Theme: "I gotta have a little more cowbell"
6. Nosrat's "Salt Fat __ Heat": ACID. Not familiar with this quote nor the author of it. Perps and a bit of common sense provided me with the answer. All of the four are related to cooking, I believe
10. Owed: DUE.
13. Steam bath: SAUNA. Most of the saunas I have visited use a dry heat. So, is a sauna a steam bath? You decide
14. Olympic swimmer Torres: DARA. Here is her webpage
15. Genetic molecule translated into protein: RNA. While the clue gives this away, I am sure that some of you may have entered DNA at first
19. Subtle glow: AURA.
20. Masters of allusion?: POETS. Clever clue. I wonder if the constructor or the editor came up with this?! 😀
26. Go downhill fast?: SCHUSS. German word for "ski"
28. Thataway, quaintly: YON.
29. Push to the limit: TRY.
30. Café lightener: LAIT. Or, to those who are French, "Brest milk" 😂
31. Surfer's gadget: REMOTE. For those of us who have "cut the cord", a remote control device is mandatory for streaming
40. Flexible lunch hour: ONE-ISH. This time will avoid much of the normal lunch hour crowd
41. Chess piece in castling: ROOK. While I am not a chess player, I do know that the term "castle" involves switching the rook (shaped like a castle) with the king
42. Saison for the Paris Olympics: ETE.
45. Buff: FAN. Naked nor nude nor ripped fit
46. Score: TWENTY. As in "Four score ... "
52. Thorny shrub: BRIAR. Here in AZ we have cacti
53. Like breezeways: AIRY.
61. More than most: ALL. Indeed
62. Hockey Hall of Famer Willie: O'REE. This was 1/2 of my Natick. More about this HOF hockey player
63. Pizzazz: FLASH. Clue could've been "Comic book super hero" (just saying). For those of you who are fans of TBBT:
64. Signals intelligence org.: NSA. The word signals in the clue gives it away (not the CIA)
65. PC key for scrolling to the end: PgDn. This entry (PgDn) is not one we see too often. However, it did appear in the LAT several times when Rich Norris was the editor ...
66. Incursion: FORAY. Not the first definition of this word I would have chosen ... but ... I did find this when I googled: Foray (noun): the mistake of incurring liability or blame
Down:
1. First of September?: ESS. In some years, the first of September can be Labor Day ...
2. Tower of note: AAA. This link might only open for you if you have a Facebook account. Don't know if this is what Patti meant. She usually doesn't comment here, so we may all be left to wonder. Either way, this is a very obscure clue, IMO ...
OK, I re-read the clue. It's not tower as in a building ... it's tower as in a vehicle that tows cars and other vehicles. AAA is the abbr for American Automobile Association. Oops 😒
3. Inaugural ball duds: TUX. GOWN didn't fit
4. Game with 108 cards: UNO. Should we just Skip over this, or Draw Four??
5. Melonlike tropical fruit: PAPAWS. Anyone else try PAPAYA first? I did
6. Hold precious: ADORE. Aww
7. Creation by a locks smith?: CANAL. Clever clue. I wonder if the constructor or the editor came up with this?! 😀
8. Wrath: IRE.
9. Perfume application: DAB. Or, an application of Brylcreem
11. Broken, as some promises: UNKEPT. If this were to describe the person's hair prior to the DAB of Brylcreem, the answer could have been: UNKEMPT
12. Sunrise service occasion: EASTER.
17. Places to make connections: HUBS. Back when I lived in SW Ohio, CVG was a hub for Delta Airlines
18. Not against entertaining: OPEN TO. I am open to entertaining you (I hope) with my blog
21. "omg my bad": SRY. As I said in my intro, with so many TLW's there are bound to be a few that are abbrs.
22. "Pet" that needs lots of water: CHIA. Never had one of these so I wasn't sure whether it needs a lot of water or not. Does this clue and entry hold water??
23. Concluding piece: OUTRO. As opposed to the beginning piece? Intro? I guess
24. __ node: LYMPH.
25. Not even fair: POOR. When I was in elementary school the grading system was: Excellent, Good, Fair, Poor. No one failed, per se, but some were held back
26. Jazz home, initially: SLC. When CVG was a Delta Airlines hub, so was SLC - as in Salt Lake City
27. Ore. neighbor: CAL. IDA and NEV also fit
31. French queen: REINE.
32. UFO crew, presumably: ETS. See my Moe-ku 2 in the intro
33. Violinist Zimbalist: EFREM. Yes, the father of the TV star (Maverick and 77 Sunset Strip) was a famous violinist
35. Ailing: INFIRM.
36. Spring's opposite, in tides: NEAP. This says it all
37. Non-neutral particles: IONS.
38. Add (up): TOT. Why use an abbr. here? Meh
39. Much of a sunset photo: SKY.
42. Abate: EBB. A tidal reference was already used in 36-down
43. Tam pattern: TARTAN. I worked for 3M for many years, and it was known, back then, as the "Brand of the Tartan"
44. Members of a TikTok subculture: E-GIRLS. Read all about it!
46. Yukon, e.g.: Abbr.: TERR. More abbr. This is why this puzzle gets only ⭐⭐⭐⭐
47. Not even close: WAY OFF. If you FIW today, you were probably way off
49. "Into the Water" novelist Hawkins: PAULA. Any fans of her work here?
50. So last century: DATED. As a Baby Boomer, so much of me is "dated"
51. Get ready to eat: RIPEN. My favorite expression to indicate how old I am is saying: "I no longer buy green bananas"
55. __ fly: POP. It's the MLB playoff season, so this "fill-in-the-blank" clue is timely
56. Indoor rower, for short: ERG. As in ergonomic?
57. Selena portrayer, familiarly: J-LO. Jennifer Lopez
58. Orecchiette shape: EAR. Refers to pasta. Thankfully, I recently returned from a trip to Italy so I knew this
60. Biblical possessive: THY. Moe-ku #3: