Thursday, December 5th 2019 Mark McClain

Theme: Dog Show

17A. *Line never spoken by James Cagney: YOU DIRTY RAT! Well, "you dirty yellow-bellied rat" comes close. c.f. "Play it again, Sam".

23A. *Rock pile at a prehistoric gravesite: BURIAL CAIRN. There are some fine cairns, none prehistoric, in my neighborhood at the tree near the top of Mount Lee, better known as the "Hollywood Sign" hill. I hope there aren't bodies buried underneath. We used to picnic and play on Stonehenge before everyone got serious about the stones. Not cairns, I know, but happy memories of climbing a sarsen stone or two.

40A. *Like Juárez, vis-à-vis El Paso: ACROSS THE BORDER

50A. *Far-fetched, as a story: COCK AND BULL. There are arguments aplenty about the origin of this phrase, most involving two inns on the coaching route from the Midlands to London. However, it's difficult to argue that these lines from John Day's 1608 play Law Trickes were not the first usage - "What a tale of a cock and a bull he told my father".

Which brings us to the, quite frankly, inexplicable reveal:

64A. "__, Batman!": Robin's cry upon spotting the ends of the answers to starred clues?: HOLY TERRIER

So ... we've got four dog breeds which happen to be terriers - fair enough, so far. Now how to tie them together? How about an entry which has TERRIER in it, and has nothing to do with anything else in the puzzle, neither was the phrase ever used in the comic books, nor the TV shows nor the movie series?

I'm completely baffled by this one. I can't see a play on words with "HOLY", there's nothing to tie "YOU DIRTY", "BURIAL", "ACROSS THE" and "COCK AND" to each other. It's totally random. Honestly, this is "*Far-fetched, as a crossword theme" as you can get.

Maybe "YOU DIRTY RAT" was meant to clue us into the reveal was a line never spoken? Or was it all just COCK AND BULL?

There is plenty else to like though, I just wish Mark and/or Rich had been able to come up with a better reveal, or even go with no reveal at all and just find a substitute for that awful 64A.

That being said, let's see what else we've got, and please, if I'm missing the blindingly obvious, let me know via the comments.

Across:

1. Distillery mixture: MASH. Tried BRAN. Was wrong. Always good to get off on the wrong foot.

5. The Flyers' Gritty, e.g.: MASCOT. He's got about as much to do with Philadelphia and hockey as "HOLY TERRIERS!" Maybe this is the theme?

11. Poke fun at: RIB

14. __-inflammatory: ANTI

15. Corrida figure: EL TORO. Denizens of Southern California will remember the "El Toro Y" traffic warnings, a junction between the 5 and the 405 which every day caused alarums and excursions at rush hour.

16. Important card: ACE

19. Cutting remark: DIG

20. 4,300-mile range: ANDES

21. Novelist Waugh: ALEC. A very talented family. His brother Evelyn wrote two of my favorite novels, "Brideshead Revisted" and "Scoop!".

22. "In __ of gifts ... ": LIEU

26. Protect with a levee: EMBANK

30. Canon SLR: EOS. That's one high-end camera. I have a Canon Rebel, mostly to take pictures of my N-scale model railway - you just can't get the depth of field with the iPhone, although in some (bad modelling!) cases that's not such a bad thing!

31. Gorilla expert Fossey: DIAN

32. A pop: EACH

36. Sail (through): COAST

43. MGM part: METRO. Movie studio Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer, with Sam Goldwyn's name in eye-catching italics. The consummate self-promoter that he was, as Sam Goldfish, formed "Goldwyn" as a co-partnership with Edgar and Archie Selwyn. The name was to be either "Selfish" or "Goldwyn", so not hard to figure out which was the preferred choice. Immediately after the partnership was formed, Sam legally ditched his last name, and replaced it with "Goldwyn". The rest, as they say, is history.

