Friday, Jul 10th, 2026 ~ Mike Peluso

HEavy MEtal, the song from Blue Öyster Cult

This is my first puzzle from Mike Peluso - he has been contributing crosswords since before the Corner, I would guess; his last construction for the LA Times was here, in 2023, on a sumdaze Monday. A simple add-in of the symbol for the element Iron, 'Fe', from the Latin "ferrum".  The cluing was solid Friday-level, with just a hiccup for me at the crossing of two name-ish answers - that's YOU, square #5~!  Standard grid, no circles, less than ten names, no Twurds, and eight "elemental" songs.  The themers & reveal, which is what got me through the themers;

16. Slogan on a very thorough pet sitter's business card?: I WALK THE FELINE - The base phrase is from the Johnny Cash song "I Walk the Line" -  I walked canine Cooper, but not the "feline" cats . . . 

28. Upgrade one's cookie supply?: TRADE WAFERS - Trade Wars - no song for you~! - but think the outer layers of, say, 32A., an Oreo cookie . . .

48. Newest resident of the Land of Enchantment?: SANTA FE BABY - A Christmas Classic, the song "Santa Baby", tho I did not know that the "Land of Enchantment" was New Mexico - I DO know my ex-wife is down there, so it can't be that enchanted . . . 

62. Treatment for anemia, or a treatment given to 16-, 28-, and 48-Across?: IRON SUPPLEMENT - the periodic chart square for Iron, "Fe"

Thanks Bill Nye, Science Guy~!


ACROSS:

1. Places to feel kneaded?: SPAs - I could go for a massage . . .

5. Peter or Paul, but not Mary: TSAR - I do the Downs clues first, and this was my last fill; I had _S_R, yet it took a minute - ah, Russian rulers . . . I solved this one before Moe's Wednesday dupe; name(ish)

9. Vocal quality: TONE - plenty in today's write-up

13. Part of some forests: KELP

This image's website

14. Land parcel: ACRE

15. On the road: AWAY

19. "Exodus" Oscar nominee Sal: MINEO - crossword staple, name #1

20. Anger: INCENSE

22. Snap: PHOTO - Friday vague cluing

24. Carson successor: LENO - Johnny & Jay, the Tonight Show, name #2

26. iPhone platform: iOS

27. Checkers side: RED

The Red and the Black, an "Fe" Maiden song, almost 14mins long
- and - Blue Öyster Cult song #2

32. Sweet sandwich: OREO - the cookies part of OREOs can blended into my ice cream - see 3D.

34. Word on a bottle of Château Margaux: CRU - from the Frawnche for "growth"; more here

35. El Prado, por ejemplo: MUSEO - 'for example, museum', Español #1

36. Cause of statistical misrepresentation: BIAS - that's ALOT of clue for a four-letter answer . . .

38. Colon units: DOTS - Oh, that colon [:] . . . never mind . . .

40. Ordered from DoorDash, perhaps: ATE IN

43. Flight status abbr.: ARRivals

44. Part of many a lunch special: SOUP

"NO soup for YOU~!"

52. Mex. neighbor: USA - there's always that half second of hesitation when I think, "I don't know all those countries in Central America~!"

53. Green around the gills: ILL

54. From the top: ANEW

55. Late bloomer: ASTER

57. Toots and the Maytals, for one: SKA BAND - no clue, but I had perps; more here

Funky Kingston - not really my thing, but I can 'dig' it

60. Aptly named hybrids: UGLIs

66. Four-award acronym: EGOT - Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony - somewhere last week I read that Steven Spielberg was a winner - so I wondered what he got his Grammy for; it's a bit of a stretch, but OK . . . the Wiki

Raiders March, Raiders of the Lost Ark

67. Plum kin: SLOE

68. Major disappointment: BLOW

69. Gym reps: SETS - For me, training at the gym is three times a week, two SETS of three exercises, and within those, somewhere between 8-16 "REPetitions"; not quite the same thing, IMHO

