic bags: SACKS.

6. Place for a marshmallow roast: CAMP.  I think Dr. Ed has thrown in the perfect dessert for your pasta dinner ...

Smores

10. Response to a shock: GASP.

14. Pay for: TREAT.

15. Bow-toting deity: AMOR.  Constructors seem to prefer EROS.  Both have a VTCR of 50% but the latter can also perp plurals.

16. Eclectic assortment: OLIO.  Like the typical crossword puzzle.

17. Main artery: AORTA.

18. [Theme clue]

20. Intel-gathering gp.: NSA.  No comment.

21. Malarkey: ROT.  ROT is defined as "language, behavior, or ideas that are absurd and contrary to good sense, e.g.  I won't stand here and listen to such rot".  Malarkey comes in as number 11 in this list of synonyms for ROT.

23. Tater: SPUD.

24. [Theme clue]

26. Cheesy bagel choice: ASIAGO.  This would also make a good bread choice with your pasta dinner.

30. Picked out, in a way: IDED.

31. [Theme clue]

33. Advice for the easily distracted: FOCUS.  Doesn't seem to work for me.

35. Smoke, say: CURE.  Smoking is the process of flavoring, browning, cooking, or preserving food by exposing it to smoke from burning or smoldering material, most often wood. Meat, fish, and lapsang souchong tea are often smoked.  It could also be used as an implosive therapy for curing the nicotine habit (i.e. chain smoking until you're sick of it), but nothing works like cold turkey.

36. Kal __ pet food: KAN.  The origin of the brand name KAL KAN seems shrouded in mystery.  They've been around under one owner or another since 1936.  For those with esoteric tastes in pet food names, here's their history.

37. Go on the __: LAM.

38. Devices that coat roads during snowstorms: SALTERS.  It turns out there is more than one way to SALT a road: winter road treatment methods explained.

41. Genesis craft: ARK.  In the Biblical story of Noah in Genesis the ARK is a safe space to save pairs of all of the animal species in the world (and presumably the plants as well!), while riding out the flood that God sends to destroy the Earth  (Gen. 6:9-9:17).  Not only did they survive, but the word ARK itself survived to symbolize a place of refuge or sanctuary.  The ARK of the Covenant sheltered the Torah (the Books of Moses) (Ex. 25:10-22; 37:1-9),  This ARK in turn was sheltered in the "Tent of Meeting" known as the TABERNACLE (Ex. 25-3l).  The term Tabernacle survives in Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican churches as the place reserved for the Eucharist (consecrated communion hosts) safe within the Sanctuary.

Interestingly, the exact specifications for building Noah's ARK, the ARK of the Covenant, and the Jewish Tabernacle are all provided in the Bible references above.  The Mennonites have used these plans to produce an exact replica of the Tabernacle in Lancaster, PA, which is worth a visit if you're in the area.  An even more enterprising group has constructed a full scale replica of Noah's Ark in Williamstown, KY. 

Ark Encounter Museum

42. NCAA football powerhouse: OSU.  Ohio State University aka The Buckeyes.

43. Girl: LASS.

44. Folk artist Grandma __: MOSES.  Anna Mary Robertson Moses (September 7, 1860 – December 13, 1961), or Grandma MOSES, was an American folk artist. She began painting in earnest at the age of 78 and is a prominent example of a newly successful art career at an advanced age. As the preceding Wiki article said, some of her winter scenes remind me of the great Peter Bruegel the Elder.  Here is a selection of her paintings. 

 

 

Grandma Moses

 

46. [Theme clue]

49. Blue ox of folklore: BABE.  BABE was Paul Bunyan's ox.  This is often referred to as a TALL TALE, but I think it was just because Paul was very tall.  A CSO to C.C. and CanadianEh!

Paul and Babe

50. Maintain: ASSERT.

51. [Theme clue]

54. Target of a new czar in New York City: RATS.  I read somewhere that he's going to insist that all trash be put out in metal trash cans, not plastic bags.  Novel idea.

