Monday, August 31, 2026, Justin Werfel

Theme:  Idiot box

How does today's constructor, Justin Werfel, find time for TV?  When he's not publishing crossword puzzles -- at least 27 so far, including two in the LA Times -- he is skiing, diving, juggling, storytelling, glassblowing, blacksmithing, writing, mountain unicyling, and -- oh, yeah -- running a robotics lab at Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.  I am not worthy to review his puzzle, and yet, here I am.  Check him out at: people.seas.harvard.edu/~jkwerfel/

Justin Werfel, homo extraordinarius

In case you missed it while solving, Justin kindly provided a key to the theme here:

72-Across. Screen found in many a living room, or what 16-, 29-, 49-, and 63-Across can be called: TV SET.  Indeed, each of the theme entries is a SET in which the first word begins with T, and the second word begins with V.

16-Across. Avian scavengers with red heads: TURKEY VULTURES.

29-Across. Demo release: TRIAL VERSION.

49-Across. Paperwork for leisure travelers: TOURIST VISAS.

63-Across. Part of speech that requires a direct object: TRANSITIVE VERB.

The theme entries are symmetrically placed in the grid.  Yours truly is a sucker for symmetry.  There are exceptional solvers among us who like a hidden theme that comes as a delightful surprise when revealed, but I appreciate a theme that is plain to see, and that helps with the solving process, so this one was right up my alley.  Or on my TV wavelength.  Let's see what other shows are on ....

Across:

1. Confess (to): ADMIT.

6. __ at the moon: HOWL.

10. 23-Down fig.: POL.  A member of the SENATE (answer to 23-Down) is a POLitician -- abbreviated in the answer because of the abbreviation in the clue.

13. Extract, as minerals from soil: LEACH.  When water (or another liquid) passes through a material, chemical substances may leach out.  I have always thought of this in terms of a natural process, like rain washing minerals out of soil, but in industry and chemistry, people may deliberately extract substances by leaching.  

14. Gobi Desert continent: ASIA.  A vast, cold desert in southern Mongolia and northern China.

But it's a dry cold ... !

15. Egg cells: OVA.

16. [Theme clue]

19. Tread the boards: ACT.  This idiom for acting comes from walking on the floorboards of the stage.

20. Feathery neckwear: BOA.

21. Smitten Kitchen blogger Perelman: DEB.  Deb Perelman's food blog, Smitten Kitchen, is 16 years old, and has generated several print cookbooks along with a good deal of press (all of it under this blogger's radar).  Deb's NYC kitchen is only 80 square feet, which presents challenges, but also suggests that you can probably achieve her results in your kitchen, too.

Deb Perelman's Smitten Kitchen

22. Some QB protectors: RTS.  Some quarterback protectors are Right Tackles.  Football aficionados, please discuss.

24. Neatens up text boxes, say: REALIGNS.  I don't know about you, but I sometimes have to add a text box to an Adobe PDF, and after composing the contents, I take a moment to align it with other text blocks on the page.  If you have managed to avoid this particular task, the answer might not have come as quickly.

27. Hangry plea: FEED ME.  Have we all encountered the word "hangry," a blend of "hungry" and "angry"?  We have probably all encountered a hangry person, who is irritable because they are hungry.

29. [Theme entry]

31. Secretly included on an email: BCCED.  Abbreviations look weird when conjugated as verbs!  Merriam-Webster prefers BCC'D.  (For blind carbon copied -- an anachronism preserved in email.)

34. Pop singer Carly __ Jepsen: RAE.  Carly Rae Jepsen is a Canadian singer/songwriter who came into the public eye when she placed third on the fifth season of Canadian Idol in 2007.  Her first hit song was "Call Me Maybe" in 2012.

35. "The Incredibles" supersuit designer Mode: EDNA.  In Pixar's animated Incredibles movies, the character Edna Mode designs costumes for superheroes.  For instance, a superhero who can turn invisible needs a suit that turns invisible along with her.  And no capes!  Edna considers them dangerous; costumes should not get sucked into jet engines or caught in elevators.

Edna Mode

36. Portuguese phone greeting: ALO.

37. Health retreat: SPA.

40. Recipe amt.: TSP.  I searched "tsp" at SmittenKitchen.com and found 717 results.  The abbreviation for teaspoon is common in recipes.

42. Addams cousin: ITT.  The fictional Addams Family was created by cartoonist Charles Addams, and originally appeared in a series of 150 single panel comics, many of which were published in The New Yorker between 1938 and 1988.  Actors portrayed the characters in a live action television series in 1964-65, and then in various films and animated series.  The very hairy cousin Itt debuted in a cartoon in 1963, before the TV producers changed his name from It to Itt.

The New Yorker, October 12, 1963
"This is It speaking."

43. Gambling town near Tahoe: RENO.

45. One of eight on an octopus: ARM.

47. Supple: LITHE.

49. [Theme clue]

53. Nonprofit journalism agcy.: AP NEWS.  The Associated Press is a not-for-profit agency headquartered in New York City.  It operates as a cooperative association, producing news reports distributed to its members, which include newspapers and radio and TV broadcasters.

54. Most civil: POLITEST.  Two syllable adjectives usually take "most" in the superlative -- i.e. MOST POLITE -- but POLITEST appears to be blessed by Merriam-Webster.  They like "civilest," too!

58. Rotten: BAD.  POLITEST isn't the BADDEST word we've seen in a grid.

59. 20-vol. lexicon: OED.  I wonder what the Oxford English Dictionary says about POLITEST?  I don't have an online subscription and can't tell.  Long ago, I owned the two volume, micro print edition that came with a big magnifying glass.  I sometimes miss that set.

61. Karate rank: DAN.  Kyu ranks are student level, and the belts are various colors.  Dan ranks are all black belts, and are refined by: 1st Dan (Shodan): Junior black belt; 2nd Dan (Nidan): Second-degree black belt; 3rd Dan (Sandan): Third-degree black belt; 4th to 10th Dan (Yondan to Judan): High-level expert and master ranks.

62. Dallas City Hall architect I.M. __: PEI.  I. M. Pei (1917-2019) was born in China and moved to the United States to attend college.  He became a highly productive and distinguished modern architect with major buildings in the United States and abroad.  Unfortunately, Dallas City Hall, opened in 1978, is under consideration for demolition due to the high cost of deferred maintenance.   

Dallas City Hall

63. [Theme clue]

67. Enter a race: RUN.

68. Benefit: GAIN.

69. Baking tool with holes: SIEVE.  This simple mesh tool helps break up lumps in flour.

sieve

70. Actress Adams of "The Muppets": AMY.  Amy Adams achieved stardom in 2007's Enchanted, and went on to act in many more films and plays, portraying Lois Lane in DC Extended Universe superhero movies.  She played a primary school teacher in The Muppets (2011).

I remember being Enchanted by the 2007 film.

71. Fairy tale opening: ONCE.

72. [Theme clue]

Down:

1. "I do" location: ALTAR.

2. Card with two pips: DEUCE.  A playing card with two pips has the value of two and is called a deuce, from the French "deux" which comes from the Latin "duo."

Deuces

3. "Knives Out" protagonist: MARTA.  In the 2019 film Knives Out, Ana de Armas plays Marta Cabrera, the nurse of a wealthy mystery novelist who dies under suspicious circumstances on the night of his big birthday party.

Stunning beauty as plain Jane.

4. "Grody!": ICK.  Oh, didn't we love the word "grody" in the 1980s!  It is said to have started in 1960s surf culture as a clipped form of "grotesque," and then surged in pop culture thanks to Moon Unit Zappa's 1982 song "Valley Girl."  Immortal words from that track:

Like, my mother, like, makes me do the dishes

It's, like, so gross, like, all the stuff, like, sticks to the plates

And it's like, it's like somebody else's food, y'know

It's like grody, grody to the max

I'm sure, it's, like, really nauseating

Like, barf out

Gag me with a spoon, gross

I am sure, totally

5. Hitchcock film with nonhuman villains: THE BIRDS.  Things that terrified audiences in 1963 seem tame today.

Tippi Hedren in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds

6. Capital of Cuba: HAVANA.

7. Columbus sch.: OSU.  Ohio State University.

8. Untamed: WILD.

9. Penalties for missing due dates: LATE FEES.  From library books to credit card payments, you've got to pay on time to avoid late fees.  They encourage us to act in a timely manner.