70. Actress Daly: TYNE - name #3

71. Bajo opposite: ALTO - 'low & high', Español #2

DOWN:

1. Word with lift or lodge: SKI - ski lift, ski lodge

2. Political research center: PEW - never heard of this; named after the Pew family - the Wiki

3. Dessert option: À LA MODE - look, I made protein ice cream - my trainer got me excited to buy and try the Ninja Ice Creami

The chocolate chips are an added indulgence 😁

4. Share, in a way: SPLIT - but not a banana split - bananas upset my stomach, and I don't know why . . .

5. "Doctor Who" actress Catherine: TATE - I know nothing about the series; it looks like she guest-starred in just three episodes; that's Friday vague - name #4

6. Think tank members, often: SCHOLARS - SCIENTISTS didn't fit

7. Modern art?: ARE - Shakespeare; "Where for art thou~?" - 21st century; "Where're you at~?"

8. Purify: REFINE

9. Softest mineral on the Mohs scale: TALC - This puzzle gets 4-1/2 of 5 ⭐ on the "other" Moe's Scale

10. Tot's scrape: OWIE

11. Childcare providers: NANNIES - There will be NO owies on this nanny's watch~!

12. Unsightly sight: EYESORE - Sightly sight - eye SURE~!

Spectacular view - and the city is pretty as well . . . 🙄

17. Celtic artwork feature: KNOT - Dah~! Not RUNE

This website

18. Sufficient, once: ENOW - ye olde sfelling of ENOUGH

21. Name on some Canadian pumps: ESSO - far right crossword-friendly letters, name(ish)

22. For: PRO

23. Pronoun option: HER - as last week, so again; YOU, OUR, SHE, HIS or HIM~?

25. College domain: EDU. - internet add-on for education

29. Sony record label: RCA - Eartha Kitt, "Santa Baby" was an RCA artist, and so are these girls

The Pointer Sisters, Neutron Dance - seems appropriate for an atomic theme . . .

30. Invoice no.: AMT - I charged $700 to build these custom maple pantry doors to fit an opening the previous contractor framed at 42"- 😖- too small for sliding doors, too big for bi-folds . . . and I always forget to take "before" pictures, and in this instance, would have been worth a laugh

Had to reconfigure the wood floor, too, as the other contractor's

wider opening left two wall-sized "gaps" in the T&G strips . . .🙄

31. Kerfuffle: FUSS

33. Passing thoughts?: OBITuary - Friday clever cluing

37. Food Network host Garten: INA - INA or UTA~?  I always get "her" wrong; name #5

38. Tap: DRAW UPON - Spigot and Faucet were all wet in this instance

39. Bard's sphere: ORB

40. Used car caveat: "AS IS"

41. Hollywood innovation of the 1920s: TALKIES - Ah.  Right.

42. Swell: ENLARGE - nailed it

43. Actor Vigoda: ABE - name #6

45. Generate more revenue than: OUTSELL

46. Tap: USE - Tap: Spinal . . . the "other" umlaut band name . . .

These guys still go to Eleven . . . Rock N Roll Creation

47. Target score at Augusta: PAR - Augusta being the PGA Tour's premier event in Georgia

49. Some coolers: FANS - I'm the "other" fan of PGA Augusta 2026 winner Rory McIlroy

50. Pledge rival: ENDUST - Pledge being the go-to cleaner for Consuela from Family Guy

No, no use Endust . . .

51. Second-oldest Ivy: YALE - There are only eight, and the list has only one four-letter entry . . . alright, maybe it could be PENN 😑

56. "The Lion King" lion: SIMBA - name #7, but I knew this one

58. Rolls-Royce trunk: BOOT - Brit-speak

59. Hill dwellers: ANTS - or POL(iticians)S~?  I picked the correct one this time

61. Joy: GLEE

63. Practice, as a trade: PLY

64. "__ on my watch!": "NOT . . ."

65. Cube root of eight: TWO - ∛8 = 2; geez, now we gotta do math on Fridays~?

Splynter

Grid Flow 19.6, low again

Friday, Jul 3rd, 2026 ~ Jay Silverman

 D'Art BOARD

Girls Eye~!

I had a run of Jay Silverman puzzles on Wednesdays back in '24-'25, and his last LA Times post was in March of this year.  Today we have four 'pun-ishing' clues that "repronounce" an English word as a its foreign counterpart, with some humorous results - if that's your thing.  I liked the theme, just got stuck trying to find the one wrong square when I did not get my "ta-DA~!", and it was a name crossing one of those foreign words, compounded by a low Grid Flow.  Standard grid, a mere eight 3LWs, twice as many four- as five-letter words, no circles, two handfuls of names, three "others", and nary a Twurd to be found~!  The themers; 

17. Comfort that can only come from French bread?: PAIN RELIEF - It was the last themer that sent the V-8 can flying, and thus today I learned that the Frawnche word for "bread" is "pain" - pronounced all in the nose, sorta "puuhh(n)"

26. Creating perfect sunbathing conditions on an Italian beach?: SOLE PURPOSE - I was stumped at this themer, and the low grid flow meant only one crossing for help; don't know why I struggled to think of the Italian word for "sun", = "sole", with a 'flair' on the e, "sol-uh"

43. Positive review in a German newspaper?: GUT REACTION - pronounced "goot", this one made sense on my second pass . . .

58. Home for the king of Spain?: REAL ESTATE - and again with a differing pronunciation, "ree-ahl", which means royal, as opposed to "not fake" - learned from Spanish football / soccer teams

If you're American when entering a bathroom, and American when exiting, what are you inside~?

European . . .

Mais Aspettare Es Gibt Más~!

ACROSS:

1. Path behind a mower: SWATH - There's a guy who lives near me on rte 32 who takes the most meticulous care of his grass . . . and last weekend, I saw this thing cruising his lawn 

It's this $5349 mower AND snowblower 😮

6. Cheese in a Greek omelet: FETA - semi-Easter egg of old language, new crossword

10. Whack with snowballs, say: PELT

14. Goosebump-causing: EERIE

15. Person with a fan club: IDOL - person with a fan club; Billy Idol

Yeah, I've used this image before . . . 

16. Cooking spread: OLEO - learned by doing crosswords

19. Gradually introduce to solid foods: WEAN

20. Isfahan's country: IRAN - geo name #1

21. Claims that won't pass fact checks: LIES

22. Posh and __: nickname of a British celebrity couple: BECKS - name (ish) - the duo of 'Posh Spice' Victoria and David Beckham, he of European football ( soccer ) fame . . . 

Married 27 years tomorrow~!

23. Mesopotamian empire that included parts of 20-Across: ASSYRIA - geo name #2, but the circumreferential clue made it easier this time

25. Likely to be mouthy: PERT - I'll wash that mouth out with Pert shampoo . . . 

Plus~!

31. Software demos: BETAS

35. Capital of British Columbia: VICTORIA - geo name #3, and the #1 "other" Victoria . . . 🙄

36. Employs: USES

37. Spot: SPECK - Spot was sooo last week . . . 

39. Staple that's often helpful in a pinch?: SALT

40. Chased: RAN AFTER - I had WAS AFTER to start

42. Bench press muscles: DELToidS - AND - 38D. Bench press muscle: PECtoral - this one-arm out, one-arm curl & press is brutal - as you can tell from my grimace . . . down to 203lbs~!

46. Clairvoyant: SEER

47. Lost one's cool: SNAPPED

52. Word with act or action: CLASS - class act, class action

54. Political alliance: BLOC

56. Conditional programming word: ELSE

57. "Only Murders in the Building" home: HULU - Ah.  Where this show is to be streamed

60. Salchow kin: AXEL - Friday cluing for this crossword Olympics staple

There, that oughta clear things up . . . 

61. Zealous: AVID

62. Asked too many questions, say: PRIED

63. Unwelcome visitor: PEST - there has been a preponderance of big black ants cruising my home this spring, even with a dozen traps in the usual corners . . .

Look closer . . .

64. Funeral rite pile: PYRE

65. Senators' staffers: AIDES - the #2 "other" Senators . . . 🙄 - see below

DOWN:

1. Instagram filter shade: SEPIA - good WAG to start my Downs

2. Models: WEARS - I went with the noun, tried TYPES

3. Met highlights: ARIAS - "Met" = Metropolitan Opera

4. Lacking resonance: TINNY

5. Gender-specific pronoun: HER - HIS, HIM, or SHE, take your pick

6. Relating to offspring: FILIAL - how kids behave in respect to parents

7. Actress Falco: EDIE - name #4, crossword staple

8. Wiggled body parts: TOES - I can spread my toes like a hand - I'll refrain from posting an image

9. ET from Melmac: ALF - from the 80's TV sitcom

10. Confidence-enabling stance: POWER POSE - Had me thinking "Captain Morgan"

11. __ college: ELECTORAL - nailed it

12. Security breach: LEAK - Dah~! I tried HACK, 50% correct

13. Jillions: TONS - oh no~! is it a Twurd~?  ALOT, ATON~?

18. 2025 Pixar title character: ELIO - name #5 that caused me grief on my last themer fill

22. Muppet who lives in the basement of 123 Sesame Street: BERT - name #6; I tried ELMO

24. Blog feed letters: RSS - Really Simple Syndication - yes, really; more here

25. Senators target: PUCK - Got me.  Dammit.  I was thinking baseball - but they're the Nationals these days - this is the Ottawa NHL team, and I am ashamed I missed it on the first pass . . . 😒😞

27. Navratilova rival: EVERT - Tennis greats, but SELES was the wrong decade and name, #7

28. Camera shot: PIC

29. Sandy sediment: SILT

30. Noshes: EATS

31. Nondescript town: BURG

32. Biblical twin: ESAU - the birthright brother

33. Events in retail parking lots: TENT SALES - huh - a unique crossword fill . . .

34. Thus: AS A RESULT - three-word fill for a Friday four-letter clue

37. Elite athlete: STAR

41. Extra charges: FEES

42. Cold case sample: DNA

44. Tristan's beloved: ISOLDE  - crossword couple, name #8

45. Fairy tale start: ONCE - upon a time . . .

48. __ dish: PETRI

49. Flannel pattern: PLAID

50. Name in the makeup aisle: ESTÉE - Lauder, name #9

51. Monopoly stack: DEEDS - not MONEY

52. Bloke: CHAP - I tried GENT, 100% wrong

53. Quite posh: LUXE - the #3 "other" Posh

54. Quail group: BEVY - Right.  That's the word I could not recall

55. Bear necessity?: LAIR - a 'barely' bearable punny clue . . . 

58. Ice Spice genre: RAP - three-letter music genre~? Ektorp EMO or RAP

59. Ballston __, New York: SPA - geo name #10, but I had help - I lived in upstate NY for years, in Colonie, which is outside of Albany, not far from this place - and where Rusty Brain hails from

Click to see larger

Splynter

Grid Flow a LOW 16.1

Friday, Jun 26th, 2026 ~ Jeremy Venook

  DISMISSED A SPOT

See Spot run . . . out the door

This is Jeremy's second LA Times puzzle; RB had the first one a year ago.  Today we have the addition of "DIS" to phrases that I found to be not as common as I would have liked, and therefore left me feeling a little DISsatisfied with the results.  YMMV.  Ektorp returns with two examples, a standard grid, one-third the # of 3LWs to four-letter words, a handful of names, and I'm DISappointed that the crossword had no circles - we already had two this week.  The three themers and reveal;

20. Hours at an art gallery?: DISPLAYING TIME - The base phrase refers to the equal distribution of on-field activity for all team members of a little league, etc.  - and here's the Dissed version . . . 

