Friday, November 1, 2024, Renee Thomason, Katie Hale

 Theme:  There must be a way!

Each of the theme answers is a recognizable person or thing, but does not match the clue until you SHOW THE word WAY at the beginning of the answer.

Here are the theme clues and answers, all of which are Across:

18. *Pop-up shop on the edge of the road?: SIDE HUSTLE. A side hustle is a job or occupation that brings in extra money beyond one's regular job.  But a WAYSIDE HUSTLE might be a business at the edge of a road.

23. *Underground market for home goods?: FAIR TRADE.  Fair trade is a trading partnership based on dialogue, transparency and respect.  But WAYFAIR TRADE might be taking furnishings from the online retailer Wayfair and trading them off market.

35. *Butcher's knife that's very hard to handle?: WARD CLEAVER.  Ward Cleaver is a fictional character in the television sitcom Leave It to Beaver.  But a WAYWARD CLEAVER might be a big knife that is difficult to control.

50. *Snuck up on a chicken coop to collect breakfast?: LAID AN EGG.  Saying someone laid an egg means they failed at something.  But WAYLAID AN EGG means they hid themselves and attacked an egg by surprise.

58. Give clear directions, or how to make the starred clues match their answers?: SHOW THE WAY.

Today's puzzle comes to us from Renee Thomason (our Monday blogger, known in the Corner as sumdaze) and frequent constructor Katie Hale.  Allow me to SHOW THE WAY through the rest of the clues and answers.

Across:

1. State that's easy to draw: UTAH.

Because Wyoming and Colorado wouldn't fit!

5. South American bean: CACAO.  Best bean ever.  Thank you, South America!

10. Loyalty program level: TIER.

14. Post-WWII alliance: NATO.

15. Celebrity gossip source since 1991: E! NEWS.  A late-night entertainment news program on the E! cable network.

16. Princess athlete in the 1976 Summer Olympics: ANNE.  The Games of the XXI Olympiad took place in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.  Princess Anne, daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip of Great Britain, competed as part of the British equestrian team. 

Princess Anne in the 1976 Olympics

17. Air quality factor: SMOG.

18. [Theme clue]

20. Device called a "cashpoint" in the U.K.: ATM.

21. Matching: SAME.

22. Stellar: ASTRAL.

23. [Theme clue]

26. Court tie: DEUCE.  Apparently, tennis score keeping was originally done using a clock face, marking points as 15, 30, and 45 minutes, with 45 eventually being abbreviated as 40:

     0 points = Love  (Zero was "The egg" or "L'oeuf" in French, which in English became "Love.")

     1 point = 15

     2 points = 30

     3 points = 40

     Tied score = All

     40-40 = Deuce

     Server wins deuce point = Ad-In

     Receiver wins deuce point = Ad-Out

27. Host: EMCEE.  We used to say "Master of Ceremonies," which became MC or "emcee."

28. Forensic profiling material: DNA.

30. Solstice mo.: DEC.  Also JUN, but it wouldn't work with the perpendicular entries.

31. Corp. head: CEO.

33. Ripe old __: AGE.

34. "__ we forget": LEST.  This phrase was first used in an 1897 poem by Rudyard Kipling called "Recessional," written to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee.

     God of our fathers, known of old,

        Lord of our far-flung battle-line,

     Beneath whose awful Hand we hold

        Dominion over palm and pine—

     Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,

     Lest we forget—lest we forget!

35. [Theme clue]

38. Chop garlic, say: PREP.  DH and I do the prep for each other, taking turns as head chef and sous chef.  Assembling a recipe is easier if you prep first and get all the ingredients mise en place.

40. Address bar character: DOT.  A web address includes a "dot" before the domain name, as in LATimes.com.

41. Car wheel part: RIM.

42. Coxswain's lack: OAR.  A coxswain sits in the stern of a boat, facing the bow, and steering with the rudder while coordinating the efforts of the rowing team.

A coxswain at work.