44. Cork's place: EIRE

45. Racing legend Earnhardt: DALE

46. Brouhaha: ADO

48. Held to account: LIABLE

56. Car rental giant: AVIS

57. "Royal" seaside bird: TERN. Here's a turn for the better:

58. Spare: EXTRA

63. GQ or EW: MAG. A magazine. "EW" is "Entertainment Weekly", and though "GQ" purports to be "Gentlemen's Quarterly", it's published monthly. I'm not sure the full name has been used since the mid 60's. and certainly not since 1970.

66. Lyft driver's ballpark fig.: E.T.A.

67. Café option: AU LAIT. Coffee with hot milk added. I'm not sure what would happen if you ordered coffee with cold milk in France, the entire world is quiet on the subject. Here's the hot version:

68. Real estate ad number: AREA

69. Anthem contraction: O'ER

70. "Hard to Stop" air conditioners: TRANES

71. Use one's outside voice: YELL

Down:

1. "The Good Place" Emmy nominee Rudolph: MAYA, Minnie Riperton's ("Loving You") daughter. Who knew? No me, I just looked her up.

2. In a trice: ANON. I'd rather go with "soon" than "in a trice". If I want something "anon", it's "soon" - not right now, but not next February, more when it's convenient for the giver. If I want something "in a trice", it's more demanding "now", "ASAP" or "STAT". Funny how the "now" words are very recent.

3. Poker choice: STUD. A variant of the gambling game. Most of what you see today is Texas Hold 'Em.

4. Keep out of sight: HIDE

5. Debussy's "La __": MER. An orchestral piece. It takes a little while to get going, so you can listen to it "anon". Actually, it's been playing for 15 minutes while i work my way down this blog, and it's never really ever got started. Not on my favorites list to this point.

6. Chancel feature: ALTAR

7. Tablet accessories: STYLI. They still exist, mostly in the electronic form to draw on your iPad or other "small, portable, electronic devices" as the airlines like to call them.

8. Chick with Grammys: COREA

9. Soothsayer: ORACLE

10. Little one: TOT

11. Circle lines: RADII. Bones, too.

12. Less approachable: ICIER

13. Started: BEGUN

18. Library ID: ISBN. What happened to the good old Dewey Decimal System? Do librarians still use it?

22. Hall of Fame Dodger manager Tommy: LA SORDA

24. Luau strings: UKES

25. Estée contemporary: COCO. Lauder. Chanel.

26. Mild cheese: EDAM. I tried BRIE first, all the time grumbling that it's not always mild. Then I was wrong, so I ungrumbled. (Degrumbled?)

27. Nursery rhyme trio: MICE. Not PIGS then. A lot of backspacing/wite-out today.

28. Frequent prank caller to Moe's Tavern: BART

29. Arctic garb: ANORAKS

33. Snacked, say: ATE

34. McBride of "Hawaii Five-0": CHI

35. Sailor's pronoun: HER. "Thar she blows!" and sundry other stuff.

37. Very little: A DAB

38. Market: SELL

39. Walnut or pecan: TREE

41. Bar mixer: SODA. Not on my bar. Tonic, please!

42. Round signal: BELL This is quite nice - the end of a round in a boxing contest, but alarm bells tend to be round too.

47. Like a band in a bus: ON TOUR. Jackson Browne's paean to his tour team, recorded across the street from where I used to live - at the BBC's Maida Vale studios. I often used to pop in on my way back from work to see what was going on, sadly I missed this session in the (very tiny) auditorium.

49. "The Sopranos" actor Robert: ILER

50. Brief appearance: CAMEO

51. Egg-shaped: OVATE. Darn, I confidently put OVOID and then backed off, letter by letter.

52. Cuban export: CIGAR

53. Street of mystery: DELLA

54. "Trumbo" Oscar nominee Cranston: BRYAN. More famous for "Breaking Bad", a title I have tried on numerous occasions to make into a crossword theme. Never got there!

55. Set free: UNTIE

59. CT scan component: X-RAY

60. Run out of gas: TIRE. People tire, cars stop. I had a Jaguar XJS which had a gas gauge that never worked (quelle surprise!) and I had to estimate when I needed to fill up based on the mileage since the last time I topped up the tank. Sure enough, I ran dry on the 134 freeway in Toluca Lake - directly on an overpass above a gas station. A quick scoot down the embankment, a gallon in a plastic can and I was on my way in about five minutes flat.

61. Traditional dance: REEL

62. Mostly depleted sea: ARAL

64. Party accessory: HAT

65. UFO passengers, supposedly: ET'S

A sad day for grammarians everywhere, the Apostrophe Protection Society has this week disbanded, saying that "ignorance and laziness have won".

D'oh! May the greengrocers' plural live forever.

Steve

Oh, sorry, here'res' the grid. I like posting grid's.

Friday, October 4, 2019, Mark MClain

Title:  Injured Reserve.

What a prescient title to our latest puzzle from a friend of the blog - Mark McClain. Mark is one of the many champions of those who want to create crossword puzzles, like our own C.C. and Jeff Chen. He publishes(d?) a blog discussing puzzling - Mark's Blog. As you can see he refers people to facebook collaborative group Crossword Puzzle Collaboration Directory I applaud this effort and all the help the community gives newcomers.

I, meanwhile, have been off the team all week as I recover from a health issue which when I finally sat down to solve and write this blog did not slow me down. As you see, the letters IR are inserted into various phrases to create new an entertaining fill (the IRs). This is not a typical Friday with no long fill outside of the theme which allowed me to complete in a very reasonable time. The sparkliest others are DAPPER, OTTAWA, PRONTO,  WEEDED, MILDEST and the fun NICE DOG. But the theme fits nicely.

20A. Deity worshiped by backyard chefs?: BARBECUE SPIRIT (13). BARBECUE SPIT. Not to be religious, but ancient cultures probably did.

36A. 7-10 split, to a bowler?: IRKING PINS (10). KING PINS. This is all Boomer and TTP.

44A. Distiller Walker's treatise about a whisky grain?: HIRAM ON RYE (10). HAM ON RYE. This may be the hardest of the theme fill as I am not sure how many know HIRAM WALKER the Massachusetts born founder of Canadian whisky brand Canadian Club and so much more. I am sure this was a gimme for Canadian Eh! and our Michigan solvers. It is also the most fun for me.

54A. Hester Prynne's trademark milk-producing farm?: RED LETTER DAIRY (13). RED LETTER DAY. The heroine (?) of the SCARLET LETTER bought a dairy farm- maybe? I reread the book a few years ago, meh.
The reveal:
65D. April 15 org., or, as a plural, a hint to four long puzzle answers: IRS (3).The puzzle would have especially great on 4-15.

On to the rest...

Across:

1. Crossed the mob, in a way: SANG. Sammy "the Bull" Gravano? BETRAY

5. Insignificant points: NITS. A Crossword Shout Out to all the commenters who focus on the minutiae.

9. When repeated, Second British Invasion band: DURAN. Their most famous song...

14. Second person of old?: THOU. Cute.

15. "No problems here": I'M OK. Or at least getting there.

16. "... the __ of defeat": "Wide World of Sports" phrase: AGONY. The skier's name is Vinko Bogataj.

17. Steaming flow: LAVA. Sadly my first thought was completely inappropriate.

18. Casual eatery: CAFE. A quick reappearance.

19. One spun by a juggler: PLATE. Apparently, it is an ART.

23. July 4th show failure: DUD. The term descends from the Middle English dudde, originally meaning worn-out or ragged clothing, and is a cognate of duds (i.e., "clothing") and dowdy. Eventually dud became a general pejorative for something useless, including ammunition or firecrackers. Wiki.

24. Attach, in a way: TIE.

25. NFL scores: FGS. Field Goals.

28. Underground support: ROOT. Not politics, trees.

31. "ASAP!": PRONTO. Italian pronto means ready; Spanish pronto means soon.

