Thursday, April 18, 2024, Hoang-Kim Vu, Jessica Zetzman

 Farmers' Market

Each Spring we can't wait for the Misty Valley truck farm to open, and we usually stop there on Sundays after church.  Their Eastern Shore Silver Queen corn is to die for and their cantaloupes are the sweetest!

And it looks like today's veteran constructors Hoang-Kim Vu and Jessica Zetzman do their shopping for themers at a local farmer's market, ever on the look out for fresh, tasty local puns. And depending on the venue you might hear  these quips [followed by unpunned explanations] ...

17. At the market, farmers often __: SWAP MEATS.  "I'll trade you a pound of this HAM for that T-BONE steak".   [per Merriam-Websters].

28. At the orchard, farmers are often __: WORKING IN PEARS.  "BOSC me no questions ANJOU'll get no lies".  [How small farmers can work together to improve their situation].

48. In the field, farmers often specialize in __: BEET GENERATION.  "If money is the ROOT of all evil -- give me some of the ROOT!".   [There was nothing prosaic about the beat poets].

65. At the state fair, farmers often __: SHOW THYME. "THYME Flies Like an Arrow; Fruit Flies Like a Banana".  Something like this phrase was used by Jazzbumpa in a recent review.  Quote Investigator reveals that its actual origin may have been in [an early experiment in automated language translation] *(see below for another one).

Here's the field after it's been plowed ...

Here's the rest ...

Across:

1. Page, in a way: PING.  A versatile word.  The clue implies sending a signal just to see if someone or something is there.  It could be an underwater object ...

... it could be an Internet utility used to see if a network device is reachable.  Of course the duffers on the Corner will know it as a brand of premium golf clubs.

5. Weary response to incessant cries of "Look at me, look at me!": I SAW.

9. Timesheet units: HOURS.  The HOURS have been a metaphor for life throughout the ages.  Here's the finale from the ballet The Dance of the Hours from Ponchielli's opera La Gioconda.

If you want something a little deeper here's the Act II trio from the The Hours based on the Virginia Woolf  novel Mrs. Dalloway.  The performers are Renée Fleming, Kelli O’Hara, and Joyce DiDonato, as Clarissa Vaughan, Laura Brown, and Virginia Woolf respectively ...

14. __ list: TO DO.  If you create one, be sure to lay in a supply of these ...

15. Wrestler John who has fulfilled more than 650 Make-A-Wish requests: CENA.   On September 27, 2022 John Cena set a new Guinness World record by granting 650 Make-A-Wish wishes.

John Cena

16. Alt, perhaps: INDIE.  Here are the Traveling Wilburys, an "INDIE" band who escaped fame to ride under the rock radar ...

17. [Theme clue]

19. Hurry along: SCOOT.

20. Broth in Japanese cuisine: DASHI.  UMAMI in a bottle.

21. Place where two sides come together: SEAM.

23. Unwelcome picnic guests: ANTS.

24. Red Muppet: ELMO.

26. Gear for a grip: BOOM.  What's a grip, a best boy grip and a key grip?  What's a BOOM?  They sound like different specialties to me: video and audio respectively.

28. [Theme clue]

34. Turf: SOD.

35. MiLB level: AAA.  Minor League Baseball.  Rookie 2nd Baseman Jackson Holliday recently came up from the Orioles AAA farm team and his first ML hit helped the O's beat the Brewers.

36. Bit at the bottom of a tub: KERNEL.  Not a bathtub.  This kind of tub ...

37. Sends sprawling: TRIPS.

40. Pres. whose library is in Austin, Texas: LBJ. Lyndon Baines Johnson August 27, 1908 – January 22, 1973) was the 36th President.  He was John F. Kennedy's Vice President and assumed the Presidency after the latter's assassination on November 22, 1963.

Lyndon Baines Johnson

42. Oyster layer: NACRE.  AKA Mother of Pearl.

43. In dreamland: ASLEEP.

45. "Don't __ me down!": LET.  From a rehearsal for the album Let it Be  ...

