Monday, May 25, 2026, Janice Luttrell

Theme:  Snail mail.

Crossword constructor Janice Luttrell regularly brightens up our Monday mornings.  In today's puzzle, Janice has four symmetrically placed theme entries (the last of which is the reveal) with subtly disguised references to items one sends in the mail.

The theme entries are:

20-Across. Metaphor for a plan that may collapse at any moment: HOUSE OF CARDS.

27-Across. Empire State NFL team: BUFFALO BILLS.

44-Across. Features of easy-to-read signs: BLOCK LETTERS.

52-Across. Stack heading to the post office, or what 20-, 27-, and 44-Across all have?: OUTGOING MAIL.

Oh, how we oldsters used to enjoy receiving CARDS and LETTERS in the MAIL!  No one enjoyed receiving BILLS, but it beat getting notices of payment due via email, and navigating endless payment portals. We even sent snail mail to our nearest and dearest to share thoughts and feelings, and to brighten their days.  Well, it's time to pick up the pace.  Not everyone here is as ancient as yours truly.

Across:

1. Sweeties: DEARS.

6. "Gimme a break!": C'MON.

10. Like Supreme Court arguments: ORAL.

14. Sight-related: OPTIC.

15. Tick off: RILE.

16. Item in a hotel closet: ROBE.  Might have been a SAFE, but it wasn't.

17. One thumbing for a ride: HITCHHIKER.  Prior to our marriage in the mid 1970s, my ex was a hitchhiker.  During our marriage, he picked up hitchhikers.  It was part of his hippie ethos.  We were a mismatch, but remained HITCHed for 23 years.

Ex was taller, but otherwise, this coulda been him.
I don't know who *she* is!

19. Mother Earth, in Greek myth: GAIA.  In Greek mythology, Gaia (or Gaea) is the personification of Earth. She is the mother of Uranus (Sky), as well as of Pontus (Sea).

Uranus and Gaia

20. [Theme entry]

22. From __ Z: A TO.

25. Inc. kin: LLC.

26. Phase one: ONSET.

27. [Theme entry]

32. Chapel centerpiece: ALTAR.

33. Dishwasher capacity: LOAD.

34. Pop-ups in a free game: ADS.  Online games, and phone apps, show you ads unless you pay for a subscription.

37. Snow toy with runners: SLED.

38. Shapewear company founded in 2000: SPANX.

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

41. Cornish game __: HEN.

42. "__ go bragh!": ERIN.  Erin go Bragh is the English spelling of an Irish language phrase, Éirinn go Brách, and is used to express allegiance to Ireland. It is most often translated as "Ireland Forever."

43. Agreed (with): SIDED.

44. [Theme entry]

47. Insurance filing: CLAIM.

50. "There you __!": ARE.

51. Susan of "L.A. Law": DEY.  Susan Dey is a retired actress, known for her roles as Laurie Partridge on The Partridge Family from 1970 to 1974, and as Grace Van Owen on L.A. Law from 1986 to 1992. She won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama Series for L.A. Law in 1988.

Susan Dey

52. [Theme entry]

57. Edinburgh resident: SCOT.

58. Rats out one's co-conspirators, say: NAMES NAMES.

62. Former Yankee slugger Martinez: TINO.  Constantino "Tino" Martinez is a former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball for the Seattle Mariners, New York Yankees, St. Louis Cardinals, and Tampa Bay Devil Rays from 1990 through 2005.  

"Tino" Martinez, 1998

63. Health resorts: SPAS.

64. The Met Gala, e.g.: EVENT.

65. Spread slowly: SEEP.

66. Org. with a white rabbit in its logo: PETA.  PETA is People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.  Their attention grabbing tactics have gone a long way toward popularizing concern for the treatment of animal companions, and of animals used for food and for scientific research.

67. Patinkin of "Homeland": MANDY.  Mandy Patinkin has enjoyed a long career in musical theater, television, and film.  He played Che in the first Broadway production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita (1979), earning a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical.  He won the Emmy for Outstanding Leading Actor in a Drama Series for Chicago Hope in 1995.  And among his many film roles, he played Inigo Montoya in The Princess Bride (1987).  