43. Pressure meas.: PSI.  Pounds per Square Inch.

44. Justice Sotomayor: SONIA.

48. Feudal lord: LIEGE.

50. [Theme clue]

54. Bringing up the rear: IN LAST.

56. Hindu honorifics: SRIS.  In South and Southeast Asia, Sri is used as a polite form of address, similar to the English "Mr.".

57. Truly regret: RUE.

58. [Theme clue]

60. __ Williams bourbon: EVAN.   Evan Williams is a brand of straight bourbon whiskey distilled at the Heaven Hill distillery in Louisville, Kentucky.  The product is aged for a minimum of four years (which is more than the two year minimum to be called 'straight' bourbon, but is the minimum requirement for a straight whiskey that does not have an age statement on the label).  It has been ranked as one of the world's best selling whiskey brands.

A Kentucky bourbon distillery I visited with DH in 2016.

61. Ale holder: CASK.

62. Thrill to bits: ELATE.

63. Stitch up: MEND.

64. Supersmall: ITTY.  Not "itsy" this time!  Often itty-bitty or itsy-bitsy.

65. Many a forty-niner: MINER.  Participant in the California gold rush.

66. Bank for mil. families: USAA.  USAA (United Services Automobile Association) is a bank that is only available to military members, veterans, and their families.

Down:

1. In need of a Mr. Yuk sticker: UNSAFE.  Mr. Yuk is a trademarked graphic image, created by UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, and widely employed in the United States in labeling of substances that are poisonous if ingested.

2. Instrument also known as a chau gong: TAM-TAM.  The Tam-Tam is a huge metal percussion instrument which makes a booming sound. When you strike the tam-tam, the sound gets louder and louder, building up to a climax before fading away.

3. Infinitesimal: ATOMIC.

4. Selfish type: HOG.

5. Labor leader Chavez: CESAR.

6. Inner self, to Jung: ANIMA.

7. Surrendered: CEDED.

8. Veneration: AWE.

9. Mae's sister on "Star Wars: The Acolyte": OSHA.  "Star Wars: The Acolyte" is a television series created for the streaming service Disney+.  An obscure clue!  What ever happened to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration?

10. Decorator's asset: TASTE.

11. Unwelcome visitor: INTRUDER.

12. Intertwines: ENLACES.

13. Word on some campaign posters: RE-ELECT.

19. MyPlate org.: USDA.  The United States Department of Agriculture produced this guideline for nutritious eating -- while supporting various types of food production that are anything but healthy.

21. Heifer's brother: STEER.

24. Summary: RECAP.  A summary of what has been said; a recapitulation.

25. Polygon part: EDGE.

29. Not far: NEAR.

32. Probability calculations: ODDS.

33. Key not found on a Mac: ALT.

34. Finger bowl slice: LEMON.  A finger bowl is a small bowl with water (and perhaps a slice of lemon) for rinsing fingers during a meal.

35. "Let's check the map": WE'RE LOST.

36. Spiral: COIL.

37. Exchange program papers: VISAS.

38. Future Hill worker's maj., maybe: POLI SCI.  Someone who hopes to work on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC might study Political Science.

39. Slicker accompaniment: RAIN HAT.  In this case, a slicker is a rain coat.

43. Wasp, for one: PEST.  Wasps eat spiders, flies, roaches, and caterpillars.  They pollinate at least 960 different plants, including 164 species that are completely dependent on them.  They disperse seeds.  They are responsible for the growth of figs!  But sure, they're pests.

45. Jitters: NERVES.

46. Tropical lizard: IGUANA.

47. Meeting list: AGENDA.

49. Nervously clumsy: GAWKY.

51. Egyptian market city: ASWAN.

52. Furious: IRATE.

53. Person eager to tackle home improvement projects, briefly: DIYer.  Do-It-Yourselfer.

55. Those folks: THEM.

59. New Haven student: ELI.  Elihu Yale was the primary benefactor of Yale University, and students at Yale are called Elis in his memory.

60. Petting zoo bird: EMU.  This seems to be a thing, but is it really safe to have a small child pet an emu?

Here's the grid:

So, did you find THE WAY?  Or WERE you LOST?

NaomiZ

Thursday, October 24, 2024, Renee Thomason

   Terpsichore

Today's puzzle is all about dancing so I've taken the title of this review from the name of the Greek muse of Dance and Choral music and the opening video is a performance of La Bourée by Renaissance composer Michael Praetorius from his Dances from Terpsichore.

Today's constructor is our very own Renée Thomason, and today is her first solo without her mentor C.C. Burnikel.  And I have to say that C.C. has mentored her well.  I usually don't comment on the quality of puzzles, but in this case I really enjoyed solving and reviewing this one.  Not only was there a cleverly executed theme to amuse us, but there were no references to obscure pop culture icons,  and  some very clever cluing.

Here are the themers.  They don't appear to have anything in common semantically so we really need the reveal to tell us that they all have something to do with dancing ...

56. Moonwalk, running man, floss, et al., and what can be found in the answers to the starred clues?: DANCE MOVES. And here I'll squeeze in a bit more music to show us something about the nature of these dances -- they really resemble a frenzied Italian Tarantella ...

... scrambled across the theme clues ...!

16A. *Smack-dab in the middle: DEAD CENTER.

22A. *Appetizer with lots of toppings: LOADED NACHOS.

35A. *Solving the Sunday crossword, for one: WEEKEND ACTIVITY.

45A. *Some design transfers: IRON ON DECALS.

Note the adherence to the convention that the embedded word must span multi-word fill.  Finding the right combination of words for the themers and finding a place for them in the grid is impressive. 

Here's the grid ...
 

Here's the rest ...

Across:

1. Chunk of fairway: DIVOT.  We recently took one of our granddaughters to our first POLO match this Summer and found that during the Chukkers (time outs to swap out horses) the audience is invited onto the field (which is 9 times the size of a football field!) for "DIVOT stomping."

6. All-__ pots and pans: CLAD. Pots and pans used by the pros ...

 10. Exactly suitable: APT.

13. "Parting is such sweet sorrow, mon ami": ADIEU.  Today's French lesson -- "goodbye", spoken to a male friend, A DIEU is actually a blessing ("to God") and is used when the separation will be long term or permanent.  Au revoir ("Until I see you again") is used for short term partings.

14. Classroom helper: AIDE.

15. Qatari ruler: EMIR.

16. [Theme clue]

18. Tree with needles and cones: PINE.  Conifers -- a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Unlike deciduous trees (oaks, maples, poplars, etc.) which shed their leaves in the Fall, conifers drop their needles gradually over the course of the year. 

19. Continuing ed course: ESL.  English as a Second Language.

20. Mixology verb: STIR.

21. Dukes: FISTS.  Maybe this is why they called John Wayne "the Duke" -- because he used his fists so much.

22. [Theme clue]

25. Birds with blue eggs: ROBINS.  We're talking here of course about American Robins ...

Robin Eggs (American)

 The eggs of the English Robin are a buff with reddish-brown spots ...

Robin Eggs (English)

28. "I'm all __!": EARS.

29. Casserole appliance: OVEN.

30. Off: AMISS.

32. The "Gras" of "Mardi Gras": FAT.  More French -- "Fat Tuesday", i.e. getting stuffed on the Tuesday before the first day of of Lent (Ash Wednesday), a season of fasting.

35. [Theme clue]

39. Soon-to-be alumni: Abbr.: SRS.

40. Window part: LEDGE.

41. Sound imitated by hitting coconut halves together: CLOP.  Used to great effect by these coconuts ...

42. Cor anglais kin: OBOE.  What's the difference between a Cor Anglais and an OBOE?  Here Vivien Kong plays a lovely excerpt from the second movement of Dvořák's Symphony No. 9 in E minor, From the New World with  a Cor anglais ("English Horn") ...