56. Flue residue: ASH.

57. Point value of "five" in Scrabble: TEN.  Here are the tiles.  You do the math ...

58. [Theme clue]

62. Open, as a computer file: UNZIP.  Not just any computer file, but a ZIP file.

64. Actor Idris: ELBA.  He wouldn't have been Napoleon's favorite actor.  But ELBA got some idea about what Napoleon had experienced on the island of Elba when he portrayed Nelson Mandela in Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom and was exiled for life to the prison on the island of Robben off the South Africa coast NW of Cape Town ...

Here are the key steps that led to the end of apartheid and Nelson Mandela's eventual release.

65. Precious: DEAR.

66. Shard: PIECE.

67. Get well: HEAL.

68. Nashville's Grand Ole __: OPRY.  Here's the Saturday night cast with Will The Circle be Unbroken (background and lyrics)

My Father used to sing that song.

69. Wrap brand: SARAN.

Down:

1. Classic Ford, familiarly: STANG.  TBIRD didn't perp.

2. Came up: AROSE.

3. Coffee drinker's collection, perhaps: CERAMIC MUGS.  The word MUG is thought to derive originally from MUGG, a Scandinavian word for a drinking vessel. In the 18th and 19th centuries, mugs produced in Staffordshire, England were often decorated with caricatures on the face of ceramic jugs (more likely used for drinking ALE). This may have led to the use of "mug" as a synonym for an ugly face and thence to the term "mug shot".  Here is a typical 19th Century MUG, alias a TOBY JUG.  Looks SUSPICIOUS doesn't he?

Here are some MUGS from my studio that have survived daily abuse over the years ...

Ceramic Mugs

4. Actress Dennings: KAT.  Katherine Victoria Litwack (born June 13, 1986), known professionally as KAT Dennings, is an American actress. She is known for her starring roles as Max Black in the CBS sitcom 2 Broke Girls (2011–2017) and as Darcy Lewis in the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero films Thor (2011), Thor: The Dark World (2013), Thor: Love and Thunder (2022), and the Disney+ miniseries WandaVision (2021).

Kat Dennings

5. Like a cloudy night: STARLESS.

6. Nopales, in Mexican cooking: CACTI.  AKA "Cactus Paddles" and another CSO to Lucina.  Here's a recipe ...
 

Nopales Salad

7. Revealing session on Reddit, for short: AMA. E.g., "Is the abbreviation for Ask Me Anything crosswordese?"

8. Swabbing tools: MOPS.

9. Tax form expert: PREPARER. Whoops, wrong clue! ...

10. Actress Hawn: GOLDIE.  GOLDIE really is just a DUMB BLOND, but here she's working with one the best straight men in the business who makes her look like a SMART BLOND ... 😉😉😉

11. "Aladdin" prince: ALI.

12. Transgression: SIN.  There are seven deadly sins, although they are not all actually mentioned together in the Bible.  Perhaps they're considered deadly because those who commit them might slide into more serious sins such as murder, theft, and adultery. 

13. Hawaiian dish with a yogurtlike consistency: POI.

19. One of the deadly 12-Downs: LUST.  Not all LUST is a SIN, but it can still bring you sorrow ...

22. On in years: OLD.

25. Student's email suffix: EDU.

27. Brand with a "spicy meatball" commercial: ALKA SELTZER.  Here it is, fresh from the Commercial HOF ...

28. Harsh light: GLARE.

29. Pig sounds: OINKS.

31. Rwandan people: TUTSI.  In 1994 just 100 days, government forces, militias and regular citizens carried out a genocide against the Tutsi social and ethnic minority population. An estimated 800,000 to one million Tutsi were killed, and mass sexual violence was committed against Tutsi women and girls by Hutu partisans.  A Hutu hotel manager named Paul Rusesabagina is credited with saving some 1,200 Tutsi people during the  genocide.  The film Hotel Rwanda (2005) starring Don Cheadle tells the story ...

32. Loads in lodes: ORES.

33. Growing things: FLORA.

34. "Champagne Supernova" band: OASIS.  OASIS was an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1991. Originally known as the Rain, the group initially consisted of Liam Gallagher, Paul Arthurs, Paul McGuigan and Tony McCarroll. Liam's older brother Noel later joined as a fifth member, finalising the group's core lineup.  Here's their biggest hit, Wonderwall ...