47. Ate: HAD.

48. [Theme clue]

52. Epic tale: SAGA.

53. Composer Jerome: KERN.  Here's Fred Astaire playing an old Jerome Kern standard ...

54. "Why not __?": BOTH.

57. U.S. Pacific island: GUAM.  Guam is an unincorporated territory of the United States in the North Pacific Ocean, the largest, most populous, and southernmost of the Mariana Islands. It lies about 5,800 miles west of San Francisco and 1,600 miles east of Manila.

59. Southern, for one: OCEAN.  AKA the Antarctic Ocean, it's about 6258 miles South of Guam.

63. Groupthink?: ETHOS.  I just wish there were more than two.  😒

65. [Theme clue]

67. Familiar plot device: TROPE.  This is not the correct clue for TROPE.  Somebody changed the original meaning of the word while we weren't looking (not the fault of the constructors or the editor).  Pay attention, this can get confusing ...!

68. Overhanging part of a roof: EAVE.

69. New York canal: ERIE.  It's EERIE just how often this word shows up in crosswords. 

70. Put up: HOUSE.

71. Still 43-Across: ABED.

72. Acorn, essentially: SEED.  SEEDS are how farmers markets get their start. 

Down:

1. Condition that may be treated with SSRIs: PTSD.  Selective serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) are a treatment for depression, including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

2. State that holds quadrennial caucuses: IOWA.

3. Confidentiality docs: NDAS. Confidential? Not a chance - "Information is like heat -- it always gets out!"

4. Garden tunneler: GOPHER.  We've never had GOPHERS in our garden, but I have had to deal with some pretty pesky GROUND HOGS.  Not a pretty story.

5. Freezer cubes: ICE.

6. Not always available: SEASONAL.  The foods available at farmers' markets are SEASONAL, which is why they taste so fresh.

7. Pre-deal payment: ANTE.

8. Pungent condiment: WASABI. AKA Japanese Dristan.   It's made from a Japanese horseradish and is the perfect excuse to eat sushi.  Most of the stuff you get in the restaurants is made from the dried, ground herb mixed into a paste.  We've only had fresh WASABI once, in the Omiza Restaurant on Main Street in landlocked Doylestown, PA.  It's like a completely different condiment ...

Wasabi japonica

9. Short hellos: HIS.

10. Recorded, say: ON CAMERA.  The editing of this review is ON CAMERA and will soon show up in suggestions by Google for new pages for me to view.

11. Noodle in Japanese cuisine: UDON.  A side dish for your WASABI.

12. Really great comedy act, e.g.: RIOT.  Between sumdaze and Hahtoolah, there's a RIOT on the Corner every Monday and Tuesday.

13. Hardens, in a way: SETS.

18. Cereal partner: MILK.

22. Part of an order, perhaps: MONK.  Clever clue.  There's a whole song cycle devoted to MONKS.  Here's the great Leontyne Price singing The Desire for Hermitage from Samuel Barber's Hermit Songs, accompanied by the composer ...

Lyrics

25. "Mamma __!": MIA.

27. Doing business: OPEN.

28. Inferior: WORSE.

29. "Swan Lake" role for Misty Copeland: ODILE.  Sorry, I couldn't find Misty doing ODILE (the Black Swan), so you'll have to settle for her ODETTE (the White Swan) ...

30. Overhanging part of a roof: GABLE.  What is the difference is between an EAVE and a GABLE end roof of a house?

31. Pepper used in mole sauce: ANCHO.  Some mole recipes.

32. Aired again: RERAN.

33. Iditarod vehicle: SLED.  The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, more commonly known as The Iditarod (/aɪˈdɪtərɒd/), is an annual long-distance sled dog race held in Alaska in early March. It travels from Anchorage to Nome. Mushers and a team of between 12 and 16 dogs, of which at least 5 must be on the towline at the finish line, cover the distance in 8–15 days or more. The Iditarod began in 1973 as an event to test the best sled dog mushers and teams but evolved into today's highly competitive race.

