google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Jeffrey Wechsler

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Showing posts with label Jeffrey Wechsler. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jeffrey Wechsler. Show all posts

Dec 1, 2017

Friday, December 1, 2017, Jeffrey Wechsler

Title: THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME .

JW is here for another Friday (thank you again HG for the blogs while I was gone) and with what I believe is his first punny quip puzzle. " If I tolled them once, I tolled them a hundred times."

The tolled-told homonym is the key to the humor. We also have some related fill with QUASIMODO and BELL TOWER. This is a rather upbeat puzzle for a very dark story. VICTOR HUGO was quite political in his writings. I was surprised by the theme but appreciated the humor.  There are 59 spaces attached to the theme, with the grid spanner in the middle. The theme did not require a reveal unless you were unfamiliar with this classic movie.
                                                                     SANCTUARY

 We also have fun fill like, CHIPS AWAY, EVIL DEEDS, LIVIDNESS and MIAMI VICE but it is the "quote" which is the puzzle.

17A. Hugo character memorably portrayed by Charles Laughton: QUASIMODO (9).

23A. With 36- and 44-Across, what 17-Across might have said when his job became too repetitious? : IF I TOLLED THEM (13).

36A. See 23-Across: ONCE, I TOLLED THEM (15).

44. See 23-Across: A HUNDRED TIMES (13).

57A. 17-Across' workplace: BELL TOWER (9).


Across:

1. Qualifier for a hall entry? : FAME. I wanted hall pass.

5. Excuse descriptor: LAME. So we start with a nice rhyme.

9. Med. recordings: EKGS. There should not be an "S."

13. Over, in much Twain dialogue: AGIN. As opposed to agin/fer.

14. "__ my way": I'M ON.

15. Relatives of windsocks: VANES. I guess.

19. Fuming: IRATE.

20. Uncle__: SAM.

21. Risk pieces: DICE. The die - a piece of the game or a tool used in the game?

22. Type of large TV: PLASMA.

26. Sitarist Shankar: RAVI. Norah Jones' father.

28. Metal sources: ORES.

29. Important part of a whale's diet: KRILL. They look like small SHRIMP.

31. Feigned: FALSE.

33. Many an IRS employee: CPACertified Public Accountant.

39. "Got it now?" : SEE?

40. Parts of Walmart work uniforms: VESTS.

41. Frodo's home, with "the": SHIRE.

42. Gentlemen: SIRS.

43. Actor Omar: EPPS. Once again this week; who is his publicist?

51. Lengthy account: LITANY. Usually of bad things.

52. Participate in a race, maybe: RIDE.

53. Fluoride-touting org.: ADAAmerican Dental Association.

56. Blazing: AFIRE. Ooh, an a-word.

59. Problems electric razors should prevent: NICKS.

60. Avoid getting into deep water? : WADE.

61. "Lobster Telephone" artist: DALI.
Lobster Telephone is a surrealist object, created by Salvador Dalí in 1936 for the English poet Edward James, a leading collector of surrealist art. Wiki.

62. "__ who?" : SAYS.

63. Monthly Roman calendar occurrences: IDES.  Twice this week. With the fate of Julius Caesar in mind,  this is an interesting juxtaposition with....

64. Turned yellow, perhaps: DYED.

Down:

1. Customer info sources: FAQS.

2. Lago contents: AGUA. Lake: Water. Spanish.

3. '80s cop show featuring Ferraris: MIAMI VICE. An interesting story. LINK. Ferraris twice this week.

4. USN rank: ENSign.

5. Keep in check: LIMIT.

6. Merged gas company: AMOCO. Gobbled up by BP, this brand may be BACK.

7. Auto datum: MODEL.

8. Brian of music: ENO.

9. What superheroes seek to thwart: EVIL DEEDS. This needed many perps.

10. Gold fineness units: KARATS. From a JEWELER.

11. Grind: GNASH.

12. "They __ up!": scapegoat's cry: SET ME.

16. Alteration target: SEAM. My mother was a wonderful nurse and mother, but she could not sew. My brothers and I had to stand with one leg up on the bottom stair after she shortened the pants to make the legs look even.

18. Infamous Amin: IDI.

22. Intrinsically: PER SE. This is not a legal term, per se.

24. Rank partner: FILEREAD and discuss.

25. Doesn't do much: LOLLS.

26. Classic movie theaters: RKOS.

27. "Alfred" composer: ARNE. Not his most famous work. LINK.

