Friday, November 29, 2019 David Alfred Bywaters

"Turn of Phrase"


17. Plumbing expert?: DRAIN BRAIN. 

25. Cub Scout meeting refreshment?: PACK SNACK.

30. Candlemaker's choice?: WICK PICK.

45. Zookeeper's job, at times?: BEAR CARE.

51. School sports upset: JOCK SHOCK.

64. Inflated thread-count scam?: SHEET CHEAT.

Swap the words in the answers to get the real phrase.   I have no idea what a pick wick is, but a few references say it is a pick like tool used for raising the short wick in an oil lamp.

Across:

1. Fit together: MESH.

5. Explodes: POPS.

9. Sources of shade: ELMS.    So elms throw shade ?  They seem more stately than that.

13. Lope opening?: ANTE.   "Home, home on the range, where the deer and the antelope play."   Except, of course, they're really not antelope.  They're pronghorn.   Kind of like buffalo v. bison.  Commonly accepted misnomers.

14. Pacifies: CALMS.

16. "The disease of kings": GOUT.    I once had to see a backup doctor when mine was away.   My sprained wrist was misdiagnosed as gout.    Gout is now on my record at the hospital.  

19. Tasmania's highest peak: OSSA.   Didn't we just have Abel Tasman last week ?  Or was it in a link from Lemonade ?  Anyway, Mount Ossa is as high as Denver, CO.

20. Lively movements: RONDOS.  Help me get her out of my heart   Sounds like the definition of a rondo to me.   The refrain.   Yes / No ?

21. Snare: TRAP.

23. Idiosyncrasy: TIC.

24. Break up: END IT.    Cause ending it is hard to do.

27. Mex. neighbor: USA.

29. Robbery: HEIST.

35. Food distribution giant: SYSCO.   The world's largest.  Headquartered in Houston. 

38. Instrument named for an animal part: HORN.   Love the opening of this song.

39. Name related to Marge: PEGGY.    I tried Midge.  My Aunt Peg would have been disappointed.

42. __ beer: NEAR.   Tried one once.

43. Two-run homer situation: ONE ON.

47. United Kingdom language: SCOTS.  One of three native languages spoken in Scotland today.

50. Private __: EYE.   A gumshoe.   A detective.   A dick.    Have you ever seen The Bank Dick starring W.C. Fields as Egbert Sousé, "...a drunk who must repeatedly remind people in exasperation that his name is pronounced "Sousé—accent grave over the 'e'!", because people keep calling him "Souse" slang for drunkard" ? 

54. Kosher deli offering: LATKE.    They tasted a lot like potato pancakes to me too, Yellowrocks.

59. Place for a slip, perhaps: ICE.    Cute clue.

60. Cry of pain: YOWL.     Tried yelp.   Painful reviews.

61. Drawing tool: SIPHON.    Nice wordplay in the clue.   Loved it.

62. Give temporarily: LEND.   First instinct was loan.  Waited for another letter from a perp.

66. "I did it!": TADA.    No melodic tada at WaPo like we had at the Mensa site.

67. Like cornstalks: EARED.

68. Wight, for one: ISLE.    The Isle of Wight is just south of England.

69. Highbrow, perhaps: SNOB.

70. Pugilistic victories, briefly: TKOs.    Technical knockouts

71. Prized: DEAR.

Down:

1. Familia member: MADRE.    Esposa de su padre.   As Hahtoolah would quip, today's Spanish lesson.

2. Company whose failure brought down an accounting firm: ENRON.   Arthur Anderson.

3. Remain in force: STAND.   e.g. The judge's gag order will (remain in force) (stand).

4. Alpine protagonist: HEIDI.   Johanna Spyri's Swiss miss

5. Banned pollutants: PCBs.    Polychlorinated biphenyls

6. Tool secured by tholes: OAR.    Typically mounted on the gunwales

7. Oro y __: Montana's motto: PLATA.

8. Taint: SMIRCH.

9. Psych 101 subject: EGO.

10. Drifting, possibly: LOST AT SEA.

11. Bach's bailiwick: MUSIC. 

12. Neat pile: STACK.

15. Treacherous type: SNAKE.   "Instead you lay still in the grass, all coiled up and hissin' " - Keep on Loving You - Kevin Cronin of REO Speedwagon.