34. Attempt: STAB.

38. Rescue supply spots: PET SHOPS.  A CSO to PAT.

39. Genesis name: SEGA.  Who knew that EVE had triplets?  😀

41. "Really uncool, bro": JERK MOVE.  Not the first thing that entered my mind.

44. Simon of the "Mission: Impossible" film series: PEGG.  Simon John Pegg (né Beckingham; born 14 February 1970) is an English actor, comedian and screenwriter.  Pegg is one of the few performers to have achieved what has been called the "Holy Grail of Nerd-dom": playing popular supporting characters in Doctor Who, Star Trek, and Star Wars. He currently stars as Benji Dunn in the Mission: Impossible film series (2006–present).

Simon Pegg

46. __ kwon do: TAE.  Tae kwon do is a Korean martial art and combat sport involving punching and kicking techniques. The literal translation "kicking", "punching", and "the art or way of".  It sometimes involves the use of weapons.

Ouch!

49. Queasiness: NAUSEA.

50. Relaxed gait: TROT.

51. Crawls (along): INCHES.

54. "Little Women" woman: BETH.

55. "Al __ lado del río": Oscar-winning song by Jorge Drexler: OTRO.  Al otro lado del río (transl. "On the Other Side of the River") is a song by Uruguayan singer Jorge Drexler from the soundtrack album for the film The Motorcycle Diaries (2004).  It received the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 77th Academy Awards, becoming the first Spanish language song, the second in a foreign language, to receive such an honor, and the first by a Uruguayan artist ...

56. Quaint pronoun: THOU.  Also slang for a GRAND.

58. Literary captain: AHAB.  The protagonist of the great American novel, Hermann Melville's Moby Dick.  You can buy this first edition for only US$ 87,771.81 ...

Moby Dick 1851
Hermann Melville

 60. Literary governess: EYRE.  Jane Eyre is a novel by the English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published under her pen name "Currer Bell" on 19 October 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. of London. The first American edition was published the following year by Harper & Brothers of New York. Jane Eyre is a bildungsroman that follows the experiences of its eponymous heroine, including her growth to adulthood and her love for Mr Rochester, the brooding master of Thornfield Hall.  A first edition of this work can set you back as much as US$ 100,000.  But this one is a steal for only US$ 65,000 ...

Jane Eyre 1847
Charlotte Brontë

Our constructors are very literary!

61. Dijon companion: AMIE.  Today's French lesson: Dijon is a city that serves as the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France.  As of 2017 the commune had a population of 156,920.

62. "__ a lift?": NEED.

64. Date: SEE.  Before you can 66D you usually have to do this (unless you buy a mail-order spouse!)

66. Make it official, in a way: WED.  ELOPE was too long.

* My favorite automated language translation story goes something like this:  The inventors were showing off their new program to some dignitaries, one of whom suggested "Show us the translation of 'Out of sight, out of mind' into Chinese".  The inventors ran it through their program and out popped some Chinese.  Dignitaries: "But how do we know that it's correct?  Translate it back to English".  The program responded: "Invisible Idiot". 😁

Cheers,
Bill

And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.

waseeley

Tuesday, October 31, 2023 Hoang-Kim Vu and Jessica Zetzman Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

19-Across. Restaurant that operates within another restaurant: GHOST KITCHEN.  Hand up if you knew of Ghost Kitchens.

27-Across. With 32-Across, embarrassing secret: SKELETON.  //  And 32. See 27-Across: IN THE CLOSET.  Together, this gives us a SKELETON IN THE CLOSET.

42-Across. Emmy-nominated TV series based on a Hilary Mantel novel: WOLF HALL.  That's Dame Hilary Mantel (July 6, 1952 ~ Sept. 22, 2022) to you.  She was best known for her historical fiction.  She wrote a trilogy about Thomas Cromwell's rise to power in the court of Henry VIII, King of England.  Wolf Hall was the first book in the series, followed by Bring Up the Bodies and The Mirror and the Light.   [Name # 1.]