30. Red state? : LIVIDNESS. This was very difficult, but when you are livid you turn red.

31. Broadway choreographer for "Chicago": FOSSE.

32. PC key: ALT.

33. Cuts into, with "at": CHIPS AWAY.

34. Cop's collar: PERP. Not her.

35. Iowa college town: AMES. Not Ed this time.

37. Jones or Gilliam of Monty Python: TERRY. The only AMERICAN  in Monty Python is Terry Gilliam.

38. Passé pronoun: THEE.

42. Impertinent in tone: SNARKY.

44. PBS "Mystery!" host Cumming: ALAN.

45. LP players: HI FIS.

46. Erie Canal city: UTICA.

47. More than fear: DREAD.

48. Circumflex cousin: TILDE. Diacritic marks. COMPLICATED.

49. Doesn't do much: IDLES.

50. Satisfied: MET.

54. Editor's mark: DELE.

55. Like much of New Mexico: ARID.

57. Md. airport serving D.C.: BWIBaltimore Washington International.

58. Not quite right: ODD. We have one living at our condo complex...not easy.

Back when this blog was young and the puzzles discussed were edited by Wayne Williams, we had many similar puzzles. They are usually called "quip" puzzles. Most were silly, so this is not a unique approach. But from Jeffrey? In the LAT?  I liked it, hope you did. Lemonade out.


Nov 10, 2017

Friday, November 10, 2017, Jeffrey Wechsler

TITLE: MAKEUP GAME

Greetings from the Great Plains on my lovely wife's birthday! I think it's her twin sister's as well. 😜

This is not a meatless Friday but it is "Lemonless" again with me, Husker Gary, serving as his, uh, boy Friday again. 


Having a Jeff Wex on Friday is a true delight and his fun puzzle uses terminology one might hear in this star-studded Beauty Shop 
(How many can you name? - Answer below the grid) scene in Steel Magnolias




In each "themer" Jeff has employed a cosmetology term that also serves as a word in a common two or three-word phrase. I hope I am granted some leeway considering my lack of expertise in this area. Here are Jeff's theme entries:


17. Cosmetologist's choices at happy hour? : BLUSH WINES 



Applying BLUSH on a wan cheek and several Rose' or BLUSH WINEs

29. Cosmetologist's preferred vacation venue? : OCEAN LINER


7 Seas Explorer OCEAN LINER and LINER that accents some lovely eyes

34. Cosmetologist's expression for hastily exiting? : TAKE A POWDER


Please leave while he and I talk or what a difference POWDER makes

41. Cosmetologist's favorite capital? : BATON ROUGE


The city named for a red stick or my childhood memory of ROUGE on a character
57. Cosmetologist's wall covering? : GLOSS PAINT


Alternating Matte and GLOSS wall covering and GLOSSY and Matte Lipstick

Now let's see the beauty of the remainder of Jeff's Friday clues:



Across


1. Bills, say : CASH - Like many other areas of our lives, even Monopoly® is going CASHLESS

5. Alfredo may be associated with it : PASTA

10. Ways of viewing the world : ISMS

14. First name in folk : ARLO

15. Yale of Yale fame : ELIHU - A former slave trader who endowed a New Haven school with enough money to get the school name changed to his. Can protests be far behind?

16. "Fillet of a fenny snake / In the cauldron __ and bake": "Macbeth" : BOIL - Okay, Steve, what wine would you suggest with this concoction? Like C.C., I missed him yesterday and hope he is okay.


19. Local govt. bond : MUNI - They've been used for many projects



20. Inspired : LED TO - The learned group who participate here certainly know to what event this was a precursor 




21. RR stop : STA

23. Janitor's tool, briefly : VAC - We had the kids put their chairs up on the table to accommodate the custodians VAC job

24. Marx collaborator : ENGELS - Together they authored a little page-turner called The Communist Manifesto


26. Collapse, with "over" : KEEL - Don't lock your knees too long especially in front of the boss.

27. Previous to, poetically : ERE

28. Nursery supply : SEED - These catalogs and spring training are harbingers of spring

32. "Art is __ that makes us realize truth": Picasso : A LIE

33. Knots and yards : UNITS

38. "Just like me" : AS AM I

40. Shrek, e.g. : OGRE

44. Take shots of : FILM - With FILM, we had to wait a week to see how lousy our shots were

48. Mark on the Oregon Trail : RUT - Some are here in Nebraska. 

49. Like crab apples : TART - C.C. and Jayce have put me onto a regimen of TART cherry juice for some issues I am having. "I'll get by with a little from my friends" 

