Friday, July 4, 2025 - Zachary David Levy

 

 Theme: "Oh Where, Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone"?

[only because she (Lisa LOEB) showed up at 68-across this past Tuesday]

Puzzling thoughts:

I will admit that after solving today's Zachary David Levy puzzle, I was a bit perplexed.  I kept looking and looking for some unifier that brought this puzzle's reveal (64-across. Goldarn, or a hint to making the starred clues match their answers: DOGGONE.) to an "aha" moment.  Maybe the reveal should be DOG GONE.  And then, like the proverbial can of V8 Juice, it hit me:  the "key" is to look at each of the four starred clues, find the canine (i.e., "dog"), get rid of the pooch, and then re-read the clue

Still stumped?  Let's look at all four individually and see where the little dog has gone

3-down. *Jet setter: PITCH BLACK.  In the clue, eliminate the word "setter" (a name of a dog breed) from "jet" and then match the phrase "pitch black" to the clue "jet".  Best thing I could find that ties the word "jet" to Pitch Black is shown in the video below

7-down. *Puget sound: PHONE HOME.  In the clue, remove the letters "p.u.g." (pug, another dog breed) from the word Puget, and you're left with the clue: "ET sound".  And for those who watched the eponymous movie, "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial", the "phone home" line is well-known.  For those who haven't (or those who forgot) I've linked a short video clip below

Note:  for those who thought this clue and answer might refer to the body of water in Washington state, the word "sound" in the clue is not capitalized.  Additionally, this clue/answer was the one that gave it away for Chairman Moe.  I kept thinking, "phone home" is an E.T. catchphrase and sure enough ...

11-down. *Boxer brief: SHORT-LIVED. Once again, once the "dog word" boxer is gone from the word brief the clue/answer makes sense.  Something that is "brief" is definitely short-lived.  

53-across. *Labatt offerings: WIRELESS ROUTERS.  Similar to 7-down, the dog that disappears is in the first word of the clue, Lab.  And what is left behind is another abbreviation ATT, a communications company that also specializes in the sale of (offers) wireless routers

Like this one

So, there you have it.  Not so tough once you examine the clues closely.  I came "this close" to asking my fellow bloggers for assistance, but once I got the reveal it all made sense.  I'll comment further about some specific areas in the rest of the puzzle in the section below

The grid symmetry is somewhat unusual.  The blocks (black squares) in the center of the grid almost appear to be a smiley face with its tongue sticking out!  Not sure if this was Zachary's intention, but the grid pattern certainly allowed him to include all of the entries 

Here are a couple of clues/entries that ended up in the editor's waste basket:

Clue:  Rock hound: OUTCROPPING

Clue:  Joe Cocker: CUP OF COFFEE

For what it's worth, I was kind of hoping for an Independence Day themed puzzle, but no fireworks. So in lieu of none in the puzzle, I'll add this to the recap:

One year shy of 250 ...

I also thought about using "Who Let the Dogs Out" for my theme title.  For those who wanted that one instead, here is a brief clip:

The Grid

On to the rest ... 

Across:
1. "That's on me": OOPS.  In the words of my Crossword Corner buddy, desper-otto, "have I ever told you how frustrating it is not to solve 1-across?" This remained unsolved until perps came to the rescue

5. Ready for bed, briefly: IN PJS.  Not often seen (the answer, that is) in crossword puzzles but I like it. If I had to answer this personally, the answer would be IN MBS.  TMI??  Wait until you see 43- and 44-across ...

10. Invitation abbreviation: RSVP.  No RSVP needed to visit the Crossword Corner; just show up!

14. Ballet move: PLIE. I had so much trouble with the NW corner of this puzzle that I entered this word and erased it four times.  Should've trusted my instincts

15. Like seven Nolan Ryan games: NO HIT.  Ryan is #1 all-time in throwing the most no hitters

16. River that ends in Cairo: OHIO.  A very clever and misdirecting clue.  Cairo, IL is the general place where the OHIO river merges with the Mississippi River.  You think this is false?  Please don't be in denile [sic]

Technically, just south of Cairo

17. Some FD members: EMTS.  FD = Fire Department

18. Walk heavily: TROMP.  I'm sure that some folks breathed a sigh of relief when they saw an "O" as the vowel in this word entry ... 