And the unifier:

48-Across. Halloween attraction, or what 19-, 27-/32-, and 42-Across all might be a part of?: HAUNTED HOUSE.

And, what you might hear in a Haunted House:

36-Down. Evil laugh: MWA HA HA!

Across:

1. Hip-hop duo __ & Rakim: ERIC B.  I am not familiar with this duo of Eric B. (né Eric Barrier; b. Nov. 8, 1963) and Rakim (né William Michael Griffin, Jr.; b. Jan. 28, 1968).  The group was big in the late 1980s and early 1990s.   [Names # 2 and 3.]

6. Landlocked West African nation: MALI.  The United States Department of State currently lists Mali on its Do Not Travel list due to crime, kidnapping and terrorism.

10. Product prefix that evokes winter: SNO.

13. Gambling hub near Hong Kong: MACAU.  Everything you wanted to know about Macau but didn't know to ask.

14. Opinion piece: OP-ED.  Opposite the Editorial Page.

15. Cloverleaf feature: LOOP.

16. Eggs (on): SPURS.

17. Gem from Australia or Ethiopia: OPAL.  Hi, Kazie!  Is it bad luck to wear an Opal if it's not your birth stone?

18. Eclectic online digest: UTNE.  Its full name is the Utne Reader.  It was first published in 1984 and is named after its founder, Eric Utne.

22. Large cupboard: ARMOIRE.

25. Black belt discipline: KARATE.

26. Tosses: HEAVES.

29. Circle dances: HORAs.

30. "Finish the job!": DO IT.

31. Grass in a roll: SOD.

36. GI grub: MRE.  We had the Meals Ready to Eat last Tuesday.

38. Flair: ELAN.

39. Campfire residue: ASHES.

45. Texas border city: EL PASO.  The city and county of El Paso, Texas is in the Mountain Time Zone, where as most of the rest of Texas is in the Central Time Zone.

46. Glass raiser's opening: A TOAST.

47. Brother of Ophelia: LAERTES.  A reference to Willie the Shakes' play Hamlet.  I'll let our Shakespeare scholar expound on these characters.  [Names # 4 and 5.]

51. Fighting: AT IT.

52. Christian of fashion: DIOR.  Christian Ernest Dior (Jan. 21, 1905 ~ Oct. 24, 1957) was a French fashion designer.  He is best known for A-Line collection which made its debut in 1955.  [Name # 6.]

53. TV channel with election night coverage: MSNBC.  It's short for Microsoft and the National Broadcasting Corporation.

57. "For __ jolly ... ": HE'S A.

58. Not new: USED.

59. Like more than 4 billion people: ASIAN.

60. Fruit juice suffix: -ADE.  We miss you LemonADE!

61. Degs. for many profs: Ph.Ds.  Today's Latin lesson.  The abbreviation for Doctor of Philosophy, or in the original Latin: Philosophiae Doctor.

62. "Oppenheimer" director Christopher: NOLAN.  J. Robert Oppenheimer (né Julius Robert Oppenheimer; Apr. 22, 1904 ~ Feb. 18, 1967) was an American theoretical physicist and director of the Manhattan Project's Los Angeles lab.  He is sometime called the Father of the Atomic bomb.  Christopher Nolan (né Christopher Edward Nolan; b. July 30, 1970) is a British-born filmmaker who directed this past summer's blockbuster film about Oppenheimer and the atomic bomb.   [Names # 7 and 8.]

Down:

1. Ambulance gp.: EMs.  Emergency Medicine.  //  And 3-Down: Hosp. recovery area: ICU.  Intensive Care Unit.  //  And 20-Down. Surgery ctrs.: ORs.  Operating Rooms.

2. Knock sharply: RAP.

4. Moving day rental: CARGO VAN.

5. Most overgrown, say: BUSHIEST.

6. __ Tracks ice cream: MOOSE.  Vanilla ice cream with peanut butter cups and chocolate fudge.  Apparently the name was inspired by a mini golf course.