10. __ favor: "please," in Spanish: POR.  The English "please" comes from Latin placere, to be acceptable -- e.g. "if it please you" -- while the Spanish "por favor" means "by way of a favor."

11. Indulged too much: OVERDID IT.  And this is how we learn our limits.

You can only party so hearty.

12. May, in June: LAST MONTH.

17. Bear who steals "pic-a-nic" baskets: YOGI.  The animated Yogi Bear was introduced as a supporting character on The Huckleberry Hound Show in 1958, and got his own show in 1961.  

18. __ Eats: DoorDash rival: UBER.  Food delivery services that boomed during the COVID-19 pandemic and have remained popular.

23. Upper house of Congress: SENATE.

25. Cell service initials: LTE.  Long Term Evolution is a standard for wireless communication for cellular devices.

26. High-end camera, for short: SLR.  A single-lens reflex camera uses a mirror and prism system to allow photographers to view through the lens and see what will be captured.  These days, mirrorless cameras are higher-end than SLRs.

28. Language ending: ESE.  Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese ... English sometimes adds "ese" to a place name, based on the Latin "ensis," "belonging to a place."   We use these forms to refer not just to the language of a place, but also to the people who live there.

30. Large cask: VAT.

31. Running tally of drinks at a pub: BAR TAB.

32. Pharaoh played by Elizabeth Taylor: CLEOPATRA.  Cleopatra was the last pharoah of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt.  With her death, Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire.

Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra

33. Puzzle: CONUNDRUM.

38. Collects $200 in Monopoly: PASSES GO.  Parker Brothers published the first edition of this board game in 1935.

39. Class with easels: ART.

41. Least fancy: PLAINEST.

44. Valuable excavation find: ORE.

46. Team VIP: MVP.  One very important person on a team is the most valuable player.

48. Real or ideal suffix: IST.

50. Cry of victory: I WON.

51. Antiseptic fluid: IODINE.

52. Czech or Pole: SLAV.  Slavs are defined as groups of people who speak Slavic languages.  The three groups of present-day Slavs include: 

- West Slavs (Czechs, Kashubians, Moravians, Poles, Silesians, Slovaks, and Sorbs);

- East Slavs (Belarusians, Russians, Rusyns, and Ukrainians);

- South Slavs (Bosniaks, Bulgarians, Croats, Gorani, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Pomaks, Serbs, Slovenes and Torbeši).

Did you Czech the list for Poles? 

55. Olympic swords: ÉPÉES.  Olympic fencing uses three types of sword:  the épée, the foil, and the sabre.  Of these, the épée is the largest and heaviest.  Épée and foil are “point thrusting” weapons, while the sabre can both thrust and slash with its blade edge.

Olympic swords and their target areas

56. Start a tennis rally: SERVE.

57. Neighbor of Nepal: TIBET.

60. Gorilla researcher Fossey: DIAN.  American primatologist Dian Fossey devoted her life to the study and conservation of mountain gorillas in Rwanda from 1966 until she was murdered in 1985.

Dian Fossey

64. Indefinite amount: ANY.

65. Nervous twitch: TIC.

66. "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" aunt, familiarly: VIV.  Vivian Banks was portrayed by Janet Hubert from 1990 to 1993, and then by Daphne Maxwell Reid from 1993 to 1996.

Will Smith and Janet Hubert on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

Here's the grid:

Solvers,

I'll ADMIT to a few names I could not have filled without the help of perpendicular entries:  the Smitten Kitchen blogger DEB Perelman; "The Incredibles" supersuit designer EDNA Mode; "Knives Out" protagonist MARTA Cabrera, and "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" aunt VIV.  The karate rank DAN was also unfamiliar.  But I WON because the "perps" were fair!  

How about you?  Did you think this puzzle was for THE BIRDS?  Or were you WILD about it?

Tell us in your PLAINEST yet POLITEST words in the comments!