19. Not all: MOST.  SOME also fits

20. Latte order: DECAF.  MOCHA was fitting this spot for way too long; hence my troubles in the NW corner

22. Demo letters: TNT.  Demo as in "demolition"; but my puzzle grid was far from being blown up

23. "No one __": CARES.  The phrase "Gives a $hit" had too many letters 😜

24. Average joe: SCHMO.  Average "Moe" would have given us Stooge 😀

25. "Good one": HEH.  "Hah" also fit

26. Unable to sit still: ANTSY.  This describes me at times

27. Name that also means "son of" in Hebrew: BEN.  I had to cheat to get this answer; my lack of Hebrew knowledge leaves me verklempt und verstumpft - does Yiddish count?

28. "Billions" network, for short: SHO.  I tried HBO to no avail

29. Nada: NIL. "Zip" fit

30. Ga. capital: ATL.  Also, the airport code for Hartsfield-Jackson Intl 

32. Got ready for school?: TUTORED.  This wasn't as hard to figure out as the clue might have suggested

35. Sort: ILK. Crossword-ese

38. Spot for rumination: LEA.  A bit of a stretch, IMO but I get it.  I don't know if I ever meditated in a LEA; maybe a wooded spot, though and certainly at the beach

39. Salon step: SHAMPOO.  Speaking of shampoo ... why do some (fill in the blank) exhaust an entire bottle of it while showering?  Because they take the directions on the bottle too literally.  It reads: "lather, rinse, repeat ..."

40. Vehicle on the move?: VAN.  Were you "moved" by this clue/answer?? 

41. Creatures that make Frodo's sword glow blue: ORCS. Thanks to Ms. Margaret (my partner) for helping me with this one

43. Liberates: FREES.  The Naturist Society celebrates two International "naked" days:  The first Saturday in May is World Naked Gardening Day;  the 21st of June is Naked Hiking Day.  Nothing FREES you like doing these activities in your birthday suit - but apply plenty of sunscreen and stay hydrated if you choose to participate in these events (next year)

[the links above do NOT show anyone naked; in case you were wondering ...]

44. Low-carb diet: KETO.  After this past hiatus I took (and certainly after the one coming up in July and August) the Chairman will need to adopt this diet (or one similar) to shed a few unwanted #s - so I continue to look good in mbs

45. Some Polynesian carvings: TIKIS.  This filled with perps and seemed appropriate

47. __ finger: INDEX.  "Ring" was too short; "middle" was too long; PINKY, also fit

48. Rattle off: NAME.  Great clue

51. Word on a cornerstone: ANNO.  ESTD fit until it didn't

[theme entry]

60. Drink suffix: ADE.  I also struggled a bit in the SW corner, but ADE was the logical answer.  A CSO to our former Friday Sherpa LemonADE714

61. Figure on the red carpet: A-LISTER.  Several hyphenated answers in today's puzzle

62. "This is the life": AAH.  What I as a retired person says quite often

63. Serene: ZEN.  The feeling after ruminating in a LEA perhaps?

[reveal / theme unifier] 

65. Hydrotherapy spot: SPA.  Doggone it!  If you insert a letter "C" into this answer you'd have SPCA 

66. Use up: EAT.  This consumed more time (to solve) than necessary

67. Gregory Peck's co-star in "The Paradine Case": ANN TODD.  A 1947 film with an actor most folks would not recall.  This one definitely took a Google search to confirm

68. Atty.'s title: ESQ.  Short for ESQuire

Down:
1. News stands?: OP-EDS.  In the words of my Crossword Corner buddy, desper-otto, "have I ever told you how frustrating it is not to solve 1-down?"

