Friday, October 24, 2025 - Katherine Baicker and Laura Dershewitz

 Theme: Where's _aldo?

Puzzling thoughts:

Well, this one didn't cause the Chairman to do shots at a bar, but it did take a while to figure out where (and why) the dubyas went.  When you examine the grid, you see that two of them exited as a homophone (WRAP and WHOLE) and the other two exited to fulfill the play-on-words, (WHIP and WHEELS) as these two use the "W" sound

The "reveal" can be parsed two different ways but I think the constructors were referring to this one: 

60-across. Accept victory, however dubious, and a hint to 17-, 24-, 37-, and 52-Across: TAKE THE W IN.  Taking the W in (or from) the highlighted letters (see grid below) support the odd clues. However, if you add a W to the highlighted letters (see grid below) the four entries take on a much different meaning - and are actually the names of a brand of salad dressing (Miracle Whip), a type of packaging material (Shrink Wrap), the start of a refrain from a kid's song (Wheels on the Bus), and a very expensive grocery store (Whole Foods)

It is a clever concept and puzzle, but the reveal seems a bit of a stretch.  I almost feel as if I wanted a fifth entry with both a whacky clue and answer that followed the vanishing double-u

Oh well.  Maybe next time!  Here are the four entries:

17-across. Replacement joint that's even better than new?: MIRACLE HIP.

24-across. Linguistic battle between psychologists?: SHRINK RAP.

37-across. Jerks riding public transit?: HEELS ON THE BUS.

52-across. Donuts, bagels, et al.?: HOLE FOODS.

So, Moe, if you were adding a fifth entry to this puzzle, what might it have been?

"What Hawaiian greeters do with a lei to an unruly visitor?": RING HIS NECK

For the record, I thought all of the entry clues were hilarious 

Here is the grid:

Across:
1. Many Chi-town homes: APTS.  There are some crossword puzzle editors who insist the word in 1-across be a complete word, not an abbreviation - this puzzle has nearly a dozen abbr's, if you are also counting contractions

5. Sore with: MAD AT.  Having an abbreviated first word in the puzzle??? 😂😉

10. Sleep under the stars: CAMP.  "What groupies do" was too long to fit into this space (re-read the clue!)

14. Grab and go?: LOOT.  Clever clue

15. 14th century Russian ruler: IVAN I. Aka, Ivan Moneybags

16. Not even close: AFAR.  "Cold" could fit, yes?

[theme entry]

19. __ Reader: UTNE.  "Read all about it!"

20. Common lease period for 1-Across: ONE YEAR.  Two-year also fits (without the hyphen, of course)

21. Support column: PILE.  This is what my co-pilot says:

23. Journalist Lesley: STAHL.  She, along with Walter Cronkite, provided the news in a very unbiased manner for CBS - I hear that they (CBS) are trying to revert back to that position with their newly appointed news editor in chief

[theme entry]

29. Location of une bouche: TETE.  Tête

30. Actor Bridges: BEAU.  

31. Safe havens: ASYLA.

32. Color TV pioneer: RCA.  Three-letter and an abbreviation

34. Informed Delivery org.: USPS.  United States Postal Service

36. Ref. that added "horror show" in 2024: OED.  Oxford English Dictionary

[theme entry]

41. Novelty lips stuff: WAX.  These? 42. "__ it obvious?": ISN'T.

43. Clinch: ICE.  Friday worthy clue

44. Marshmallow spread: FLUFF.

46. Bluish green: TEAL. <== this was as close as I could come

48. Howard, for one: Abbr.: HBCU.  Historically Black College or University

[theme entry]

54. "Oppenheimer" director: NOLAN.  Looks a bit like Alec Baldwin here

55. Word with stress, or a common source of stress: TEST.

56. One who might take a stand: WITNESS.  Can I get a Witness?  (2:15 through 2:35, but listen to it all)

58. Like some contracts: ORAL.  Unlike some toothbrushes that are ORAL B

[reveals the theme]

63. "La Brea" actress Skye: IONE.  