18. Still in bed: NOT UP.   But not necessarily asleep.

22. Pitchfork-shaped letters: PSIs.

25. Walk or run: PACE.

26. Timberlake's former band: NSYNC.   Justin Timberlake. 

28. Liquid sample: SIP.

30. Question of identity: WHO.   Who Are You is an album and song by English rockers The Who.

31. It carries a charge: ION.

32. Orchestral climax: CRESCENDO.   There are two in The Beatles A Day in the Life.

33. Rap: KNOCK.  

34. Cold War agcy.: KGB.   Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti - Committee for State Security

36. Sleeper or diner: CAR.  

37. Smeltery supply: ORE.

40. Nerd: GEEK.    It's all geek to me.

41. Happy fan's word: YAY.   

44. Intrusive: NOSY.

46. Natural history museum item: RELIC.

48. 56-Down's opposite: THOSE.   And, of course,   56. 48-Down's opposite: THESE.

49. "I'm not impressed": SO WHAT.   "Big whoop"

51. Stuns at the altar: JILTs.   Maggie Carpenter left three grooms at the altar before the big city columnist came to town to investigate.  Name the movie.

52. Eel's element: OCEAN.

53. Counter tender: CLERK.   Be harsh. 

55. Ladybug prey: APHID.    I read that each ladybug can eat up to 50 aphids a day.

57. Eucalyptus eater: KOALA.    Heartwarming story last week about the lady that saved the koala from the fire in New South Wales.

58. Put in: ENTER.  

61. Norms: Abbr.: STDs.    Who says, "The standard is the standard ?"   Don't rack your brain unless you are an NFL fan.  NFL Article from 2015

63. Apply with care: DAB.    And the initials of today's constructor !

65. Fair-hiring letters: EEO.   Equal Employment Opportunity.

Here's another place to check your grid:

Note from C.C.:


Here's a picture of Bill G's granddaughter Bella enjoying the rain. Good to see you back in blue, Bill! Thanks for persevering through the login troubles.

Friday, November 15, 2019 Joe Deeney

" What's My Line ? "


16. Clothes line?: HOW DO I LOOK ?

24. Tag line?: YOU'RE IT.

37. Border line?: PASSPORTS PLEASE.

46. Pick-up line?: WHERE TO ?

59. Defensive line?: I DIDN'T DO IT.

Joe constructed last Saturday's themeless.    If you aren't a Saturday solver, take a few moments to read Joe's comments.    Now, back to today...   A fairly easy Friday, don't you think ?   Let's call that a confidence builder.

Also, did you notice ?  Joe gave us a pangram !

Across:

1. River past the Museo Galileo: ARNO.

5. Wipe out: ERASE.

10. "Antiques Roadshow" airer: PBS.    I like how they show old clips from earlier seasons, updated with the currently appraised values. 

13. Half of rock's '60s "it" couple, per Time: CHER.   The other half would be Sonny.

14. "I've got this": LET ME.    Martin "Marty" Crane was the pragmatic and salt-of-the-earth father to psychiatrist sons Frasier and Niles Crane on the sitcom Frasier.

In the episode, "A Tsar is Born" they take a clock to the Antiques Roadshow and learn of its history.

15. Chipotle serving, casually: GUAC.   Eat This, Not That - Worst Chipotle Menu

18. Approximately: OR SO.

19. County bordering London: ESSEX.    British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver is from Essex.

20. Ingredient in arròs negre, a squid-and-rice dish: INK.   Never saw the clue.

21. Pursuit: QUEST.   Do you recall Jonny Quest ? 

22. Solidified: FROZE.

26. Able-bodied: HALE.

28. Green of "Casino Royale": EVA.    The first of the Daniel Craig Bond movies.

30. Iraq War danger: Abbr.: IED.   Improvised Explosive Device.

31. "The Wire" antihero __ Little: OMAR.   No idea.   Wikipedia tells me The Wire is an American crime drama television series broadcast by the cable network HBO.