35. Close-knit group: CLAN.

39. Tons on one's plate: A LOT TO DO.

40. Bad collisions: SMASH UPS.  A horrible SMASH UP occurred in  COLLISION, a British TV mini-series about a major road accident and a group of people who have never met, but who all share one devastating moment. Amid the tangle of twisted metal and emotional turmoil wrought by the tragedy of a crash of a shocking scale, are the stories of the victims, and the impact of the accident on their lives.  The crash opens a number of startling revelations as stories of everything from government cover-ups and smuggling, to embezzlement and murder start to unravel.   The DI is played by Douglas Henshall, who you might recognize as Jimmy Pérez in the Shetland series ...

45. __-Wan Kenobi: OBI.  Obi-Wan Kenobi is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise. Within the original trilogy, Obi-Wan is a Jedi Master as a supporting character and is portrayed by English actor Alec Guinness.

Obi-Wan Kenobi

47. Old reception aid: AERIAL.  In case you've forgotten what they look like, below is an AERIAL for receiving radio signals.  The two AERIAL versions used for TV reception were sometimes called "Rabbit Ears".  My son recently expressed a wish for an FM radio to use by their outdoor fire pit for cookouts.  I found this one, which had been bequeathed to us by Teri's Dad, but hadn't been switched on in years.  I put 3 new batteries in it, switched it on, tuned it to WBJC-FM and bingo, my son can chill to classical music while he's grillin'!

FM Radio

48. __ II razor: TRAC.

49. Freedom Riders transport: BUS.  Freedom Riders were civil rights activists who rode interstate BUSES into the segregated Southern United States in 1961 and subsequent years to challenge the non-enforcement of the United States Supreme Court decisions Morgan v. Virginia (1946) and Boynton v. Virginia (1960), which ruled that segregated public buses were unconstitutional.

51. Wand wielder: FAIRY.  So those folks that frisk you at the airport are really just mythical creatures?

52. German camera: LEICA.  Apparently they haven't been put out of business by cell phones.

53. Hard to erase: IN PEN.  I don't solve crosswords IN PEN because it makes it hard to erase mistakes.

55. Each cha in cha-cha-cha: STEP.  Here are the contestants at a cha-cha-cha competition in Austria showing us some serious STEPS ...

58. Tepid response: MEH.  A MEHTA clue?

59. Strong beer: ALE. 

60. Org. with Cavs and Mavs: NBA.

61. Road gunk: TAR.

63. Long of "The Best Man": NIA.  NIA Talita Long (born October 30, 1970) is an American actress. Best known for her work in Black cinema, Long rose to prominence after starring in the film Boyz n the Hood (1991), and for her portrayal of Beullah "Lisa" Wilkes on the NBC sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1991–1995).

Nia Long

Cheers,
Bill

As always, thanks to Teri for proof reading, for her constructive criticism.

waseeley

* BASTA is Italian for "enough".  If you're ever in Maryland and have a hankering for pasta and seafood, we recommend Basta Pasta, in Eldersburg, MD.  We always have to take home a doggie bag with the leftovers.

Sunday February 5, 2023 Ed Sessa

Theme: "Three's Company" - The first word of each theme entry is a homophone of first part of a common phrase. The second part suggests a group of things.

 

24A. Dvorak, Masaryk, Havel?: CZECH MATES. Checkmates.

39A. Holiday, Hampton, Red Roof?: INN CROWD. In crowd.

60A. Queen, drone, worker?: BEE TEAM. B team.

66A. Pharoah, Chou, Leno?: JAY CREW. J Crew.

87A. First, Second, Third?: BASE TRIO.

103A. Galahad, Lancelot, El Cid?: KNIGHT CLUB. Night club.

3D. ChapStick, Burt's Bees, Lip Smacker?: BALM SQUAD. Bomb squad.

34D. Bering, Coral, Baltic?: SEA SECTION. C section.

50D. King Arthur, Gold Medal, Pillsbury?: FLOUR CHAIN. Flower chain.

73D. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday?: WEEK LINKS. Weak links.