43. Abrasion: SCRAPE.

45. [Theme clue]

50. Update, as a library card: RENEW.

51. Tomato paste tomato: ROMA.

52. Bird that can weigh more than a baby hippo: EMU. Who knew -- a new EMU clue?

55. Rae of "Insecure": ISSA.  Jo-Issa Rae Diop (born January 12, 1985), credited professionally as Issa Rae, is an American actress, writer, and producer.  Founder of Hoorae Media, she achieved wider recognition as the co-creator, co-writer, and star of the HBO television series Insecure (2016–2021), for which she was nominated for multiple Golden Globes Awards and Primetime Emmy Awards.  Here's a very short clip with Issa as President Barbie in the 2023 film Barbie ...

56. [Theme reveal]

59. Mushroom part: STEM.

60. As well: ALSO.

61. Amazon option: PRIME.  I was surprised that Renée didn't clue this with a bit of number theory. 😀

62. FDR successor: HST.  Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884 – December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a United States senator from Missouri from 1935 to 1945 and briefly in 1945 as the 34th vice president under Franklin D. Roosevelt. Assuming the presidency after Roosevelt's death, Truman implemented the Marshall Plan in the wake of World War II to rebuild the economy of Western Europe, and established both the Truman Doctrine and NATO to contain the expansion of Soviet communism.  

Harry S. Truman

I always thought that his middle initial, "S" was just a placeholder, but in fact it stands for two names, honoring both his grandfathers, Anderson Shipp Truman and Solomon Young.

63. Prerelease software version: BETA.  In my experience the "release" software IS the BETA.  That's when the real debugging starts. 😀

64. Tennis star Monica: SELES.  Monica Seles (born December 2, 1973) is a former world No. 1 tennis player who represented Yugoslavia and the United States. She won nine major singles titles, eight of them as a teenager while representing Yugoslavia, and the final one while representing the United States. 

Monica Seles

Down:

1. Miami-__ County: DADE. Miami-Dade County is in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida (CSO to unclefred and Lemonade). The county had a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Florida and the seventh-most populous county in the United States.  The county seat is Miami, the core of the nation's ninth-largest metropolitan area with a 2020 population of 6.138 million people.  As I am writing this, I'm sure the people throughout the state of Florida still have much work to do to recover from hurricane Milton.

Miami-Dade County

2. Midmonth day: IDES.  We have the Roman Emperor Gaius Julius Caesar (12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) to thank for this bit of crosswordese. 😀

3. Bottle in a lab: VIAL.

4. 20-vol. lexicon: OED.  You can also buy this used edition of the 2-vol OED, complete with magnifying glass, for as low as $79.95 ...

2 volume OED

... or you can subscribe to the online version for £100/$100, or you can just highlight the word, e.g. lexicon, and let Google find the definition.  Hand up if you've used a paper dictionary in the past year?

5. Arizona city nicknamed "The Old Pueblo": TUCSON.  Here's how Tucson came to own its charming nickname.

6. Cat : felid :: dog : __: CANID.  Today's Latin lesson.

7. Bath water volume: LITRE.  Clever clue! -- Bath the town, not the vessel for bathing.  I spent 2 weeks working in Bath once, but I took showers so I can't tell you how many LITRES of water I used. If truth be told however, only the government, industry, commerce, and scientific research have been metricated, whereas the common folk still use Imperial units -- when Brits walk into a pub they will invariably order their ALE by the PINT (i.e. 473 ML).

8. Citrusy suffix: ADE.

9. German article: DER.  Today's German lesson: THE -- DER, DIE, and DAS are the definite articles used to modify masculine,  feminine and neuter nouns.  In English we don't make such distinctions and use THE as the definite article for all nouns, e.g. "the boy, the girl, the table", but in German it's not that simple.

10. Community known for barn raisings: AMISH.  This scene from the 1985 film Witness shows how they do it ... 

11. Skewbald horse: PINTO.  Not to be confused with a Paint.

Pinto horse

12. Lock of hair: TRESS.

15. Sweeping accounts: EPICS.  They don't get any more epic than this ...

17. Airport sked details: ETAS.

21. Language of Iran: FARSI.  Also the language of The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam see clue 9A of the puzzle for 10/10/2024 for a sample of FARSI.