2. Native of Tabasco: OLMEC.  MAYAN fits, too, and that mistake made the NW corner nearly impossible to solve without a few "cheats"

[theme entry]

4. Word in a magical phrase: SESAME.  PRESTO fit, too

5. QB mishap: INT.  Short for "INTerception" - often thrown by QuarterBacks

6. Guiding principle, metaphorically: NORTH STAR.  Another great clue

[theme entry]

8. First Native American to win Olympic gold: JIM THORPE.  Now we know why Zachary used IN PJS for 5-across.  Needed the "J" to begin Jim.  BTW, I do like it when a constructor uses the full name of a person rather than just their first or last name

9. Gas additive brand: STP.  Question:  when was the last time anyone used STP as a gasoline additive? Not I.  Not since the 1970's for me.  Corner Quiz:  Who was the spokesman for STP back in the day? 

[Answer:  this guy]

10. Itinerant people whose flag depicts a wagon wheel: ROMANI.  All perps

[theme entry]

12. Shop clamps: VISES.  Using these when I was in shop class (woodworking) was one of my strengths; one of my devices I guess ... 

13. Hopscotch, in New York slang: POTSY.  Filled with perps.  My knowledge of New York slang is slightly less than my knowledge of Hebrew.  I guess that a clue that referred to a character on "Happy Days" would've been too easy for Friday

21. Text formatting array: FONTS.  I think the default text FONT for the blog is Georgia

23. "Count on me": CAN DO.  I tried "I AM IN" first

30. Tons: A LOT.  This is not one of my favorite entries, but it seems to show up a lot in crossword puzzles

31. Actress Polo: TERI.  Another word that filled with perps [from the Internet]: "Theresa Elizabeth Polo is an American actress. She starred as Pamela Martha Focker (née Byrnes) in the Meet the Parents trilogy, Helen Santos in The West Wing, and played the role of police officer Stef Adams Foster in the Freeform series"

Polo, c. 2012

33. Old TV dial letters: UHF.  I tried VHF first - a coin toss for sure

34. Dawn goddess: EOS.  Anyone ever wonder if there is a Palmolive goddess?  Oh!  There is!! Her name is Madge, and she's a manicurist

36. Past due: LATE.  Term used for library books and expectant mothers

37. Fort south of Indianapolis: KNOX.  Ft. KNOX is in Kentucky, but it is almost due south of Indianapolis if you check a map

42. Trig ratio: SINE. Moe-ku #1:

        Astrophysicist

        Used trigonometrics. They

        Were called "Old Lange SINEs"

44. Tangle: KNOT.

46. Canadian tea brand: SALADA.  I recall this tea brand, but it isn't a name I hear often; a mini CSO to Canadian Eh!  And of course, worthy of another commercial from the archives:

47. Toughened: INURED.  Did anyone else find this one too hard?

49. Noggin: MELON.  I put BRAIN in first 

50. Endorse remotely: E-SIGN.  My e-signature looks nothing like my written one

51. Nickname in "Star Wars": AR-TOO.  Cee Three Pee Oh didn't fit

52. Seemingly forever: NO END.  Not today's blog; finished it in record time

53. Google Maps alternative: WAZE.  Lots of tough entries today, including this one.  Definitely a Friday puzzle, finally!! Lucina must be pleased! 😉

54. Inkling: IDEA.  What I had for less than 1/2 of the answers

55. Studio figure: RENT.  Great clue - a "studio" is another name for an apartment for which one pays RENT

56. NCO rank: SSGT.  No problem

57. Facility: EASE. No problem

58. Uses a gavel: RAPS. Moe-ku #2:

        Musician Ice-T

        Decides to become a judge;

        He enjoys his RAPS (with his gavel)

59. Former NBAer known as "The Big Cactus": SHAQ.  His nickname when he played for the Arizona Suns.  Here are some of his other nicknames beginning with "The Big"

 

 

My "dogs" are tired.  Please add your comments and thoughts in the section below ... 

Friday, June 27, 2025, Caroline Hand

Good Morning, Cruciverbalists.  Welcome to the Crossword Corner mixer.  What is a bit out of the ordinary, today, is that, thanks to the imagination of our constructor, Caroline Hand, it is the drinks themselves that are doing the mingling with each other.  Let's start with the reveal:

62 Across:  Cocktails, and what 18-/39-Across and 24-/54-Across literally are?: MIXED DRINKS.  This was a case where the reveal was, indeed, helpful in figuring out what was going on in the grid.  Also, thank you, Caroline, for "pairing up" the drinks.  It certainly made things easier to sort out.  At four places in the puzzle the names of mixed drinks get taken apart and then re-assembled in order to answer the clues:

18 Across:  Innie or outie, in Paris?:  In one regard, a bellybutton reference.  FRENCH NAVEL and 39 Across:  Poor internet service?: FUZZY CONNECTION.  

