Wednesday, Jun 12th, Rebecca Goldstein

 TOFU~!?!?

Or maybe Liver~?

Another Wednesday, another Rebecca Goldstein puzzle, another 16x15 grid; I need more FLAVOR~!

That about sums up today's crossword, with four theme answers and one reveal; four "places" preceded by four, uh, flavors~?  Am I missing something~?  Sure, (sour) apple-flavored Jolly Ranchers are the best, sesame chicken I recognize ( I even throw in some seeds on my General Tso's ) and there are several waffle flavors I did not know about, but I would definitely pass on anything that was "olive-flavored'.  Here are the spanners;

18. Workplace for some Geniuses: APPLE STORE - I am PC.  Period.

26. Breakfast chain with a museum in Decatur, Georgia: WAFFLE HOUSE - I have said before that my favorite "greasy spoon" is the Waffle House

38. Home to Big Bird and Mr. Snuffleupagus: SESAME STREET - Yup-yupyupyup; I was just talking with my supervisor about these guys - and it's hysterical to watch them for the first time in like, 45 years

Brrrrr-ring.....Brrrrr-ing

53. Restaurant with a Never-Ending Pasta Pass: OLIVE GARDEN

63. Tasty location associated with Guy Fieri, and where to find 18-, 26-, 38-, and 53-Across?: FLAVOR TOWN

I don't watch any Food shows, so. . . .

And Away We Go~!

ACROSS:

1. Warmup in gym class, maybe: LAPS - I preferred to warm up on the rowing machine

5. Dish with a shell: TACO - I make my own tacos at least once a week, and if I choose to eat fast food, it's Taco Bell

I can't wait to try one of these new menu items

9. Unexpressed: TACIT

14. Be a sore winner: GLOAT - nyah-nyah-nyah-NA-nyah-nyah

16. Country on the Arabian Sea: OMAN

17. Clay colour: OCHRE - Meh. I always thought the color was called, uh, "CLAY". . . .

20. Second stringers: B-TEAM

21. Tax Day arrival, astrologically: ARIES - Meh, and questionable; there's a trend to add new signs to the Zodiac, but I could not find one link that had Aries ON 15Apr.  My father was born on 20Apr, which is the "cusp" of the OLD astrological signs; therefore, without a specific birth 'time', he was both Aries and Taurus.  If I were to accept the NEW, then I am no longer an Aquarius, but a Capricorn....

22. Assistant: AIDE

24. Fabric tear: RIP

25. Picture formatted for the small screen?: ICON

30. Walked worriedly: PACED

32. "Sorry, laddie": NAE - and - 43A. Scottish gal: LASS

Oh, Aye, laddie, that's a bonnie lass~!

33. Slammed with customers: MOBBED - I did my time in retail

34. Make a request: ASK

35. Grand in scale: EPIC

37. Gymnast Lee: SUNI - via perps, and yet I am sure I have seen this name before

42. Three-time WNBA MVP Leslie: LISA - via perps; her Wiki

44. Resistance unit: OHM

47. "Cupcake Wars" competitors: BAKERS

50. Frying liquid: OIL

51. Spanish small bites: TAPAS - had this two puzzles in a row

56. Nu metal band since 1993: KORN - I love metal, but this whole generation/genre was just noise, as far as I was concerned; I picked the one song from the decade that I would let play if it came on. . . .

Drowning Pool - Bodies

57. Sanctions: OKs

58. Sponge feature: PORE

59. Artisan association: GUILD

61. African snake: MAMBA

67. Decide (to): ELECT

68. East, in Spanish: ESTE

69. Spanish lakes: LAGOS

70. Ding-dong __: DITCH - I had no clue this was an alternate 'title' for "ring & run"; first learning moment

71. Shoulder muscle, briefly: DELToid

72. Out of __: SYNC

DOWN:

1. JFK alternative: LGA - airport codes - I grew up on Long Island, home to both fields - even though they are associated with New York City

2. Andean grazers: ALPACAS

3. Candy mixed with Coke in a chemistry experiment: POP ROCKS - I'm more familiar with the Diet Coke and Mentos experiment, but it was too short --

Growing up, the myth was if you swallowed Pop Rocks, your stomach would explode

4. Contact lens solution: SALINE

5. Tater bite: TOT

6. Spanish "I love": AMO

7. Large mimosa order: CARAFE - the one Champagne to have when you're having more than one~?

8. Racer Kitty known as "the fastest woman in the world": O'NEIL - she even got her own action figure - or is it "doll"~!? - more here

9. "Not gonna lie ... ": TO BE HONEST - these days, you don't get 10 letters, just "TBH" - and, TBH, I happen to like Olive Garden

10. Put on a show: ACT - meh.  STAGE is a better verb, IMHO, TBH

11. Angelic being: CHERUB - my personal favorite cherub image; and the best song on the album

Van Halen - 1984 - Drop Dead Legs

12. Confident words at the poker table: I RAISE

13. Filled in at the office: TEMPED

15. Golfing prop: TEE

19. U-turn from NNE: SSW

23. Objects gently: DEMURS

25. Hoppy pub initials: IPA

27. Jungian inner self: ANIMA

28. Stand up to: FACE

29. Off-Broadway award: OBIE - Off Broadway - literally "Oh Bee"

31. Shortcut created by foot traffic: DESIRE PATH - another new learning moment for me

36. Turn a certain corner in Monopoly: PASS GO - GO TO JAIL did not fit

A hotel on Boardwalk = what rent~? See below

37. Like bread for stuffing: STALE

39. -1,412 ft., for the Dead Sea: ELEVation - see 41D.

40. Lost traction: SLID

41. The lay of the land?: TOPOLOGY - I use a 3D software called Revit for modeling buildings, and it has a topography tool for making the structure "site" as accurate as possible; I can add points of 'elevation'

45. Earned with extreme effort: HARD WON

46. Bing portal: MSN

47. Thundered: BOOMED

48. Basic stuff?: ALKALI - as opposed to "acid" - clever

49. Destiny: KISMET

50. Words of warning: OR ELSE

52. Japanese dogs: AKITAS - learned by doing crosswords

54. Sounded like 52-Down: ARFED - Meh.

55. Habitat for Humanity, e.g., for short: NGO - I've had this before, and still put in NPO, for a Non-xxx-Organization, but not PROFIT; it's GOVERNMENTAL

60. Online address: URL - Uniform Resource Locators - a unique website "residence"

62. Loop in on the DL: BCC - second puzzle in a row, for me, again

64. Emory U.'s home: ATLanta - filled via perps

65. Dog doc: VET

66. Foreign policy gp.: NSC

Splynter

$2000~?  Dammit~!

Wednesday, May 22nd, 2024, Rebecca Goldstein

 HURDLES

Today's construction makes two Rebecca puzzles in a row for me, AND the second in a row that's 16 x 15.  Plus the fourth grid of hers that I have blogged since I started guest blogging last year.  Two spanners and two 10-letter theme answers.  IMHO there was some meh fill, but that may be due to the fact that I am getting "older" and not keeping up with the world as it races past me.  The theme clues/answers: 

17. Undercover undertaking: STEALTH OPERATION

36. Winter getaway deal: SKI PACKAGE

43. Meet, Maps, and Drive, e.g.: GOOGLE APPS

62. Bend over backward, or what each set of circled letters is: JUMP THROUGH HOOPS - three synonyms for "jump", which 'bound' from one word to another, while being "circled" by a hoop.

And Away We Go~!

ACROSS:

1. Pleads: BEGS

5. Clear as day: LUCID - eh, I like this better when referring to dreams

10. Brunch side: HASH

14. "Lunch __ a Skyscraper": iconic New York photograph: ATOP - I did not know it was a publicity stunt; the Wiki

Totally Photoshopped

15. Trip to see Africa's "Big Five": SAFARI - I did not know there was a "set" that should be on one's African safari bucket list; they are listed here on this site

16. Capital city with public transit ferries: OSLO - this strikes me as being "Ektorp", but there's "Norway" it's going to be Swedish 😜

20. Owns: HAS

21. __ Lingus: AER - Crossword staple

22. As of now: TO DATE

23. Toy that may get stuck in a tree: KITE - ah.  Not "POM"

C'mon, that's funny~!

25. Sweater pattern: ARGYLE - a shout-out to our dear departed Santa

28. Fully __ nachos: LOADED

30. Apt rhyme for tear: WEAR - "wear & tear"; took me a minute

31. Lovers' quarrel: SPAT - and - 50A. Tizzies: ADOs

35. Garden shelter: ARBOR - my maiden excursion on my new tractor did not go so well; trashed my garage door track, twice, trying to get it out; knocked myself silly when the folding roll bar folded on my head, then when I was out mowing, first the roll bar snapped a branch off my pine tree and then....