39. Exploring toon: DORA. The Nickelodeon cartoon is now a live-action MOVIE.

40. Conceals: VEILS. Such as threats from mob bosses.

41. Support for driving and kicking: TEE. Golf and football in one clue.

42. Flying toys: KITES. Do you think of them as toys?

43. Dumbo's flying aids: EARS. Another live-action version of a famous cartoon character. LINK.

46. Home of the Senators: OTTAWA. A red-letter day for our Canadian players and a hockey reference.

48. Ruckus: STIR.

49. Double curve: ESS. Sounds like golfer Ernie...

50. Two-time U.S. Open champ: ELS.

52. Played the first card: LED.

62. So it could be heard: ALOUD.

63. Where I-90 and I-79 meet: ERIE. How many CSOs do they get?

64. Rock's Bon __: JOVI. The New Jersey band fronted by JON BON JOVI. All you need to know. LINK.

66. Fire sign: SMOKE. Where there is...

67. With 68-Across, words before "easy": EGGS. So much cutesy cross-referencing coming up.

68. See 67- or 69-Across: OVER.

69. With 68-Across, studied: PORED.

70. Army installation: POST.

71. Loch with a legend: NESS.


Down:

1. Baseball Cards: Abbr.: STL.

2. Melville captain: AHAB. Arrgh, ahoy Moby Dick is back.

3. 1960s-'80s Chevy: NOVA. MYTH busted.

4. Bank employee: GUARD.

5. Words to a growler: NICE DOG. I usually make it doggie.

6. Apple on a desk: iMAC.

7. Vegan staple: TOFU. Not for me.

8. Sport with disks: SKEET. Shoot, I should have thought of that.

9. Togged out: DAPPER. So cute next to...

10. Not-cute fruit: UGLI.

11. Large chorus of cheers: ROAR. This reminds me of a very famous PLAY on words.

12. Opposition prefix: ANTI.

13. Duma "Don't think so!": NYET. This is a legislative body in the ruling assembly of Russia and of some other republics of the former Soviet Union.

21. Uses for warmth, as wood: BURNS.

22. Dainty drinks: SIPS.

25. Cops as a unit: FIVE-O. It is actually 5-0 which comes from the TV show Hawaii 5-0 which was a cop show in the 1970s brought back to life and just started its 10th season.

26. Marvelous: GREAT.

27. Get around: SKIRT.

29. Eye-related prefix: OPTI. Did I mention my recent sub-conjunctival hemorrhage?

30. Layers: TIERS.

32. Father of Thor: ODIN.

33. French possessive: NOTRE. Damn, that was easy.

34. Low cards: TREYS. Threes.

35. Relief providers: OASES. Not just Tug McGraw

37. To whom Rick says, "We'll always have Paris": ILSA. Or a lion.

38. Orderly: NEAT.

42. Divided land: KOREA.

44. Put a stop to: HALT.

45. Least spicy: MILDEST. The version Oo prepares for me. Not mild, just in comparison to the 5 alarm version she eats.

47. Tidied the garden: WEEDED. What a sweet image.

51. A lot to pay: STEEP.

53. Tangy mustard: DIJON.

54. Filing tool: RASP.

55. Dagwood neighbor: ELMO.

56. Saloon __: DOOR. This is really random, though it is a type of Door. But WHY?

57. Third of four canonical gospels: LUKE. You can read about Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John HERE but discuss them and all serious religious topics elsewhere according to the Canon of Zhouqin. Odd to see it so soon after the Coptic Gospels.

58. Thus: ERGO.

59. Fixes on the sly: RIGS. On the sly?

60. Wander: ROVE. I will not fall into the Karl trap.

61. Part of YSL: YVES. Saint-Laurent.

It is really cool to blog a puzzle by Mark as I had the pleasure of his first published PUZZLE which was exactly 5 years and one day ago. He ingratiated himself immediately with me by stopping by and telling us about himself. I always have fun and he is a good guy as well. Lemonade out.

Wednesday August 7, 2019 Mark McClain

Theme: PLUMBERS (60. '70s covert White House intelligence group ... and, in a more conventional sense, a hint to the starts of the answers to starred clues)

17. *Secret stage exit: TRAPDOOR.

25. *Forte of Savion Glover and Gregory Hines: TAP DANCING.

35. *Impractical hope: PIPE DREAM.

51. *Pass/fail metaphor: SINK OR SWIM.