-- NaomiZ

Monday, August 24, 2026, Janice Luttrell

Theme:  You Gotta Have Soul

Crossword constructor Janice Luttrell frequently brightens our Monday mornings.  Today it took a little soul searching to grasp her theme.  Janice revealed it here:

66-Across. Ideal partners, and what can be found at the ends of 17-, 24-, 40-, and 52-Across?: SOUL MATES.  A person with whom you share a deep and natural connection is a soulmate and an ideal partner.  The words at the end of the cited entries are also MATES for the word SOUL.

17-Across. Fix for torn jeans, perhaps: KNEE PATCH.  SOUL PATCH -- the bit of facial hair beneath a man's lower lip.

Billy Bob Thornton rocks a soul patch.

24-Across. Foil-wrapped chocolate drop: HERSHEY'S KISS.  SOUL KISS -- an old fashioned term for a kiss involving the tongue.

40-Across. Gets a single, double, triple, and home run in one game: HITS FOR THE CYCLE.  SOULCYCLE -- a fitness company that offers indoor cycling workout classes.  It would have helped this blogger to know that in baseball, hitting for the cycle is when a single batter hits a single, a double, a triple, and a home run in the same game.

52-Across. Accept unintended consequences: FACE THE MUSIC.  SOUL MUSIC -- a musical style dating to the late 1950s, with roots in African American culture. 

SOUL PATCH, SOUL KISS, and SOULCYCLE seemed a little obscure for a Monday theme.  Happily, SOUL MUSIC convinced this blogger that she had found the SOUL MATES.

And the beat goes on ...

Across:

1. "Dancing Queen" pop group: ABBA.  The lead single from ABBA's fourth studio album, Arrival, released in 1976.

5. "Wish I was there!" anxiety, for short: FOMO.  Fear Of Missing Out.

9. Department store chain headquartered in New York's Herald Square: MACY'S.

14. Crystal ball gazer: SEER.

15. Not of the clergy: LAIC.

16. Anticipate: AWAIT.

17. [Theme clue]

19. Dried beef snack: JERKY.

20. Small brawl: SET-TO.  I've seen this noun in literature, but never heard it IRL:  "Dad had a bit of a set-to with the neighbors about their loud music."

21. "Copperhead Road" singer Steve: EARLE.  "Copperhead Road" is a 1988 album by singer-songwriter Steve Earle.  The title track is about a young man from a moonshine making family who comes home from Vietnam, plants marijuana, and suffers flashbacks to the war when DEA helicopters search for illegal crops.

23. Near-failing grade: DEE.

24. [Theme clue]

27. Election season event: DEBATE.

30. Driver's approx.: ETA.  Estimated Time of Arrival.

31. Mined find: ORE.

32. Cartoon explorer with a talking backpack: DORA.  We talked a little about Dora the Explorer in this space two weeks ago.

36. "No big deal": IT'S OK.

40. [Theme clue]

44. Hay fever sound: ACHOO.  

45. Unwelcome campground visitor: BEAR.

46. Do some sums: ADD.

47. __ Angeles Sparks: LOS.   The Sparks compete in the Women's National Basketball Association, with home games at Crypto.com Arena.

49. Loves a bunch: ADORES.

52. [Theme clue]

58. Abbreviation on a toothpaste box: ADA.  An ADA-approved toothpaste has the American Dental Association Seal of Acceptance.

59. Mexican coins: PESOS.

60. Many a Chopin piano piece: ÉTUDE.  An étude (French for "study") is a short musical composition designed to provide practice on a particular instrumental skill.

64. Phi Beta __: KAPPA.  Phi Beta Kappa (ΦΒΚ) is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, dating back to 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia.

66. [Theme clue]

68. Everglades wader: EGRET.  The Everglades is a subtropical wetland ecosystem in South Florida, and is home to the Great Egret, the Snowy Egret, the Cattle Egret, and the Reddish Egret.

I took this photo of a Snowy Egret in Venice, Florida.
Check out the yellow feet!

69. Jai __: fast-moving court game: ALAI.  Jai alai originated in the Basque area of Spain.  It's a form of handball that uses a wicker basket, worn like a glove, to catch and throw the ball.  I attended a jai alai game in Mexico City in the early 1970s and found it thrilling.  The ball moves very fast.