22. Common sight on Safari: LINK.  Another clever one -- if like me you didn't notice that Safari was capitalized and you'd already perped the first two letters: LI, you would have reflexively filled LION, rather LINK -- a URL on a Safari browser page.

23. Prepare for a winter flight: DE-ICE.

24. Political cartoonist Thomas: NAST. Thomas Nast (September 26, 1840 – December 7, 1902) was a German-born American caricaturist and editorial cartoonist often considered to be the "Father of the American Cartoon".  He also  popularized the donkey as the symbol for the Democratic Party and the elephant, for the Republican Party; and created the “modern” image of Santa Claus.

Thomas Nast

25. Takes the oars: ROWS.

26. No longer hung up on: OVER.

27. Crucial pollinators: BEES.  Some are more crucial than others.

30. Included more: ADDED.

31. Short periodical?: MAG.

32. Hoka rival: FILA.  I'd not heard of Hoka shoes, but I did know FILA because one of my BILs used to work for them.  Our clue is also today's Māori lesson: the word Hoka means "to fly" in that language.

33. Sitting upon: ATOP.

34. Blood category: TYPE.

36. Pasta salad pasta shape: ELBOW.

37. Colorless gas that makes colorful signs: NEON.  For over 70 years this NEON sign dominated the sky above the Baltimore Harbor, but eventually succumbed to old age.  On July 4, 2021 it was replaced by an LED version.  The lowercase “o” from the old Domino Sugar sign was donated to the Baltimore Museum of Industry. 

38. Old tape players: VCRS.

42. Last-call hr., sometimes: ONE AM.

43. Equal: SAME.

44. Workshop grippers: CLAMPS.  There are a lot of shapes and sizes ...

Workshop clamps

45. __ setter: IRISH.  Beautiful dogs and great with children ...
 

Irish Setter

46. Recuperates, say: RESTS.

47. Get-go: ONSET.

48. Surrealist Max: ERNST.  Max Ernst (2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German (naturalized American in 1948 and French in 1958) painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and Surrealism in Europe.  If the word surrealist is clued in a crossword puzzle, the fill is almost invariably DALI or ERNST.

Max Ernst

49. Marshmallow-topped drink: COCOA.

52. Really rotten: EVIL.

53. Social media share: MEME.  A MEME begins as a social media share, but like the GENE, the biological entity upon which the idea is based, it must be propagated widely in order to survive.  While I don't always see eye to eye with the bloke, I have to give credit to ethologist and story teller Richard Dawkins for coining this word in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene.

54. Applications: USES.

56. Skosh: DAB.  Here's one clue that I doubt Patti came up with -- our constructor likely brought it back from Japan.

57. Taproom brew: ALE.  See also 7D.

58. Mine find: ORE.  Solvers often find ORE in crosswords too.

Cheers,

Bill

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

waseeley

Notes from C.C.:

1) Congrats on your first solo, Renee! I'm so proud of your accomplishment.

2) Happy 80th to Uncle Fred, an avid Packers fan! Fred is based in Fort Lauderdale.

 

Thursday, August 1, 2024, Renee Thomason and Zhouqin Burnikel

  

Punny
Funny Papers 

xkcd

Before we retired, our daily newspaper was delivered to our door printed on cheap, recyclable newsprint.   After retirement we found that we were paying a premium of $50 dollars a month more for home delivery and switching to email delivery seemed like a no brainer.  What I didn't foresee was that the latter was not a very convenient way to read the comics, a habit I'd had since childhood.   While it is possible to have individual webcomics like xkcd shown above, delivered via email, all of the daily and Sunday funny papers are just not as easy to read on a screen as they are in the paper with your feet propped up on the sofa.

To remind us of what we're missing, our very own Corner constructors, Renée Thomason (sumdaze) and Zhouqin Burnikel (C.C.) are taking us back to those days with 5 punny theme clues where the second word of the fill is a classic comic strip ...

16A. Popular comic strip at a deli?: DILL PICKLES.  Pickles is a daily and Sunday comic strip by Brian Crane focusing on a retired couple in their seventies, Earl and Opal Pickles. Pickles has been published since April 2, 1990. 

Pickles by Brian Crane for July 15, 2024

23A. Popular comic strip on an ocean liner?: SALTED PEANUTS.  Peanuts is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run extended from 1950 to 2000, and still continuing in reruns afterward. Peanuts is among the most popular and influential comics in history.

37A. Popular comic strip at a pub?: TAP SHOE. TAP is Brit slang for a pub and tap shoes are worn for a once popular style of dancing.  Shoe is a comic strip about a motley crew of newspapermen, all of whom happen to be birds. It was written and drawn by its creator, cartoonist Jeff MacNelly, from September 13, 1977, until his death in 2000 but continues due to the efforts of a dedicated team led by Susie MacNelly (Jeff's widow). I thought this one might be timely -- here are editor Shoe, reporter Cosmo and Sen. Batson D. Belfry at a press conference ... 

Wednesday, Jul. 17th, 2024

50A. Popular comic strip at the White House?: JAMES GARFIELD. Garfield is an American comic strip created by Jim Davis. It was created in 1976 and gained nationwide syndication beginning in 1978. It chronicles the life of the title character Garfield the cat, his dim bulb owner Jon Arbuckle, and his gullible dog Odie ...

July 10, 2024

Side note: We visited the President James Garfield Memorial on our recent visit to Cleveland -- a great man who met a tragic end.

61A. Popular comic strip at a talk show?: CHATTY CATHY.  Cathy is an American gag-a-day comic strip, drawn by Cathy Guisewite from 1976 until 2010. The comic follows Cathy, a woman who struggles through the "four basic guilt groups" of life: food, love, family, and work. The strip gently pokes fun at the lives and foibles of modern women (at least those prior to 2011).  It took me a lot of random searches to find this one, but this just could be the moment where the classic Cathy AACK enters crosswordese ,,,

And this one came with a bonus, as CHATTY CATHY is a real doll ... 😀

Here's the grid ...
 

Here's the rest ...

Across:

 1. Wile E. Coyote's vantage points: MESAS.  These vantage points don't turn out to be much of an advantage in the end ...

For you die hard W.E.C fans, here's a pictorial history of just how far Coyote was willing to go to capture the Road Runner (which he never did), just how short (or far) he fell, how many ACME products he purchased over the years, and just what they might have cost him? 

  6. Cantilever, sometimes: BEAM.  A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is unsupported at one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cantilever can be formed as a beam, plate, truss, or slab. 

10. Brooding type?: HEN.

13. Very angry: IRATE.

14. 42-Across lane: AISLE.

15. Store in a wine barrel: AGE.

16. [Theme clue]

18. "The Commitments" loc.: IRE.  A friend of mine turned me on to this film years ago.  The Commitments is a 1991 musical comedy-drama film set in the Northside of Dublin, Ireland.  It tells the story a young music fanatic who assembles a group of working-class youths to form a soul band named "The Commitments".  The film doesn't have an original film score, but the soundtrack features fourteen classic soul songs from that time.  Here's Chain of Fools sung by Aretha Franklin ...

Lyrics

19. Slushy treat: ICEE.

  20. Italian three: TRE.  Today's Italian lesson.

21. Like hardened mud on tires: CAKED.

23. [Theme clue]

27. "That's for sure!": I'LL SAY.

29. Treaty partner: ALLY.

30. Some karaoke performances: DUETS.  These guys sound just like the originals! ... 😀

31. NCR device: ATM.  NCR provides a lot more than just essential crosswordese. 

32. Mint and Snapchat: APPS.  Mint was a personal financial management app before it was acquired by Intuit, Inc. in 2009. 