Mandy Patinkin in The Princess Bride.

Down:

1. Play-__: Hasbro toy clay: DOH.  

2. Allergist's lead-in to Pen: EPI.  EpiPen is a brand name for an auto-injector device containing epinephrine (adrenaline) used for emergency treatment of life-threatening allergic reactions (anaphylaxis). It works by quickly opening airways, raising blood pressure, and reducing swelling.

3. QB passing stat: ATT.  In football statistics, ATT stands for "Attempts," referring to the number of passes a quarterback (QB) throws, or the number of carries a running back makes. 

4. Like a billionaire: RICH.

5. Intellectual: SCHOLAR.  According to Wikipedia, an intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the nature of reality, especially the nature of society, and proposed solutions for its problems. Coming from the world of culture, the intellectual participates in politics and defends a system of values.  So ... SCHOLAR is a little narrow as a definition, but I think Wikipedia's definition is a little broad.  Do all intellectuals propound their viewpoints publicly?

6. Butter substitute, in some recipes: CRISCO.

7. Angels outfielder Trout: MIKE.  Mike Trout is a professional baseball outfielder for the Los Angeles Angels of Major League Baseball. He is an 11-time All-Star, three-time American League MVP, and 9-time winner of the Silver Slugger Award. He captained the United States national team during the 2023 World Baseball Classic and was named to the All-WBC Team. He is regarded by many as the best baseball player of his generation and one of the greatest players in baseball history.

Mike Trout

8. Butter substitute: OLEO.

9. Backyard water fight brand: NERF.

10. Instruments with many pipes: ORGANS.

11. Laughs noisily: ROARS.

12. Endure: ABIDE.

13. "That's the __ of my worries": LEAST.

18. Ship's framework: HULL.

21. Frosty: COLD.

22. Embarrass: ABASH.

23. Bridal veil netting: TULLE.  Tulle is a sheer netting fabric with a hexagonal mesh pattern.

Tulle

24. Frequently: OFTEN.

28. Passing trend: FAD.

29. Like a brand-new canvas: BLANK.

30. Lithium-__ battery: ION.

31. Hardly strict: LAX.

34. Supported: AIDED.

35. Name on much farm equipment: DEERE.

36. Foamy, as soap: SUDSY.

38. B'way sign: SRO.  Broadway sign:  Standing Room Only.

39. Insta post: PIC.  On the social media app INSTAgram, most posts are PICtures or reels (short videos) with commentary.  

40. Held a match to: LIT.

42. Ticklish Muppet: ELMO.

43. Women's Media Center co-founder Gloria: STEINEM.  Gloria Steinem is an American journalist and activist who emerged as a feminist leader in the late 1960s and early 1970s.  Steinem was a columnist for New York magazine and a co-founder of Ms. magazine.  She co-founded the National Women's Political Caucus, the Women's Action Alliance, and the Women's Media Center.

Gloria Steinem and Dorothy Pitman Hughes,
co-founders of Ms. magazine, 1971

44. Three-ring circus setting: BIG TOP.

45. San Diego suburb whose name means "the table": LA MESA.

46. Historic stretches: ERAS.

47. Expenditures: COSTS.

48. Port St. __, Florida: LUCIE.  This reviewer was ignorant of the existence of Port St. Lucie (the sixth most populous city in Florida), and it crossed in the grid with TINO Martinez, who was unknown to me, so I had make a bit of a WAG (wild ass guess) there, but it wasn't difficult.

The dart marks Port St. Lucie on the map

49. Make amends: ATONE.

53. Clouseau or Gadget's rank, briefly: INSP.  Inspector.

54. Sensitive neck part: NAPE.

55. MBA hopeful's exam: GMAT.  Graduate Management Admission Test.

56. Volcanic flow: LAVA.

59. Guys: MEN.

60. Conclusion: END.

61. Hog farm pen: STY.

Here's the grid:

Dear Solvers, 

Did this puzzle RILE you up, taunting you with BLANK spaces?