64. Dark doings: EVILS.

65. Tech company that owns the Chinese microblogging app Weibo: SINA.  Are there any Weibo followers here?  Not I

66. Fantasy franchise letters: LOTR.  Lord Of The Rings

67. Answer: REPLY.

68. Firebird roof option: T-TOP.

Down:
1. Nearly: ALMOST.  Here is a trailer to a movie with the word "Almost" in it

2. Ballet class: POINTE.

  

I hope Splynter doesn't sue me for showing some "leg" 😀

3. Attempted to rip open: TORE AT.  When I looked at crosswordtracker.com to see the frequency of the use of this phrase, the last 5 venues to accept it were LA Times Crossword - must be a favorite expression for Patti

4. "Don't leave!": STAY HERE.  From what I am told, the length of a Minnesota "goodbye" is measured in hours (or even days), not minutes ... 

5. Actress Kunis: MILA.  Her IMDB page

6. Unwilling (to): AVERSE. Moe-ku:

        You think the Chairman

        Dislikes other's poetry?

        I am not AVERSE 

7. Mark longer than a dit: DAH.  As in Morse Code characters ... the "dit" represents the dot, and the dah represents the dash

8. Padm 's beloved: ANI.  First off, the clue refers to a character in Star Wars - Padmé Amidala.  Don't follow Star Wars?  You're SOL, because you're likely then to not know that she was married to Anakin Skywalker (Ani is his nickname) and is the mother of both Luke Skywalker and his sister Leia

9. Hedren of "The Birds": TIPPI.  Quite the cast of actors

10. Doesn't let anything fall through the cracks?: CAULKS.  Hah Hah.  Moe-ku:

        "Home Alone" actor's

        Nickname inspires plumbers:

        Macaulay CAULKS-in

        

11. "Please, go first": AFTER YOU.  Just being polite

12. Guy: MAN. 

13. Start to check?: PRE-. If pre means before (as in pre-check), and post means after (as in post-script), what would it mean if both of these were used together? Why, it would be pre-post-erous 

18. Goofy frame: CEL.

22. "Be right there!": IN A SEC.

25. Plagued: HAUNTED.  Halloween is coming soon

26. Sign of aging: RUST.  As in rust bucket 

27. Drafts that are lighter than stouts: ALES.

28. Sketchy area?: PAD.

30. Striped __: BASS.  In the Cheasapeake Bay, these swimmers are known as Rockfish

33. Precipitous drops: CLIFFS.  Moe-ku:

        Book report grade took

        Precipitous drop. Teacher

        Found I used CLIFFS Notes

35. Alpine skier Mahre who won 27 World Cup races: PHIL.

37. Virtuous circle: HALO.

38. Thrilled: EXULTANT.

I suppose I can accept "thrilled" as a synonym (adj.)

39. Glom __: ONTO.  Seems to be a British phrase

40. "I can handle the truth!": BE HONEST.  

41. Skip the daily commute, for short: WFH.  [sigh] It seems that there is a text shortcut for everything these days ... Work From Home

45. Tentative inquiry: FEELER.  Moe-ku:

        Crustaceans would make 

        Great detectives. They're equipped

        With many FEELERs

47. Too: AS WELL.

49. Choked: BLEW IT.  Back when Europe actually lost the Ryder Cup (on American soil) this was known as one of the all-time choke jobs ... Langer would go on to become the most winning golfer on the Senior/Champions PGA Tour, and still regularly shoots a score lower than his age (68) for 18 holes.  The Chairman regularly shoots 68 or lower when golfing, but then has to play the remaining 5 or 6 holes

50. Sin City attraction: CASINO.  Sin City = Lost Wages, NV

51. Open up: UNSNAP.  I wonder how many takes that scene took?? 😀

53. Marine scamp: OTTER.

54. Some degree: NTH.  BFA fits, yes?

57. Teeny: ITSY. 

 

58. Frying need: OIL.  Make mine extra virgin olive

59. Kanga's kid: ROO.  Milne character

61. St. crosser: AVE.  BLVD was too wide to fit

62. Currency of Laos: KIP.  Do you remember how I felt about the clue/answer for 1-across?  No different for 62-down.  All perps

See you next month 

Thursday, July 24, 2025, Katherine Baicker, Laura Dershewitz

Theme:  It's just your imagination.