Snapchat is an app primarily used for creating multimedia messages referred to as "snaps"; snaps can consist of a photo or a short video, and can be edited to include filters and effects, text captions, and drawings.  Photo snaps can be viewed for a user-specified length of time (1 to 10 seconds as determined by the sender) before they become inaccessible.  This feature is intended to frustrate the ability to take screenshots of snaps (should the originals be unseemly 😀)

Snapchat logo

36. Portuguese feminine pronoun: ELA.   Today's Portuguese lesson: SHE.

37. [Theme clue]

41. Garnish on uramaki sushi: ROE.  Inside out sushi rolls.  ROE are the fish eggs used for garnishing them ...

Ungarnished Uramaki sushi

42. No-frills supermarket chain: ALDI.  Aldi stores are noted as examples of so-called no-frills stores that often display a variety of items at discount prices, specializing in staple items, such as food, beverages, toilet paper, sanitary articles, and other inexpensive household items. Many of its products are own brands, with the number of other brands usually limited to a maximum of two for a given item.

Aldi's opposite is a "frills-chain" called Trader Joes, which incidentally is owned by the same holding company.  The latter, often called TJ's, is a favorite of  ours and we shop at our local store about once a week. 

44. Lacuna: GAP.  

The PBS series Magpie Murders is about a lacuna -- the last chapter in a murder mystery is missing -- and the author is dead! ...

45. Figure of speech: TROPE.  A literary trope is the use of figurative language, via word, phrase or an image, for artistic effect such as using a figure of speech.

I've also seen it used to refer to an overused, or trite, plot device is a literary work.

47. "Gangnam Style" style: KPOP.  Korean POP.  Wild stuff ...

49. Future ENT's course: PREMED. Aspiring Ear Nose and Throat doctors must get through PREMED before being accepted into medical school.

50. [Theme clue]

55. Collection: ARRAY.   This seems like a simple relationship, but apparently an ARRAY is only one of many types of collections (don't ask me to explain this -- I can't 😀).

56. Work on an order?: EAT.  If you're working on your food, you're eating too fast!

57. Point in the right direction?: EAST.  EAST as in RIGHT on a map.

60. Grumpy companion: DOC.

                                              GRUMPY                       DOC
61. [Theme clue]

65. Bird that can run faster than Usain Bolt: EMU.  How fast can a human possibly go ...

Usain Bolt
28 MPH

 But this bird can run faster ...

Emu
31 MPH

Notice that the pic of the emu is blurred due to its blazing speed, whereas Bolt's pic is crystal clear.  It just shows to go ya that crosswordese wins everytime! 😀 

66. Day divisions: HOURS.

67. Finish off: USE UP.

68. Gentle touch: DAB.  A little DAB'll do ya' ...!

69. Brand that makes Froot Loops waffles: EGGO.  A nested brand ...
 

Or maybe a contested brand?
There is nary a mention of Froot[sic] Loops in the above link

70. Sauce that originated in Genoa: PESTO.  We make our own --

1. puree some crushed garlic and parmesan cheese in 4 TBSP olive oil in a blender,

2. pack the blender with Basil leaves, and

3. puree to a smooth paste. 

We preserve it by spooning the paste into mini muffin pans, smoothing with a knife, covering with wax paper, and freezing overnight.  Next day we pop the "muffins" out with a warm dinner knife, and put these "pesto patties" in plastic freezer boxes separated by wax paper.  They can then be added to stir fries, soups, and stews as needed.  They seem to keep forever.

Down:

 1. Skirt length: MIDI.  Teri was wearing a tartan wool MIDI when I met her in the doorway of Mr. Saterlie's Modern and Contemporary History class in the 11th Grade.  The rest is history ...

2. "True Blood" vampire Northman: ERIC.  DNK this character. This could also have been clued "Viking ____ the Red".

3. Potential new client: SALES LEAD.

4. If nothing else: AT LEAST.

5. Bi Visibility Day mo.: SEP.  Month is abbreviated, so September is abbreviated.

6. Went by tandem: BIKED. A CSO to sumdaze and her DH?

7. Night school subj.: ESL.  English as a Second Language.

8. Drink made from hops: ALE.

9. Drink made from agave: MESCAL.  There are many types of agave.  Mezcal, sometimes spelled MESCAL, is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from any type of agave.  A related spirit, called Tequila, can be made only from Blue Agave. 

Blue Agave

10. 17-syllable poem: HAIKU.  A CSO to Chairman Moe.