32. Think back to: RECALL.

34. Gym surface: MAT.   I wanted a wood at first.  Oak or Ash.

40. Vague ending: ISH.

41. Bilingual Muppet: ROSITA.  No idea, but the perps helped.

42. MD's diagnostic tools: MRIs.  Magnetic Resonance Imagings

43. Big bird: EMU.   More from Sesame Street.   This Big Bird is an oversized canary.

44. Relative of Da and De: VON.    Surname prepositions.  e.g. Oscar de la Renta.  Or,   El ingenioso hidalgo don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes.   Or the von Trapp family from the Sound of Music.  Da is Portuguese, often seen in names such as da Silva, da Costa, da Bears etc.

45. Leaning: BIAS.

50. Rte. with a Lake Michigan ferry crossing: U.S. TEN.   U.S. 10.    The S.S. Badger
 

52. Times New __: ROMAN.

53. Health care provider: Abbr.: LPN.   Licensed Practical Nurse

55. "Set Fire to the Rain" singer: ADELE.

58. Beyond regulation play, briefly: IN OT   In Overtime.

61. WWII Axis general: TOJO.

62. Kansas Army fort: RILEY.   Home of the Big Red One.    The 1st Infantry Divison.   The 1st Infantry Division Museum is at Cantigny Park in nearby Wheaton, Illinois.  

63. Slaughter on the diamond: ENOS.

64. Asian honorific: SRI. Indian honorific.

65. Neglected: SEEDY.

66. Grant's opposite: DENY.

Down:

1. Overexertion symptom: ACHE.

2. Frat letters: RHOs.

3. Ironic "This should come as no surprise ... ": NEWS FLASH.

4. Ones stocking up: ORDERERs.   Whoa !  A buyer ?  Stocking up for resale,  or stocking up on consumables ?   That's my best guess.   I'll bet blog reader Montana stocks up for the winter in case the highways become impassable.

5. Lilly of drugs: ELI.

6. Bullpen staff: RELIEVERs.  

7. Loads: ATON.

8. Like the air around a campfire: SMOKY.

9. "What's THAT?": EEK.

10. Applesauce, e.g.: PUREE.

11. Low singers: BASSI.   Singers (being plural) told me it would end in the I.

12. "Waverley" novelist: SCOTT.    The Waverley Novels - Sir Walter Scott

15. Squash, for one: GOURD.  Versus gored. 

Bet he wished he'd picked a different sport. Perhaps squash ?

17. Big name in spatulas: OXO.    I like the ergonomic grips on their kitchen utensils.

21. Put down: QUELL.

23. Reset: ZERO OUT.

25. Crankcase reservoirs: OIL PANS.

26. Kachina carver: HOPI.

27. Reddit Q&A sessions: AMAs.  Ask Me Anything

29. When Prospero says, "We are such stuff as dreams are made on": ACT IV.   Filled in ACT and waited.

33. Blew away: ASTOUNDED.

34. Ford carrier in the mid-'70s: MARINE ONE.   Wasn't firing on all cylinders as I tried to recall Ford car models...  until I got enough perps to see Marine One.   President Gerald Ford, of course.

35. Tibet's place: ASIA.

36. Julia's "Ocean's Twelve" role: TESS.   Juila Roberts played Tess Ocean, divorced wife of Danny Ocean, played by George Clooney.

38. Guys who spin: PR MEN.   Started with DJ Men spinning records, and ended with Public Relations men spinning the conversation.

39. Like some war correspondents: EMBEDDED.    Or videos in this blog.

43. Poetry Muse: ERATO.   OwenKL has been struck by the poetry muse.  Ditto for Chairman Moe, Haiku Harry and Limerick Larry.