50. Leonine savior's domain : NARNIA - The savior of NARNIA is Aslan who takes the form of a lion

52. Enzyme suffix : ASE - AmylASE, cellulASE, lactASE, ...

53. Romantic ideal, with "the" : ONE 

54. Dieter's breakfast : MELON

55. "__ Trigger": Bugs Bunny cartoon : HARE - Yeah, I think I could have figured out the star of this cartoon!



61. Like much cheese : AGED

62. Final ordeal, perhaps : ESSAY - A true pen-to-paper ordeal for me!

63. Low joint : KNEE

64. Rx contents : MEDS

65. Does another tour : REUPS

66. Attention-getter : YELL - A YELL leader at Andover who was a future POTUS




Down


1. Brooklyn Bridge array : CABLES - The contrast of the comparatively light CABLES with the massive towers remains a very striking visual

2. Garfield's girlfriend : ARLENE - You're either a comic aficionado or you're not

3. Oozy stuff : SLUDGE - Not good when this is your motor oil

4. Threw a party : HOSTED

5. Place to pray : PEW

6. Memorable fighter : ALI

7. Pride, for example : SIN



8. Annabel Lee's kingdom was by it : THE SEA - This woman had the first verse of Poe's poem tattooed on her back to honor her grandmother Annabel Lee



9. Writer who created the Dashwood sisters : AUSTEN - From Sense and Sensibility

10. Watson's home : IBM

11. Snow globe, perhaps : SOUVENIR

12. Muezzin's tower : MINARET where neither 18. Dec. 25 or Jan. 1 : HOL are observed

13. Deli equipment : SLICERS

22. Intimate, with "to" : ALLUDE - To whom did Carly Simon ALLUDE in You're So Vain: Warren Beatty, James Taylor or Mick Jagger?

25. Food fish : SOLE

26. "Private property" sign warning : KEEP OUT with maybe 43. Threatening phrase : OR ELSE

30. Mike Pompeo's org. : CIA - Its current director

31. Having four sharps : IN E - A great Ray Charles tune IN E



32. A lot like : AKIN TO

34. Like neglected clothing : TATTERED - The House That Jack Built featured this line: "This is the man all TATTERED and torn, who kissed the maiden all forlorn" 

35. Latin lover's word : AMO

36. Steven of "The Walking Dead" : OGG - If Jeff says so

37. Small songbird : WREN

38. Biblical patriarch : ABRAHAM

39. Breakfast side : SAUSAGE - A distant second to bacon here!

42. National park figure : RANGER 

44. Weird : FREAKY

45. How theme park visitors often stand : IN LINE (the queue) - Here are some IN LINE at Space Mountain at the 60-minute wait point




46. Long time maker of O gauge track : LIONEL - I'm sure my brother and I got a better Christmas present than this but none come to mind.

47. Place for trophies : MANTEL


51. Rock concert sight : AMP

56. Newspaper VIPs : EDS

58. Buckeyes' sch. : OSU - They received a huge slice of humble pie playing Iowa last weekend

59. Sucker : SAP - Here's a combination of these words


A Yellow-bellied SAP SUCKER (in the woodpecker genus)
60. Part of CBS: Abbr. : SYS


DA GRID:




STEEL MAGNOLIAS ANSWER




Feel free to MAKEUP any comments that you feel are necessary

Note from C.C.:

Happy birthday to Husker Gary's wife Joann & her twin sister! I stole this picture from Gary's Facebook when they attended a going away party for their niece Emma. I've met Joann and have had a few email exchanges with her over the years. She's always so thoughtful and warm. I'll never forget her strength during Gary's hospital stay.

Oct 31, 2017

Tuesday, October 31, 2017 ~ Jeffrey Wechsler

Theme: P*TT - Three constant consonants with five progressive vowels.

18. "Evita" Tony-winning actress: PATTI LUPONE"New Argentina"(5:16) More morons at 0:40.