I don't pronounce "balm" and "bomb" the same. How about you? The others are total homophones to me.

Very inspired theme from Ed. I don't recall such a trio clue approach. The theme entries are short by nature. There are just not many phrases starting with J, B and C, then you have to add the second "group" layer. Very tight.

Across:

1. Creature of __: HABIT.

6. Profound: DEEP.

10. Golden Arches pork sandwich: MCRIB. Here's the rice noodles with char siu I had at a Hong Kong-style restaurant last Thursday with the Eucharistic minister Bill and his wife Margaret, both are still very involved in my life. 

 

15. Crime novelist Buchanan: EDNA.

19. Lingering evidence: TRACE.

20. One-named singer from Ireland: ENYA.

21. Pimento holder, perhaps: OLIVE.

22. Mireille of "Big Love": ENOS.

23. Big brawl: MELEE.

26. Riveted: RAPT.

27. Wee woolly one: LAMB.

28. Bit of heckling: BOO.

29. Great Plains people: KIOWA. From Wikipedia: "Today, they are federally recognized as Kiowa Indian Tribe of Oklahoma with headquarters in Carnegie, Oklahoma. As of 2011, there were 12,000 members. The Kiowa language (Cáuijògà), part of the Tanoan language family, is in danger of extinction, with only 20 speakers as of 2012. Look at this image. It has three tones.

30. Asian island capital: TAIPEI. Pei means "north". So it's in the north of Taiwan. Same as the "Bei" in Beijing, also meaning "north".

32. More mad: SORER.

34. Sp. misses: SRTAS.

35. Suez Canal ship: OILER. And 45. Harbor haulers: TUGS.

36. Find not guilty: ACQUIT. Our local Star Tribune covered the Richard Liu case thoroughly. He settled the lawsuit. He's like China's Jeff Bezos.

38. Jeans line: SEAM.

42. Circular: ROUND.

43. Declares: STATES.

46. Evergreen tree: FIR.

47. Fair __ coffee: TRADE.

48. Touch lightly: KISS.

49. Small amphibians: EFTS. So orangey. I wonder how long they live.

51. Number of billiard ball colors: NINE.

52. Down in the dumps: SAD.

53. Cathedral topper: SPIRE.

55. Exclusively: ONLY.

56. Music genre with accordions: POLKA.

57. Voucher: CHIT.

58. Home buyer's option: CONDO.

62. Two-bit: CHEAPO.

64. Continental org.: THE EU.

65. Measure of brainpower: IQ TEST.

67. Aesop's grasshopper, e.g.: IDLER.

68. Some golf trophies: CUPS. The famous Claret Jug.

69. MacDowell of "Four Weddings and a Funeral": ANDIE.

70. "Stay" singer Lisa: LOEB.

71. Longtime NPR news analyst Roberts: COKIE. Quite a few names here.

73. "I knew it __ you": WAS.

76. With 92-Across, "The Dragons of Eden" writer: CARL. 92. See 76-Across: SAGAN.

77. Actress Merrill: DINA.

78. Elisabeth of "Leaving Las Vegas": SHUE.

79. Put up: ERECT.

81. Prefix with meter: ODO.

82. "Severance" actor Scott: ADAM. Also a well-known golfer.

 

84. Make right: REPAIR.

86. Panasonic TV line: VIERA. Learned from doing crosswords.

89. Purple flower: IRIS.

90. Boris who won three Wimbledon championships in the 1980s: BECKER.

91. City on the Seine: PARIS. Also 95. Azadi Tower city: TEHRAN.

94. Boardroom stand: EASEL.

97. Assertive to a fault: PUSHY.

98. Wily: SLY.

99. Michelle, to Barack: WIFE.

102. Cooking show appliance: OVEN.

106. Strength: SINEW.

107. Marshy land: MIRE.

108. Radii neighbors: ULNAE.

109. Dynamic start?: AERO. Aerodynamic.

110. Lower joint: ANKLE.

111. Ran, as dye: BLED.

112. Scholarly article reviewers: PEERS.

113. "Probably shouldn't open this in your cubicle" shorthand: NSFW. Not Safe For Work.