46. Court directives: WRITS.

47. Esteem: HONOR.

48. Heart Eyes or OK Hand: EMOJI.    Definitely needed perps, and then it was, "Aha, now the clue makes sense !"

49. "Yesterday," today: OLDIE.    Nailed it.   From falling in love to the heartache,  Beatles style:

"Eight Days A Week"
Oh, I need your love, babe
Guess you know it's true
Hope you need my love babe
Just like I need you

"I Feel Fine"
Baby's good to me, you know
She's happy as can be, you know
She said so
I'm in love with her and I feel fine

"Ticket to Ride"
I think I'm gonna be sad
I think it's today, yeah
The girl that's driving me mad
Is going away

"Yesterday"
Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away
Now it looks as though they're here to stay
Oh, I believe in yesterday
Suddenly, I'm not half the man I used to be
There's a shadow hanging over me
Oh, yesterday came suddenly
Why she had to go I don't know she wouldn't say
I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday

51. Bit of body art: TAT.   Tat or ink.

54. Stack: PILE.

56. Safari sight: LION.

57. Online marketplace: ETSY.    Started with eBay. 50 % wrong.

59. Returns home?: IRS.    Great clue. The Internal Revenue Service is where you send your tax returns.

60. Big Apple team, on crawl lines: NYY.    NY and wait for the perp.  Could have been G, J, or M and possibly others. Sports news crawl lines.

Check your grid here:

Wednesday, Nov 6, 2019 Gary Larson

Homonym Swap

17. Financial support at Kitty Hawk?: WRIGHT AID.
43. Siblings sharing a ceremony?: RITE BROTHERS.

Swap Wright and Rite:
   Rite Aid - The drugstore chain.
   Wright Brothers - Wilbur and Orville.

29. Remove italics from text?: RIGHT LETTERS.
59. Contact a fictional pirate?: WRITE HOOK.

Swap Right and Write
  Write letters.
  Right hook. 

How clever was that ?   Swap the homonyms for humorous effect.   Not puns.   Not malaprops.   Not juxtapositions.   What is the word I am looking for ?   Is there one ?   The best term I could come up with was homonym swap.   Does that sound wright rite write right ?   OK, maybe puns of a sort.

Across:

1. Zippo: NADA.    Notta lot you can do with this answer... Perhaps, "You are welcome" (Spanish): de ____,   or "Blue Book Org.":

5. State of irritation: HUFF. 

9. Produce carrier: CRATE.   Liquids carrier: Barrel. 

14. Historic British school: ETON.   For the elite.

15. Plains native: OTOE.

16. Indy participant: RACER. 

19. Skybox setting: ARENA.

20. Up to, casually: 'TIL.   Until

21. Sticky: ADHESIVE.   Adhesive as an adjective rather than as a noun.. 

23. Tie the knot: SAY I DO.  Wed.

25. Runs like mad: DASHES.    Very few trick-or-treaters last Thursday.  Just 16 or so children.   Returned a 250 count bag of snack sized candy bars.  Have just under half of the 90 count bag left.   

33. "All __ Jazz": THAT.    Roy Scheider and Jessica Lange starred.  Bob Fosse directed the semi auto-biographical work.   Dr. Nina wanted Fosse last Friday for the musical revue clue.

35. Zones: AREAs. 

36. "The A-Team" actor: MR T.   Mr. T as Sergeant Bosco Albert "B.A." (Bad Attitude) Baracus. 

37. Bread served with tandoori chicken: NAAN.

38. Met highlights: ARIAs. 

39. Spelling contests: BEEs.

40. Some iTunes downloads, briefly: EPs.  EP in Music

41. Cal. entries: APPTs.   Abbr in the clue. Abbr in the answer.

42. Have an inclination: TEND.

46. "... because you don't want to cross me": OR ELSE.