Or were you AIDED by perpendicular entries?

Can you CLAIM to have FIR (finished it right)?

Let us know in the comments!

Fondly,

NaomiZ

Monday, May 18, 2026, Brian Callahan, Amie Walker

Theme:  Swing for the fences!

A scene from Happy Gilmore starring Adam Sandler, 1996

Brian Callahan and Amie Walker are frequent crossword contributors to the LA Times, solo or teamed up with others, and at least once in the past, together.  How do they make great moves in the grid?  Today's big reveal is:

61-Across. Advice for adding power to a golf swing, or what can be said about 17-, 27-, and 50-Across: IT'S ALL IN THE HIPS.  In the listed entries, the answers are contained within the word HIPS, written in helpful circles at either end of each answer.  Note the progression of the letter breaks from 1:3, to 2:2, to 3:1.  Are the HIPS moving from one side to the other, as in a golf swing?

17-Across. "Let me give you a few pointers ... ": HERE ARE SOME TIPS.

27-Across. Some track-and-field attempts: HIGH JUMPS.

50-Across. VW adorned with decals from the flower power era, e.g.: HIPPIE BUS.

We can expect some groaning in the comments today about circles, but yours truly feels they are needed to see the theme.  Aside from that, I think we can all appreciate the symmetry of the grid and the theme answers, and the fact that two of the themers span the grid.  I did have one little problem with the solve, which I'll share when we get there.  Shake a leg!

Across:

1. Annoying ordeal: HASSLE.

7. Reddit tell-all sesh: AMA.  Ask Me Anything question-and-answer session on Reddit, a news aggregator and social media platform.

10. Veil material: LACE.

14. Fiction influenced by net culture: ALT LIT.  Alternative literature (or alt-lit) is a literary movement influenced by internet culture and online publishing.  It is characterized by autofiction (telling an altered story of one's own life in the third person), self-publication, and a presence on social media networks.

15. Grass roll: SOD.

16. __ hygiene: ORAL.

17. [Theme clue]

20. Pointed (at): AIMED.

21. Galápagos lizard: IGUANA.  The marine iguana is found only on the Galápagos Islands. It forages in the sea for algae, which make up almost all of its diet.  There are land iguanas in the Galápagos as well.

Marine iguana, Isla Española, Galápagos, 2022

22. Small stick in a bird's nest: TWIG.

24. Yoga poses: ASANAS.

27. [Theme clue]

30. First step of a home reno: DEMO.  Home RENOvation shows make DEMOlition look like fun.

33. Beatty/Hoffman film flop: ISHTAR.  Ishtar is a 1987 comedy film written and directed by Elaine May, and produced by Warren Beatty, who co-stars with Dustin Hoffman.  The story revolves around a pair of talentless songwriters who travel to a gig in Morocco and stumble into international intrigue.  Shot on location in Morocco and New York City, the production drew media attention for cost overruns on top of a lavish budget.  A change in management at Columbia Pictures also hurt the film's release, which was a notorious failure at the box office.  Initially considered to be one of the worst films ever made, it has since had better reviews.

34. "I'm not sure" sounds: UHS.  UH ... did anyone else put UMS here, and then wonder what kind of heroine at 26-Down could be named ASMA?  I did.  FIW (finished it wrong) by one square.

36. Phoenix NBA team: SUNS.

38. Pickleball barrier: NET.

Pickleball court divided by a net.

39. Overt: BLATANT.

42. Fuel additive brand: STP.  STP is a brand of automotive products, including motor oil, fuel additives, and brake fluids.  The name STP originally stood for "Scientifically Treated Petroleum."

43. Avocado dip, for short: GUAC.  Short for guacamole, a Mexican Spanish word which comes from the Nahuatl word āhuacamōlli meaning "avocado sauce."

45. Oft-protected personal ID: SSN.

46. "Same here": I AM TOO.