Boomer here, filling in another blog gap.

Hail, Hail the gang's all here. We are still concerned about a wicked hail storm we had on Monday this week.  Hoping our new replaced roof from last spring was not damaged.

Across:

1. "__ your age!": ACT.  If someone told me that, I would need to walk bent over and drool.  Maybe I could fall and not get up.

4. Many 4WD autos: SUVS. Got a Grand Caravan right now, but C.C. and I are considering an SUV.  I went through a Bronco and two Explorers in years gone by, but the van is providing us with dependable service, so we might wait a year or two. Vehicles are expensive and I really do not like the back and forth when buying a vehicle. Do any of you own a Hyundai Santa Fe?

8. Oafish: CLUMSY.

14. Feel badly about: RUE.  Wasn't she one of the Golden Girls??

15. Slightly: A BIT.  The plumber might need to change a bit to drill a hole in the wall.

16. 100-lawmaker group: SENATE.  After this weekend, I hope they can get together and pass some gun control legislation, but I don't have a lot of hope.

19. Gets ready to drive: TEES UP.  That is me about 10:00 AM today. Fore!!

20. Tempe sch.: ASU.

21. Out of the wind: ALEE.

23. A, in many orgs.: ASSN.

24. Frosts, as cupcakes: ICES. Not just cupcakes. You should see our 10,000 lakes in about 5 months.

28. Comes clean?: BATHES.  Taking advantage of the plumbing.

30. Persuaded: WON OVER.

31. Northern Iraqi city: MOSUL.

32. Indian flatbread: NAAN.

34. Botch the job: ERR.  To ERR is human, but it could cause an unearned run.

39. Brief writer, briefly: ATT. Boo! CBS is having some dispute with AT&T's DirecTV so I am unable to watch the end of PGA tournaments.  Hope they settle before the NFL season starts .

42. Blew away: AWED.

43. Pick up the tab: TREAT.  Are you hungry for a treat.  Want food that's fun to eat.  Then go to the Golden Arches, in your neighborhood ...

47. Low-cost product: CHEAPIE. We get great deals on watermelon at Aldi, but be careful.  Sometimes if you go for the Cheapie, you get what you asked for.

50. Midsize Chevy: IMPALA. My family had a 1962 model back then.  Two door hardtop, nice car.

54. Cruise stopover: ISLE.  Right in our Minneapolis city of lakes we have "Lake of the Isles".  You may have seen it on the intro of the Mary Tyler Moore show.  C.C. and I have walked that path many times.

Boomer, Lake of the Isles, 2016

55. Night in Paris: NUIT.

56. Array in a British pantry: TINS. I don't think you have to be British, although we don't have a pantry. We keep them in a drawer.

57. Lobster dinner accessory: BIB.

58. Become fond of: WARM TO.

63. Singer who was 15 in 2009 when his debut EP "My World" was released: BIEBER.  Of course I am into baseball cards, and I have to mention that Topps made a huge error on Cleveland pitcher Shane Bieber's 2019 baseball card, referring to him as "Justin" on the back of the card.

64. "Downton Abbey" title: EARL.  I think he was a Duke.

65. Droop: SAG.

66. Passions: ARDORS.

67. Salon colors: DYES.  Too strong, just use a tint.

68. "Inside the NBA" network: TNT. NBA has their own DirecTV channel but Ted Turner has a piece of everything.

Down:

1. Sotheby's showing: ART.  I cannot believe the prices they get at some of their auctions.

2. Liqueur named for an island: CURACAO.

3. Dollhouse dishes: TEA SETS.  I have three sisters. I believe each of them had one or two of these.

4. Downcast: SAD.

5. WWII subs: U-BOATS.

6. It's tuned an octave higher than a cello: VIOLA. Twins pitcher Frank helped win the World Series in 1987.  I was there.

7. Penicillin target: STREP.

8. Omaha winter hrs.: CST.  Same as Minneapolis and my friend Husker Gary.

9. Womack of country: LEEANN.  Leeann Chin is an Asian restaurant chain famous in Minnesota but has expanded to about 50 locations throughout the Midwest.

