Thursday, December 4, 2025, Emet Ozar

 Theme:  The Crying Game

Emet Ozar serves up a Thursday challenge.  Best to keep in mind that it's just a game!  The four theme entries are symmetrically placed in rows Across, with two of them spanning the grid, and the other two just one square shy of that.  All four involve a common phrase that is reinterpreted as a cry from a game player.  The theme entries are:

16-Across. Sad cry from a hot potato player?: I DIDN'T CATCH THAT.  If you drop the potato, you're out.  

25-Across. Sad cry from a Bananagrams player?: CAN I GET A WORD IN?  Players race to build crossword grids using letter tiles.  Why haven't I played this?

46-Across. Sad cry from a Battleship player?: I MISSED THE BOAT.

61-Across. Happy cry from a Scrabble player?: I'M DRAWING A BLANK.

All those cries ended on a happy note.  Let's see how we fare with the rest of this game.

Across:

1. All-Star side: EAST.  Sports are games, too, but they seem more like tribal warfare by proxy.  In many sports, the All-Star games pit East versus West.

5. Maori dance: HAKA.  Speaking of sports, the Haka is performed by the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team before matches.  

All Blacks Haka dance

9. Building blocks: ABCs.

13. Pepper __: MILL.

14. Drop: OMIT.

15. Biggest city in the Cornhusker State: OMAHA.  Nebraska.

16. [Theme clue]

19. Custom car made from cast-off parts: RAT ROD.  A custom car with a deliberately worn-down, unfinished appearance, typically lacking paint, showing rust, and made from cheap or cast-off parts. 

Rat Rod

20. Knightly honorifics: SIRS.

21. Formal accessory: TIE.

22. Actor Corddry: ROB.  You may remember Rob as a correspondent on The Daily Show.  He has a number of other television and film credits, four Primetime Emmy Awards, and more Ds than seem proper in his surname.

Rob Corddry

24. Rented: LET.

25. [Theme clue]

33. Palm fruit: DATE.

34. Tool that can be made to sound like a theremin: SAW.  The theremin is an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer. It is named after its inventor, Leon Theremin, who patented the device in 1928.  Here is Leon Theremin playing the theremin:

Playing a saw requires touching it with a bow:

https://youtube.com/shorts/3-2wWp1UBiY?si=N6E0SxupPWiXKwVl

Apologies if the videos don't work!  You can look up Theremin on Wikipedia to see the Leon Theremin video.  And of course you can copy and paste the YouTube link into your web browser to see the saw in action.

35. Thin: SPARSE.

36. Ballpark figs.: ERAs.  Not estimates (like ETAs), but figures reported in baseball ballparks:  Earned Run Averages.

37. Verbal shrug: MEH.

39. Valley: DALE.

40. Grinding vessel: MORTAR.  I tried "metate" first. 

43. Orecchiette shape: EAR.  "Orecchiette" means "little ears" in Italian.  It's a pasta shape.

Orecchiette

45. Cyberchatted, for short: IMed.  Instant Messaged.  Also written IM'd.

46. [Theme clue]

49. "SNL" alum Gasteyer: ANA.  She's had continued success on film and stage.

Ana Gasteyer

50. Bother: ADO.

51. "KPop Demon Hunters" voice actor Daniel __ Kim: DAE.  A successful actor on stage, film and TV.

Daniel Dae Kim

54. "99 Luftballons" band: NENA.  The German band Nena recorded "99 Luftballons" in 1983.  The song tells a fictional story about how 99 balloons are mistaken for enemy aircraft and trigger a global nuclear war.

56. Trashes: TOSSES.

61. [Theme clue]

64. Game consoles produced between 1983 and 2001: SEGAS.

65. Escalator part: STEP.

66. No-frills grocery chain: ALDI.

67. Had in mind?: KNEW.

68. Obscure: HIDE.

69. All-Star side: WEST.  The last Across clue echoes the first.  Here in the Corner, we call that a clecho -- a clue echo.

Down:

1. Doha dignitary: EMIR.  Doha is the capital of Qatar.

2. Verdi opera: AIDA.

3. Feature of many a slinky gown: SLIT.  

Just for Splynter.