A Fuzzy Navel and a French Connection get mixed up with each other.

24 Across:  Result of applying bright yellow polish?: LEMON NAIL and 54 Across:  Feature of an old iron roller coaster?: RUSTY DROP.  

A Lemon Drop and a Rusty Nail switch partners.

This is how it all looks in the grid:

... and the rest of the attendees:

Across:

1. Set: PUT.  As in to place something on a table or shelf (or in its place).  See also 13 Down.

4. Very Cherry Twist soda brand: SHASTA.

10. Back up: CLOG.  As in the hairs stuck in the drain are CLOGging up your bathroom sink.

14. Actress de Armas: ANA.

15. Risks: PERILS.  Used as a plural noun.  As in:

16. Robust: HALE.  Free from infirmity or illness.

17. Brief "Blah, blah, blah": ETC.  Yadda, yadda, yadda.

20. Safari roarer: LION.

22. End __ high note: ON A.

23. Viper roll fish: EEL.  This solver had never heard of a Viper Roll but it was easy enough to figure this one out.

27. Garth's co-host: WAYNE.  WAYNE Campbell and Garth Algar.  From the "Saturday Night Live" skit and subsequent films.

Another Bit of A Mash-up

31. Taqueria option: ASADA.  One of today's Spanish lessons.  Grilled.

32. Quaker product: OATMEAL. The clue refers to the cereal company not the religious sect.

34. Type of symmetry: RADIAL.

38. European volcano: ETNA. 

Earlier This Month

44. Samoan capital: APIA.  Four letters three of which are vowels.  A constructor's friend.

45. Good guy: MENSCH.  A bit of Yiddish.  A man of great integrity and honor (a MENSCH)  began earning some extra cash by driving for an app-based ride sharing service. To market his services to people in the community, he made business cards offering rides from the Uber Mensch. He thought that his community was under-served and that he could fill that Nietzsche.

46. Not as warm: STONIER.  A bit of a stretch definition-wise?  COOLER was too short.  

48. Recitations made by students before entering Oxford's Bodleian Library: OATHS.  Unknown to this solver.  Thanks, perps.  From Wiki:  "Before being granted access to the library, new readers are required to agree to a formal declaration. This declaration was traditionally an oral oath, but is now usually made by signing a letter to a similar effect."

53. Picker-upper: TONIC.  Good for what ails ya'.

58. Largest U.S. labor union: NEA.

60. Spanish relative: TIA.  Another of today's Spanish lessons.  Aunt.

61. Like canned olives: OILY.

67. Boxer Laila: ALI.  A frequent visitor as is her father.

68. Lines of praise: ODES.  An Ode To Crosswordese

69. Sweet: DULCET.

70. Alpha preceder: GEN.  As in Gen-x or Gen-z or GEN-alpha which encompasses those born from 2011 - 2024.

71. Rootless plant: MOSS.  As in "A Rolling Stone gathers no MOSS".  See also 25 Down.

Shoulda Kept Rolling

72. Snide looks: SNEERS.

73. Rowing machine, familiarly: ERG.  From Wiki, "The word ERGometer comes from the Greek word ‘ergon’ and ‘metron’. While these might sound more like gladiator names than a way to measure your progress, the word ergon means ‘to work’ and metron means ‘to measure’. So the term ‘ergometer’ means that it measures work."

Down:

1. Dish named for the pan it's cooked in: PAELLA.

2. Lets free: UNTIES.  If 17 Across had been a reference to the Las Vegas Electric Day Carnival (EDC) then this answer would have been UNDIES.