Constructors Katherine Baicker and Laura Dershewitz have entertained us here before, together, separately, and with other co-constructors.  Today they make us stop and wonder whether it's all been real, or just our imagination.

The theme clues and answers, placed symmetrically in the grid, are:

20-Across. Spot where parallel lines appear to converge: VANISHING POINT.

33-Across. Sensation experienced after a long day of sewing: PHANTOM THREAD.  Seamstresses sometimes go home and still feel the sensation of a thread between their fingers.

42-Across. Erroneous result on a medical test: FALSE POSITIVE.

57-Across. Snide dismissal, and what can be said about 20-, 33-, and 42-Across?: THAT'S NOT A THING.  Current slang for “that's not real/true” or “that doesn't happen.”

In every case, we see or feel evidence of something that is not real.  But you know what is real?  We have 132 other mysteries to solve!  Here they come.

Across:

1. Move with a hop and a step: SKIP.

5. Circle dances: HORAS.  Not just a Jewish dance enjoyed at weddings and b'nai mitzvah celebrations, variants of the hora (called hora or oro) have folks holding hands and moving in circles in Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Turkey, and elsewhere.

10. Tendril: WISP.  While a tendril is part of a climbing plant, and a wisp is any little thin mass, both words can be used to describe strands of hair that fall away from the main mass of hair on the head.  It's a thing.

Hayden Panettiere with straight wisps, and Chloe Sevigny with tendrils.

14. Office assistant: AIDE.

15. Maker of a Breakout hit: ATARI.

16. Poker buy-in: ANTE.

17. One past 12?: TEEN.

18. Name, in Latin: NOMEN.  From which we have the English nomenclature, the devising or choosing of names for things, especially in a science or other discipline.

19. Money mgrs.: CFOs.  Chief Financial Officers.

20. [Theme clue]

23. Green prefix: ECO.

24. Protected: SAFE.

25. Electric creature: EEL.

26. Knucklehead: OAF.

29. Yale student: ELI.  A nickname derived from Elihu Yale, the primary benefactor of  Yale University.

31. Vague threat: OR ELSE.

33. [Theme clue]

37. Root in tropical cuisine: TARO.

38. __ juice: MOO.  A cutesy way of saying "milk."

39. Backyard spot that's shovel-ready?: SHED.  It's ready to store your shovel.

42. [Theme clue]

47. Work together: TEAM UP.

49. "I don't trust stairs because they're always up to something," e.g.: PUN.  MalMan!  Have you used this one?

50. Number of fielders in slow-pitch softball: TEN.  Did Not Know.

51. Old tape dispenser?: VCR.  Video Cassette Recorder.

52. Animated pics: GIFs.  The Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) is a bitmap image format developed by a team at CompuServe and released in 1987.  Usage of the format has declined, often being replaced with newer formats such as PNG for static images and MP4 for videos.

This GIF is a real Thriller.

55. "Eww!": ICK.

57. [Theme clue]

62. Home of the "American Gothic" house: IOWA.

American Gothic is a 1930 oil painting by Grant Wood.

63. Avis rival: ALAMO.  Car rental companies.

64. __ contendere: NOLO.  "Nolo contendere" is a Latin term meaning "I do not wish to contend" or "no contest."  In a legal context, it's a plea in a criminal case where the defendant doesn't admit guilt but accepts the consequences of a conviction.  It's often used when a defendant wants to avoid the implications of a guilty plea in potential future civil lawsuits.  Remember in 1973 when Vice President Spiro Agnew pleaded nolo contendere to a felony charge of tax evasion?  As part of the plea bargain, he resigned from office, was fined $10,000, and sentenced to three years of unsupervised probation. 

66. Average in math class?: MEAN.

67. Pipe alternative: CIGAR.

A little play on The Treachery of Images by René Magritte.

68. Picked, as a Scrabble tile: DREW.

69. Sherbet brand: EDY'S.  Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream makes Dreyer's brand frozen desserts for the Western US market, and Edy's brand for the Eastern and Midwestern US, so named to avoid confusion with Breyer's ice cream in those regions.  Nestlé acquired Dreyer's in 2007, and in 2020, Nestlé sold all its US ice cream businesses to Froneri, the global ice cream manufacturer that Nestlé co-owns with PAI Partners.  Big business!