4. "I lost interest" letters: TLDR.  Too Long, Didn't Read.

5. Relish-topped ballpark bites: HOT DOGS.

6. Theater chain with MacGuffins Bar and Lounge: AMC.  Never heard of this, but AMC is the only theater chain that comes to mind.

7. Some Korean cars: KIAS.

8. __ the Hun: ATTILA.

9. Check no.: AMT.  Abbreviation in the clue calls for abbreviation in the answer.  AMT is for "amount."

10. Thai currency: BAHT.

11. Hebrew symbol that translates to "living": CHAI.  Chai is not so much a symbol as it is a word, composed of two Hebrew letters.  It means "life."  Hebrew letters were also used as number symbols, and the letters in chai add up to 18, so that 18 is associated with life and luck.  

12. Fill fully: SATE.

15. "You are just too much!": OH STOP.

17. Edible seaweed: NORI.

18. Hands that handle the deck: CREWS.  The deck of a ship ...

23. Radiate pride: BEAM.

25. Tricky pool shot: CAROM.

26. Maker of the 2600 and 5200 game consoles: ATARI.

27. Tiny homes tucked in branches: NESTS.

28. Chirp: TWEET.  Sounds heard in NESTS.

29. __ wave: RADIO.

30. Broadway genre: DRAMA.

31. Dot on a map: ISLET.

32. Call for: NEED.

33. Prefix with sexual: DEMI.  A demisexual person only develops sexual attraction after forming an emotional bond with another person.  They don't get hot and bothered by slits in gowns, for sure!

38. "Good one": HA HA.

41. Vinyasa sequence: ASANAS.  An asana is a physical pose in yoga.  Vinyasa is a style of yoga that links poses in a fluid sequence.  I've seen my lovely daughters practice this flow.

42. Freshen: RENEW.

44. Bureaucratic hassle: RED TAPE.

47. Like kanelsnegle: DANISH.  Kanelsnegle are Danish cinamon rolls.  I didn't know this, but I'm happy to see these on the crossword menu.  Especially if I only have to spell Danish, and not kanelsnegle!

48. __ tube: BOOB.  Yes, kids, that's what we used to call the TV.  Cathode ray tube device for idiots.  Before we all got sucked in.

51. Floppy or hard medium: DISK.

52. Blessing ender: AMEN.

53. Lip: EDGE.  Like the lip of a cup.

55. Not pro: ANTI.

57. Vegetable side: SLAW.

58. Result of a good pitch: SALE.  A good SALEs pitch results in a SALE.  Not baseball this time!

59. Some football linemen: ENDS.

60. Sketch: SKIT.  Not drawing, but sketch comedy.

62. Like sashimi: RAW.

63. HS equivalency test: GED.  General Educational Development test.

Here's the grid:

Solvers, did you find yourselves DRAWING A BLANK at any point?

Did you at least GET A WORD IN the right place, here and there?

If you KNEW all the answers without the help of perpendicular entries, I'm impressed!

Let us know in the comments.

-- NaomiZ

Thursday, November 27, 2025, MaryEllen Uthlaut

 Theme: Moving on.

A broken heart is a painful malady, but constructor MaryEllen Uthlaut suggests there's a short path to recovery.  She writes:

61-Across. Terse advice for the brokenhearted, and what appears four times in this puzzle: GET OVER IT.  

Indeed, MaryEllen has placed GET over IT four times in the grid, even in the reveal at 61-Across!  Take a look:

Very clever, MaryEllen!  Now that we've gotten over it, let's get into it!

Across:

1. Christie's "Evil __ the Sun": UNDER.  A novel by Agatha Christie in which Hercule Poirot investigates a murder at a seaside resort.

6. Annual vaccine target: FLU.

9. Secret supply: STASH.

14. Bolsters: FORTIFIES.

16. Natural dye for some brides: HENNA.  Henna designs are applied to an Indian bride's hands and feet for a pre-wedding celebration.