3. Toyota pickup since 1995: TACOMA.

4. Daytime coverage letters: SPF.  Sun Protection Factor.  A sunscreen reference.  We had this one two weeks ago.

5. Wading bird: HERON.  Why does a heron sleep with one leg in the air?  Because if it lifted both legs it would fall over.

6. Big event space: ARENA.

7. Middle East peninsula: SINAI.  Also the name of a famous mountain and a famous hospital.

8. Pampering, for short: TLC.  Tender Loving Care

9. 1970s tennis great: ASHE.  A frequent visitor.

10. Dylan portrayer: CHALAMET.  A more recent visitor.  How does it feel?

11. Head, in Hammersmith: LAV.   British English for toilet.  Hammersmith is a district in West London and a head is what a toilet on a ship is called. 

12. "Viva!" alternative: OLE.  A hearty cheer!

13. Set: GEL.  We also saw this clue and answer combination two Fridays ago.  See also 1 Across.

19. Pond critter: NEWT.  Tiny is a great name for my NEWT - because she is, after all, my NEWT.

21. Show approval: NOD.  In many societies, but not all around the globe.

25. __ a one: NARY.  Nobody.  Not a soul around.

26. Interest-ing offers?: LOANS.  Interesting cluing.  LOANS bear/earn interest.

28. Hairy cryptid: YETI.

29. Second prefix: NANO.  Not second as in the one after the first and before the third.  A measure of time reference.  A NANO-second is equal to one one-billionth of a second.

30. Zip: ELAN.  A bit of a stretch.  Also a bit of misdirection as zip can mean none/nada.

33. Obi-Wan player: ALEC.  In the "Star Wars" movies, ALEC Guinness played Obi-wan Kenobi.

35. Pinnacle: ACME.  We never know if it will be ACME of APEX until we crosscheck.  They, however, know immediately:

36. "Cloud Cuckoo Land" novelist Anthony: DOERR.  New to this solver.

37. Lodge: INN.  The worst hotel I’ve ever stayed at was called The Fiddle.  It was a vile INN.

39. Observe Ramadan: FAST.    FASTing, for an entire month from dawn to sunset requires the abstinence from sex, food, drinking, and smoking.  It occurs roughly around the time of the Vernal Equinox.

40. Doing: UP TO.  As in "What the heck are you UP TO, now?"  No good, probably.

41. Western national park: ZION.

42. Eccentricity: ZANINESS.

43. La __: brand of Asian food products: CHOY.  Jim Henson created their spokesdragon.

47. Summer coffee choice: ICED.

49. Stir: ADO.  Not as in to stir a mixed drink.

50. Emergency room procedure: TRIAGE.  TRIAGE is a process for sorting injured people into groups based on their need for or likely benefit from immediate medical treatment. Triage is used in hospital emergency rooms, on battlefields, and at disaster sites when limited medical resources must be allocated.

51. Whoop: HOLLER.

52. Agent's activity: SPYING.  Not a Hollywood agent.  Not an agent of change.  One of these:

55. Purposeful: UTILE.  Purposeful/UTILE was not the first connection this solver made.

56. Thereafter: SINCE.  RIP, Brian.

57. Giver's counterpart: TAKER.

59. Goes on to say: ADDS.

62. Former sitcom starring Allison Janney and Anna Faris: MOM.

63. Rite answer?: I DO.  Is that the right answer?

64. Tic-tac-toe side: XES.  X's and O's   Is XES is usually spelled this way?

65. Broadcast: RUN.  As in "what year did (fill in your favorite TV show) RUN?  Definitely a "pre streaming" concept.

66. GPS lines: STS. STreetS   Global Positioning System

Well, that will wrap things up for today.  It's time, now, for this marine mammal to navigate his way back to the office.

_____________________________________

Friday June 20, 2025 Jeremy Venook

 

Good morning, campers, it’s RustyBrain. Summer is upon us and Chairman Moe is taking some well-deserved time off.

I couldn’t find much about today’s constructor, Jeremy Venook, except he seems to be a brilliant fellow. He’s published a number of scholarly articles, but this may be his debut puzzle. If so, congrats! Let’s see if this one hits the spot. 