70. Party throwers: HOSTS.

71. "You said it!": AMEN.

Down:

1. Didn't play: SAT.

2. Chicken __: KIEV.  Chicken Kiev is chicken fillet, pounded and rolled around garlic butter and parsley, coated with egg and bread crumbs, and then fried or baked.

3. "Eureka!" elicitor: IDEA.  "Eureka" (Ancient Greek for "I have found it") is an exclamation used to celebrate a discovery or invention. It is attributed to Archimedes, who stepped into a bath and noticed that the water level rose, whereupon he understood that the volume of water displaced must be equal to the volume of the part of his body he had submerged.  He was so excited that he forgot to dress and ran naked in the streets yelling "Eureka!"

Archimedes has a revelation.

4. Pasta with angled ends: PENNE.

5. Longtime Harrison Ford role: HAN SOLO.

6. Texter's equivocation: OTOH.  On The Other Hand.

7. "Ghostbusters" actor Harold: RAMIS.

Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis

8. The Eras Tour venue: ARENA.  Taylor Swift's fans filled large arenas on her recent "Eras" tour.

9. Entertain, in a way: SING FOR.

10. Baylor University home: WACO.  Baylor University is a private Baptist university in Waco, Texas.  It was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas.

11. Dribbler that gets a batter on base, e.g.: INFIELD HIT.  An infield hit in baseball is when a batter hits the ball within the infield and safely reaches first base without the defense making an error that allows him to advance. It's typically a slow-rolling ground ball or a ball that is hit with enough speed to reach the infield but not the outfield, and the batter is able to beat the throw to first base. 

12. Cairn elements: STONES.  A cairn is a human-made pile of stones, typically used as a marker, a memorial, or a burial mound. 

13. Mortar's companion: PESTLE.

The pestle is gripped and used to grind items in the mortar.

21. "Rhyme Pays" rapper: ICE-T.  You may know him from his acting role on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

Tracy Marrow AKA Ice-T

22. Napoleon's father: PÈRE.  Père is French for "father."  It's not Napoleon's father's name.

26. Stop waffling: OPT.  Choose!  Decide!  Pick one!  

27. "Eureka!": AHA.  See explanation at 3-Down for Archimedes's "aha!" moment.

28. Like the galaxy from which 5-Down hails: FAR, FAR AWAY.  Harrison Ford played the character Han Solo in the Star Wars movies, which take place in a galaxy far, far away.

30. "Gotta do my thing!": I'M ME.

You do you.

32. All-Star side: EAST.  In the MLB All-Star Game, the National League represents the "East" side, facing the American League (AL).  In the traditional NBA All-Star Game format, the Eastern Conference All-Stars play against the Western Conference All-Stars.  

34. Linguist Chomsky: NOAM.

35. Blouse: TOP.

36. Stud alternative: HOOP.  Earring styles.

Hoop with dangle, regular hoop, stud.

40. Night before: EVE.

41. Cozy spot for 47-Down: DEN.

43. Hauls with effort: LUGS.

44. Ingredient in a Florentine dish: SPINACH.  Chicken Florentine, Pasta Florentine, Eggs Florentine ... apparently people in Florence, Italy, love spinach.

45. Beaus: SUITORS.

46. Yardstick division: INCH.

47. Period between homework and dinner, for some kids: TV TIME.

48. Made a comeback: ECHOED.

53. Shakespearean volume: FOLIO.

54. Antlered deer: STAGS.

56. Ish: KINDA.

58. Catches some rays: TANS.

59. Amo, amas, __: AMAT.  We had Greek earlier, so it's time for Latin:  "I love, you love, he/she/it loves."

60. Par for the course: NORM.

61. Delight: GLEE.

65. BYOB part: OWN.  Bring Your Own Beverage/Bottle/Booze/Beer.

Here's the grid:

Did you SKIP all the way to Finish It Right?

Was that a SOLO effort, or did you TEAM UP to solve the puzzle?

Or did you finally come close, but no CIGAR?

Let us know in the comments!

