CHiPs Fries
I do believe this is Peggy Sue Marlin's first published puzzle - congratulations~! I found this link to another crossword site, and her name appears there a few times. For today's theme, Peggy uses the "UK" term for a 'thing' as an adjective for the "American" 'thing', with a humorous result. My parents were born and raised in Nottingham, England, so I was familiar with the "other" terms Brits use, e.g. lorry for truck, bonnet for hood, etc. Standard grid, no circles, just thirteen 3LWs, but a few too many names for my taste. The themers, all unique;
20. Rental unit with zero personality?: FLAT APARTMENT
A whole building of FLAT apartments
28. One who forgot insect repellent for a walk in the park?: BUGGY STROLLER - Camelot~!
I have to push the Pram A Lot ~!
45. Five-star frank?: BANGER SAUSAGE
This is a FINE example of sausage~!
52. Salad special at a Cape Canaveral cafe?: ROCKET ARUGULA - new to me, I did not know that arugula, everywhere else, is called "rocket" - you learn something new from crosswords everyday~!
And Away We Loo~!
ACROSS:
1. "Star Wars" villain: VADER - "I find your lack of faith . . . . distubing" - name #1
6. Cartoon supplier of explosive tennis balls: ACME
Wile E Coyote's go-to supply company
10. "I'm __ you asked": "GLAD"
14. BP merger partner: AMOCO
15. Glitzy rock genre: GLAM - ah, such sweet memories....NY Dolls and Kiss may have started it all, but I grew up in the 80s with the likes of Poison, Cinderella, and my personal favorite, Mötley Crüe
Care to see the video for Looks that Kill~? - I'm GLAM you asked~!
16. Work (up): RILE
17. Emblems on some caps: LOGOS
18. Add to the staff: HIRE
19. Auth. unknown: ANONymous
23. Mai __: rum drink: TAI
25. Día de __ Muertos: LOS - Espaniol, "Day of the Dead" - used as the backdrop for the opening sequence from "Spectre", the penultimate Bond film starring Daniel Craig. There were NO edits for the first four minutes, and that's an incredible feat; the behind-the-scenes making of - with the one-shot description mentioned at 10:42. Here's a gratuitous Daniel 007 for C.C.
26. "Lost" actor Daniel __ Kim: DAE - "Dae of the Five-O", too - in fact, I see he had a guest "54D." on Law & Order back in 1994 - his IMDb; name #2
27. Grow older: AGE
32. Host of the 2004 Olympics: ATHENS - I believe they hosted the FIRST games, as well
33. __ cards: INDEX - they come in handy for . . . .
34. Repetitive learning method: ROTE - printing music notes on, so I could learn them by sight, rather than counting lines and spaces
35. Craft beer letters: IPA - crossword staple
36. "Aladdin" parrot named for a Shakespeare villain: IAGO - name #3
40. Brother's daughter: NIECE - my niece-in-law broke her lower leg riding a quad on Thanksgiving
43. Puffy reminder of a scuffle: FAT LIP - FAT TIRE is an Amber Ale
47. Washington airport code: DCA - Dah~! Not SEA for Seattle / Tacoma, the other Washington - D.C. - and Ronald Reagan Airport
49. Bible book before 1 Cor.: ROM - Romans - ooof; I guess it's a change-up from ROMantic COMedy, but I am not familiar with the Biblical books
Bottom Shelf
50. "Star Trek" series, for short: TNG - The Next Generation, and MY generation. I could not get into the original series, as I knew Star Wars before I saw William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, et. al. in their roles as Kirk & Spock, etc. I did, however, embrace the characters in this series, which began in 1987
Bangers humor
51. Recycle bin item: CAN
56. Repulsive: ICKY
57. Club choice: IRON - not sa'miches, but one of the "niblicks" used at 44D.
58. Big name in plastic wrap: SARAN - says name right in the clue - #4
61. Outside the lines: FOUL - sports lingo, not coloring books
62. Sandy sediment: SILT - Sandy sentiment~?
You're The One That I Want, Grease, 1978
63. Entry on a Spotify playlist: TITLE - music streaming; I use Pandora; Spotify is too much work for me
64. Carton sealer: TAPE - I first read this as cartOON
Wile E "sealed" in glue
65. Low digits: TOES
66. Quite capable: ADEPT
DOWN:
1. Actor Kilmer: VAL - name #5
2. Ti __: Italian "I love you": AMO - how ROMANtic
3. Ace-versus-ace sky battle: DOGFIGHT - George Lucas explains how he used clips of WWII dogfights so his Star Wars special effects team could grasp what he was aiming for with the Death Star battle finale
4. Climate change sci.: ECOLogy
5. Historian Terborg-Penn: ROSALYN - Sheesh. On Wednesday. Name #6 - her Wiki
6. Horrified: AGHAST
7. Chip bag closer: CLIP - Not SEAL
8. Argentine soccer legend Diego: MARADONA - I recalled this name - more here - name #7
9. May birthstone: EMERALD
Definitely not the Grinch . . . .
10. Nana: GRAM - I grew up with "Granny", thus my one goof in the grid - the 'N' to 'M'
11. One-dimensional: LINEAR
12. Word with run or tag: ALONG - run along, tag-along
13. Al __: pasta specification: DENTE
21. Throw in the trash: TOSS
22. Lead-in to prompter: TELE - TelePrompTer - history
23. Ski lift: T-BAR - third "Tee" answer in row
24. Mustang or Pinto: AUTO - FORD worked, as well - two names used by the Ford Motor Co. - and Charlie's Angels, too
An article from Motorbiscuit about the cars here
29. Davis of "A League of Their Own": GEENA - knew it, still a name, #8
30. More edible, perhaps: RIPER
31. Off-ramps: EXITS
35. Video game plumber who freezes enemies: ICE MARIO - I knew Mario, but not the ICE version - name #9
37. Menu phrase: À LA CARTE - good to see the whole phrase in a crossword
38. More than mega-: GIGA - one point twenty-one GIGAwatts~!
Doc Brown, Back to the Future
39. Like a 24-hour diner: OPEN - all day . . . . and night
41. Memo phrase: IN RE
42. Self-centered sort: EGOTIST - Narcissist was too much for this answer
43. Vampire tooth: FANG
44. Masters Tournament host city: AUGUSTA - I like to watch golf
45. "Wait, what did you just say?": "BACK UP..."
46. Double duty?: STUNTS - Stunt doubles, har-har
47. Deviate: DRIFT
48. __ powder: COCOA
53. Schwarber who led the National League in home runs in 2022 and 2025: KYLE - I don't care much for baseball, so this one was all perps - name #10
54. Actor's assignment: ROLE - I prefer behind-the-scenes work, but I would love to play a twisted bad guy in a movie some day
55. Set, as a table: LAID - meh, but I guess so
59. Swiss peak: ALP
60. March Madness souvenir: NET - college basketball - the winners usually snip the net from the rim