47. Up-to-the-minute: LATEST.

51. In seventh heaven: ECSTATIC.     Downy Wrinkle and Static Remover spray will make your garments ecstatic.

55. Women's rights activist Nellie: BLY.  Nellie Bly: Rabblerouser and Pioneer in Investigative Journalism

56. Battleship barrage: SALVO.

61. Fuss over feathers: PREEN.

62. Stare at creepily: OGLE.

63. Balm ingredient: ALOE.

64. Change, as a will: AMEND.

65. They're often loaded: SOTs.    WC Fields persona.

66. Continuity problems: GAPs. 

Down:

1. Semiaquatic salamanders: NEWTs.

2. Skylit courts: ATRIA.   And here I thought they were heart chambers.

3. Lacy place mat: DOILY.   Let's check ETSY to see if any are available.  

4. With 58-Down, "Life of Pi" director: ANG. and 58. See 4-Down: LEE.   Ang Lee.  Roger Ebert's Review

5. Ballpark treat: HOT DOG.   Show off.

6. State that celebrates Pioneer Day: UTAH.  July 24th.  New to me.

7. Pâté base: FOIE.   French for liver. 

8. Govt. agents: FEDs.

9. Fancy scarves: CRAVATs.

10. Hardest to come by: RAREST.

11. Whiz: ACE.

12. Notable Downing Street address: TEN.  

13. Important span: ERA.  Or, abbr for Earned Run Average in baseball stats.   I already miss watching and listening to MLB games. 

18. Seen enough: HAD IT.    I'm done.

22. Think tank products: IDEAs.

24. Tehran's land: IRAN.

26. Dudes with fab abs: HE MEN.   Stepping on He Man and Battle Cat in your stocking feet is no pleasure. 

27. Slipped up: ERRED.

28. Fast Atl. crossers, once: SSTs.   Super Sonic Transports.   BOAC and Air France.

30. Horn-honking Marx: HARPO.

31. Country singer Travis: TRITT.   Long haired country boy.   Hard to pick from so many great songs.


32. Chow line?: LEASH.  Loved this clue.

33. Piglike forest dweller: TAPIR.  8 fascinating facts you should know about tapirs

34. Swiftness: HASTE. 

37. Successor to Claudius: NERO.  It's all Roman to me.

38. __-ski: APRES.    After ski.  Perhaps spritzers or Glühwein in the chalet.

39. Second to none: BEST.

41. Hurry off and hide: ABSCOND.

42. Hunt down the source of: TRACE.

44. Gridiron complement: ELEVEN.  Football.   American rules football.   Eleven players on the offensive side of the ball.  Eleven on the defensive side. 

45. High society types: ELITEs.   The A-list.

48. Deadly African virus: EBOLA.

49. Single-master: SLOOP.

50. Small fry: TYKES.   "Fry” may have been derived from the Middle English, Anglo-French frie, which means “to spawn.” Eventually ”frie” became “fry,” the term and denoted offspring, young animals, or members of a group." - Disappearing Idioms .com on "Small fry."

52. What Noah counted by: TWOs.

53. Constellation named for a mythological ship: ARGO.   Now I get it.

More here.

54. List: TILT.   Misdirection.  In this case, list means to lean to one side.    Simple yet effective one-word clue to potentially lead you astray for a moment.

56. Place for a retreat: SPA.

57. Usher's offering: ARM.   Offer your right arm, holding it at 90 degrees, to the eldest woman in the group.  If you aren't sure which one is the eldest, don't ask.

60. Folklore crone: HAG.

Check your answers against this grid:

Note from C.C.:

Here is a picture of little Agnes with her brother Bill on her left and brother Jack on her right. She said they were standing in front of a WWII Memorial. We can't get a clearer picture, but you can still see her cute dress, shoes and flowers.