-- NaomiZ

Wednesday, October 23, 2024 Laura Dershewitz

Theme:  You're putting me on.  And me, too; where, as we shall soon see, one garment is worn over another garment. 

17 A. Put in the fridge to warm up: DEFROSTED, as from the freezer,  and --
20 A. Common laundry no-show: SOCK,  a piece of clothing worn on the foot and often covering the ankle or some part of the calf.   Sometimes lost in the wash.

But the target word here is FROCK,  an unfitted, comfortable garment for wear in the house, or (later) a light overdress worn with a slip or underdress. 

19 A. Bistros: CAFES for casual dining, and --

23 A. Lose on purpose: TANK, make no effort to win.

Here we are looking for a CAFTAN,  often worn as a coat or as an overdress, usually having long sleeves and reaching to the ankles.

56 A. Legendary Arthur: ASHE.  Arthur Robert Ashe Jr. [1943-1993] was an American professional tennis player. He won three Grand Slam titles in singles and two in doubles. Ashe was the first black player selected to the United States Davis Cup team, and the only black man ever to win the singles titles at Wimbledon, the US Open, and the Australian Open, and --

62 A. Shrubby landscape: HEATH,  an area of open uncultivated land, especially in Britain, with characteristic vegetation of heather, gorse, and coarse grasses.

This item is a SHEATH.  Sheath dresses fit tightly from bodice to hem, and emphasize the shape of an hourglass figure, while shift dresses [vide infra] are shapeless and conceal the body shape.

61 A. Like Puss in Boots: SHOD, wearing shoes, and --

64 A. Delivered by plane, as emergency supplies: AIRLIFTED, as defined.

 A SHIFT is a dress in which the cloth falls straight from the shoulders and has darts around the bust. It frequently features a high scoop or boat neck. 

And the unifier - 39 A. Autumn-weather advice for staying comfortable, or a description of each set of circled letters: DRESS IN LAYERS.  Perhaps wear an undershirt, overshirt, sweater and jacket.  If you get too warm, you can remove a layer. 

 Or just don one of the layerable garments described above.  I suppose for some of these, the layering is implied, or even optional.  But we'll just let that go.

Hi, Gang, it's JazzBumpa here in the dressing room.  Since the theme clues each span a pair of across lines, I had to layer these clues to dress this puzzle up properly.  Hope you got the circles, or this material would be hard to see through.  Let's find out what other fashions Laura has designed for us

Across:

1. Pre-weekend shout: TGIF.  Thank [Deity of your choice] it's Friday.

5. Spot for a hoop: LOBE.  Ear ring location

9. Subsided: EBBED.   Receded or declined.

14. Pro __: gratis: BONO.   Pro bono is a Latin phrase that means "for the public good" and refers to professional work done voluntarily and without payment.

15. Unanswered, as a question: OPEN.   Refers to a matter or problem that is being discussed but to which the answer is not yet known.

16. Eternal City fountain: TREVI.  The Trevi Fountain is an 18th-century fountain in the Trevi district in Rome, Italy, designed by Italian architect Nicola Salvi and completed by Giuseppe Pannini in 1762.

A Guide to the Fountain

21. Puny pencil: STUB.  Writing remnant.

24. Word with green or silver: SCREEN.  A green screen is a large green backdrop that makes it possible to add any background to the subject of your photo or video.  Cf 10 D. "Silver screen" is a term that refers to the movie industry or to a type of projection screen used in early film:

26. Hall of Fame coach Summitt: PAT.   Patricia Susan Summitt was an American women's college basketball head coach and college basketball player. As a coach at the University of Tennessee, she acquired 1,098 career wins, the most in college basketball history at the time of her retirement.

28. Part of 1-Across: IT'S.   It is.  But, alas,  now it's only Wednesday.  And I have 2 [!] rehearsals tonight.

29. Fluffy dog, familiarly: POM.  The Pomeranian is a breed of dog of the Spitz type that is named for the Pomerania region in north-west Poland and north-east Germany in Central Europe. Classed as a toy dog breed because of its small size, the Pomeranian is descended from larger Spitz-type dogs, specifically the German Spitz.