25. Coast Guard rank: PETTY OFFICER

37. Roberto Clemente, notably: PITTSBURGH PIRATE

48. Ceramics shaper: POTTER'S WHEEL

59. Tinker in the workshop: PUTTER ABOUT

BOO! Argyle here. A diagonal solvers puzzle, but upper right to lower left. Maine to California. Washington and Florida are isolationists with just a one square connection to the rest of the puzzle.
FLASH: Husker Gary pointed out that the first vowel of the second word is regressive, U thru A. Coincidence, I think not.

Across:

1. Capital of Poland: WARSAW


7. Actress Moore: DEMIIMDb

11. Dick and Jane's dog: SPOT

15. Tropical lizard: IGUANA

16. Large-scale: EPIC

17. Vagrant: HOBO

20. __-ran: ALSO

21. Diminutive suffix: ETTE

22. Fort full of gold: KNOX

23. Guitarist Clapton: ERIC

24. Spanish king: REY

29. Prefix with sol: AERO CAN

30. Flight height: Abbr.: ALT. (altitude)

31. Ambient music pioneer Brian: ENO

32. Rural road surface: DIRT

34. Carpal or tarsal lead-in: META. Bones of the hands or feet.

36. Prilosec target: ACID. Prilosec is made by AstraZeneca.

41. "__-daisy!": UPSY

42. Approximately: OR SO

43. Small fishing boat: DORY

44. D.C. United's org.: MLS. (Major League Soccer)

45. Sweetie pie: HON

46. Urge: PROD

52. 34-Down, in Toledo, Sp.: SRA. 34-Down. 52-Across, in Toledo, OH: MRS.

55. Naturalist John: MUIR

56. "__ Lang Syne": AULD

57. Truant GI: AWOL

58. Fatherly nickname: PAPA

62. Move a bit: STIR

63. "__, Brute?": ET TU

64. Not inclined (to): AVERSE

65. Meat safety org.: USDA. ( United States Department of Agriculture)

66. Loch with a mystery: NESS


67. Blowtorch user: WELDER

Down:

1. Windshield cleaner: WIPER but sometimes 17-Across.

2. Striped quartz: AGATE

3. Like old wagon trails: RUTTY

4. Appease, as hunger: SATE

5. Smart game-show vowel purchase for "F_LM CR_T_C": AN 'I'. It would be smarter to solve it unless the player wanted to gamble on one more spin.

6. "The Color Purple" author Alice: WALKER

7. Bus terminus: DEPOT

8. Modeling glue: EPOXY

9. 60 secs.: MIN.

10. Devils' playing surface, ironically: ICE. The New Jersey Devils are a pro ice hockey team in Newark, NJ. Ironic in the sense devils come from a very hot place. Watch out for little devils tonight!

11. Puppeteer Lewis: SHARI, with Lamb Chop, puppet.

12. Patrol vehicle: POLICE CAR. {One Adam Twelve, see the man...}

13. Target of captioning censorship: OBSCENITY

14. "That's __ bad": TOO

19. "Do __ others ... ": UNTO

23. Young salamander: EFT. Crossword and Scrabble staple.

25. Caresses, as a dog: PETS

26. Inaugural recitation: OATH

27. Envelope part: FLAP

28. Used a bike: RODE

29. Superficially cultured: ARTY

32. Embassy workers: DIPLOMATS

33. "What a harebrained idea!": "IT'S STUPID!"

35. Self-esteem: EGO

36. Retired Yankee slugger, to fans: A-ROD

37. Gas station machine: PUMP

38. Crude dude: BOOR

39. Catering coffeepots: URNS

40. Big screen star: IDOL

45. Ship's pronoun: HER

46. One-named soccer great: PELÉ

47. Change, as map details: REDRAW

49. Sparkly crown: TIARA

50. Light bulb units: WATTS

51. Many Rwandans: HUTUs


52. See 59-Down: SWORD

53. Shake awake: ROUSE

54. Change: ALTER

57. Brother of Cain: ABEL

58. Nittany Lions' sch.: PSU. (Pennsylvania State University)

59. It's mightier than the 52-Down, so they say: PEN

60. 4 x 4, for short: UTE. (utility vehicle)

61. Blvd.: AVE.. Streets.


Argyle

Oct 20, 2017

Friday, October 20, 2017, Jeffrey Wechsler

Title: Okay, please vote:  [   ] Six degrees of HAM; or  [   ] a HAM handed puzzle.