17. Person who's always available to help: JOHNNY ON THE. The first themer is obviously missing SPOT, but instead is followed by a black square, i.e. a blank SPOT. Cool. JOHNNY ON THE SPOT is a man who is there when really needed. “Johnny” (like Jack) being so common a name it stood for “man.” Heeeere's the man:

27. Theater employee who follows the stars closely: LIGHT OPERATOR. This themer started with a black square, so I tagged SPOT onto the beginning of LIGHT OPERATOR. A SPOTLIGHT OPERATOR uses a followspot to keep the “stars” on stage well lit. So far, so good.

44. Portable Wi-Fi source: HOT CONNECTION. The blank SPOT on the last themer is at the end again, so HOT CONNECTION SPOT? No, it’s a HOTSPOT CONNECTION. Turns out the black squares were just red herrings, to me, at least. Commonly known as a HOTSPOT, it’s a physical location or an antenna that people use to access the Internet, typically via Wi-Fi.

59. Comment to a less-than-thorough cleaner, or an apt title for this puzzle?: MISSED A SPOT. 
The revealer is spot on! This is a common idiom, often used jokingly, and fully explains what is happening here. 

I tried to read the tea leaves hidden in the black squares, but to no avail. The SPOT could be anywhere, which is fine. But let’s see what that leaves us. A “LIGHT OPERATOR” is a real job. A “HOT CONNECTION” is a real thing. A “JOHNNY ON THE” is…? I’d like the written part of the answer to be a complete phrase on its own, then be modified by the revealer into something fun. In the end, I guess I was looking for a little more out of a Friday. 

And now, see Spot run:

Across:

1. Recklessly hasty: RASH.

5. Site that calls itself "the heart of the internet": REDDIT. I thought they were "the front page of the internet." In any case, REDDIT is a clever name suggesting "I read it" past tense.

11. Filmmaker Lee: ANG. Crossword's favorite director (don't tell Spike).

14. Fundamentals: ABCS. ABCs are the basic building blocks of many learned skills.

15. Declaration from a sure-handed player?: I RAISE. Also from a bluffer. Poker is the rare game where the best hand doesn't necessarily win.

16. __ shu pork: MOO. I like to roll my own, kinda like a Chinese fajita.

17. [Theme]

19. Total: ADD. If you "total" your car, it will ADD to your insurance premium.

20. Queerplatonic orientation, casually: ARO. ARO is the shortened version of "aromantic," which refers to individuals who experience little to no romantic attraction.

21. Lets up: EASES. 

22. Narratives: TALES. Tall TALES are "yarns".

24. Stone-faced: STOLID.

26. __ and haw: HEM. 

27. [Theme]

34. "The Garden of Earthly Delights" painter Hieronymus: BOSCH. The Dutch painter's macabre imagery is often interpreted as a visual translation of metaphors found in the Bible. I'd love to see the original 7ft x 13ft triptych (3 panels depicting Paradise, The Garden, and Hell) to see all the intricate details. Hard to believe it's over 500 years old!

36. Range between Europe and Asia: URALS.

37. Messenger molecule: RNA. RiboNucleic Acid, in case you want to impress someone at your next party.

38. Missouri River Native: OTOE.

39. Coke or Pepsi: BRAND. And the cola war battles on...

40. Stay out all night: CAMP. My first thought was a rave, an all-night dance event.

41. Hilton-owned hotel chain: TRU. The name came about because they leave Capote novels in the drawers instead of Gideon Bibles. TRU story.

42. Tortuga's country: HAITI. "Tortuga" is Spanish for "turtle." This island, part of HAITI, was named La Tortuga by Christopher Columbus due to its turtle-like shape.

43. Backs (away): SHIES.

44. [Theme]

47. Large deer: ELK. Similar to Moose, they often meet at a watering hole.

48. Defiant confirmation: I DID SO.

51. Lure: DECOY. I was visiting Orlando and saw this duck being attacked by a bird. On a return visit, I noticed the duck was still there. I guess the bird wasn't the only one fooled.