38. "Wild" card game: UNO

39. 4-Down sigh: AHH....

41. Country north of Kenya: Abbr.: ETHiopia

42. Unlikely to reprimand: LAX - not the airport this time

47. "Don't cry for me" singer: EVITA

49. Web content std.: HTML - oops, I tried HTTP

51. Soaks in a salt solution: BRINES - meh.  Don't care for the 'verb'; salt solutions...better

52. "Even still ... ": AND YET. . .

54. "So I __": "LIED" - OK, "So I LIED" - that's not really my tractor 😁

55. Infinitesimally small: ATOMIC

58. Things put in to power?: AAs - bitty batteries

59. Wheelbarrow groove: RUT - yeah. meh.

67. Novelist Rice: ANNE

68. Vehicles with pedal assist: eBIKES - I have such a short drive to work, I considered buying one of these for the exercise and to save on gas

69. All over the place: AMOK

70. Fridge incursion: RAID

71. Folder contents: FILES

72. Top diving scores: TENS


DOWN:

1. Swinging soiree: BASH

2. Gospel icon James: ETTA

3. Makes a big noise: GOES KABOOM - remember this game~?

4. Relaxation station: SPA

5. Judy Garland co-star Bert: LAHR - you won't find this lion in Africa

Wow - he even signed it to my given name~!

6. Mysterious sight in the sky: UFO - I wondered if this would be the 21st century "UAP" answer

7. Tube top?: CAP - ah, toothpaste, e.g.

8. Intense anger: IRE

9. "Traitor!": DIRTY RAT

10. Choose a spot in an open office: HOT DESK - never heard of this; I have been booted from several desks (workbenches, actually) at my job because I fill two roles - I am a pipe organ technician, but also the next CAD pipe organ design guy; since I painted the CAD office, my co-workers seem to think that my other work space has been 'conceded' .  Sigh.

11. Most populous continent: ASIA - Antarctica comes in a close second. . . .

12. Gumball machine opening: SLOT - meh.  There's a coin "slot", but the opening is sort of like a hinged gate, if you ask me

13. Make sharp: HONE

15. Camel in a caravan, maybe: STEED - yeah, I suppose.  I happen to like camels - I want a stuffed one to add to my Webkins collection; I have two dinosaurs and a dragon; used to play on the computer with my once-step-daughter

and it's HUMP DAY~!

18. Like some job moves: LATERAL - I would have thought splitting my time between two "offices" at work would be considered "lateral".  Bzzzt. 

19. Early web portal: AOL

24. Eager reply to "Who wants this cookie?": "I DO~!" - I was expecting "ME~! ME~!"

25. Uncomfy, casually: AWKward

26. Hiking gear rental co.: REI- Crossword staple

27. Stops and stares: GAPES

Oh, sorry, I got distracted. . . .a lucid dream about a HOT DESK~?

28. Guffaw: LAUGH

29. "I take it back": "OR NOT. . ."

32. Race car or kayak: PALINDROME - the same spelling, forwards and backwards

33. Banded gemstone: AGATE

34. Home state of Beyoncé and Megan Thee Stallion: TEXAS - did not know this, nor would I care.  I guess I AM getting old(er).  Filled via perps.

36. Suspicious: SHADY - I'd link Slim Shady, but the lyrics....

You've Been Warned. . . .

37. Think of fondly: CHERISH

40. Captain cook?: HEAD CHEF - har-har

44. Rented a yurt, maybe: GLAMPED - High living while "roughing it"

45. "The Bells" poet: POE - also did not know this; filled via perps

46. Hollywood hrs.: PST

48. Strive (for): VIE

51. Slight depression, with "the": BLAHS - not the BLUES, but 60% correct

53. Tiny issue: NIT

55. Cracked just a bit: AJAR

56. Mackerel relative: TUNA

57. Potent prefix: OMNI

58. Life times?: AGES

60. Wish __ a star: UPON

61. Tuts: TSKs

63. Squeeze play stat: RBI

64. Menorah liquid: OIL

65. "Aloha 'Oe" instrument, briefly: UKE

66. Granola grain: OAT - four in a row, letters three, that's all you're gonna get from me~!

Splynter

Friday, April 19, 2024, Rebecca Goldstein

WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ON HERE ?