17. Citrus-infused brew: ORANGE TEA.

18. Foodie site with a Dining Out section: EATER.  Eater.com has lots of suggestions.

19. Walk or trot: GAIT.

20. Seuss character who advocates eating green: SAM-I-AM.

Hello.  My name is Sam-I-am.  I like to eat green eggs and ham.

21. Bobby of hockey: ORR.

23. Some Ram pickups: DODGE TRUCKS.

27. A short way from: NEAR.

29. Condiment in Indian cuisine: RAITA.  A side dish or condiment made with yogurt, spices, herbs, and vegetables, that cools the palate when eaten with spicy foods.

30. K-pop rapper: PSY.  Best known for his 2012 hit "Gangnam Style," Park Jae-sang's stage name is PSY.  Click the image below for his viral video:

31. Major export of Côte d'Ivoire: CACAO.  Côte d'Ivoire is the world's largest producer of cacao.  Cacao is the name of the tree and the raw beans.  Roasted cacao beans are ground into cocoa powder.  Chocolate!  Food of the gods!  That's the literal meaning of the tree's scientific name:  Theobroma cacao.

33. Valueless but valuable Scrabble tile: BLANK.

35. Reworks, as text: EMENDS.

37. Couch for sitting or sleeping: DAYBED.  A daybed is a sofa by day, and a bed by night.  Isn't DAYBED a confusing name?  

42. Some characters in "The Hobbit": ELVES.  In J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, elves are a race of cool forest dwellers who are immortal -- with limitations.

Elves from the LOTR movies.

46. Needle: TEASE.  More English language confusion.  To needle can be to tease with goading remarks or behaviors.  And yet, there is such a thing as a "teasing needle" used to tear scientific speciments into tiny shreds, or to "tease out" a knot in threads or chains.

teasing needle

47. Siouan people: OTO.  The Oto or Otoe people are a Native Amercan Plains tribe, related to the Sioux language family.

50. Spine-tingling: EERIE.

52. Read hastily: SCAN.

53. Trick-taking spot: BRIDGE TABLE.  The object of the card game bridge is to win tricks.  A trick is four cards, one played from the hand of each player in rotation.  A trick is won by the highest card of the suit that started the round, or by the highest trump. Admittedly, I've never played bridge.  Does it show?

56. Allotted share: CUT.

57. Cleverly skillful: ADROIT.

58. Spanish appetizer: TAPA.

60. Some corporate jets: LEARS.

61. [Theme reveal -- see above]

66. "The Luncheon on the Grass" painter: MANET.  French title:  Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe.  It's a puzzling painting, and was quite controversial when the Paris Salon rejected it for exhibit in 1863.

67. Travel plan: ITINERARY.

68. Winter transports: SLEDS.

69. Capital of Georgia?: GEE.  The capital letter in the word Georgia is a Gee.

70. Discourage: DETER.


Down:

1. Sci-fi craft: UFO.

2. Neither partner: NOR.  "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds" -- inscription on New York City's James A. Farley Post Office Building, 1914.

3. Show for queens: DRAG RACE.

4. Mediterranean peak: ETNA.

5. Inflexible: RIGID.

6. In very good shape: FIT.

7. "Da 5 Bloods" director Spike: LEE.

8. Letters on Erin Jackson's uniform: USA.  Erin Jackson is an American speed skater. At the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, she became the first Black woman to win a Winter Olympic gold medal in an individual sport, and the first Black American woman to win any Olympic medal in speed skating.  

Erin Jackson

9. Clip wool from: SHEAR.

10. Join forces: TEAM UP.

11. Buffoonery: ANTICS.

12. Hardly aboveboard: SNEAKY.

13. Injures: HARMS.

15. Wretched smell: FETOR.  A strong, offensive odor, usually emanating from a person.  Medical examples include fetor oris (bad breath), fetor hepaticus (where elements of liver failure pass into the lungs), uremic fetor (a urine-like odor on the breath of people with kidney disease), and others.  It can also be used more generally, like "the fetor of decay."  And yet I Did Not Know.