7. Spot on a sked: APPT.  An appointment is a spot on a schedule.

8. Plumbing problem: LEAK.

9. "That sounds tempting": I'D LIKE TO.

10. Phrase of finality: SO THAT'S THAT.

11. Far from: NONE TOO.  Meh!

12. Allowing for modification, as a mortgage: OPEN END.

15. Loot: LUCRE.

21. "She's So High" singer Bachman: TAL.  Tal Bachman (né Talmage Charles Robert Backman; b. Aug. 13, 1968) is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is best known for She's So High.  [Name # 9.]

22. Sound at a spa: AHH!

23. __ Speedwagon: REO.  The band, which was formed in the late 1960s, was named after the REO Speed Wagon truck that first produced in 1915 by Ransom Eli Olds (June 3, 1864 ~ 1950) of Oldsmobile fame.  [Name # 9]

24. Duchess of Parma who was Napoleon's second wife: MARIE LOUISE.  Archduchess Marie Louise (Dec. 12, 1791 ~ Dec. 17, 1847) was the Duchess of Parma in her own right.  She reigned as the Duchess of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla from April 1814 until her death 33 years later.  In 1810, she married Napoleon (Aug. 15mm 1769 ~ May 5, 1821).  He was her first husband.  After his death, she married twice more.  [Names # 10 and 11.]

27. L.A.'s region: SO-CAL.  Southern California.

28. Pottery oven: KILN.

30. Big name in crossword puzzle magazines: DELL.  [Name adjacent.]

33. Warmed, as leftovers: HEATED UP.

34. Arthur Miller's "Death of a __": SALESMAN.  Arthur Asher Miller (Oct. 17, 1915 ~ Feb. 10, 2005) wrote many, many plays, but is probably best known for his short marriage to Marilyn Monroe (June 1, 1926 ~ Aug. 4, 1962).  She was the second of his three wives.  [Name # 12.]

35. Strong coffee in a tiny cup: ESPRESSO.  Yummers!

37. Went round and round: ROTATED.

40. WNW's opposite: ESE.

41. Emergency letters: SOS.  This is becoming a crossword staple.

43. Fruit soda brand: FANTA.  [Name Adjacent.]

44. Pres. after FDR: HST.  Harry S Truman (May 8, 1884 ~ Dec. 26, 1972) was Vice-President until the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Jan. 30, 1882 ~ Apr. 12, 1945).  Roosevelt president to be elected for a 4th term.  Truman was his 3rd Vice-President.  His first Vice-President was John Nance (Nov. 22, 1868 ~ Nov. 7, 1967).  Nance served from 1933 until 1941, Roosevelt's first two terms.  Henry A Wallace (Oct. 7, 1888 ~ Mpv. 18, 1965) was Roosevelt second Vice-President.  He served from 1941 until 1945.  [Names # 13 and 14.]

45. __ de toilette: EAU.  Today's French lesson.  Everything you wanted to know about Water of the Toilette but didn't know to ask.

47. Some Parliament members: LORDS.

49. Dinner plate: DISH.

50. Did a garden chore: HOED.

54. Zero, in soccer: NIL.

55. Sheep call: BAA.

56. TV channel with election night coverage: CNN.  Cable News Network.

Here's the Grid:

חתולה

Thursday September 1, 2022 Hoang-Kim Vu, Jessica Zetzman

 

 

Silent Movie - The Card Game

Rabbit Rabbit.  Care to try your luck at cards?

Husband and wife team Hoang-Kim Vu and Jessica Zetzman are veteran constructors for the NYT and Vu has published here as recently as last Thursday.  But today is their first pairing on the Corner. and they have some new tricks up their sleeves.  We'd better start by calling 'em:

62A. With 66-Across, images played in silent films, and what one might use to play the games in the first parts of the answers to the starred clues?: TITLE.
66A. See 62-Across: CARDS.