54. Gala, for one: APPLE. It wouldn't be a gala without APPLE bobbing!

57. Sprite: ELF.

58. Mined material: ORE.

59. [Theme]

62. The Brewers, in box scores: MIL. The Milwaukee baseball team, named after "the beer that made Milwaukee famous," sorta. CC knows much more about this than I do (about baseball, not drinking). Anyway, they have a clever logo using their initials to look like a glove.

63. Real __: ESTATE.

64. Browser button: HOME.

65. Long fish with no pelvic fins: EEL. One of many ways to clue this popular x-word fish.

66. Invisible pollution: NOISES. Good clue. Have I mentioned that RightBrain and I hate going to noisy restaurants?

67. Alma mater of many British prime ministers: ETON.

Down:

1. Indian royals: RAJAS.

2. Call off, as a mission: ABORT.

3. Cry at the beginning of summer break: SCHOOL'S OUT. When the kids were young, I cued up the Alice Cooper song and played it when they walked in the door on the last day. We'd dance a silly jig and it became an annual tradition, because that's what cool dads do (or so I'm told).

4. Sales channel: HSN. Home Shopping Network, which I now call "Amazon."

5. Capital of Saudi Arabia: RIYADH. Awesome skyline.

6. Greek matchmaker: EROS.

7. Great __: DANE.

8. Morse taps: DITS. DITS and dahs are dots and dashes. Ta da!

9. "Or so": ISH. ~ (see TILDES below).

10. Wavers: TEETERS.

11. International lawyer Clooney: AMAL. Seen here with her little-known husband.

12. Lymph __: NODE.

13. Deities: GODS.

18. Speak horse-ly: NEIGH. I used to live next to a horse farm. They were noisy NEIGHbors.

23. Tell-all sesh on 5-Across: AMA. Sesh is short for session, so on REDDIT, AMA is short for Ask Me Anything.

25. Targets of insecticidal shampoo: LICE. I have a nit to pick with this one.

26. Contained: HELD.

28. Shrouded locale?: TURIN. This relic, believed by many to be the burial cloth of Jesus, is shrouded in mystery.

29. Speechify: ORATE.

30. Lose one's cool: PANIC.

31. End of the line: TRAIN DEPOT. Actually, a DEPOT can be anywhere along the line, the one at the end is the "terminal." Here's one at local Tradewinds Park that we frequented when the kids were little. The models are one-eighth life-size and the track is over a mile long! Note: this isn't Gulliver's family traveling, it's the trains that are small.

32. "I'm buying": ON ME. My two favorite words (when someone else says them).

33. Performs like Ice Spice: RAPS.

34. Ideal option for the indecisive: BOTH. The eternal question - like Coke vs. Pepsi.

35. Other, in Oaxaca: OTRO. Today's lección de español (Spanish lesson).

39. Rely (on): BANK.

40. "Parasite" star Woo-shik: CHOI. I also saw him in the zombie thriller "Train to Busan." South Korea is producing a lot of popular movies, TV and music these days. 

42. Some saints: HOLY MEN.

43. Record half: SIDE A. Had to wait to see which side we were on.

45. Corp. VIP: CEO. A Chief Executive Officer is a Very Important Person, that's why he/she is worth 1000 times more than everyone else? 

46. Symbols indicating similarity, in geometry: TILDES. In mathematics, TILDES (~) often indicate "approximately" or "about." For example, "~20" would mean "approximately 20".

49. Sportscast tech: SLO-MO. Sloooow Mooootion...

50. Over and over: OFTEN. Not this one again!

51. Common mosque feature: DOME. A DOME, called qubba in Arabic, can improve the acoustics within the mosque, helping the Imam's voice resonate effectively. The onion-shaped ones are especially beautiful. 

52. Shallowest Great Lake: ERIE. Hint: it's the four-letter one.

53. Nucleus holder: CELL. Wanted "atom" at first.

54. Italian bubbly: ASTI.

55. Unpaid TV ads: PSAS. Public Service Announcements.

56. Mets slugger Alonso: PETE. The 6'-3" first baseman is nicknamed "Polar Bear." I'm not sure why.

60. Equi- kin: ISO. An equilateral triangle has three equal length sides, while an ISOsceles triangle has just two.

61. Pronoun option: SHE. 

Out, damned spot! Over and out!