20. Place for witnesses: STAND.

21. Formerly: ONCE.

22. Paper quantity: REAM.

24. Smack-__ in the middle: DAB.

25. "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" writer Scott-Heron: GIL.  Gilbert Scott-Heron (1949-2011) was an American jazz poet, singer, musician and author, known for his work as a spoken-word performer in the 1970s and 1980s.  His poem "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," delivered over a jazz-soul beat, is considered a major influence on hip hop music.  DNK.

Gil Scott-Heron

26. Brief prediction that accounts for traffic and weather: ETA.  Estimated Time of Arrival.

28. Took to the hills: RAN.

32. Tributary stream?: ODE.  Not the kind of stream that flows into a river as a tributary, but a poetic stream of words of tribute, which constitute an ode.

34. Dennings of "Shifting Gears": KAT.  Kat Dennings is an American actress known for her starring roles as Max Black in the CBS sitcom 2 Broke Girls (2011–2017) and as Darcy Lewis in the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero film and television franchise beginning with Thor (2011).

36. Freezing shower: SLEET.

38. Word of affirmation: YES.

39. Casino card game: BACCARAT.

40. Biblical twin of Jacob: ESAU.

41. Lasting impression: DENT.  

43. Evaluate: VET.  A veterinarian, or vet, examines an animal.  Over the course of time, vet became a verb meaning to scrutinze a person or thing, or to examine for flaws.

44. Pitching stat: ERA.  Earned Run Average.

45. Blood relation, for short: SIB.  Sibling (brother or sister).

47. Difficult experience: ORDEAL.

48. Capital of Albania: TIRANË.  That's the Albanian spelling.  English spelling is Tirana.

49. Fragrant: ODORED.  Fragrant means having a pleasant smell, unlike fetor.

51. Taron's "Rocketman" role: ELTON.  Taron Egerton played Elton John in the 2019 film.

53. Some essential oils: BALMS.

54. Main ideas: GISTS.

55. Like chalet roofs: EAVED.

59. French father: PÈRE.

61. Club date: GIG.

62. Summer in Paris: ÉTÉ.

63. Form an attachment: TIE.

64. Wrath: IRE.

65. Norse war god: TÝR.

This Thanksgiving, I am thankful:

• to the crossword constructors who challenge us with these wonderful puzzles; 
• to C.C., who created this Corner where mysteries of the puzzles are explained by dedicated bloggers, and who gave me the opportunity to join their ranks; 
• to all who read the blog, and especially to those who comment; 
• to DH, who smiles upon this activity and who proves that if the first marriage doesn't succeed, you should GET OVER IT and move on to something better.

I hope that Thanksgiving brings comfort to all of you.  Several of you have suffered great losses in the past year.  May you find thanks for what you had, and for what you still have.  Peace to all.

NaomiZ solving the puzzle a couple of Sundays ago.

-- NaomiZ

Thursday, November 20, 2025, Caroline Hand

Theme:  Field day. 

Caroline Hand has published crossword puzzles in several major newspapers over the last couple of years.  You might say she is having quite a field day!  Today she treats us to a field day as well, with four echoing theme clues, and no reveal.  The theme clues and answers, symmetrically placed in rows Across, are:

20. Field: GRASSY PASTURE.  A straightforward type of field.

27. Field: LINCOLN ACTRESS.  Sally Field played Mary Todd Lincoln in the 2012 Spielberg film.

43. Field: CATCH A GROUNDER.  Scoop up a baseball that is rolling on the ground and return it to play.

51. Field: BRANCH OF STUDY.  Discipline, area, specialty, subject, domain.

Having fielded these clues, it's time to dig into the rest of them.

Across:

1. Oodles and oodles (of): GOBS.

5. Language of poet Nima Yooshij: FARSI.  Nima Yooshij (1895 - 1960) is considered the father of modern Persian poetry.

Nima Yooshij

10. Future esq.'s exam: LSAT.  Law School Admission Test.

14. Share a border: ABUT.

15. Sweet sandwiches: OREOS.

16. Empire centered at Cuzco: INCA.

17. iPhone speaker: SIRI.