114. Younger siblings, probably: PESTS.

Down:

1. Web programming language: HTML. HyperText Markup Language.

2. Focus of study: AREA.

4. Frozen over: ICEBOUND. Not a word I use. I've been snowbound a few times this winter.

5. Light shirt: TEE.

6. Interior design: DECOR.

7. Automaker Ferrari: ENZO.

8. Organ with a lens: EYE.

9. Hoarders: PACK RATS.

10. "Dune" actor Jason: MOMOA.

11. Lobster portions: CLAWS.

12. "Let You Love Me" singer Ora: RITA.

13. "So __ heard": I'VE.

14. Topping: BESTING.

15. More creepy: EERIER.

16. Genetic fingerprints: DNA PROFILES. And 33. Vanpool, e.g.: RIDESHARE. Ed is also a great themeless constructor.

17. "Nothing doing": NOPE.

18. Prosecco kin: ASTI.

25. Blackjack request: HIT ME.

28. Wager: BET.

31. MLB playoff event: ALCS. American League Championship Series. Also 104. Nats' div.: NLE. NL East.

35. Responsibility: ONUS.

36. Liberal __: ARTS.

37. Red Sox manager Alex: CORA.

38. Recipe instruction: STIR.

39. __-bitty: ITTY.

40. Pretend not to notice: WINK AT.

41. __ journal: DREAM. I think our Splynter used to keep one.

43. Bunny slope conveyance: SKI TOW.

44. Mail recipient: SENDEE.

51. Short messages: NOTES.

54. Plumbing part: PIPE.

55. 16 oz.: ONE LB.

56. Personal sources of aggravation: PET PEEVES.

57. Poet Day-Lewis who wrote mysteries as Nicholas Blake: CECIL. Learning moment for me. He's the father of actor Daniel Day-Lewis.

59. Worrywart's lament: OH DEAR.

60. Squabble: BICKER.

61. Prefix with distant: EQUI.

62. Manitoba's country: CANADA.

63. All the Earth's water: HYDROSPHERE.

66. Social reformer Riis: JACOB. Often we get RIIS.

70. Fancy transport: LIMO.

72. French affirmatives: OUIS.

74. Part of a plot, maybe: ACRE.

75. One of Old Glory's 50: STAR.

77. Place of honor: DAIS.

78. Graffiti artist's handful: SPRAY CAN.

80. Fermented beverage in Asian cuisine: RICE WINE. Sake, mirin, etc.

82. Gillette razor: ATRA.

83. "Down the hatch!": DRINK UP.

85. Elite __: March Madness round: EIGHT.

88. Merited: EARNED.

90. __ window: BAY.

92. Baking staple: SUGAR.

93. Campfire remnants: ASHES.

94. Macaroni shape: ELBOW.

95. Many an archaeological site: TOMB. The most famous tomb in China. An hour away from where I grew up.

96. Hardly holy: EVIL.

97. Evergreen tree: PINE.

98. Banzai Pipeline feature: SURF. Hawaii.

100. Sensed: FELT.

101. Woolly ones: EWES.

105. French article: LES.

106. Drain: SAP.

Belated "Happy Birthday" to Bill G! So sorry I missed your birthday. Life has been hectic. Hope you had a great day with your kids and grandkids. This picture was taken ages ago when Bill used to go out daily for his bike ride and coffee.

Bill and His Wife Barbara and Grand-kids

Our Steve Marron sent me this stunning picture yesterday while hiking to the Hollywood Sign. Steve is now with the Universal Pictures.

Thursday, December 15, 2022, Ed Sessa

This marks the 138th puzzle that Dr. Ed Sessa has had published in the LA Times, including the one that appeared this past Sunday, the day of after Boomer's passing. 

As soon as I saw that Dr. Ed was today's constructor, I knew that many Cornerites would wonder how he is faring in the aftermath of hurricane Ian.  I immediately got in touch with Husker Gary and asked him to contact Dr. Ed for an update.  This is the reply Husker received a few days later:

Hi Gary,

Like countless others down here our home got hit with a storm surge: damaged roof and six feet of muddy water in the house destroying pretty much everything. My wife and I are now in our third apartment which will be home for up to a year, giving us a chance to decide where to go on a more permanent basis. But certainly not back into any flood zone. Thanks for asking and warm regards to all the wonderful people on the LA Times site. 