Friday, October 25, 2019 David Alfred Bywaters

"Jack and the Beanstalk"

17. Bingeing on chicken pieces?: WING FEEDING.   - Wing Ding

 

26. Roman naturalist's baseball-playing namesake?: PLINY THE FIELDER.  - Pliny the Elder

 
43. Prize coveted by competitive trees?: BEST OF THE FOREST.  - Best of the rest

57. Sports Officialdom Illustrated cover image?: PHOTO OF UMPS.  - Photo ops

 "Ari, get the press ready for photo ops in the White House lawn.  I'll be pardoning the Thanksgiving turkey."   And then this happened:

37. Source of the fairy-tale sequence that creates four long puzzle puns: GIANT.



Across:

1. Bewildered: DAZED. and confused. - Led Zeppelin.

6. Public row: SCENE.

11. Friend: PAL.

14. Missouri tribe: OSAGE.

15. Lake that ultimately feeds 8-Down: HURON.    And... 8(D):  Lake ultimately fed by 15-Across: ERIE.

16. "__ we good?": ARE.

19. Meadow: LEA.

20. Vote against: NAY.

21. Employee's request: RAISE.

22. Tale of Achilles and Agamemnon: ILIAD.

24. Tasting room container: CASK.

25. Soon, to a bard: ANON. This was the prevalent definition way back when.
In the age of internutland, it's the abbreviation for a poster that writes under the cloak of anonymity.

33. Climbing and passing places: LANEs.  For any flatlanders:  "Large vehicles can present problems for other traffic on hilly terrain and may lead to risky passing behavior with limited sight distances. Climbing lanes provide additional capacity on uphill grades to allow faster traffic to pass slower traffic without the increased risk of making the passing maneuver in the opposing traffic lane."  US DOT 

34. Preserves, in a way: CANs.

35. "Hooray!": RAH.

36. Inch, e.g.: UNIT.

39. Interlaced: WOVE.

40. Executive gp.: MGT.

41. Chart entries: HITs.

42. Tailed orbiter: COMET.

47. Negotiate a green: PUTT.  One thousand one,  one thousand two,  one thousand three...

Never a doubt !

48. Echelon: RANK.  Yeoman is not a rank.

49. Airport conveyors, or what are sometimes placed on them: BELTs.

51. Wispy clouds: CIRRI.  

53. Spanish she-bear: OSA.

56. __ Today: USA.

60. Apple product: MAC.

61. Superficial: OUTER.

62. Boredom: ENNUI.

 63. Take to court: SUE.

64. Is crowded (with): TEEMs.

65. Falls from the sky: RAINs.

Down:

1. Low: DOWN.  Glum.  Melancholy.

2. Nearly 9% of Earth's surface area: ASIA.

3. Half-baked: ZANY.

4. Chicken producer: EGG.

5. Pays a share of: DEFRAYs.  Paul Coulter used defray in last Tuesday's puzzle.

6. Arab leader: SHEIKH.

7. Subjects of bovine mastication: CUDs.

9. Denial from Denis: NON.

10. Auto mechanic's concerns: ENGINEs.

11. Pop or tot, e.g.: PALINDROME.  Evil olive. 

12. Bailiwick: AREA.

13. Heavy metal: LEAD.   Listen to the band cited at 1A for an example.   Rolling Stone's ranking of the 40 Greatest Led Zeppelin Songs

18. Right on the map: EAST.

23. Web prefix with cat: LOL.

Know Your Memes: LOLcats

24. Tech review website: CNET.

25. "__ Nobody's Business": blues standard: AIN'T.    Always liked the clue "Is not wrong."

26. Assess the depth of: PLUMB.   This word was also in last Tuesday's puzzle. 

27. "Blue Sky" Oscar winner: LANGE.   Tommy Lee Jones and Jessica Lange starred.

28. Where everything should be: IN ITS PLACE.

29. Online money: ECASH.

30. Ventilation source: FAN.

31. Roof edges: EAVES.

32. "I can't go all my life waiting to catch you between husbands" speaker: RHETT.   "Where shall I go?  What shall I do?"    "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."

37. Donation: GIFT.

38. Big comm. company, once: ITT.     ITT_Inc.

39. __ load: WORK.  