18. Marner of fiction: SILAS.  Silas Marner is a novel published in 1861 by English author George Eliot, pen name of Mary Ann Evans.  The main character is a humble weaver who suffers various misfortunes, but whose life is given new meaning when he adopts a little orphan girl. The novel impressed me a lot when I was a young girl given to reading Victorian novels. 

19. Extol the good points of: TOUT.

20. [Theme clue]

23. Cooling syst. meas.: BTU.  British Thermal Unit is a measure of heat.

25. Jockey (for): VIE.

26. Rite place: ALTAR.

27. [Theme clue]

32. Furnish with funds: ENDOW.

33. Tortilla dough: MASA.  Masa is dough made from corn that has been soaked in limewater, washed, and hulled.  The dried corn is ground up and reconstituted with water to make dough for tortillas.

34. "The Banana Boat Song" opener: DAY-O.  Harry Belafonte and others adapted this Jamaican song about dock workers loading bananas onto ships at night and looking forward to daylight when they could go home.

     Day-o, day-o

     Daylight come and me wan' go home ...

     Work all night on a drink of rum

     Daylight come and me wan' go home

     Stack banana till de morning come

     Daylight come and me wan' go home

35. Marinade of vinegar and spices: ADOBO.  Adobo is an indigenous Filipino cooking process in which meat, seafood, or vegetables are browned in oil, and then marinated and simmered in vinegar, salt or soy sauce, and garlic.  Spanish or Mexcian adobo is a red chili sauce.  The two types of adobo take their names from the Spanish adobar, to marinate.

37. Tracy Marrow's stage name: ICE T.  We've seen Ice T here a few times recently.  He looks tough, but is apparently grid-friendly.

Ice T

41. Words of clarification: AS IN.  

42. Flip out: GO APE.

43. [Theme clue]

48. Like some seals: EARED.  True seals, like harbor seals, have no external ear flaps.  Eared seals like sea lions and fur seals do have external ear flaps.  But all seals have ear openings.

49. Sharing word: OUR.

50. Cozy burrow: DEN.

51. [Theme clue]

56. Microsoft's web browser: EDGE.

57. Contact, in a way: EMAIL.

58. Spa supplies: OILS.

61. Barrel of laughs: RIOT.

62. Pasta often served alla vodka: PENNE.  Penne (a tube shaped pasta) is served with a sauce of heavy cream, tomatoes, and a splash of vodka.  

penne alla vodka

63. Simple fastener: SNAP.

64. Weight units for whales: TONS.

65. Emotional state: ANGST.

66. Like some batters: EGGY.

Down:

1. Fun time: GAS.

2. Kimono sash: OBI.

A woman wearing a kimono with an obi at her waist.

3. Dry red wine: BURGUNDY.

4. __ the pot: STIR.

5. Accessory brand known for watches: FOSSIL.  When youngest daughter was in high school, she longed for a nice watch.  I pictured something dainty, but she chose something like this:

6. No longer in bed: ARISEN.

7. Lean (on): RELY.

8. Stuff available in bars: SOAP.

9. Rae of "American Fiction": ISSA.  I remember her from her HBO show, Insecure.  And from crossword puzzles.

10. Younger, as a sibling: LITTLE.  No matter how old you get, your little sister is your little sister.

11. Rooting parts: SNOUTS.

12. Legends, for example: ACURAS.  Honda introduced its luxury car brand, Acura, with the Legend sedan in 1985.  It was manufactured through 1995.

13. Home run, in baseball slang: TATER.  Perhaps from hitting a ball over the fence into the potato fields, back in the day.

21. Declare without shame: AVOW.

22. Indie pop duo Tegan and __: SARA.  CanadianEh!, do you know these Canadian twin sisters?

Tegan and Sara

23. Came out in the wash?: BLED.

24. Jukebox musical whose second act begins with "Private Dancer": TINA.  A jukebox musical is a stage musical or musical film in which most of the songs are well-known popular songs, rather than original music composed for the musical.  Tina: The Tina Turner Musical depicts her life from humble beginnings to rock 'n roll superstar.  It's been on stages around the world since 2018.