 

My heart goes out to Boomer for all that he has gone through.

Regards.

Ed

And special thanks to Gary.  We are still praying for Dr. Ed and all of the victims of hurricane Ian, and also for Boomer and C.C.

On to the review ...

As our Tuesday blogger might tell you, when it comes to themes, "There's more than one way to skin a חתול".  And as is usual  for me, in my initial attempt to explain this one I immediately got down in the weeds, but then thought better of it, came up for air and decided to title this puzzle

Seoul Train

Puzzle themes are a major interest of Dr. Ed (per C.C.'s 2/4/2011 interview with him) and today he presents us with what appears at first to be a simple rhyming scheme: 4 two-word themers (2 across, 2 down) with one of the words rhyming with the first word of the title above.  On closer inspection we see however that there are 3 different letter sequences used to rhyme the theme words. 

One obvious lesson that Dr. Ed gives us here is the vagaries of English spelling and pronunciation. Perhaps another (which I found down in the weeds) is to give us a short course in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA (no not the ALE)).  Despite the differences in spelling, the IPA  code for each of the theme fill rhyming parts is the same:"oʊl".  We usually see IPA codes following the definitions of words in a dictionary to tell us how to pronounce them.  The following clue explanations each start with the IPA code for the theme word in each fill, which were generated with this online translator (try it, it's fun!).

18A. K-pop, e.g.?: SEOUL MUSIC.  soʊl, i.e. music from Korea.  Here is Jung Kook (né Jeon Jung-kook) of  BTS (a.k.a. the Bangtan Boys) singing his song Dreamers (lyrics) at the opening ceremony of the recent FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 (the victor of which will be decided 3 days after this puzzle drops): 

62A. Survey of hairdressers?: BARBER POLL.  poʊl.  The really funny thing about this clue is that such surveys actually do exist: questionnaires designed for gathering hairdresser best practices and making them available to those interested in becoming hairdressers or barbers, or in improving their services.  Of course this is not a new idea. In olden days the services of the barber were provided by the town factotum, who doubled as the dentist, minor surgeon, and all around dogsbody.  Here's the classic description of how the job was done, brought to us by the late, great Russian baritone Dimitri Hvorostovsky, with Largo Al Factotum from Rossini's Barber of Seville:

4D. Golfer who's too afraid to make a putt?: HOLE CHICKEN. hoʊl.  First he's got to get to the green!

27D. 1982 film job that kept an actor on his heels?: TOOTSIE ROLE.  ɹoʊl (don't ask me what the funny lead in is).  Dustin Hoffman played her.  The hardest part was learning to walk on high heels (as a kid I tried wearing a pair of heels while trick-or-treating one Halloween - I had blisters for a week!):

Here's the grid:

Here are the ɹɛst of the clues (no, I'm not kidding, that's just another one of those funky IPA characters) ...

Across:

1. Indulge the munchies: NOSH.  Also a noun.

5. French friends: AMIS.  Last week this was clued with "Inside Story" novelist Martin.

9. "It's Good" root beer brand: BARQS.  Barq's /ˈbɑːrks/ is an American brand of root beer created by Edward Barq and bottled since the beginning of the 20th century.

14. Miami River locale: OHIO.  If that's not misdirection, then I don't know what is ...

15. Knucklehead: BOZO.  Also a famous clown character. 

Bozo the Clown

If you subscribe to Acorn, be sure to stream Joey, a short film about a lonely clown working in a forgotten seaside resort who falls in love.  Very touching.

16. Lose strength: ABATE.

17. Pedestrian street: MALL. 

20. Cat voiced by Debra Messing in "Garfield: The Movie": ARLENE.  Debra Lynn Messing (born August 15, 1968) is an American actress who found her breakthrough role as Grace Adler, an interior designer, on the NBC sitcom Will & Grace (1998–2006, 2017–2020):

Debra Messing

22. Lackluster: DRAB.

23. Suitable: APT.

24. Come down: DESCEND.  "What ASCENDS must DESCEND", or something like that.
 
26. Catch sight of: SPOT.  Or maybe another often seen four letter noun, clued as "Teenager's concern".

28. Cannot stand: HATES.

30. Give comfort to: SOOTHE.

34. Implied: TACIT.   "silent, unspoken" from French tacite and directly from Latin tacitus "that is passed over in silence".  NOD was too short.