48. College Board exam for sophs: PSAT.  The Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test has been administered to high school sophomores since Fall 1971.  

50. [Theme clue]

52. Capital of Kansas: TOPEKA.

54. Richard of "Chicago": GERE.  Chicago is a 2002 musical crime film based on the 1975 stage musical, which in turn originated in the 1926 play.  It explores celebrity, scandal, and corruption in Chicago during the Jazz Age, and stars Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Richard Gere. 

55. These days: LATELY.

58. "Gavel-to-gavel" coverage provider: C-SPAN.  Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network is an American cable and satellite television network, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service.  C-SPAN provides unfiltered coverage of the U.S. House, Senate, and major congressional hearings from the beginning of each session to the end.

61. [Theme clue]

66. Lion's sound: ROAR.

67. Pop singer Rita: ORA.  Thank you, crossword puzzles, for teaching me this one.

68. Call forth, as memories: ELICIT.

69. Car loan figs.: APRS.  The Annual Percentage Rate (APR) is the total cost of borrowing to pay for a vehicle over the course of one year.  It serves as a comparison tool between loan offers.  Imagine that Bank A has a low interest rate, but also has a large fixed fee for car loans. The fee will be figured into the APR.  Bank B has a slightly higher interest rate, but lower or no fees.  Bank B's overall APR may be lower than Bank A's, and therefore a better deal.

70. __ and improved: NEW.

71. Show up for: ATTEND.

Down:

1. Laugh syllable: HAH.

2. Tavern beer: ALE.

3. Likely feature of a valedictorian's report card: STRAIGHT A'S.  The highest mark in all school subjects.

4. __ of hand: magician's knack: SLEIGHT.  "Sleight" refers to a deceitful kind of craftiness, or to skill and dexterity.

5. Actor Neeson: LIAM.  Liam Neeson is an actor from Northern Ireland who has garnered many accolades over forty years in films.  He rose to prominence portraying Oskar Schindler in Steven Spielberg's Holocaust drama Schindler's List (1993), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor.

Liam Neeson

6. To be, in French: ÊTRE.  Oh, to be a French verb ... how wonderful that would be.  Here's a phrase you know using être:  "C'est la vie."  "That is life."

Present tense conjugation of the verb "to be" in French.

7. Donkey: ASS.

8. Dairy sound: MOO.

9. Online moderator, briefly: ADMIN.

10. Pink blooms sacred to Buddhists: LOTUSES.  Rooted in mud but blooming above water, the lotus flower symbolizes the purity of an enlightened mind rising above suffering.  According to legend, everywhere the baby Buddha stepped, a lotus flower bloomed.

Lotus flower

11. Solo for an opera diva: ARIA.

12. Breakfast mascot's rank: CAP'N.  "Cap'n" is a contraction of the word captain, and is used to represent a sailor's pronunciation: "Aye aye, cap'n!"

Can you spot the verb être on this box of Canadian Cap'n Crunch?
It is crunchificent!

13. "Frozen" ice queen: ELSA.  Frozen is a 2013 animated musical film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, loosely based on Hans Christian Andersen's 1844 fairy tale, "The Snow Queen."

The characters of this film often show up in our puzzles.
It might be helpful to watch it sometime.

18. Dutch cheese: EDAM.

19. "Yikes!": EGAD.

22. Category of noun: THING.  Nouns are words that name people, places, things, or ideas. 

23. Get smart: WISE UP.

25. Soviet satellite launched in 1957: SPUTNIK.  Sputnik 1 was the world's first artificial Earth satellite. A 23-inch metal sphere with four antennas, it orbited for three months, emitting a radio signal.

26. "Wish" heroine voiced by Ariana DeBose: ASHA.  Here's the other half of my downfall at 34-Across, where I wrote UMS, not UHS.  Asha is the protagonist of the animated film Wish (2023) produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios.  She is voiced by American actress Ariana DeBose.  The idea for the film was hatched during the creation of Frozen II.