Salvador Dali, "The Persistence of Memory"

25. Factory that produces bad vibes?: DISCONTENT MILL - The base phrase is more broadly recognized as "Content Farm" - with more here from Wiki; the Dissed version . . .

Santa's Elves Unite~! Local N.P. 33

44. Admit to wearing a dental prosthetic?: DISCLOSE THE GAP - The "gap" being a wide variety of things, but mostly bringing technology and eductaion to those without - and the Dissed version . . .

He was my first thought - here's a list of other 'gap-toothed' people

51. Process of detachment, or an apt title for this puzzle: DISASSOCIATION - what's the difference between ignorance and apathy~?  I don't know, and I don't care . . .

But . . .

Wait , , ,

There's . . .

More~! ! !

ACROSS:

1. Carrefour's country: HAITI - Jeremy likes Haiti - it appeared in his first LA Times puzzle, too - geo name #1

6. Cuticle oil spot: NAIL - this made no sense until I looked up cuticle oil - it's lotion for the unguis

10. Trellis part: SLAT - I had to rebuild one in April

14. "Snowy" bird rarely found in snowy places: EGRET - five-letter snowy bird~? - Ektorp

15. Hindu mentor: GURU

16. Pixar film set partially in the afterlife: COCO - half-filled via perps

17. Inner self, to Jung: ANIMA - Mentioned frequently in Jordan Peterson's Psychology of the Bible series

18. Soup noodle: UDON - crossword staple

19. Bicycle attachment: HORN - training wheels didn't fit

I like this attachment - the wire basket, that is 🙄

23. Munich article: EINE - Deutsch - we saw this last Saturday

24. Memoji platform: IOS - I am PC ( Android ) - so I didn't get this one

32. Irrefutable point: FACT

33. Fad: RAGE - memoji~?  obvi it's totes all the rage

34. Trout's team, on scoreboards: LAA - I had _ AA from perps, and not being into baseball . . .

35. Concise concession: "I LOST."

37. Part of some uniforms: HAT

38. Judicial pauses: STAYS - I get it, but pauses~? . . . meh

40. Mum's mum: NAN

41. Word in a Samin Nosrat cookbook title: ACID - HEAT, and two others I couldn't recall

43. Burden: ONUS

49. Broadcast: AIR

50. Ivy in New Haven: YALE - collegial reference

58. Slam dance: MOSH - now this one I knew, but I do not participate - seems a bit silly to me; guess I'm old now

59. Viola clef: ALTO - filled via perps

60. Getty Images download: PHOTO - Getty being one of the image sites that sometimes "license" a photo, and therefore, ones I avoid at all costs when writing the blog . . .

61. Otherwise: ELSE

62. Standard choice: GO-TO

63. Took effect: SET IN

64. Shredded side: SLAW - I'm a fries / onion rings kind of guy

65. School founded in 1440: ETON - four letter old school~? = Ektorp

66. Clear one's name, perhaps?: ERASE

DOWN:

1. Eye site: HEAD - Once again, had most of my Downs wrong; starting with filling in FACE

2. Hindu god of fire: AGNI - more here

3. Eye piece: IRIS - Dah~!  Not LENS

4. Storms: TEMPESTS - I love this album cover image

Nanci Griffith  - storms

5. Bold alternative: ITALIC - Ah.  Referring to fonts / type

6. "The Sympathizer" Pulitzer winner Viet Thanh: NGUYEN - Friday name, #2, filled via perps

7. German auto: AUDI - Yay~! I got a Down answer right~!

8. Nutrient in beans and rice: IRON - Ah.  My mind had "protein" polarity

9. Putting one foot forward, in a way: LUNGING - some of the most difficult exercises working with my gym trainer involve lunges and squats - my knees are aging faster than the rest of me . . . 