37. Preserve, in a way: CURE.  Five ways to cure meats at home. Not good for people on low-sodium diets however:

Salami

39. Vocalized: ORAL. 

40. Desktop since 1998: IMAC.  The iMac G3, originally released as the iMac, is a series of Macintosh personal computers sold by Apple Computer from 1998 to 2003.
 

iMac G3

The iMac was the first major new product release for Apple after Steve Jobs, who had been the company's original co-founder, returned to help  the financially troubled company in 1996 as its interim CEO after eleven years away.

41. Leaves in the library: PAGES. We have a Kindle, but I don't use it much.  Perhaps because I read mostly non-fiction, I find real books much easier to navigate and search, and I frequently thumb back to the index.  Hand up if you prefer real books?

42. Work long and hard: TOIL.

43. NPR's Tiny __ Concerts: DESK.  Tiny Desk Concerts is a video series of live concerts hosted by NPR Music at the desk of All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen in Washington, D.C. Not all of them are available on YouTube. This one is, and it features 3 short works performed by the Australian Chamber Orchestra.  The first two are by Maurice Ravel and the last is an original work by one of the performers.  The playlist is in the first YouTube comment:

44. "Watchmen" comic book writer Moore: ALAN.  The characters in the series are a part of the DC Comics Universe that we visited a few weeks back.

Watchmen

45. Places of refuge: ASYLA.  The plural of ASYLUM and today's Latin lesson.  BTW, if you read C.C.'s interview of Dr. Ed at the start of the review, you found that prior to entering med school, he majored in English and also studied Latin and Greek.

46. Jumps in: ENTERS.

48. Torah teacher: RABBI.  The word RABBI originates from the Hebrew meaning "teacher." The term has evolved over Jewish history to include many roles and meanings. Today it usually refers to those who have received rabbinical ordination and are educated in matters of halacha (Jewish law). They are the ones knowledgeable enough to answer halachic questions. Most countries have a chief rabbi they rely on to settle halachic disputes

50. "Darn it!": NUTS.

52. Generous: LIBERAL.  I don't think we can infer from this clue/fill an antonym of "Stingy: CONSERVATIVE".

56. "Fire away": ASK.  Anything!

59. Fighting chance?: BOUT.  You have to fight to win or lose.

61. Rio Grande city: LAREDO. Something very sad happened there long ago ...

65. Sign to take out the trash: ODOR.

66. Perrier rival: EVIAN.

67. Shallowest Great Lake: ERIE.  For some reason I get the chills every time this appears in a crossword puzzle.

68. Euro forerunners: LIRE.  It's still the currency of Turkey.

69. Dry runs: TESTS.  I used to do laboratory TESTS, but most of them involved liquids.

70. Rip to bits: REND.

71. Unimprovable place: EDEN.  It had its faults methinks.

Down:

1. One without a permanent address: NOMAD.  By one estimate is that there are approximately 89,000,000 of them worldwide.

2. One end of the Chicago L's Blue Line: O'HARE.

3. Soprano dubbed "America's Queen of Opera" by Time magazine: SILLS.  Beverly Sills (May 25, 1929 – July 2, 2007), (nicknamed "Bubbles"!), was an American operatic soprano whose peak career was between the 1950s and 1970s and was especially renowned for her performances in coloratura roles in live opera and recordings.  Here she plays party girl Violetta in Verdi's La Traviata, singing Sempre Libere ("Always Free"):

5. Missing: ABSENT.

6. Server of Duff beer in Springfield: MOE.  MOE's, the place where everybody knows your name ...

7. Polo brand: IZOD.  Their logo is a little creepy too, although it doesn't surface here as often as that erie lake.

8. Turns in a bad way: SOURS.  This usually doesn't turn out so bad, but that doesn't mean its good for you ...

Whiskey Sour

9. Panda fare: BAMBOO. BAMBOO forests in China are in decline, and because they are such picky eaters, so are PANDAS.

10. __ Dhabi: ABU.  The capital of the United Arab Emirates.
 