41. Trendy nightclub: HOTSPOT.   The best hotspots in '80s Houston were in the Galleria area of the West 610 loop.    Gilley's wasn't bad, but it was a long drive from the NW side.


42. Pine, e.g.: CONIFER.

44. Son of Akhenaten: TUT.    By an undetermined wife.   His stepmother was Queen Nefertiti.   Nefertiti and Akhenaten had a daughter that Tut married.  So he married his stepsister and his stepmother was his mother in law. - Summarized from a NatGeo reading.

45. Box score statistic: ERRORS.  2 by the Nats and 1 by the Stros in this game:

46. Gambling game involving matching cards: FARO.

49. Borrows without returning: BUMS. 

50. Jacob's brother: ESAU.

51. Dove home: COTE.

What is a dovecote?

Sheep and pigeons also live in cotes.

52. List part: ITEM.

53. Hyatt competitor: OMNI.

54. Like a web: SPUN.

55. Sale warning: AS IS.

58. Tint: HUE.

59. Duessa's foe in Spenser's "The Faerie Queene": UNA.   The Faerie Queene - Characters


Check you entries against this grid:

Notes from C.C.:
 
Look who are here: Lemonade,  his wife Oo and Jeffrey Wechsler. Lemonade said "We had a very nice long visit, the only benefit of a long layover on our way home from visiting Oo’s mother and son".

Friday, October 18, 2019 David Alfred Bywaters

"The Ess Sense of Questionable New Phrases"

17. Iranian vocal improvisation?: PERSIAN SCAT.

24. Household employee's fraudulent ruse?: NANNY SCAM.

38. Nursery school air fresheners?: DAYCARE SCENTERS.

50. Poem that seemed awfully profound at the bar last night?: PUB SCRAWL.

62. What optical character recognition software often produces?: GARBAGE SCAN.

Across:

1. Show anxiety, in a way: PACE.

5. No good: FUTILE.

11. Prankster's projectile: EGG. 

14. Excited response to a cue: I'M ON.   It's showtime.   Break a leg !

15. Pressed: IRONED.

16. Also: TOO.

19. Primitive dwelling: HUT.   The original Pizza Hut:

20. Furniture cleaning brand: ENDUST.

21. Bar __: CAR.

22. Assistant: AIDE.

23. Web address: URL.   Uniform Resource Locator

26. Approve: AGREE TO.

29. Put into words: SAY.  Phrase.

30. Preface to a conviction: IMO.   In My Opinion.  A conviction as in a firmly held belief.

31. Product warning: AS IS.    I remember one particular auctioneer's call at the start of the auction: "You are buying as is, how is, where is."  

34. Sew up again: REHEM. 

42. First name in black-and-white photos: ANSEL.

43. Stash: STOW.

44. Cabinet dept.: AGRiculture.  "Founded in 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed into law an act of Congress establishing the United States Department of Agriculture.   Two and one-half years later, in what would be his final annual message to the Congress; Lincoln called USDA "The People's Department."   At that time, about half of all Americans lived on farms, compared with about 2 percent today."   USDA.gov/About

45. Born, in Brussels: NEE.

47. Smidge, to a laddie: WEE DROP.  

55. Realtor's unit: LOT.

56. Words of understanding: I SEE.

57. Shad product: ROE.

58. Tabloid output: SLEAZE.

61. Catch: NAB.

64. I problem?: EGO.

65. Purpose: INTENT.

66. "This is terrible!": OH NO.

67. Intl. Talk Like a Pirate Day month: SEPtember.   Arrgh !

68. Sudden reactions: STARTS. - Start:  "...of Germanic origin; related to Dutch storten ‘push’ and German stürzen ‘fall headlong, fling’.  From the sense ‘sudden movement’ arose the sense ‘initiation of movement, setting out on a journey’ and hence ‘beginning of a process, etc.’."

69. Crucial things: KEYS.   "People say that money is not the key to happiness, but I always figured if you have enough money, you can have a key made." - Joan Rivers.