Ariana           and           Asha

28. Quick punch: JAB.

29. Web addresses: URLS.

31. "Wish we all had that kind of luck": MUST BE NICE.

32. Moving from gig to gig: ON TOUR.  What the protagonists of Ishtar were hoping to be doing.

35. Scissors sound: SNIP.

37. Slangy "Let's say ... ": SPOSE.  An informal contraction of the word "suppose."  In the sense of "let's say," you can imagine a phrase like, "Spose we pay higher interest to Bank B, but there are no other fees ..."

40. Arthur in the International Tennis Hall of Fame: ASHE.

41. __ chi: martial art: TAI.

44. Part of a "Gabby's Dollhouse" costume: CAT EARS.  I have twin grandchildren who are 12 years old, and a grandbaby who is 8 months, so I'm perfectly positioned to know absolutely nothing about Gabby's Dollhouse, a television show for preschoolers aged 3 to 6 years.

Gabby's Dollhouse

47. Smash success: MEGA HIT.  Not Ishtar.

49. Bridge charge: TOLL.

51. Treaty: PACT.

53. Traffic marker: PYLON.  Usually just a good old fashioned orange cone.

55. Money of Italy, once: LIRA.

56. Resting on: ATOP.

57. Former Russian ruler: TSAR.

59. __ butter: skin care ingredient: SHEA.  Shea butter is a fat extracted from nuts of the African shea tree.  It is a popular ingredient in skin care products.

Shea butter

60. Pepper (with): PELT.

62. Furious feeling: IRE.

63. Casual refusal: NAW.

64. Brooch: PIN.

65. Norm: Abbr.: STD.  Another word for norm is standard, abbreviated std.

Here's the grid:

To cap off our theme:

Shakira and friends:  "Hips Don't Lie."

Solvers, was this puzzle a HASSLE for you, with BLATANT obscurities ELICITing groans?

Or do you SPOSE it will be considered a MEGAHIT for its fine qualities?

MUST BE NICE to win them all.  Let's hear from you in the comments.

-- NaomiZ

Monday, May 11, 2026, Chloe Revery

Theme:  GOSSIP GIRL.

Today's constructor, Chloe Revery, has been published in a number of newspapers, including the New York Times and Boston Globe.  Today's puzzle is her debut in the Los Angeles Times.  Congratulations!  RUMOR has it that Chloe is a software engineer from Los Angeles.  Of course, that's just HEARSAY.  I don't pretend to have INSIDE INFORMATION, but this is the SCUTTLEBUTT.

Today's theme is revealed at 63-Across:

63-Across. Trendy jargon, or what can be found at the starts of 17-, 25-, 38-, and 53-Across: BUZZ WORDS.  The starts, or beginnings, of the answers listed are WORDS for BUZZ in the sense of a story that is circulating.

The rest of the theme clues are:

17-Across. Very inexpensive: DIRT CHEAP.  DIRT can mean damaging gossip.

25-Across. Pants one may have to wriggle into: SKINNY JEANS.  "The SKINNY" suggests "the naked truth," and refers to inside information or the lowdown.

 38-Across. Kitchen cloth: DISH TOWEL.  DISH can be a verb ("dish the dirt") or a noun ("the latest dish").  It refers to scandalous gossip.

53-Across. Traditional Chinese wedding ritual: TEA CEREMONY.  "Spill the TEA" means to share juicy news.  It comes from "T" for "truth" and is more recent slang than the others.  

Well, that's enough idle chitchat from me.  Time to get serious about the rest of the puzzle! 

Across:

1. Body art, slangily: TATS.

5. Turn into baby food: MASH.  I do this for the grandbaby, but his mother insists the new best practice is to give the baby huge hunks of whatever food and let him go at it until he chokes, which he is supposed to learn to manage.

9. "I am half __, half hope": "Persuasion": AGONY.  The iconic line, "You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope," comes from Captain Frederick Wentworth’s letter to Anne Elliot in Chapter 23 of Jane Austen’s Persuasion.  DNK but I like it. 