10. Doctrinal rupture: SCHISM - I read this as "doctoral", and went with HERNIA . . .😜 It's also one of my favorite "Tool" songs; 

Tool, from Lateralus, "Schism"

11. Arachne's device: LOOM - I knew we got "arachnid" from this myth, but WEB didn't fit

12. Land division: ACRE

13. Boatload: TON - thank you for not being the A TON Twurd~!

21. "It's __-brainer!": A NO - aaaaand I spoke too soon . . . 

22. "For sure!": "TOTES~!" - 21st century-speak for totally, dude . . .

25. Start of a Tibetan religious title: DALAI - a gimme; "ocean" master / teacher

26. Taskbar lineup: ICONS - I was forced to upgrade to Windows 11 while writing this blog - but so far, I have not had any issues . . . 🤞

27. Swap: TRADE

28. Consume: EAT

29. Glazer of "Broad City": ILANA - the single, opening cel where I didn't bother to do the alphabet run - A~? E~? - in retrospect, I needed to see MILL as the logical end of the themer.  Sigh.  Her IMDb; Name #3

30. Easy bucket: LAYUP - Wiki says it's one word

31. Miss: LASS

32. Happen across: FIND - Ah, right - I "happened across" an article I saved from a Cincinnati newspaper detailing the movie "The Golem" that I worked on half my life ago . . . 

Most likely the best time of my life

36. "The Godfather" actress Shire: TALIA - a, a, name, #4

37. Third-person possessive: HIS - I got locked into OUR

39. As one: TOGETHER - as in the next clue/asnwer

42. Boutonnière partner: CORSAGE - nailed this Frawnche pair - buttonhole and bodice in English

Awww, matching . . . 

45. Nut used to make cheese or butter: CASHEW - this and ALMOND fit, but I waited on perps

46. Titan of industry: TYCOON - crossword staple

47. Japanese assent: HAI - the equivalent of "yes"

48. Pass: ELAPSE

51. Barbie or Ken: DOLL - it could have been a, a, a NAME

52. Rae of "Barbie": ISSA - a NAME, a crossword staple, aaaand #5

53. Opening at the post office: SLOT - not an employment opportunity, but this 🠋

54. Springfield Elementary bus driver: OTTO - knew it, "The Simpsons", still name #6

55. Wee bit: IOTA - Yay~! not the Twurd ATAD

56. Elevator name: OTIS - aaaaand #7

57. __ of the above: NONE - which name did I like most in today's puzzle~? . . . 

58. Mayo o diciembre: MES - I knew what we were looking for, didn't know Español for 'month'

Splynter

Grid Flow 32.6

Friday, Juneteenth, 2026 ~ Elizabeth Duker-Gold

CARYATID

 Or, if you want to get in touch with the Dread Pirate Roberts: Elwes, CARY@ID.com

I did a cursory Google search for Elizabeth Duker-Gold, and found her on LinkedIn and Facebook, but with no clear indication that I had the correct person; I can tell it's her LA Times debut, and if this is her overall first publication, then double congrats~!  I loved the clever theme of this puzzle - varied common words/phrases with a & t, or "@", in the middle, restructured to resemble an email address, and nothing related to today's bank holiday.  Very cool, but some of the people may not be that common - I did know all five of them, partly from doing crosswords.  There was some Friday fill, to be expected, and a few that had alternate answers - see below - plus one or two "meh" ones, maybe~?  Standard grid, no circles, 19 3LWs, just 6 names - excluding the ones intended for the theme.  The five themer email "addresses", no reveal [ BTW, the text format of the crossword screwed up my blogging due to the use of < and >, which are html code separators ];

18. To: Comedian Michael, bedding salesman [.com] - CHE(AT)SHEETS - Michael Che @sheets.com, which I think is a valid website . . .  yup