70. Competes (for): VIES.

71. Get to, as a destination: REACH.

72. Ivy League school in New Haven: YALE.

73. Baby-voiced red Muppet: ELMO.

Down:

1. Inquires: ASKS.

2. "Molto __": "Very good," in Italian: BENE.  How are you?  Very well.  Come stai?  Molto bene.  Easy to see the Latin root of our English "benefit," "benevolent," "benefactor," etc.

3. Red root vegetable: BEET.

4. "Respect" singer Franklin: ARETHA.  The Queen of SOUL!

5. St. Pete's st.: FLA.  St. Petersburg is in the Tampa Bay area on the gulf coast of Florida.  An abbreviation in the clue tells you that there will be an abbreviation in the answer.

6. Hall's Rock & Roll Hall of Fame partner: OATES.  Daryl Hall and John Oates formed their musical duo in Philadelphia in 1970.  They wrote most of the songs they performed.

7. Old Testament book after Jonah: MICAH.  The twelve minor prophets of the Hebrew bible are Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.  Micah prophesied from approximately 740 to 698 BCE, warning of the destruction of Jerusalem, which came to pass in 586 BCE.

8. Autumn colour: OCHRE.  The yellow/gold/burnt orange color of ochre is reminiscent of autumn leaves.

An ochre autumn scene.

9. Magnificent: MAJESTIC.

10. Bowl over: AWE.

11. Rapper __ B: CARDI.  Cardi B released her first studio album, Invasion of Privacy, in 2018, and with it, became the first solo female artist to win the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album.  Here's a hit single from the album:  

12. "Yowza!": YIKES.  Or, a reaction to Cardi B's more recent looks.

Cardi B

13. Eyelid sores: STYES.

18. Ode writer: POET.

22. Caustic chemical: LYE.

25. Upgrade, as decor: REDO.

26. "Teenage Dream" singer Perry: KATY.  Katy Perry's I Kissed a Girl topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 2008, launching a stream of pop hits and industry acclaim. This might have been a bitter pill for her fanatically religious parents who fostered her singing for the sake of the church choir.  Teenage Dream is another song in a similar vein.  This one is just more fun:

27. Capital of Qatar: DOHA.  On the Persian Gulf.

28. "The Little Mermaid" prince: ERIC.  Disney gave the prince a name and made him a hero.  In the story by Hans Christian Andersen, the prince never recognized the mermaid's love and sacrifice for him.

Ariel and Eric in Disney's The Little Mermaid, 1989  

29. "Little Women" sister of Meg, Jo, and Amy: BETH.  The four sisters whose lives are the subject of Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, published in two volumes, in 1868 and 1869.

33. Poetic sphere: ORB.  Not that an orb is poetic, but it is a poetic word for a sphere.

34. Numbered hwy.: RTE.  The United States Numbered Highway System (often called U.S. Routes) is a network of roads and highways in a nationwide grid.  Most north-to-south highways are odd-numbered, while east-to-west highways are typically even-numbered.

U.S. Route 1

35. "Eureka!": AHA.  "Eureka" means "I have found it" in ancient Greek.

37. Injury reminder: SCAR.

38. Merrie __ England: OLDE.  This phrase dating to back to the Middle Ages conjures a utopian rural past -- much nicer in retrospect than the actual experience of living "at the mercy of disease and the weather ... with money to burn today from the sale of a bumper crop, plunged into debt tomorrow because of harvest failure."  [J. H. Hexter, On Historians (London 1979) p. 155 -- per Wikipedia]

39. Sneaker brand since 1916: KEDS.

These Keds would have been cute in Merrie Olde England --
but my mom would have bought the plain navy knockoffs even then.

41. One and only: SOLE.

42. Walking trail: FOOTPATH.

43. Timeline units: ERAS.

48. That lady: SHE.

50. Day, in Latin: DIEM.  Familiar from the fixed daily allowance or "per diem" that employers may grant to traveling employees.  My father worked with a "per diem" allowance on his research grants.