JW features one of his favorite and difficult "add a three or four letter word" themes. He makes it especially Friday hard by including two very hard fill to parse. Then he generously gives us a reveal if we get lost. You need a wide variety of knowledge to get through this one. The First 2 themers add HAM to the first word in a phrase. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. The next 2? Well despite commentary to the contrary - that is what makes it a puzzle.










As always Jeffrey gives us some fun fill - IN TEARS, ONE PUTT, OVERUSE, RAT-A-TAT, STOOLIE, STRAP ON and TRUSSES, but mostly it is the theme that drives this wagon.

So with further ado....

16A. Early sustenance for Bruce Wayne? : GOTHAM MILK (10). GOT MILK is modified by the fictional name of Batman's New York City.

22A. Handing a St. Louis team an embarrassing loss? : SHAMING THE BLUES (15). SING THE BLUES (not the Cards) works as well.

33A. Tribal VIP's family? : SHAMAN KIN (10). SAN KIN? Huh? Of course, SANK IN.

49A. Easy out in rodent baseball? : POPUP TO A HAMSTER (15). And my favorite - POPUP TOASTER.

57A. Went all out on stage ... or a hint to the four other longest puzzle answers : HAMMED IT UP (10). That is it.

Across:

1. Kind of rain or rock: ACID.

5. Affect profoundly: AWE. Aww.

8. Often-converted residence: LOFT.

12. Like the "funny bone" nerve: ULNAR. Ulna and Radius.

14. Poet Silverstein: SHEL. I met Shel's work reading Playboy in the 60s. LINK. Hef outlived him by 18 years.

15. Declare firmly: AVER.

18. Country where Quechua is spoken: PERU. It is now an official language in three countries.  In 1975 Peru became the first country to recognize Quechua as one of its official languages. Ecuador conferred official status on the language in its 2006 constitution, and in 2009, Bolivia adopted a new constitution that recognized Quechua and several other indigenous languages as official languages of the country. Wiki.

19. Great Plains native: UTE.

20. Pluto quintet: MOONS.                   LINK

21. Gets on the wrong train, say: ERRS.

26. Mother with a Nobel prize: TERESA. She shares her date of birth with Lyndon Johnson and Hannibal Hamlin, among others.

27. Fight in the backwoods: RASSLE.

28. Vacation fill-in: Abbr. : ASST. Temp? WTH?

29. Message often included in its response: EMAIL. Have any of you turned off the automatic inclusion?

32. Central Dallas? : ELS.

37. Elastic wood: ASH. I am sure you want to know more about this WOOD.

40. Sister magazine of Jet: EBONY.

41. God with a quiver: EROS. And a bow made out of ash?

45. Where the groom may walk down the aisle: STABLE. Really inventive and cute clue/fill. JW at his best.

47. Soi-__: self-styled: DISANT. JW, really? This is a very obscure term. DEFINE.

53. Components of 56-Across : HOPS. Not necessarily, ...strictly speaking ale can be made from simply malt, water and yeast. It is extremely unusual not to use hops. Home-brew handbook. 56A. Malt creations : ALES.

54. Quartet member : VIOLA. The four instruments in a string quartet are almost always 2 violins, 1 viola and 1 cello. Various.

55. Org. with Jungians : APAAmerican Psychological Association. Many of them are old.

59. Ticket booth sight : LINE.

60. Protected, in a way : ALEE.

61. Sister of Thalia : ERATO. The Nine Muses in Greek mythology have been an inspiration to artists since antiquity. They are (in alphabetical order): Calliope, Clio, Erato, Euterpe, Melpomene, Polyhymnia, Terpsichore, Thalia, and Urania. (Owlcation- do not go to this website, you may never escape).

62. Hardy heroine : TESS. I just had her in a puzzle recently.

63. Perception-changing drug : LSD. I just had some in a puzzle.

64. Letter heading abbr. : ATTN.

DOWN:

1. Masters course : AUGUSTA. Bobby Jones and the dream course. Take a TOUR

2. Fabled emperor's lack: CLOTHES.  Did you know the STORY was written by Hans Christian Andersen? Andersen's fairy tales (of which there are no less than 3381 works !) have been translated into more than 125 languages... his most famous fairy tales include "The Emperor's New Clothes", "The Little Mermaid", "The Nightingale", "The Snow Queen", "The Ugly Duckling", "Thumbelina", and many others. Various.