Abu Dhabi

11. Tabula __: RASA.  More LATIN: "Clean slate".   And also a tenet of some philosophies.

12. Makeup kit item: Q-TIP.

13. Offshoot group: SECT.  For some reason I always thought that the Mennonites, being more LIBERAL were an offshoot of the Amish, who were more CONSERVATIVE.  It turns out to have been the other way around.

19. Runs out: LAPSES.  Not to worry.  Eventually this review will LAPSE.

21. Clutter-free: NEAT.  Here's a tip from Teri's favorite NEATNESS maven the "Minimal Mom", entitled 3 Bins That Will Transform Your Home:

25. Tattoo alternative for the squeamish: DECAL. HENNA didn't perp.

29. Rock candy, essentially: SUGAR.

31. "Iliad" city: TROY.  Myth has it that the cause of the Trojan War was The Judgement of Paris, which has a tie in to 47D.

32. Heavy downpour?: HAIL.

33. Purnell of "Yellowjackets": ELLA.  A Showtime series which premiered in 2021.  A fictional account of a team of New Jersey high school soccer players traveling to Seattle for a national tournament. While flying over Canada, their plane crashes deep in the wilderness and the remaining team members are left to survive for nineteen months. The series chronicles their attempts to survive while also tracking their current lives in 2021.

Ella Purnell

34. Laundry detergent in an orange container: TIDE.

35. "That's so true!": AMEN.

36. Playbill list: CAST.

38. Kidney related: RENAL.

41. Church leader: PASTOR.  The Christian equivalent of 48A.

45. "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" pop group: ABBA.

47. Flemish artist Peter Paul __: RUBENS. Sir Peter Paul Rubens (/ˈruːbənz/; Dutch: [ˈrybə(n)s]; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium).  He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition.  Two of his most famous paintings depict The Judgement of Paris, which as we saw in 31D was one of the causes of the Trojan War.  Here is the first: 

The Judgement of Paris
Peter Paul Rubens 1636

49. Sent an invoice to: BILLED.

51. Splendid: SUPER.

53. Made over: REDID.

54. Put on a pedestal: ADORE. 

55. Actress Sophia: LOREN.  Sofia Costanza Brigida Villani Scicolone (born 20 September 1934), known professionally as Sophia Loren (/ləˈrɛn/ lə-REN, Italian: [ˈlɔːren]), is an Italian actress. She was named by the American Film Institute as one of the greatest female stars of Classical Hollywood cinema.

Sophia Loren

56. Stand watch for, say: ABET.

57. Squirrel away: SAVE.   The clue phrase is derived from the propensity of squirrels to SAVE acorns for the winter months.  A lot of people find them cute, but as they can easily get over a garden fence to take bites out of your ripening tomatoes I think of them more as bushy tailed rats.

Eastern Gray Squirrel

58. Kardashian matriarch: KRIS.  Kristen Mary Jenner (née Houghton /ˈhoʊtən/ HOH-tən, formerly Kardashian; born November 5, 1955) is an American media personality, socialite, and businesswoman. She rose to fame starring in the reality television series Keeping Up with the Kardashians (2007–2021).

Kris Jenner

60. Moved fast: TORE.

63. Carlsbad Caverns dweller: BAT.

64. "In the Heights" creator __-Manuel Miranda: LIN.  In the Heights is a musical with concept, music, and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda and a book by Quiara Alegría Hudes. The story is set over the course of three days, involving characters in the largely Dominican American neighborhood of Washington Heights in Upper Manhattan, New York City.  It has also been made into a movie.
 

Cheers,
Bill

As always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.  And thanks for her more than minimal effort in explaining clue 21D.

waseeley

Dr Ed Sessa,  you are invited to post anything you'd like to share about this puzzle, its evolution, the theme, or whatever, in the Comments section below.  We'd love to hear from you.  And welcome back!