11. Bird that stands on cattle: EGRET.  Unlike other herons and egrets, this species typically feeds in dry fields, often following cattle (or other animals) and waiting for them to flush insects into view.

Cattle Egret on a horse
Worcester Co., Maryland

12. Water and light, for plants: NEEDS.

14. McMansion plot: ACRE.  Here are some McMansions under construction in a new community not far from where we live called The Courts of Hidden Waters.  There was an actual mansion there years ago used for retreats by the faculty and staff of the University of Maryland at Baltimore.  It was hidden by trees and you couldn't see it from the road.  The  old mansion and the trees are all gone now and the  new mansions are clearly visible less than a half a block from the road.  Note the CSO to -T on the sign -- I think it's his East Coast side hustle ... 😀 

The Courts of Hidden Waters
(they don't look like ACRE plots to me)

17. Teensy: ITTY.

22. Actress Taylor-Joy: ANYA.  Anya-Josephine Marie Taylor-Joy (b. April 16, 1996) was born in Miami and raised in Buenos Aires and London.  Taylor-Joy left school at the age of 16 to pursue an acting career. After a series of small television roles, her breakthrough came with a leading role in the horror film The Witch (2015). In 2020, Taylor-Joy starred as Emma Woodhouse in Autumn de Wilde's directorial debut Emma, an adaptation of Jane Austen's 1815 novel of the same name. Reviewing the film, Peter Travers of Rolling Stone deemed Taylor-Joy "incandescent" ...

24. Anchor's position in a relay: LAST.

25. Camino de Santiago element: PATH.  My oldest granddaughter walked  the 500 mile Camino de Santiago ("The Way of Saint James") after graduating from college.  The 2010 film The Way tells the story of a father and his son who walked this PATH together ...

Martin Sheen
Emilio Estevez

 26. Red Muppet: ELMO.  This one ...

27. Notion: IDEA. 

28. Quiet moment: LULL.

31. African viper: ASP.

33. Teens in tuxedos: PROM DATES.

34. Leader of the Holy See: POPE.   The word "see" comes from the Latin word sedes, meaning 'seat', specifically the seat of a bishop. The Holy See refers to the office of the Bishop of Rome, currently held by Pope Francis, who was born in Argentina in 1936 and was elevated to the Papacy in 2013.

Pope Francis

35. Finch food: SEED.

38. Open-mouthed: AGOG.

39. Daddy: PAPA.

40. To be, in Biarritz: ETRE.  Today's French lesson.  Biarritz is a small town in France on the Atlantic coast about 260 mi SW of Bordeaux.  It is rumored to be the home of those notorious aliens the Coneheads. 😀

 

43. Store with Småland play areas: IKEA.  A supervised place to play for the kids, while parents buy lots of DIY Swedish Modern furniture ....

Småland

46. Free: RELEASE.

48. Id, ego, and superego, collectively: PSYCHE.  That's the Freudian interpretation, but in Greek mythology Psyche (Latin Anima) was the goddess of the soul and was often represented as a beautiful woman with butterfly wings.  She was born a mortal woman and was eventually granted immortality, with beauty that rivaled even Aphrodite, the goddess of love.

Psyche Abandoned 
by Pietro Tenerani

49. Feel sympathy for: PITY.

50. Tired of it all: JADED.

51. Diffuser output: AROMA.

52. Nickname for Ernie Banks: MR CUB.  A signature clue from C.C. no doubt.  Some memorable moments in Ernie's career ...

53. Like some thrift store finds: RETRO.

54. Saturated __: FATS.  Are all saturated fats unhealthy? 

58. Not open: SHUT.

59. Keyboard goof: TYPO.  This is much less of a problem now that we have auto-defect.  😀

62. Fail to share: HOG.

63. Mo. before 5-Down: AUG.  Month is abbreviated so August is abbreviated.

64. Sippy __: CUP.  Great baby shower gifts ...

tommy tippee sippy cups

Cheers,

Bill

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

waseeley

 
Bonus feature: Peanuts vs. Garfield: Charles Schulz secretly considered Jim Davis his arch-rival