3. Emotionally overwhelmed : IN TEARS.

4. Morse "T": DAH.

5. "Can't you take __?" : A HINT.

6. Like Roald Dahl, by birth: WELSH. The wonderful author - LINK.

7. Yellowstone grazer: ELK.

8. Settings for small American flags: LAPELS.

9. Do to death: OVERUSE.

10. Voice of President Business in "The Lego Movie": FERRELL. SNL grad Will.

11. Bridge supports: TRUSSES.

13. "Ghostbusters" actor : RAMIS. He died this year.

14. Air quality issue: SMOG. I believe this was my first known portmanteau (Smoke-Fog)

17. Lisa's title: MONA.  Mona in Italian is a polite form of address originating as "ma donna" – similar to "Ma’am", "Madam." Wiki and others.

23. Team whose mascot's head is a baseball: METS. He got fired for giving the one finger
salute to a brewers fan. With only three to work with, which one is the bad one?


24. Viking history VIP: ERIK. No Minnesota players named Erik?

25. Island near Java: BALI.

29. Confessional music genre: EMO.

30. Anthropologist's subject: MAN.

31. Whichever: ANY.

34. Give a hand : HELP.

35. Assist badly? : ABET. Why not, "Give a hand, badly?"

36. Storied loch: NESS.

37. It might be on the road for years: ASPHALT.

38. Cop's info source: STOOLIE. Derived from stool pigeons - carvings used to trap hawks.

39. Stumbles (upon): HAPPENS.

42. Snare drum sound: RAT-A-TAT.

43. Feature of many a birdie: ONE PUTT. Bubba Watson had 11(18) ONE PUTT greens when he won his second masters title.

44. Secure, as a knapsack: STRAP ON. This is the second clue fill of the puzzle I have had to muzzle myself while writing.

46. Smooches: BUSSES.

47. Glen relative: DALE. Who is Dale Campbell?  Oh, is that Chip's real name?

48. "__ these wars for Egypt": Antony: I MADE. A fun Friday Will Shakespeare quote.
"I made these wars for Egypt, and the Queen,
Whose heart I thought I had, for she had mine—
Which whilst it was mine had annexed unto ’t
A million more, now lost—she, Eros, has
Packed cards with Caesar and false-played my glory
Unto an enemy’s triumph."

50. Shapes formed by angled spotlights: OVALS.

51. Zeroed in: AIMED.

52. Telecommuter's workplace: HOME. Yeah me and the once mighty Barry G. You are missed.

57. Clarke computer: HAL.

58. Nest egg acronym: IRAIndividual Retirement Account.

Wowzer, here we are in middle of fall with shorter days and longer nights and so many birthdays - those cold January nights - but nothing slows JW (or C.C. and her minions) down. I had fun, enjoy the weekend. Lemonade out.



Oct 6, 2017

Friday, October 6, 2017, Jeffrey Wechsler

Title: Now where did I put those IOUs?

In a variation of the add a letter or letters theme, JW hid them at the end of the first word of a known two-word phrase or name. As I remarked last week about recognizing a theme because a word or phrase is repeated, seeing -ious (suffix, ious is defined as having or being like the word it follows) opened my eyes. Of course, the light bulb goes on when you parse it as an acronym. Lovely misdirection. At first, I could not understand what the theme answers had in common. The "red" reference in the reveal (debts are ledgered in red) led me to present the theme as below:

20A. Agricultural college facility? : STUDIOUS FARM (12).  Stud Farm. The Aggies study hard.

32A. One who got in before a crash? : FURIOUS TRADER (13). Fur Trader. The stock trader is very angry that his timing was bad.

40A. Lancelot bragging about his exploits? : TEDIOUS KNIGHT (13). The late great Ted Knight.
LINK. It makes sense to use a proper name in both clue and fill.

53A. What theater districts offer? : COPIOUS SHOWS (12). Cop Shows. I watched some Police Woman on COZI tv this weekend. It rained here.
The reveal:
67A. They traditionally appear in red ... and in another form in 20-, 32-, 40- and 53-Across: DEBTS (5).

JW also fitted in ONE STEP, SF GIANT, TROOPER, US ASSET, ANALYSTS, GONE AWRY, LOW AVERAGES and TURN THE PAGE as long sparkly fill. Let's do this!