51. Eight-note interval: OCTAVE.

52. Fraud: FAKER.

53. Pithy bit of wisdom: ADAGE.

54. "It's a Wonderful Life" director Frank: CAPRA.  Born in Italy, Frank Capra was raised in Los Angeles from the age of five, and became a film director, producer, and screenwriter, creating major award winning films of the 1930s and 40s.  He won three Academy Awards for Best Director.  Films you may have seen include It Happened One Night, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and It's a Wonderful Life.

Frank Capra and Jimmy Stewart
on the set of It's a Wonderful Life

55. Writing class assignment: ESSAY.

56. Simoleons: MOOLA.  Simoleon is slang for dollar.  First recorded around 1881, it likely mixed the old British slang "simon" (for a sixpence coin) with "Napoleon" (a French gold coin).  More recently, simoleons have been the fictional currency used in the SimCity and The Sims video games.

57. Typical: USUAL.

61. Gas or elec.: UTIL.  Gas and electric services are utilities.  

62. Consider to be: DEEM.

63. Gas brand in Canada: ESSO.

65. Chest muscle, for short: PEC.  Pecs are for tall people, too.

Arnold Schwarzenegger proves the point.

67. Fib: LIE.  No lies here!  Just the straight dope.

Here's the grid:

Solvers, 

Which of you ADORES this puzzle?  Who calls it MAJESTIC?

Do you DEEM it to be the USUAL fare for Monday?

Write me an ESSAY in the comments!

-- NaomiZ

Monday, August 17, 2026, Kelly Morenus

Theme:  Get back!

back-to-back meerkats

Constructor Kelly Morenus has authored four Friday puzzles in the New York Times, as well as one Saturday puzzle there.  She co-authored a puzzle in the LA Times on Saturday, November 8, 2025, with devilishly difficult co-constructor Erik Agard.  Today, Kelly's puzzle appears on Monday, the easy-peasy day of the week.  Let's see how that worked out.

Some solvers enjoy a puzzle where the theme is discernible and actually helps with the solve.  Yours truly found today's theme to be invisible until the big reveal.  That's OK, because some solvers like a theme that comes as a big surprise at the end.  The big reveal happened here:

58-Across. Consecutive, or a hint to what can follow the first parts and precede the second parts of 17-, 25-, 38-, 40-, and 49-Across: BACK TO BACK.  Let's break this down.  "Back-to-back" is a synonym for "consecutive."  Think of back-to-back meetings, one right after another.  That works.  Next, we look at the first and second parts of the cited entries, and see what happens when we stick "back" in there a couple of times ... back-to-back, so to speak.  Thus:

17-Across. Attraction in a neighborhood park: PLAYGROUND.  PLAYBACK / BACKGROUND.

25-Across. Illuminating item in an emergency kit: FLASHLIGHT.  FLASHBACK / BACKLIGHT.

38-Across. Phone history list: CALL LOG.  CALLBACK / BACKLOG.

40-Across. Fail to show up for: BLOW OFF.  BLOWBACK / BACK OFF.

49-Across. Outing for two couples: DOUBLE DATE. DOUBLE BACK / BACKDATE.

An elegant feature of the theme entries is their symmetrical placement in the grid.  Well done.

Across:

1. Magic: The Gathering fan's collection: CARDS.  Yours truly is not familiar with the collectible "Magic: The Gathering" cards, introduced in 1993.  Inspired by Dungeons & Dragons, the game has attracted fifty million or more players.  

A game of Magic: The Gathering in process.

6. "You are __": map message: HERE.

10. Slugger Sammy: SOSA.  Sammy Sosa is a Dominican former professional baseball right fielder.  He played in Major League Baseball for 18 seasons, primarily with the Chicago Cubs.  He hit his 400th home run in his 1,354th game and his 5,273rd at-bat, reaching this milestone quicker than any player in National League history.  Sosa is one of nine players in MLB history to hit 600 career home runs.

Sammy Sosa

14. Capital of Ghana: ACCRA.  Formed from the merger of settlements around British Fort James, Dutch Fort Crêvecoeur, and Danish Fort Christiansborg, Accra served as the capital of the British Gold Coast between 1877 and 1957 and has since become a modern metropolis ... in spite of all the European colonizers.