14. La __ Tar Pits: BREA.  Ice Age animals approached the Tar Pits hoping for a drink of water and became trapped in the sticky goo, leaving behind a trove of fossils of saber-toothed cats, dire wolves, mammoths, and giant ground sloths.

La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles

15. Comic-Con, e.g.: EXPO.  An expo, or exposition, is a large event where organizations showcase their products and services.  Comic-Con is one such event, focusing on comics, gaming, cosplay, anime, and pop culture.  Don't believe me?  Check it out Oct. 30 - Nov. 1, 2026 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.  I won't be there, though.  Not my thing.

Someone else at Comic-Con

16. Engaged for a job: HIRED.

17. [Theme clue]

19. South American mountain range: ANDES.

20. Neck of the woods: AREA.

21. Drag show accessory: WIG.  RuPaul's Drag Race is sometimes credited with popularizing "tea" as a word for "gossip."

23. HS diploma equivalent: GED.  Didn't finish High School?  You can earn a GED (General Educational Development) equivalency credential instead.

24. Subway smooch, e.g.: Abbr.: PDA.  Public displays of affection (PDA) are acts of physical intimacy in the view of others.

25. [Theme clue]

30. Stirred up: INCITED.  Perhaps with rumors, hearsay, and innuendo?

32. Red wine grape: MERLOT.  Everyone's favorite scene from the movie Sideways, 2004:

33. Many a TikToker: TEEN.

34. Orange tubers: YAMS.

37. Delicious: TASTY.

38. [Theme clue]

41. Great Lakes mnemonic: HOMES.

YooperPhil, how do you remember the lakes?

44. Hippocratic __: OATH.

45. Jittery: EDGY.

49. Very tops: APEXES.  The formal plural of APEX is APICES (AY-puh-seez), but for the hoi polloi, it's OK to say APEXES (AY-pek-siz).  It's Latin, doncha know.

51. Like elastic material: TENSILE.  Tensile refers to a material's capacity to be stretched, drawn out, or subjected to tension.

53. [Theme clue]

56. Industrial tub: VAT.

57. Secrecy contract, for short: NDA.  Non-Disclosure Agreement.

58. Pie __ mode: À LA.  Pie à la mode is a classic American dessert featuring a slice of pie (typically apple) served with a scoop of ice cream on top. "À la mode" is French for "in fashion."

59. Skedaddled: FLED.

61. Selling point?: STORE.

63. [Theme clue]

67. Cowpoke's hello: HOWDY.

68. __ Day vitamins: ONE A.  Popular brand of multivitamins.

69. Out on the water: ASEA.

70. "Siddhartha" novelist Hermann: HESSE.  Siddhartha: An Indian novel is a 1922 novel by Hermann Hesse about the spiritual journey of a man named Siddhartha during the time of the Gautama Buddha. The book was written in German, and later published in the United States in 1951. In the book, Siddhartha attained enlightenment, which Hesse was also seeking.  The book sparked a lot of interest in Buddhism in the 1960s and 70s.

71. Designer Vera known for bridal gowns: WANG.  Vera Wang also has a line of casual clothing for sale at Kohl's, which is very much the other end of the spectrum.  This wedding gown is not my favorite of the many designs on her website, but it is called Noemi, so I had to choose it for today's illustration.

Noemi gown by Vera Wang

72. Refuse to allow: DENY.  I deny all those rumors and gossip!  Or at least some of them.

Down:

1. Brief "More info soon": TBD.  To Be Determined.

2. Daughter of King Minos who helped Theseus escape the labyrinth: ARIADNE.  Ariadne, daughter of King Minos of Crete, fell in love with the Athenian hero Theseus and helped him kill the Minotaur by providing a sword and a ball of thread to navigate the Labyrinth.  After fleeing with Theseus, Ariadne was abandoned on the island of Naxos.  My father always said Theseus was a jerk.  No, wait -- that was Jason of the Argonauts.  Maybe all the Greek heroes were jerks.