Spreading their themers on the table, we quickly see the names of 4 films or videos that begin with the TITLE of a CARD game:

23A. *Channing Tatum film series featuring strippers: MAGIC MIKE. Bling wise this clue was not a good opening.   No trailer for this one, as I'm sure Merl Reagle would agree that a flick on male strippers wouldn't pass the Margaret Farrar "Sunday Morning Breakfast Test". 

OTOH, if you want to try your hand at Magic The Game, here's everything you need to know.

39A. *Martial arts series based on the writings of Bruce Lee: WARRIOR. Bruce Lee (Chinese: 李小龍; born Lee Jun-fan, 李振藩; November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973) was a Hong Kong and American martial artist, martial arts instructor, actor, director, screenwriter, producer, and philosopher. Here's the trailer for the 2019 TV series Warrior:

Here are the rules for WAR the card game.

28D. *Netflix series starring Adjoa Andoh as Lady Danbury: BRIDGERTON.  Bridgerton is an American historical-romance television series based on Julia Quinn's collection of novels.

We have a friend who's been trying to get us to learn the game of BRIDGE for years.  He sometimes lurks on the Corner.  Perhaps he'll stop buy and post some corrections to this "complete tutorial": "Learn How to Play Bridge" (in 16 minutes?):

31D. *Emmy-nominated miniseries about a woman leaving her Hasidic community: UNORTHODOX.  Unorthodox is a German-American drama television miniseries that debuted on Netflix on March 26, 2020. The first Netflix series to be primarily in Yiddish, it is inspired by Deborah Feldman's 2012 autobiography, Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots.  Here's the trailer:

Here are the rules for UNO the card game.

Here's the grid:

The following are the rest of our constructors' tricks:

Across:

1. Crushes it on the runway: SLAYS.  A bit of fashion hyperbole used only in the present tense.  You never hear "The model really SLEW them on the runway yesterday".  BTW this clue hath oft been used in crossword puzzles.

6. Disapproving sound: TSK.  Perhaps the politest way of expressing the increasingly widespread reaction to just about everything.

9. Wolf (down): SCARF.  "eat hastily," 1960, U.S. teen slang, originally a noun meaning "food, meal" (1932), perhaps imitative, or from nautical slang scoff "eat hastily or voraciously, devour" which is attested from 1846 (compare U.S. tramps slang scoffing "food, something to eat," 1907). This is said to be a variant of scaff (by 1797) in the same sense, and scaff (n.) "food, provisions" is attested from 1768, but the group is of obscure origin. Perhaps the word comes ultimately from some survival of Old English sceorfan "to gnaw, bite".  -  etymonline.com

14. __ butter: COCOA.

15. Med. condition with repetitive behavior: OCD.  Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.  Varying degrees of this disorder are common among cruciverbalists.

16. "Culture Warlords" author Lavin: TALIA.  Subtitled My Journey Into the Dark Web of White Supremacy.  She may have spent just a little too much time there.

17. Get straight: ALIGN.

18. Average: PAR.  A CSO to Husker, Boomer, and TTP.  Not that any of them are average mind you.

19. Discontinued Apple devices: IPODS.

20. Angry with: MAD AT.  Oh, for the good old days when MAD meant this.

21. 27-Down garment: BRA.  I'm sure they're worn on the island that's the namesake for 27D.

22. Toothpaste choice: CREST.

26. "Waterloo" singers: ABBA.  Oh goodie, music ...!

29. "Don't get any __!": IDEAS.  Isn't that what I'm supposed to do?

30. Bubbles: SUDS.  Common slang for brewed drinks such as ...
 

15 facts about Guinness

34. Milk container: CARTON.  And you can use the milk to make your Guinness even sudsier:
 

Guinness Punch
recipe

36. __ route: SCENIC.

38. Yale student: ELI.  Why they're called ELIS.

43. Artist Yoko: ONO.  Well before her famous partnership with John Lennon, Yoko Ono was the "High Priestess of the Happening" and a pioneer in performance art. Drawing from an array of sources from Zen Buddhism to Dada, her pieces were some of the movement's earliest and most daring. With unprecedented radicalism, she rejected the idea that an artwork must be a material object.