Across:

1. Best-selling book generally not on best-seller lists: BIBLE. They don't know where to send the royalty checks.

6. Benchmark: Abbr. : STD. Standard.

9. Early automaker: OLDS. Old('s) Ransom has been popular again.

13. Won't go near: AVOIDS.

15. Back again: FRO. To and fro. 

16. Heist haul: LOOT.

17. Magoo's malady: MYOPIA. Nearsightedness. 

18. Ended up off the mark: GONE AWRY. A fun underused phrase.

22. Polling abbr. : PCT.

25. Arrive at hastily, as a conclusion: LEAP TO. Look before you....

26. Sundial marking: VII. A return of the Roman Numeral.

27. Content of little substance: FLUFF. Newspapers had people who wrote their puff pieces.

30. Madrid-to-Paris dir. : NNE.

31. Rose in a field: PETE. Baseball player.  HE is now 76.

36. Achilles __: TENDON.

37. Take turns: ROTATE. I love clues/fill such as this.

44. "The BFG" author: DAHL.  The Big Friendly Giant, by Roald Dahl also was made into a movie.

46. Intelligence org. : NSANational Security Agency.

47. Dutch genre painter: STEEN. See his WORK.

48. Juillet's season: ETE. July/Summer  French.

49. KFC option: BREAST.

52. Red __: SEA.

57. Financial workers: ANALYSTS.

58. Like merciless opponents: FEARED.

62. Gospel travelers: MAGI.

63. Get: SEE.

64. Not nice at all: UNKIND.

65. Urgent request: PLEA.

66. Decline, with "out": OPT.


Down:

1. Loud sound: BAM.

2. Columbia, e.g.: IVY. No league? 

3. "That's lousy!" : BOO.

4. Enlarged Revlon ad image: LIPS.

5. Reduce a sentence, say: EDIT. Not commute, but rewrite. 

6. MLBer at AT & T Park: SF GIANT.

7. Highway pursuer: TROOPERSUPER TROOPER 2 coming in 2018.

8. Bakery item with some shortening? : DONUT. A lovely and clean double entendre - making the word doughnut shorter, as well as the shortening used in baking. A classic JW clue/fill.

9. "Frozen" snowman: OLAF. Disney's movies all seem to have had a comic relief character.

10. What most pitchers have, as batters: LOW AVERAGES.

11. "Little" Dickens title character: DORRIT

12. Obstruct: STYMIE. My MEMORY.

14. Author Bellow: SAUL. I enjoyed his work when I was young. FIVE.

19. What that is in Spain: ESO.

21. Scout groups: DENS.

22. [It just vanished!]: PFFT.

23. Answer guide? : CLUE. Cute, a guide to the answer.

24. Get on with one's life: TURN THE PAGE. One of the Millenials contributions to the language. 

28. Revolutionary first name: FIDEL.

29. Child subject: FOOD. Julia, may she rest in peace, all 6'2" of her.

31. It's not big in France: PETIT. Funny. From French Chef to French pun.

33. Verse lead-in: UNIverse.

34. Prize for Indy: ARK. Indiana Jones, that is.

35. Oxford figures: DONS.

38. Fare-well link: THEE.

39. Italian peak: ETNA.

41. Like the simplest process: ONE STEP.

42. Toyota's Ky. plant, e.g.: US ASSET. Good thing there were perps as this was tough.

43. Old-school diplomatic accessory: SASH.

44. Pack up the tents and supplies: DECAMP.

45. Like some Alban Berg works: ATONAL. I am not a big fan of Schoenberg or other atonal composers. LINK. Unrelated to comedian Sam Berg.

49. Tiny Tim, for one: BOY.

50. Rene of "Thor": RUSSO.  Her brief INTERVIEW.

51. Vegan staple: TOFU.

54. Hipbones: ILIA.

55. Direct (one's way): WEND. Another word packed with meaning in four letters; "verb:
go in a specified direction, typically slowly or by an indirect route."

56. Ginza quaff: SAKE. Rice wine.

59. Barbecue morsel: RIB. Morsel defined: a small piece or amount of food; a mouthful. Rib?

60. Sinus doc : ENTEar Nose and Throat. 

61. Driller's deg. : DDS. Dentist. har, har.

Well, there it is, another Friday, another Jeffrey Wechsler, and a fun ride. It is the quiet time for South Florida as the summer tourists are gone and the snowbirds have not returned. There are more breezes and I hope you enjoy the time. Thank you, Jeffrey and all who read. Lemonade out.