10. Worldwide cultural org.: UNESCO.

11. Enormous: MASSIVE.

12. Major upset, say: STUNNER. Even the 1962 Mets won 40 games. Lost 120, finished 60 games behind the pennant winning Giants, but got revenge in 1969.

13. Slangy "Sure": YEP.

18. Pecs builder: PUSHUP.  I was never able to do more than 30, now I would struggle to do 3.  Richard Gere did pretty well in "Officer and a Gentleman".

22. Name of eight English kings: EDWARD.  The Royals keep naming their kids after themselves.

24. PC pioneer: IBM.  They used to have a hand in everything electronic.  Now I think IBM stands for International BIG Machines. 

26. Tops: A-ONE.  I don't think I was ever A-ONE.  However in 1968 I was ONE-A and then I was Drafted.

27. Watchdog warning: GRR.

29. New Haven collegian: ELI.

32. Most recent: NEWEST.  Twins NEWEST member Sam Dyson, already on the IL with sore biceps.  He needs to get well and lower his 91.00 ERA.

33. Fruit drink suffix: ADE.  LemonADE in the shade.

36. Pliers unit: PAIR.  Never knew why they were called pairs since they are one piece. Not like shoes, socks, gloves, or dice.

37. Bill-filled device: ATM. My bank only dispenses 20s, In Las Vegas you can get 100s then you go to the craps table and turn them into 20s.

38. Onetime Dr Pepper rival: MR PIBB.

39. Apt. coolers: ACS.

40. Vanishing point?: THIN AIR.  See 100s in 37-Down.

41. Like many veteran professors: TENURED.  I am a tenured baseball card collector.  C.C. is a tenured crossword constructor.

44. Least challenging: EASIEST.

45. High-fiber Kellogg's cereal: ALL-BRAN. I have also seen their 40% Bran Flakes.  Makes about as much sense as if General Mills had 40% Cheerios.

46. __ kwon do: TAE.

48. With hands on hips: AKIMBO.

49. Wizard with a scar: POTTER.  M.A.S.H. Colonel Sherman Potter played by Harry Morgan.  I remember him from "Dragnet" also.

50. Confident reply: I'M SURE.

52. Cleaned with a cloth: WIPED.  I get fairly wiped out trying to finish Saturday's puzzles.

53. Woodwork pattern: INLAY.  I have not heard much about the Cathedral Notre Dame.  I am sure it had many INLAID treasures.

58. Fighters' org.: WBA.

59. "Grey's Anatomy" sets, briefly: ORS.  My father served in the Pacific islands as a medic in WWII. We had a copy of "Grey's Anatomy" on the bookshelf at home.  I never opened the book, I could not even pronounce the title. 

61. D.C. United org.: MLS.  I see kids playing soccer on the local fields, but I WILL NEVER attend a major league soccer game because they tore down one of my favorite bowling centers to build a stadium for the team.

62. Police dept. rank: SGT.  SGT. Joe Friday played by Jack Webb in "Dragnet"

Boomer

Monday, July 29, 2019, Mark McClain

Just Stringing Along.  The word String can precede the first word of each theme answer.

17-Across. *  Music course for budding composers: THEORY CLASS.  String Theory.

 

24-Across. *  Meatless taqueria item: BEAN BURRITO.  String Bean.  David Akeman (June 17, 1915 ~ Nov. 10, 1973), known as String Bean, was a musician and comedian on Hee Haw.  He and his wife were murdered by burglars in 1973.

Oh, a String Bean is also a vegetable.

39-Across. *  Closet accessory for neckwear: TIE RACK.  String Tie.

51-Across. *  Marshall Islands site of nuclear testing: BIKINI ATOLL.  String Bikini.

It looks complicated to get all those strings just right.

And the unifier:
62-Across. Like the starting team, and a hint to the answers to starred clues: FIRST STRING.

Hahtoolah, here.  Boomer and I are switching days for reasons that will become apparent tomorrow.  Fear not, however, Boomer will be back in his Monday position next week.  And a big Thank You to Boomer for filling in for me last week while I was attending a conference in NYC.