Yoko Ono

44. Finished: DID IN.  The past tense of do in.

46. Set out of bounds: BAN.

47. Hawkeye projectile: ARROW.  The clue and the fill connote the sagas of the French and Indian War, immortalized in James Fenimore Cooper's novel The Last of the Mohicans, popularized in the 1992 film starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Madeline Stowe.  A minor nit is that while Nathaniel "Hawkeye" Poe was probably proficient with a bow and arrow, his weapon of choice was a "Killdeer" rifle not a bow and arrow.  Here's the trailer:

49. Baseball VIPs: GMS.  Even more important than the General Managers are the Owners.  Apparently a dispute has broken out in the Orioles organization among two sons of long-time owner Peter Angelos over the future of the team, raising the possibility of selling or moving it.  This is scary.

50. [shrug emoji]: IDK.  I Don't Know.  This immediately reminded me of a story by a priest I used to know.  He was describing questions his elementary school students used to try to trick him, e.g. "Father, can God make a rock so big that he can't pick it up?".  The priest paused for few seconds, and then shrugged "I don't know🤷".  But as this was before MS Windows, it looked more like this "¯\_(ツ)_/¯".

51. Nov. honoree: VET.  Veterans Day is always on November 11 so the day of the week changes each year.  Here is a calendar and a history of this day that we should always remember.

52. Sub (for): STEP IN.  Another CSO to Husker.

55. Collect: GATHER.

58. Lawn care tool: AERATOR.  Every thing you'd ever want to know about lawn AERATORS.

60. Upshot: OUTCOME.

61. Body art: TATS.  Plural to clecho 42D.

64. God of war: ODIN.  Hand up if you expected MARS or ARES?  ODIN is the Norse god of war, aka WOTAN in German. Here's Wotan singing a touching farewell ("Abschied") to his disobedient  daughter Brunhilde, one of the Valkyries in Wagner's Die Walküre.  She has fallen from grace and is now banished from Valhalla to spend the remainder of her days on Earth as a mortal.  Teri and I saw this very same performance years ago sung by bass James Morris, a Baltimore native and protégé of  the great Rosa Ponselle (lyrics).   The soprano was Hildegard Behrens.  A CSO to opera lovers Jayce and Ol' Man Keith.

65. God of love: EROS. The Norse goddess of Love was FREYJA, who also makes brief appearances in Wagner's The Ring of the Niebelung:

Freyja
John Doyle Penrose
(May 9, 1862 – January 2, 1932)

67. Take down: NOTE.
 
68. "Auld Lang __": SYNE.  We'll be singing this before you know it.  This version has ALL of the lyrics:

69. Helen who was the first actress to achieve the EGOT: HAYES.  Helen Hayes MacArthur (née Brown; October 10, 1900 – March 17, 1993) was an American actress whose career spanned 80 years. She eventually received the nickname "First Lady of American Theatre" and was the second person and first woman who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony Award (an EGOT). She was also the first person to win the Triple Crown of Acting; as of December 2020, the only other person to have accomplished both is Rita Moreno.

Helen Hayes

70. Austin festival, briefly: SXSW.  South X SouthWest Festival.  Hand up from anyone who's been to it?
 
Down:

1. Con: SCAM.

2. Kinks woman with "a dark brown voice": LOLA.  The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, north London, in 1963 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s.  LOLA wasn't the only song they wrote.  Here's their SUNNY AFTERNOON:

3. Corrosive chemical: ACID. 

4. Studio rollout?: YOGA MAT.  A CSO to Lucina.

5. Nick name?: SANTA.  How Saint Nicholas became Santa Claus.
 

6. Auction winner, probably: TOP BID.  In addition to Antiques Roadshow  the BBC had a long running comedy series (1986 - 1984) called Lovejoy about an antiques dealer extraordinaire.  Lovejoy was a "divinator" with a second sense that immediately told him not to BID on an antique that was fake.   Played by actor Ian McShane, Lovejoy did however occasionally fake antiques himself, as he was an all-around  rogue.  In Series 1 Episode 1 he first meets his friend Lady Jane Felsam, played by Phyllis Logan.  You may remember Phyllis for her later role as Mrs Hughes in Downton Abbey:

7. In short supply: SCARCE.

8. TV series from Seoul, e.g.: K DRAMA.  As  Korean dramas (Korean: 한국 드라마; RR: Hanguk deurama), more popularly known as K-dramas, are television series in the Korean language, made in South Korea. They are popular worldwide, especially in Asia, partially due to the spread of Korean popular culture (the "Korean Wave"), and their widespread availability via streaming services which often offer subtitles in multiple languages

9. Selfie __: STICK.  In ancient Greek times they were called Narcissus Sticks.

10. Insalata of tomato, mozzarella, and basil: CAPRESE.  See the clue for the recipe.

11. Sunburn treatment: ALOE.  Very popular with constructors because of its VTCR of 75%.  Suntan lotion is much better though.  Not only does it prevent sunburn, but skin cancer as well.

12. Purges (of): RIDS.

13. Lickety-split: FAST.

24. Rodriguez of "Jane the Virgin": GINA.  Gina Alexis Rodriguez-LoCicero (née Rodriguez; born July 30, 1984) is an American actress. She is known for her leading role as Jane Villanueva in  satirical romantic dramedy series Jane the Virgin (2014–2019), for which she received a Golden Globe Award in 2015.

Gina Rodriguez

25. Playground comeback: IS SO.  IS NOT.

26. Served past: ACED.

27. Lingerie brand: BALI.  See 21A for one of their products.  And here's their eponymous island in the Indonesian archipelago:

Bali

32. T. rex, e.g.: DINO.  I think this may be a mistake.  I'm pretty sure DINO was a Snorkasaurus.
 

Dino

33. Freight boat: SCOW.  A scow is a small type of barge. Some scows are rigged as sailing scows. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, scows carried cargo in coastal waters and inland waterways, having an advantage for navigating shallow water or small harbors.  A CSO to Jinx.
 

Sailing Scow
New Zealand, circa 1900

35. Takes responsibility for: OWNS IT.

37. Ascot kin: CRAVAT.  What's the difference between an ASCOT and a CRAVAT?   OTOH this reference doesn't think it's that simple.

40. Result of a bases-loaded walk, for short: RBI.  Run Batted In, even though it wasn't batted in.

41. "Tubular!": RAD.  Surf culture slang for cool or awesome, derived from catching a wave and getting in the "tube".

42. Body art: INK.  Singular of clecho 61A.

45. Stalemate: IMPASSE.

48. Updates the backstory to accommodate new material, for short: RETCONS.  Retroactive continuity, or retcon for short, is a literary device in which established diegetic facts in the plot of a fictional work (those established through the narrative itself) are adjusted, ignored, supplemented, or contradicted by a subsequently published work which recontextualizes or breaks continuity with the former. [Hey,  I'm not making this up!]

52. Provides enough: SATES.  IMHO it may be impossible to SATE cruciverbalists.

53. Emotional: TEARY.

54. V-shaped cut: NOTCH.  A versatile word, e.g. a mountain pass, a degree of change,  a position, etc..

55. Speculate: GUESS.  Hand up if you had to speculate about any of today's fill?

56. Radiates: EMITS. 

57. Extend, in a way: RENEW.

59. Gold-certifying org.:  RIAA.  The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization formed in 1952 that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/or distribute approximately 85% of all legally sold recorded music in the United States". RIAA is headquartered in Washington, D.C.  I was 5 years old when they got their start, and they promptly pulled the plug on my business pushing bootlegged 78's.

60. Shoppe descriptor: OLDE.

63. Tackle: TRY.  I'm too tuckered out to tackle this one.

waseeley

And thanks as always to Teri for her proofreading and constructive suggestions.

Hoang-Kim Vu & Jessica Zetzman, 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.

Cheers,

Bill