30. Stag or doe: DEER.   A deer or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae. Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae and Capreolinae. Male deer of almost all species, as well as female reindeer, grow and shed new antlers each year.

33. Burns a bit: CHARS.   Partially burn an object so as to blacken its surface.

35. Rode an enchanted broomstick, maybe: FLEW.  Move or be hurled quickly through the air, no matter witch way.

37. Tow truck: WRECKER.  Slangy mis-application of the word.

43. "Soup's on!": LET'S EAT.  It's meal time. 

44. Scene scenes: SETS.   Arrangements of props and other background items in a segment of a movie or play.

46. D.C. subway: METRO.   Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT) or heavy rail, commonly referred to as metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport that is generally built in urban areas. 

48. "Remixing Since Forever" ice cream brand: EDY'S.   Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream, Inc., is an American ice cream company, founded in 1928 in Oakland, California. The company's two signature brands, Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream and Edy's Grand Ice Cream, are named after its founders, William Dreyer and Joseph Edy

50. Blubber: CRY.  Weep, sob.

51. Student carrier: BUS.  A large motor vehicle carrying passengers by road, typically one serving the public on a fixed route and for a fare.

52. French pal: AMI.  Literal

54. Garlicky sauces: AIOLIS.  A mayonnaise flavored with garlic and sometimes other ingredients, such as red pepper.

58. First name in jazz: ETTA.   Jamesetta Hawkins [1938-2012] known professionally as Etta James, was an American singer and songwriter who performed in various genres, including gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, rock and roll, and soul.

67. Luminous vibes: AURAE.  In spiritualism and some forms of alternative medicine, a supposed emanation surrounding the body of a living creature and regarded as an essential part of the individual.

68. "U slay me!": LMAO.  Laughing My Appendages* Off.  
* So to speak.

69. "Actually, I disagree": UH--NO.  Nope!

70. Hint at: IMPLY.  Strongly suggest the truth or existence of something not expressly stated.

71. Site built with two cents?: YELP.   Yelp Inc. is an American company that develops the Yelp.com website and the Yelp mobile app, which publishes crowd-sourced reviews about businesses. It also operates Yelp Guest Manager, a table reservation service. It is headquartered in San Francisco.  Unless the clue is referring to users putting in their 2 cents worth, I don't know what it means.

72. Ping-Pong table dividers: NETS.  A six inch high mesh barrier that separates a ping pong table into two equal halves: 

Down:

1. Sked abbr.: TBD.  To be determined, referring to an item in a schedule,

2. Offers no more clues, as a trail: GOES COLD.  Becomes ineffective or unproductive,

3. Snitch: INFORMER.  A person who informs on another person to the police or other authority.  Tattle tale.

4. Compel: FORCE.  Oblige someone to do something, regardless of their willingness.

5. __ Angeles Sparks: LOS.   The Los Angeles Sparks are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Sparks compete in the Women's National Basketball Association as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The team was founded before the league's inaugural 1997 season began. 

6. Declines, with "out": OPTS.  Chooses not to participate in something.

7. Vegetable used in some red dyes: BEET.    The edible dark red spherical root of a a herbaceous plant, eaten as a vegetable.

8. Become, eventually: END UP.   To reach or come to a place, condition, or situation that was not planned or expected.

9. "And more" abbr.: ETC.  Abbreviation for et cetera: and other similar things. It is used to avoid giving a complete list.

10. 2024 Charli XCX hit album whose cover became a meme: BRAT.    Charlotte Emma Aitchison [b. 1992] known professionally as Charli XCX, is an English singer and songwriter. Born in Cambridge and raised in Start Hill, Essex, she began posting songs on Myspace in 2008, which led to her discovery by a promoter who invited her to perform at warehouse raves.   Charli XCX "Brat" Cover Parodies refers to exploitable edits of English singer and songwriter Charli XCX's sixth studio album cover, known as brat. The cover features a vibrant lime-green background with the title "brat" disproportionately imposed on it, which received some criticism in February 2024 but was later turned into a source for green-screen edits and memes, as the cover could be easily photoshopped and parodied on social media by fans of the singer and also several companies, especially in Brazil.