24. To: Athlete Jackson, lawn products salesman [.com] - BO(AT)YARDS - Bo Jackson @yards.com - Bo of both major league baseball and football fame, and 'yards' would be a good website/email address for lawn products - it does come up as a website, but no content

36. To: Broadcast journalist Anderson, surgical supply salesman [.com] - COOPER(AT)ORS - Anderson Cooper @ors.com - "Operating RoomS" but not a real site - and not my buddy Cooper the Australian Shepherd - see 58D.   Here's Anderson being interviewed by Triumph the Insult Comic Dog

I'd play the segment, but NSFW

50. To: Actor Cheadle, chemistry lab supply salesman [.com] - DON(AT)IONS - Don Cheadle @ions.com - I know Don from his role as "Basher" in the Ocean's Eleven, et. al. heist movies - and a valid website for the TV channel Ion

57. To: Singer Bruno, bulletin board salesman [.com] - MARS(AT)TACKS - my favorite break out ( if not my personal choice in music artists, but our host likes him 😁) - Bruno Mars @tacks.com - and this one led to a "non-secure" go back~! link ( I wrote this while still down on LI, so I was on my brother's network )

Hey Tom, it's "not unusual" to find Martians invading Earth . . . 

That's twice in a week for him~!

But W@ it theresmore~!.com

ACROSS:

1. Jaguar or Charger: CAR - I do the Downs first, had two wrong fills to start; I knew this was either NFL - two teams in the national football league - or two automobiles

Trevor Lawrence, and, uh, well, that's not Justin Herbert, and #19 ( on the helmet ) was retired

. . . thanks, A i ~!

4. Orchard basket: BUSHEL - so my "AMASS" at 7D was wrong . . .

10. Gillette brand: ATRA

14. Bullpen stat: ERA

15. "Reckon maybe, yeah": "I S'POSE..." - slang for "I suppose" - I am feeling ambivalent about this fill; it's valid, but is it a Twurd~? Is it 'meh'~?

16. Urge on: GOAD

17. Part of a journey: LEG

part of a "legs" journey

20. Jazz great James: ETTA - Crossword staple, name #1

22. Cropped up: AROSE

23. ThirdLove purchase: BRA - not that I "knew" this, but I had _R_, and it sounded like a lingerie website - so what are the first Two Loves~? I could take a guess . . . 

27. Like a best-case scenario: IDEAL

29. "Love it!": "SO GOOD~!"

30. Queerplatonic orientation, briefly: AROACE - short for aromantic asexual - the Wiki, if you care to know more - aah, Friday . . . 

31. Dirge: LAMENT - ELEGY did not fit

35. Bills replaced by coins in Canada and Australia: ONES - tell us more, CanadianEh!

39. Mil. no-show: AWOL - Absent WithOut Leave - oh, SNAFU - now that's FUBAR . . . 

41. Haberdashery purchase: TIE PIN

42. People in the background of a selfie, perhaps: RANDOS - Ah.  Right.  "random person" in 21st century-speak; I had the last two letters, so I went with WALDOS - hey, I could see that working . . .

I found him~!

44. Dillydally: LINGER

49. Juvenile eel: ELVER - Learning moment for me; more here

53. Pub pour: ALE

54. Beloved, in Bordeaux: CHERI - Frawnche

56. Set that might have an OLED screen: HDTV - Organic Light-Emitting Diode,  and High Definition; 'Set' threw me at first - a TeleVision set, which, now that I think of it, is kinda weird . . . it's a set of electronic tubes, circuits~?  And I did not know what the "O" stood for, even knowing what an LED was

61. Taste: SIP

62. Show opener: ACT I - Ha~!  Had this last Friday, too

63. Leash: TETHER

64. Part of a rock band?: ORE - Clever -  new way to clue the old fill - a 'band', or stratum in geology

65. Smart home system by Google: NEST - I bought a "smart" thermostat for my house, but the furnace uses just two wire leads - so it's useless; the furnace tech I needed to call two weeks ago told me not to bother with a smart device - he is if the mindset that the most efficient way to heat/cool one's house is to "set it and forget it" - thanks Ron Popeil~!