Theseus and the Minotaur

3. Feature of many a rice paddy: TERRACE.  A paddy is a flooded field used for growing semiaquatic crops like rice and taro.  Paddies are often built into steep hillsides as terraces.

Rice paddy terraces

4. Fill up: SATE.

5. Verbal shrug: MEH.

6. Log chopper: AXE.

7. Offspring: SPAWN.

8. Pickup line?: HOP IN.

9. "I've got it!": AHA.

10. Sodas in Shirley Temples: GINGER ALES.  A Shirley Temple is a mixed drink made with ginger ale, a splash of grenadine, and a maraschino cherry.  It was invented by a restaurant in Hollywood so that the child actress, Shirley Temple, could have a fancy beverage that looked like the old-fashioneds her parents were enjoying.

Shirley Temple drink

11. Major trials: ORDEALS.

12. "I __ remind you ... ": NEED NOT.  And yet you do ...

13. Ribbon purchase qty.: YDS.  Ribbons are purchased by the yard.

18. Playbill list: CAST.

22. Place to raise the bar?: GYM.

Raise that bar!

24. Cherry discard: PIT.  Maraschino cherries, like the ones in Shirley Temples, begin as light colored cherries which sit in a chemical soup for 4-6 weeks, erasing their color and flavor, and are then soaked in a solution of sugar syrup, red dye, and almond flavoring for another month.  Finally, they are pitted -- but do watch out for the occasional pit or portion thereof that is missed by the fast moving machines.

26. Cipher breakers: KEYS.  A cipher is a system of encrypting information, perhaps substituting one letter for another consistently, or rearranging the letters of a text.  A key unlocks the encrytped information.

27. State with a potato museum: IDAHO.

28. Ballet leap: JETÉ.  A jeté is a ballet leap where a dancer throws one leg into the air and lands on it, transferring weight from one foot to the other.

A grand jeté

29. Farm pen: STY.

31. Items in recipe boxes: INDEX CARDS.  DH's mother kept such a file.

35. NYC subway org.: MTA.  The Metropolitan Transportation Authority provides bus, subway, and commuter rail service in Greater New York, and operates multiple toll bridges and tunnels.

36. __ voce: SOTTO.  Sotto voce is an Italian phrase meaning "under the voice" or "soft voice," used to describe speaking or singing quietly.

39. "Understood": I SEE.

40. "At what time?": WHEN.

41. Fedora, for one: HAT.

42. Like shoes that show off a pedicure: OPEN TOE.

43. Spots for sheep to sleep: MEADOWS.

46. Not all the same: DIVERSE.

47. Cheer up: GLADDEN.

48. "Are we there __?": YET.

50. Mrs., in Madrid: SRA.  Short for señora.

52. Manhattan event with many designers and runway models, for short: NYFW.  New York Fashion Week.

54. Arm joint: ELBOW.  My mother intended to sit on a bench in my grandchildren's school yard, missed it, landed rather well (all things considered), but fractured her ELBOW.  She's staying at my house while adjusting to this situation.  When the splint from the ER is upgraded to a longer term solution this afternoon, we'll get a sense of how long this will go on.  We've got a rather full house at the moment.

55. __ Loa: world's largest active volcano: MAUNA.  On the Big Island of Hawaii.  Or rather, half of the Big Island of Hawaii!  The islands are formed by volcanoes rising from the ocean floor.

Mauna Loa eruption

60. Laundry batch: LOAD.

61. Finger-on-lips sound: SHH.  I was a librarian for many years.  SHH is part of the professional lexicon.

Shh!

62. Hurricane center: EYE.

64. Super chill: ZEN.

65. Zig and __: ZAG.

66. "You can __ that again!": SAY.

Here's the grid:

HOWDY, Solvers! 

Did this gossipy puzzle cause you AGONY through a series of solving ORDEALS?

Or did it GLADDEN your spirit with DIVERSE delights?

You NEED NOT tell us, but we still wish you would, in the comments below.

-- NaomiZ