Accra, Ghana

15. Yemen neighbor: OMAN.  Speaking of European colonizers, the Sultanate of Oman expelled the Portuguese in the 17th century.  It has been continuously ruled by the Al Bu Said dynasty since 1744, and is an absolute monarchy with Islam as the state religion.

Note that the northernmost part of Oman is on the Strait of Hormuz.

16. Birds associated with wisdom: OWLS.

17. [Theme clue]

19. Skewed view: BIAS.

20. Flow slowly: SEEP.

21. General idea: SENSE.

22. Lobby group for seniors: AARP.  Originally an initialism for the American Association of Retired Persons, it's now just AARP, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization helping people aged 50 and older with concerns related to health, personal finances, and daily living.

25. [Theme clue]

29. Word before metal and music: SHEET.

31. Buoyant: AFLOAT.

32. Kitchen tool needed for some potato dishes: PEELER.

34. Commuter's fee: TOLL.  DH and I have transponders on our cars to facilitate automatic payment of tolls on California toll roads, but it can be confusing to encounter tolls in other states, especially where there are no payment stations on the road.

35. Garden implement: HOE.  Hoes have been used since ancient times to clear weeds, shape soil, and harvest crops.

Weeding the vegetable garden with a hoe.

38. [Theme clue]

40. [Theme clue]

42. Streaming interruptions: ADS.  We tolerate ads on some streaming platforms, and pay for premium access without ads on others.  Television today has many options, and can be very expensive.

43. Argentine author Jorge __ Borges: LUIS.  Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, educated in Geneva, Switzerland, and returned to Buenos Aires as a young adult.  His groundbreaking short stories are surrealistic explorations of dreams, labyrinths, mirrors, and myths.  His eyesight dimmed as his career blossomed, and he became completely blind about the time he was appointed director of the National Public Library and professor of English Literature at the University of Buenos Aires in 1955.  His familiarity with many languages allowed him to write his own stories with a view to their future translations, which were many.

45. Italian town with a namesake coast: AMALFI.

Amalfi, Italy -- a bit south of Naples,
and surrounded by towns just as lovely on the "Amalfi coast."

46. "Go Birds!" NFL team: EAGLES.  The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. 

48. Iron alloy: STEEL.  Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon.  It is one of the most commonly manufactured materials in the world.

49. [Theme clue]

53. Literary governess Jane: EYRE.  Jane Eyre is the heroine of an 1847 novel by the English writer Charlotte Brontë.  Wonderful book.

54. Up to: UNTIL.

55. Love, in Spanish: AMOR.

57. Actor Estrada: ERIK.  Erik Estrada played Frank "Ponch" Poncherello, a California Highway Patrol officer, on the television series CHiPs, which aired from 1977 to 1983.  He was voted one of "The 10 Sexiest Bachelors in the World" by People in 1979.  Not an Oscar, but still flattering!

Erik Estrada poster from the 1970s

58. [Theme clue]

64. Country singer Lovett: LYLE.  Lyle Lovett has recorded 14 albums, released 25 singles, and won four Grammy Awards, including Best Male Country Vocal Performance and Best Country Album.

Lyle Lovett

65. Shrek, for one: OGRE.  Fictional ogre Shrek got his start in a book of the same name by William Steig, and then became the star of a series of animated films, in which he was voiced by Mike Myers.  The films are charming.  If you haven't seen them, start with Shrek (2001).  The stories make wonderful use of familiar fairy tale characters.

Shrek

66. Nintendo's The Legend of __: ZELDA.  Everything I know about Nintendo's video game adventure series The Legend of Zelda, I learned from watching my son play the game.  He was born in 1978.  The first game was released in 1986.  Could my son really have been only 8 years old?  Am I a bad parent?

The Legend of Zelda

67. Notices: SEES.

68. Some small dogs: TOYS.  Toy dogs have been bred to be so small they look like playthings.  Various kennel clubs list different breeds in the toy category, but none seem to give specific guidelines for qualification.  Almost all toy dogs will weigh less than 15 pounds as adults.  As with other breeds promoted by kennel clubs, breeding for appearance often outweighs breeding for good health or temperament.  Toy breeds have fragile bones and yet live in a world where they continually leap from tall furniture and laps.  Flat faced dogs experience severe breathing trouble.  Tiny spaniels suffer early onset heart disease.  And tiny "teacup" dogs live very short lives.

69. Official order: EDICT.

Down:

1. Lid: CAP.

2. Knee surgery target, for short: ACL.  The anterior cruciate ligament is a stabilizing element in the knee, connecting the thighbone to the shinbone. Tears or sprains occur with sudden stops, jumping, or rapid changes in direction.  Or in the case of my beautiful bonus daughter, when some guy coming down the slope behind you rams into you and knocks you off your skis.

3. Color TV pioneer: RCA.

4. Unproductive period: DRY SPELL.

5. Mint family herb: SAGE.

6. Fuss: HOOPLA.

7. Down Under bird: EMU.  "Down Under" is a nickname for Australia.  The emu is a tall flightless bird endemic to Australia.

When emus go rogue.

8. Appeared in print: RAN.

9. Cease: END.

10. "That's that, then": SO BE IT.

11. In debt: OWING.

12. Cut drastically, as prices: SLASH.

13. Valuable quality: ASSET.

18. Gridiron official: REF.

21. Ski races with gates: SLALOMS.  Slalom gates are flexible plastic poles used in alpine ski racing. Skiers must turn around each pole in a specific order.

slalom skiing

22. Pet welfare org.: ASPCA.  The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

23. On track to win: AHEAD.

24. Film spools: REELS.

26. Away from the bow, on a boat: AFT.

27. Untidy one: SLOB.

28. Say hi, in slang: HOLLA.  An urban slang variant of "holler."  

30. Dishy memoir: TELL ALL.

33. Cheek colorer: ROUGE.

35. Like moth-eaten clothing: HOLEY.

The holes in this toy dog's sweater are caused by moth larvae.
Eww!  Time to clean the closet.

36. Buyer's proposal: OFFER.

37. Submit taxes online: E-FILE.

39. __ the lily: add unnecessary decor: GILD.  A popular phrase based on a misquotation from Shakespeare's play King John:

To gild refinèd gold, to paint the lily,

To throw a perfume on the violet,

To smooth the ice or add another hue

Unto the rainbow, or with taper-light

To seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish,

Is wasteful and ridiculous excess.

41. Sloshy mattress: WATERBED.  Waterbeds accounted for more than one out of of five mattresses sold at the height of their popularity in 1987.  Having to run a hose into your bedroom to fill the mattress, pump the water out to move it, and risk flooding in case of a leak, reduced their popularity.

44. Salty expanse: SEA.

46. Chargeable two-wheelers: EBIKES.

47. Poles in a tomato garden: STAKES.

49. Old-fashioned showdowns: DUELS.

50. Sandwich request: ON RYE.

51. Purposeful: UTILE.

52. First responder: Abbr.: EMT.  Emergency Medical Technician.

56. Flow slowly: OOZE.  Imagine sap oozing from a tree.  A waterbed leak is likely to go faster.

58. Droid: BOT.  Droid is short for android, a humanlike robot.  Bot is short for robot.  A droid is always a physical robot.  A bot is usually a software program that runs online.  So ... not the same.

Droids ... or robots ... but not bots!

59. In the past: AGO.

60. Get weepy: CRY.

61. "__ Baba and the Forty Thieves": ALI.  "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" is an Arabic folk tale that was added to the other tales of the One Thousand and One Nights by French translator Antoine Galland in the 18th century.

62. Public health agcy.: CDC.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is the national public health agency of the United States.

63. Dennings of "WandaVision": KAT.  Kat Dennings has appeared in a long list of films and TV shows.  She is best known for starring roles in the CBS sitcom 2 Broke Girls and as Darcy Lewis in the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero films.

Kat Dennings

Here's the grid:

Solvers,

Did Kelly's puzzle end a DRY SPELL for you?  Or give you BACK TO BACK wins?

Did it all make SENSE to you?

HOLLA at your fellow solvers in the comments!

-- NaomiZ