66. Grooms, as feathers: PREENS

67. Homer's neighbor: NED - Pffft - Ned . . .  Name #2

DOWN:

1. Red carpet VIPs: CELEBS - Dah~!  Not A LISTS

2. Defiant reply: "ARE TOO~!" - Dah~!!  Not I AM NOT

3. Motley: RAGTAG - I toyed with CALICO, which we had last Saturday

Definitely "ragtag" - Mötley Crüe

4. Pen name: BIC - another clever clue - literally, the 'name' of a pen maker, ergo, name #3

5. See to a seat, casually: USH - more 21st century-speak for "ushering"

6. Pickle serving: SPEAR - I guess in the 21st century, it's 'one syllable easier' than to ask for a pick-le

7. Stockpile: HOARD - Dah~!!! Not AMASS

8. These, in Spanish: ESTOS - and yet I nailed the Español word . . .

9. "__ is more": LESS - well, more or less, I guess . . . 🙄

10. Number that's always positive: AGE - Ah.  True.  Mine is getting further along on the spinny-wheel thing on websites these days

11. Cutesy name for paw pads: TOE BEANS

12. Unpleasant routine: RAT RACE

13. Media revenue source: AD SALES

19. Trust-worthy figure?: HEIR

21. From __ Z: A TO - three out of four two-word answers in a row

25. Texter's encouragement to try something new: YOLO - You Only Live Once - but maybe in multiple universes~? - ooooh . . . trippy

26. Assimilates: ADAPTS - I wanted adOpts

28. Portal: DOOR - into another plane of the multi-verse . . .

30. __ the Hun: ATTILA - he lived an "active, outdoor lifestyle", per George Carlin; name #4

32. __ fun: noodle dish: MEI - never heard of this - the "E" came from knowing the themer that crossed

33. Bard's before: ERE - poetic

34. Suede quality: NAP - Sleep quality; NAP time

36. New fans: CONVERTS - CON-verts, the noun, not the verb

37. Like a quaint shoppe: OLDE - ye olde quaynte shoppe

38. "I got this!": "ON IT~! - Dah~!  I had ON ME, like the check/tab

39. Local guy in The Onion headlines: AREA  MAN - this was a total unknown for me - an example

40. "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird" poet Stevens: WALLACE - name #5, no clue - the poem, sort of a Zen-like "what is the sound of one hand clapping" mental exercise

43. Antarctic predator: ORCA

SE(ri)AL killer

45. Research org. with facilities in Bethesda: NIH - National Institutes of Health - filled via perps on my second pass - the website, if you care

46. Jake Gyllenhaal, to Jamie Lee Curtis: GODSON - huh.  I tried COUSIN, which sort of helped, as the "O", "S" and the "N" actually worked; name(ish)

47. Complete: ENTIRE

48. Answered, in a way: RSVP'ed - I like it, but YMMV

50. Put off: DETER - Not DELAY, and not DEFER, so I didn't understand the crossing themer at first

51. Provide an address: ORATE - the "speechify" version of address, like Lincoln's Gettysburg

52. Not wide-ranging: NICHE - ah.  Good one.  I knew what we were looking for, but needed perps

55. URL intro: HTTP - the "other" kind of address; http//www.crosswordcorner.blogspot.com

58. Gather dust: SIT - gather pet fur; dog-sit - Cooper is so bad in the summer, my clothes were covered

we stopped to "smell the flowers"

59. "KPop Demon Hunters" voice actor Jeong: KEN - no clue, name #6 - his Wiki

60. Former jrs.: SRs - school classes

Splynter

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