Down:

1. Plumbing item: PIPE.

2. "So be it!": AMEN.

3. Casual pants: CORDUROYs.   The term corduroy comes from an 18th century English word for coarse woolen cloth (duroy) and cord, for the wales.

4. Make certain: ENSURE.   Ascertain.

5. Decree: FIAT.   Derisively, the car FIAT is an initialism for Failure In Automotive Technology.

6. Item near a sugar bowl, perhaps: URN.

7. Opera about an opera singer: TOSCA.  theopera101.com - operas - tosca

8. Peruvian of old: INCAN.

9. Comes to realize: LEARNS.

10. Summer CT clock setting: EDT.

11. Moral principle: ETHIC.

12. Big wheel in delis: GOUDA.  This isn't South Holland, Michigan:


18. Hebrides unit: ISLE.

22. So far: AS YET. 

24. Pokes (around): NOSES.   Into someone else's affairs or belongings.  Snoops.

25. Knitter's need: YARN.   Hello, Madame Defarge !

26. Opera about an African princess: AIDA.   Synopsis of Verdi's Opera, Aida

27. Gangster movie hero, perhaps: GMAN.  And 13D. 27-Down's victorious words: GOT 'EM.

28. Sailor: TAR.

32. Follower's suffix: IST.

33. Displeased look: SCOWL.  

35. Sad song subject: HEARTACHE.


36. Cogito __ sum: ERGO.   I blog, therefore I am.

37. Car sticker amt.: MSRP.   Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price.   Kelley Blue Book - What is MSRP ?

39. Perfume with myrrh, say: CENSE.   Turns out cense is a verb (archaic),   therefore,   perfume is a verb rather than a noun in this clue.   We know the modern word as incense, in both noun and verb forms.   And for the second definition of the modern form in past tense, "The rookie solver was incensed with this clue."

40. Actor Guinness: ALEC.   Sir Alec Guinness

41. Lamb's dam: EWE.   Cute clue !

46. Roaming, like a knight: ERRANT.   Errant: 2. - archaic•literary: traveling in search of adventure.

48. Palindromic Parisian pronoun: ELLE.

49. Performs adequately: DOES OK.   On the second day in one of my first staff positions early in my career,  I was led down the hall by the director who introduced me to the regional vice president. "Middle of the pack is not acceptable" was all he said, meaning doing OK was not sufficient.    I guess he wasn't satisfied with the latest numbers that had come in. 

50. Longs: PINES.   A typically rural and olden usage. 

51. Treatment: USAGE.

52. Jazz style: BEBOP.  Dizzy Gillespie came to mind.

53. Vital vessel: AORTA.  Vessel: 3. - Anatomy•Zoology: a duct or canal holding or conveying blood or other fluid.

54. Barbecue brand: WEBER.   This is the design of the original Weber Genesis grill in 1985.   I bought a new one in 1989, thinking that the almost $400 price tag was steep, but it is going strong thirty years later, and I've never had to replace a single part.  My bottom shelves are composite rather than the wire rack shown.

58. Some NCOs: SGTs. Non Commissioned Officers: Sergeants. Pairs with 62D. Base figs.: GIs.  GI is an initialism for either Government Issue or General Issue because of the general items disbursed to soldiers and army airmen. Over time, GI came to mean a soldier.

59. Wacko: ZANY.  Not my cuppa for humor. 

60. First chimp in orbit: ENOS.  "Enos was the second chimpanzee launched into space by NASA. He was the first chimpanzee, and third hominid after cosmonauts Yuri Gagarin and Gherman Titov, to achieve Earth orbit. Enos' flight occurred on November 29, 1961."  - Wikipedia.  

63. Small colonist: ANT. Easy, but cute.


Check your answers against this grid:

Notes from C.C.:

Just heard from Dennis. He's recovering nicely. Already off all pain meds. Right now he's in the step-down unit and he hopes to be home next Monday. 

Thanks for the thoughts and prayers.