Good Morning, Cruciverbalists.  It is Friday and it is time for yours truly, Malodorus Manatee, to present a recap of today's puzzle by veteran (and that's an understatement) constructor Rebecca Goldstein.

Today's solve was no walk in the proverbial park as there were several elements in this eclectic mixture that challenged this solver and, perhaps, you, too.

Depending on what one wishes to include, there are roughly fifteen proper nouns in this puzzle.  Proper nouns are great if you know the answer but they can be trouble if you don't.  There are several foreign-language answers in the grid and several answers that, again depending on what one wishes to include, consist of more than one word (e.g. does I-beam count?).  Toss in a couple of references of the wurst kind, two (or three) Greek alphabet references, and some obligatory oblique (Friday) cluing and the head scratching becomes inevitable. . . and that's before we deal with the clever theme.

Upon completing the puzzle, and for some time thereafter, this solver was not able to identify a theme.  A unifying clue/answer would have helped - but there was none.  I saw the "international" two-word clues, each punctuated with a question mark, but failed to put the pieces together.  Perhaps I was a bit word weary from the solve itself or maybe I just could not see the forest for the trees.  In any event, I reached out to the Crossword Corner blog staff and, with their assistance, the fog lifted.  Each themed clue is a common expression in English which includes a country name.  Each themed answer fits the clue but requires that we re-imagine the expression as being defined in terms of  something other than its common meaning.  The theme is not in the answers.  It is to be found in the clues themselves.

Here are the themed clues and their answers:

17 Across:  American cheese?: POTUS.  Not as in what you might have used last Friday on National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day.  As in the idiom the "Big Cheese".  The President Of The United States is a "Big Cheese".

19 Across:  Irish cream?: EUROS.  Not Baileys.  Cream can be used, apparently, as a slang term for money.  Irish money.  See #27 in  100 Slang Words For Money

36 Across:  Spanish inquisition?: COMO ESTAS.  In this case not THE Spanish Inquisition.  As in to inquire, in Spanish, "How are you?"  Well, I guess the answer to that depends:

7 Down:  Australian open?: G'DAY MATE.  Not a tennis tournament reference.  Open as in an opening comment/greeting, I suppose.  

41 Down:  French press?: LE MONDE.  Not a coffee brewing reference.  The French newspaper (press).

43 Down:  English channel?: THE BEEB.  Not as in what we just now crossed to get to Great Britain from 41 Down (the English Channel).  A television channel.  Slang for the BBC.  British Broadcasting Corporation

49 Down: German mark?: UMLAUT.  Not the former German currency that was replaced by the Euro.  A punctuation mark used in the German language.

Let' take a look at the completed grid.  Its symmetry is elegant even without the placement of the themed answers.  With the placement of those answers it is even more impressive:

Here are the rest of the clues and answers:

Across:

1. AMC car known as "The Flying Fishbowl": PACER.  If you knew your American Motor Corporation models then this one was fairly easy.  If not, you had to wait for the perps which is a tough way to start a puzzle especially, in this instance, where the crossing with 1 Down might have formed a Natick.

6. "Saltburn" studio: MGM. As a further sign of the "updating" of our puzzles, a 2023 film was chosen to clue this instead of one of hundreds of classic MGM flicks.

9. Office characters: STAFF.  Because of the obligatory leading "cap", the clue might have been thought to refer to the cast of the TV show.  The answer did not require that degree of specificity.

14. Meaty flavor: UMAMI.  One of the five so-called basic tastes (together with Salty, Bitter, Sweet and Sour), UMAMI has been defined as "savory - characteristic of broths and cooked meats".

15. Nev. neighbor: IDA.  IDAho  What did Ida Ho?  She hoed her Mary Land while wearing her brand New Jersey.

16. Undefeated Ali: LAILA.  A frequent visitor.

18. Goldin of "All the Beauty and the Bloodshed": NAN.  A reference to the subject of a 2022 documentary about the activist named in the clue (and who's first name is the answer).

20. Uncertain syllables: UMS.  The topic of the inclusion of these sounds-people-might-make answers has previously, and extensively, been debated on The Corner.

21. Long-horned grasshopper: KATYDID.  A funny word and a funny-looking insect.

24. Captcha capture: BOT.

25. Slip through the cracks: SEEP.  The clue might have been taken as the idiom but that would have thrown one off the scent.

27. Ramblin' man, maybe: NOMAD.  Well, Rebecca and Patti did tee it up:

Allman Brothers Band - 1972

28. Root vegetable with purple-flecked flesh: TARO.  A starchy vegetable frequently served up in our puzzles.

29. Actress Taylor-Joy: ANYA.  Although a winner of both a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Golden Globe, this actress' name was unknown to this solver.  Perps to the rescue.

30. Spoken exams: ORALS.  My son recently took a battery of ORAL exams in hopes of qualifying to become a pirate.  His grades were okay, but not great.  He got high C's.

31. Washington University's business school: OLIN.

32. Arterial insert: STENT.  Today's let's-pass-on-the-graphic moment.

34. Fig. texted from traffic: ETA.  Or, a Greek alphabet reference.

35. Actor Nick: NOLTE.  This actor's name was known to this solver.

39. Some charcuterie slices: SALAMI.  One of the wurst clues.

 

42. Polling place sticker: I VOTED.  They now include the sticker with our mail-in ballots.

46. Walk through knee-deep snow, say: TREK.  A bit misleading (hey, it's Friday) because the answer is not snow-dependent.  

47. Unrefined: CRUDE.  I recently heard a dirty joke about oil drilling.  It was really CRUDE.

51. "Goodness": OH MY.

52. Pinnacle: ACME.  Sometimes it turns out to be APEX.

53. Alfa __: ROMEO.  Wherefore art thou?  Nah.  An automobile reference.

1964 Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint

54. "Ja" opposite: NEIN.  Today's German lesson.

55. Letter before sigma: RHO.  One of today's Greek (alphabet) lessons.

56. Spicy sausage: HOT LINK.  The other wurst clue.

58. Lingerie buy: BRA.  There are many possibilities here but the three-letter requirement cuts things down to size (number and letter) pretty (lace, different colors) quickly.

59. Packed tightly: DENSE.

61. Tiny powerhouses?: AAS.  This one was not another of those sounds-people-might-make answers.

62. Part of building bridges: I BEAM.  Named for its shape when viewed in cross section.

64. Boss (around): ORDER.

65. "For shame!": TUT.  This is yet another one of those sounds-people-might-make answers.  It might have been clued as yet another proper noun.

66. Sell a bill of goods: LIE TO.   Everything You Want to Know About the "Sell A Bill Of Goods" Idiom

67. Daisy known as the "Rosa Parks of the North": MYERS.  The Myers Family Story

68. UFO beings: ETS.  Extra TerrestrialS  Unidentified Flying Objects are now called Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena or UAPs

69. Neuroscience segments: LOBES.

Down:

1. Food with a national holiday in El Salvador: PUPUSAS.  If you started the puzzle at 1 Down then it might have been a rough start.  Oddly, while working on this recap I asked Valerie what I might snack on.  She served up a PUPUSA that she had recently purchased at that temple of Salvadoran cuisine - Costco.  It was delicious.

2. Terse request to chat: A MOMENT.  The only way this one seems to make sense to this solver is as a request to talk to someone and not as a request to chat electronically.  As in "Have you got A MOMENT?"

3. Reflective effect in some gemstones: CATS EYE.

         CATS EYE Gemstones                           Looking For Their Royalty Checks

4. Bird in a eucalyptus forest: EMU.  Eucalyptus tells us to conjure up something Australian.

5. Chance: RISK.  Noun or verb?  It didn't matter this time.

6. Cookie with green creme: MINT OREO.  How do I clue thee?  Let me count the ways.

8. Geometric designs that represent spiritual journeys: MANDALAS.

9. Toy in the final "Calvin and Hobbes" panel: SLED.  Here it is.  Bill Watterson walked away at the top of his game after declining to monetize his characters by, among other things, turning them into plush toys. 

10. Letter after sigma: TAU.  Another one of today's Greek (alphabet) lesson.

11. Big whiff: AIR BALL.  A basketball reference.

12. "Go! Go! Go!": FLOOR IT.  As we move into the electrified automobile future, FLOOR IT might survive whereas "Step On The Gas!" probably will not.  She's real fine my 400 NM?

13. Trick: FAST ONE.  As in to Pull a FAST ONE.

22. "I'll take that as __": A NO.  Yes

23. Face cards?: IDS.  Not IDS as compared to EGOS.  I.D. as in an identification card with, in this case, a head shot photo on it.

26. Blowout patch, at a diner: PANCAKE.  New jargon for this solver.  Usually, it is a sheet rock (drywall) reference.

28. "That may never be funny": TOO SOON.  Often posed as a question:  "Is it TOO SOON?"

33. "Top Chef" judge Colicchio: TOM.  Thanks, again, perps.  Often clued with a turkey reference.

35. Pt. of Loran: NAV.  Long Range NAVigation.

37. Prefix with economics or biology: MICRO.

38. Attach: TIE ON.  As opposed to a Liger?  (well, it was close)

39. Fame and fortune: STARDOM.  I always thought that I was destined for STARDOM but then I realized that my mass was below 0.08 solar masses.

40. Shooting sport: ARCHERY.  Hand up for first trying to make something firearm-related work out.

44. Kuwait or Qatar: EMIRATE.  People in Qatar don't like "The Flintstones" but people in AbuDhabi do.

45. Real powerhouses: DYNAMOS.

48. Turn: ROTATE.  A clue to be taken literally.  Not as in, for example, a baseball game at bat or a time to spin/roll the dice when playing a board game.

50. Many of the founding fathers, religiously: DEISTS. Deism is the philosophical position and rationalistic theology that generally rejects revelation as a source of divine knowledge and asserts that empirical reason and observation of the natural world are exclusively logical, reliable, and sufficient to determine the existence of a Supreme Being as the creator of the universe. 

56. Women's health brand: HERS.  Lots of possible ways to clue this.  This way was fitting for a Friday challenge.

57. Decide not to run: KILL.  A press (run) reference as in to KILL a story.

60. Honorific in "Game of Thrones": SER.  I might be the only person around who has never watched an epidsdoe of "Game of Thrones" so thanks, perps.

63. Book jacket blurb: BIO.  Short for BIOgraphy and also a short biography.

That includes our international tour for this Friday.  Have a great weekend, everyone.  If you go  exploring, please travel safely!

______________________________________________________________

Thursday, April 11, 2024,Rebecca Goldstein

 

 

ALMOST HEAVEN

 
After he retired my father built a small home on a mountain top in West Virginia.  We made many visits to it, then my mother had to sell it.  But one of sister's children bought it recently so it's back in the family.  And it was, and still is "Almost Heaven", a space where we can go and be at peace in a world with a starlit sky in the night, forests as far as the eye could see, meadows in the valleys, and a bucolic town with a yearly Apple Butter festival in the town below.

Today's constructor Rebecca Goldstein challenges us with 3 theme clues that re-imagine our world as a safe space where all people are free from bias, discrimination, and hatred -- a noble ideal ...

20. Mindset that may hinder growth: COMFORT ZONE.  A COMFORT ZONE is a familiar psychological state where people are at ease and (perceive they are) in control of their environment, experiencing low levels of anxiety and stress. But the clue hints that there is built-in tension -- that it can also hinder growth, and so it requires some careful navigation to maintain it ...

27. Mental image during meditation: HAPPY PLACE.  Here is the visual image of the sound OM used in some forms of meditation ...

35. Tabletop decor piece with raked sand: ZEN GARDEN.  More often a life-sized garden with raked sand.  Here's one at the Bon Secours Retreat Center in Marriottsville, MD.  They call theirs a Peace Garden, a safe space to meditate ...

Bon Secours Peace Garden

And the reveal ...

29. Bias-free environments, or what 20-Across and 27- and 35-Down are: SAFE SPACES.

Something we all wish for.  And each of us has a different path toward them. 

Here's the grid ...
 

Here's the rest ...

Across:

1. Data depiction: GRAPH. With the advent of low-cost graphics tools such as the PC, it became very easy to create GRAPHS tailored to specific needs.

6. Mouth piece?: JAW.  AKA the mandible -- the opposing piece is the maxilla ...

9. Slalom markers: GATES.

14. Diet that precludes grains and dairy: PALEO.

15. Charlottesville sch.: UVA.

16. Animal wearing red pajamas in Anna Dewdney kids books: LLAMA.  I guess that's a better clue than "Camelid who'll spit in your eye!" -- and they have a great after-market --

17. Hybrid wheat species: SPELT.  The ideal grain for Jinx, no matter how you spel it!

18. "A Life Outdoors Is a Life Well Lived" co.: REI.  Lately this co. has spent a lot of time living in crossword puzzles.

19. Get greasy: OIL UP.

20. [Theme clue].

23. Quick burn: SEAR.

24. "Me too": SAME.

25. Deep rift: SCHISM.  Not a  safe space for groups who experience one.

28. Plant used as an herbal medicine: HYSSOP.  A member of the mint family.  Here's what Britannica has to say about HYSSOP.  Here's what WebMD has to say about it. It's certainly a pretty plant ...

Anise Hyssop

32. Rollover subj.: IRA.

33. Getting a grip, maybe: SEIZING. 

Also an archaic nautical term referring to a length of rope.

37. "It's __-win situation": A NO.

38. Slip in judgment: LAPSE.

40. "Jeopardy!" host Jennings: KEN.  No not Barbie's BFF.

41. Getting hungry, probably: UNFED.  If prolonged it's not safe, especially for children -- see for example last Thursday's puzzle.

43. Uses a keyboard: TYPES.

44. Come to a close: END.

45. Slips through the cracks?: SEEPS.  Our basement laundry room SEEPS water and it looks like we'll have to hire a contractor to stop it.

46. Spanish "Hey!": OYE.

47. Field where things disappear?: MAGIC. 

49. NNW opposite: SSE.

50. European range: ALPS.

51. "August: __ County": Streep film: OSAGE.  August: Osage County is a 2013 American tragicomedy film starring Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Ewan McGregor, Chris Cooper, Abigail Breslin, Benedict Cumberbatch, Juliette Lewis, Margo Martindale, Dermot Mulroney, Julianne Nicholson, and Misty Upham as a dysfunctional family that reunites at the familial house when their patriarch (Sam Shepard) suddenly disappears.  Looks like a comedy in a dysfunctional sort of way...

52. Agile: SPRY.

54. Actress Gadot: GAL. Gal Gadot Varsano born 30 April 1985, is an Israeli actress, model and beauty pageant titleholder. She was crowned Miss Israel 2004 and represented her country at the Miss Universe 2004 pageant. She then served in the Israel Defense Forces for two years as a combat fitness instructor, after which she began studying drama, while building her modeling and acting careers.  Her first international film performance was as Gisele Yashar in Fast & Furious (2009), a part she reprised in several sequels. Gadot achieved global stardom for her portrayal of Wonder Woman in the DC Extended Universe films (2016–2023) and the mystery film Death on the Nile (2022).

Gal Gadot

55. Small part to play: BIT ROLE.  We hear BIT PART more often, but this fits too.

57. Skilled sort: ACE.

58. Let up: ABATE.

60. Pretty strange: ODD.  IMHO  all of "reality"is pretty ODD.

61. Chops in the kitchen: DICES.  As the family sous chef, I do a lot of this.

63. Likely to speak out: VOCAL.

64. "Say Yes to Heaven" singer Lana Del __: REY.  Good advice ...

65. Goddess of peace: IRENE.  Eirene or IRENE, is one of the Horae, the personification and goddess of peace in Greek mythology and ancient religion. She was depicted in art as a beautiful young woman carrying a cornucopia, sceptre, and a torch or rhyton. She is usually said to be the daughter of Zeus and Themisa. Her Roman equivalent is the goddess PAX.  She could almost be a fourth themer.  This also brings to mind a song by Huddie Ledbetter made popular by The Weavers ...

... although a careful listen to the lyrics tells us that Huddie and Irene didn't part very peacefully

66. Put forth: EXERT.

67. Chemistry suffix indicating a double bond: ENE.  In chemistry, a double bond is a covalent bond between two atoms involving four bonding electrons as opposed to two in a single bond. Double bonds occur most commonly between two carbon atoms, for example in ALKENES.  Double bonds can form between other elements and may not be designated with the ENE suffix ...

Chemical compounds with double bonds

The letters ENE are more likely to be clued in crosswords as "Opposite of WSW:"

68. Exams: TESTS.

Down:

1. Waze tech: GPS.  Waze Mobile Ltd, formerly FreeMap Israel, is a subsidiary company of Google that provides satellite navigation software on smartphones and other computers that support the Global Positioning System (GPS). In addition to turn-by-turn navigation, it incorporates user-submitted travel times and route details while downloading location-dependent information over a cellular network. Waze describes its application as a community-driven initiative that is free to download and use.

2. Future genre: RAP.

3. Smart __: ALEC.

4. Speaker emerita Nancy: PELOSI.   Nancy Patricia Pelosi (born in Baltimore on March 26, 1940) is an American politician who served as the 52nd speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011 and again from 2019 to 2023.   She was the first woman elected as U.S. House Speaker and the first woman to lead a major political party in either chamber of Congress, leading the House Democrats from 2003 to 2023. A member of the House since 1987, Pelosi currently represents California's 11th congressional district, which includes most of San Francisco.

Nancy Pelosi

5. Complete disasters: HOT MESSES.  The opposite of SAFE SPACES.

6. Peer at a trial: JUROR.

7. State firmly: AVER.

8. Counts down the minutes, maybe: WAITS.

9. Member of the blue man group?: GLOOMY GUS.  Here's the poster child for the species from the Hundred Acre Wood ..

10. Dresses that twirl: A LINES.  This one was made from a tablecloth ...

11. Unbelievable story: TALE.

12. Outback bird: EMU.

13. Softy: SAP.

21. Notoriety: FAME.  All of the notorious are famous, but not all of the famous are notorious.

22. Investigative journalist Paula: ZAHN.  Paula Ann Zahn (born February 24, 1956) is an American journalist and newscaster who has been an anchor at ABC News, CBS News, Fox News, and CNN. She currently produces and hosts the true crime documentary series On the Case with Paula Zahn on the Investigation Discovery channel.

Paula Zahn

25. Delta deposit: SILT.  Sediment in rivers is deposited, sorted by particle size, as the river slows down. Larger, heavier particles like pebbles and sand are deposited first, whilst the lighter silt and clay only settle if the water is almost still.  Silt deposited at the mouths of rivers formed the basis for ancient deposits of "ball clays" in the US in Tennessee and Georgia.  These fine grain clays are prized by potters for their plasticity.  Newer alluvial plains that are still active can be vast, e.g. the Nile Delta as shown in this photograph from space ...

Nile River Delta

26. Container that may have a built-in sharpener: CRAYOLA BOX.  Beginning in 1958 the 64 color box came with a built-in sharpener, as does the 96 count box.

27. [Theme clue]

29. [Theme reveal].

30. Latte order specification: ONE PERCENT.

31. Dishwasher detergent units: PODS.   Kids do the darnedest things --  between 2012 and 2013, poison control centers reported over 7,000 cases of young children eating laundry pods, and ingestion of laundry pods produced by P&G had resulted in six deaths by 2017. In response to the dangers, P&G changed Tide Pod containers to an opaque design, introduced warning labels, and added a bitter-tasting chemical to the pod contents ...

Original Packaging
Aren't they colorful!

34. Retail outlet whose products often come with Allen wrenches: IKEA STORE.  Sorry I couldn't resist ... 😀

35. [Theme clue].

36. Need for some denim jeans: INDIGO DYE.  Indigo is a pigment extracted from the leaves of indigo-bearing plants and is the oldest natural source of blue dye in the world. Humans have used indigo to dye natural fibers for thousands of years, with traditions spanning continents and cultures.  GLOOMY GUS would love this stuff ...!

"Indigo vat" used for dyeing

39. Observes: SEES.

42. Loch with a legend: NESS.

47. "Me, mon ami?": MOI.  Some good advice to solvers from a famous Belgian solver ...

48. Animation still: CEL.   

50. Tequila plant: AGAVE.

53. Approvals: YESES.  OKAYS fit as well

55. Suspenders alternative: BELT. Probably the most famous belt in the Universe is in the constellation Orion:

Also a song by Sabrina Claudio ...

56. Exchange a few words, say: EDIT.  I exchanged a few words to create this review.

59. Roof sealant: TAR.

62. Fury: IRE.  From the Latin word for "wrath".  The DIES IRAE ("Day of Wrath") is a Latin hymn from the Requiem Mass for the Dead. The setting in Verdi's Requiem left us with the best expression of FURY that I know.  Here it is performed by the Metropolitan Opera on the 20th anniversary of 9/11 ...

Cheers,
Bill

And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.

waseeley