Across:

1. Polio vaccine pioneer: SABIN.  Albert Sabin (né Abram Saperstein; Aug. 26, 1906 ~ Mar. 3, 1993) was born in Baiłstok, Poland (then part of the Russian Empire).  His family left the old country and ultimately found their way to the United States.  In 1930, he became a US citizen.  He is best known for the development of the oral polio vaccine.  He also developed vaccines against other viral diseases, including vaccines for encephalitis and dengue fever.

6. Bacteria in undercooked meat: E. COLI.  The scientific name for this bacteria is Escherichia coli.   It is a group of bacteria that lives in the intestines of healthy people and animals.  Although often associated with illness, most varieties of E. coli are harmless.  It is a common bacteria used in high school and college biology labs.

11. Blot gently: DAB.  A little DAB'll do ya!

 

14. Budget prefix: ECONO.  Think of an Econo Lodge.

15. Gas in flashtubes: XENON.  Xenon in an inert gas.  It's chemical symbol is Xe and its atomic number is 54.

16. Pitcher's stat: ERA.  As in an Earned Run Average.

19. Animation frame: CEL.  This has become a crossword staple.

20. Mannheim mister: HERR.  Today's German lesson.

21. Non-discrimination want-ad letters: EOE.  As in Equal Opportunity Employer.

22. Rub out a pencil mark: ERASE.

28. Castilian hero: EL CID.  El Cid (né Rodrigo Díaz; born about 1043 ~ died 1099) was a Castilian military leader in medieval Spain.  His name, El Cid, is Spanish Arabic meaning "lord".  Over the centuries, he has become a mythical figure.

31. Gate securer: LATCH.

32. "Get lost!": BEAT IT!



 34. AT&T news channel: CNN.  As in the Cable News Network.

35. Entrepreneur Musk: ELON.  Elon Musk (né Elon Reeve Musk; b. June 28, 1971) is a technology entrepreneur who was born in South Africa.  He now holds South African, Canadian and US citizenship.  He is the co-founder and CEO of Tesla.

38. Tire inflator: AIR.

42. Señora Perón: EVA.  Eva Perón (née María Eva Duarte; May 7, 1919 ~ July 26, 1952) was the wife of Juan Perón.  Everything I know about her I learned from the musical Evita, so I take that with a grain of salt.

43. Washington MLB team: NATS. As in the Washington Nationals, the baseball team of Washington, D.C.

45. Bath tissue layer: PLY.

46. Like contentious discussions: HEATED.

48. Car music source: RADIO.  Car radios have so many options today.

50. Kagan of the Supreme Court: ELENA.  Elena Kagan (b. Apr. 28, 1960) is an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  When she assumed the office in August 2010, she was only the 4th woman to serve as a Supreme Court Justice.  Prior to joining the Supreme Court, she was the first female dean of the Harvard Law School.

55. The "HD" in HDTV, briefly: HI-DEF.  As in High Definition.

56. "Wayne's World" catchword: NOT.  When you go to the dentist, you are having a good time ... NOT! 57. Director Kazan: ELIA.  Elia Kazan (né Elias Kazantzoglou; Sept. 7, 1909 ~ Sept. 28, 2003), was born in Istanbul, Turkey to Greek parent.  The family immigrated to the United States in 1913.  His first feature film was A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.  He is probably best known for directing On the Waterfront and A Streetcar Named Desire.

61. Incubation target: EGG.  On the farm, the mother hen is the incubator.

66. "The Simpsons" bartender: MOE.  Did you know that Moe actually has a surname?  His full name is Moammar Morris Szyslak, but he generally goes by just Moe.

67. Host onstage: EMCEE. 68. Banded marble: AGATE.  Agate is a crossword staple.  It is a translucent variety of quarts and is sometimes used as a semiprecious stone.

69. "__ now or never": IT'S.

 

 70. Author Dahl: ROALD.  In addition to being a novelist, Roald Dahl (Sept. 16, 1916 ~ Nov. 23, 1990) was a flying ace and intelligence officer during World War II.  He is best known to me for writing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  There was a fascinating article appeared in the Smithsonian about Roald Dahl a few years ago.  He had a very unique work space.