Full Album

11. "No playing favorites!": BE FAIR.  Impartial and just, without favoritism or discrimination.

12. Happenings: EVENTS.  Planned public or social occasions.

13. Hockey pucks, e.g.: DISKS. Flat, thin, round objects.

18. Approved: OKED.  As defined

22. "Likewise," informally: BACK AT YA.    Whatever you just said to the person saying it, that person is saying the same thing back to you.

24. Letters on a Coppertone bottle: SPF.  Solar Protection Factor.  A sunscreen’s SPF is a measure of how many harmful ultraviolet rays it absorbs or reflects away from your skin.  Must be reapplied ever couple of hours.

25. "I had no idea!": NEWS TO ME.  Said of newly received knowledge.

27. Nonbinary pronoun: THEY.   Non-binary pronouns are pronouns that are not gender specific and are often used by people who identify outside of the gender binary. The most common non-binary pronouns are "they/them/their". 

31. Greek goddess of discord: ERIS.   Eris is the goddess of strife, discord, and rivalry. She is known for starting the Trojan War by throwing a golden apple inscribed "For the most beautiful" among the guests at the wedding of Peleus and Thetis. Eris was not invited to the wedding, and her actions led to a quarrel among the goddesses. Her Roman equivalent is Discordia.

32. Soprano Fleming: RENEE.  Renée Lynn Fleming [b. 1959] is an American soprano and actress, known for performances in opera, concerts, recordings, theater, film, and at major public occasions. A recipient of the National Medal of Arts, Fleming has been nominated for 18 Grammy Awards and has won five times. 

34. Greek god of war: ARES.   Ares was the ancient Greek god of war or, more properly, the spirit of battle. He represented the distasteful aspects of brutal warfare and slaughter. Ares was never very popular, and his worship was not extensive in Greece.

36. Allergic reaction, perhaps: WELT.   A raised red mark on the skin where something has hit or rubbed you, or from an allergic reaction.

38. Not naked: CLAD.  Clothed or covered.  Cf 41 A/

40. Lab liquids: SERA.    Liquids that are injected into someone's blood to protect them against a poison or disease, or the the watery, pale yellow part of blood.

41. Provide with a wardrobe change: RECLOTHE.  Provide a change of clothing.

42. Loud and grating: STRIDENT.  Said of a harsh voice or sound.

45. Pt. of GPS: SYStem.  

46. Art house?: MUSEUM.  Typically, a movie theater that specializes in films that are artistic or experimental rather than merely entertaining.  But here - a more literal meaning of a building that houses works of art.

47. F equivalent, in music: E SHARP.  Note that are spelt differently, but sound the same are known as enharmonic equivalents.  

49. "Absolutamente!": SI,SI.  Enthusiastic affirmation.

51. Faith whose oldest standing temple is in Wilmette, Illinois: BAHAI.   A monotheistic religion founded in the 19th century as a development of Babism, emphasizing the essential oneness of humankind and of all religions and seeking world peace. The Baha'i faith was founded by the Persian Baha'ullah (1817–92) and his son Abdul Baha (1844–1921).   Babism isa religion founded in 1844 by the Persian Mirza Ali Muhammad of Shiraz (1819–50) who taught that a new prophet would follow Muhammad.

53. Home of the Eternal City: ITALY.  Rome, of course.

55. "Riveting," sarcastically: OH, FUN.  Might be spoken through gritted teeth.

57. "And others" abbr.: ET. AL.  Like ETC [Cf 9 A] but used when the list is of people, such as co-authors, rather than things.

59. Clock display: TIME.  The current hours and minutes.  Will you come back for seconds?

60. North __ Sea: Kazakh lake: ARAL.  The Aral Sea was an endorheic lake lying between Kazakhstan to its north and Uzbekistan to its south, which began shrinking in the 1960s and largely dried up by the 2010s. 

63. Cry for attention?: HEY.   Pay attention, now!

65. Prune: LOP.  Cut off or prune, as branches.

66. Uno y uno: DOS.  Zwie, kettő, deux, två, two, in any language.

Well, that wraps up [so to speak] another Wednesday.  Hope you are enjoying your autumn.  Don't forget to layer up.

Cool regards!

JzB