71. Sandwiches on pita: GYROS.  Yummers!

Down:
1. Eve's third son: SETH.  After Cain slew Abel, Adam and Eve had another child.  See Genesis 4:8.

2. Tooth pain: ACHE.  See 56-Across.

3. Dutch South African: BOER.  The word Boer is the Dutch and Afrikaans noun for farmer, and refers to the Dutch and Huguenot population that settled in South Africa in the late 17th century.

4. Circling the sun, as a planet: IN ORBIT.

5. Oslo's land: Abbr.: NOR.  Oslo is the capital of Norway.

6. Former inmate: EX-CON.

7. Tabloid figure, for short: CELEB.  As in a Celebrity.

8. Words before whim or hunch: ON A.  As in the phrase On a Whim, or On a Hunch.

9. __ Angeles: LOS.

10. Newspaper ad, often: INSERT.  These generally take up the bulk of the Sunday paper.

11. Track-and-field competitor in 10 events: DECATHLETE.  Can you name the 10 events in a Decathlon?  I'll give you a hint:  it consists 4 track events and 6 field events.  The Decathlon became an Olympic event in the 1912 Stockholm Summer Games.

12. Childish rebuttal: ARE SO!

13. Cotton unit: BALE.

18. Vote for passage: YEA.

23. Uncle Ben's boxful: RICE.

25. Fix, as text: EDIT.

26. Wrist-to-elbow bone: ULNA.

27. Big spread with cattle, say: RANCH.  One of the largest cattle ranches in the United States is the Parker Ranch on the Big Island of Hawaii.

28. Abba of Israel: EBAN.  Abba Eban (né Aubrey Solomon Meir Eban; Feb. 2, 1915 ~ Nov. 17, 2002) makes frequent guest appearances in the crosswords.  He was born in South Africa, but was not a Boer.

29. "Star Wars" heroine: LEIA.  She was portrayed by Carrie Fisher (née Carrie Frances Fisher; Oct. 21, 1956 ~ Dec. 27, 2016).

30. Printer toner containers: CARTRIDGES.

33. Second-chance basket: TIP IN.

34. Shed tears: CRY.

36. Pizza parlor appliance: OVEN.

37. Spanish "nothing": NADA.  Today's Spanish lesson.

40. H.G. Wells race: ELOI.  These fictional post-humans from the 1985 novel The Time Machine, have become a crossword staple.

41. Fall (over): KEEL.

 

44. "For Pete's __!": SAKE.

47. Reaction to pollen, e.g.: ALLERGY.

49. "I beg to __": "I don't agree": DIFFER.

51. Archie Bunker type: BIGOT.

52. Adams with a camera: ANSEL.  Ansel Adams (né Ansel Easton Adams; Feb. 20, 1902 ~ Apr. 22, 1984) was known for his black-and-white landscape photography, much of which was of the American West and the National Parks.

53. Hauled: TOTED.

54. Extra NBA periods: OTs.  As in Over Times.

55. Prefix with sphere meaning "half": HEMI-.  Think of a Hemisphere.

58. Tall story teller: LIAR.

59. Whip __ shape: INTO.

60. "For __ 3-5": toy box spec: AGES.  My grand-niece just turned 6 months, so I'll have to wait a bit to find toys in the 3-5 age range.

63. Texter's "I think": IMO.  Textspeak for In My Opinion.

64. Color TV pioneer: RCA.  RCA was originally founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America.

65. "You're it!" game: TAG.

Here's the Grid:

The 10 events making up the decathlon include: 100-meter sprint, 110-meter hurdles, 400-meter dash, 1500-meter run, long jump, high jump, shot put, discus throw, javelin throw and the pole vault.

I'll leave you with a QOD:  Take the high road.  No matter how much strife, and consternation, frustration and anger you might be confronted with ~ don’t go to that level.  ~  Tim Gunn (né Timothy MacKenzie Gunn; b. July 29, 1953)