28. Baby's noise: COO.

29. In the middle of: AMONG.

30. Hailed ride: CAB.

31. "The Search for General __": food documentary: TSO.  I learned from puzzles about the Chinese American dish called General Tso's chicken.

35. Hosiery shade: ASH.  This vintage package says the color is Ash.  I guess I'd call it taupe.

36. Domingo, por ejemplo: DIA.  Sunday, for example:  Day.  (Spanish.)

37. Physicist's particle: ION.

38. Summer gig for an aspiring golfer, perhaps: CADDYING.

39. Foil kin: ÉPÉE.  Types of swords used in fencing.

40. Beach bird: TERN.

41. Current options: AC/DC.

42. Buddhist teacher: GURU.

43. Elliptical workout, e.g., informally: CARDIO.  Cardiovascular exercise elevates your heart rate.  An elliptical machine allows you to achieve that while being gentle on your joints.

44. Old kingdom of Spain: ARAGON.

45. Core convictions: TENETS.

46. Prepares to bow: ROSINS.  Violin rosin is made from pine resins.  A violinist applies rosin to his bow -- or "rosins" the bow -- to create friction between the bow hair and the strings, and thereby create sound.

NaomiZ on cello, big brother and little sister on violin, 1966

47. Retail store: OUTLET.

48. Longtime "At the Movies" co-host: EBERT.

52. Filter letters: HEPA.

53. Prophetic sign: OMEN.

54. Venom source: FANG.

55. Capful, perhaps: DOSE.

59. Trail behind: LAG.

60. Figure in a covert op: SPY.

Here's the grid:

Solvers, did you have a field day with Caroline's puzzle?

Was it a GAS?  Or did it cause you ANGST?

I am on the EDGE of my seat waiting to know.

-- NaomiZ

Thursday, November 13, 2025, Stella Zawistowski

Theme:  Typography.

Stella Zawistowski is a super crossword constructor who is consistently ranked in the top ten solvers at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament.  She loves a hard puzzle and used to run a website called Tough as Nails.  Stella has resolved to take it a little easier on solvers these days, and for me, this one went well until I hit a couple of crossing unknowns in the far southeast.  Let's dig into it and see how everyone else did.

The theme clues and answers, in symmetrically placed rows, are:

17-Across. Raised type?: STILT WALKER.  You may have imagined embossed letters on a page, but this is the TYPE of person who is raised up by stilts.

24-Across. Against type?: DEBBIE DOWNER.  You may have imagined someone opposed to the printing process, but this is the TYPE of person who is pessimistic and dampens the mood of others.

38-Across. Movable type?: NOMAD.  You may have imagined the individual metal letters used to print books, but this is the TYPE of person who moves from one place to another without a permanent home.

47-Across. Blood type?: COUNT DRACULA.  You may have imagined one of the classes of human blood distinguished by the presence of antigens on red blood cells, but this is the TYPE of person -- or really just one person -- who thrives on the consumption of human blood.

57-Across. File type?: OFFICE CLERK.  You may have imagined a filing cabinet, or a tool with ridges to smooth rough surfaces, but this is the TYPE of person who files documents in an office.

So far, you're thinking, my TYPE of puzzle, right?  Here come the rest of the clues and answers.

Across:

1. Sega hedgehog: SONIC.  Sonic the Hedgehog is a video game series developed by Sega to compete with Nintendo's Mario. The first Sonic game was released in 1991 and the franchise continues to be a flagship for Sega.

Sonic the Hedgehog

6. Mark of approval: STAMP.

11. Posed (for): SAT.

14. Cause of some food recalls: E. COLI.  Escherichia coli are bacteria: some good for us, some bad.

15. Wispy streaks in the sky: CIRRI.  Plural of cirrus, a wispy cloud formation at high altitude.

16. Blubber: CRY.

17. [Theme clue]

19. Regatta blade: OAR.  A regatta is a series of boat races, and depending on the type of boat, an oar might be required.

20. "That ship __ sailed": HAS.  Speaking of boats, "that ship has sailed" means the time for a particular opportunity has passed.

21. Connecticut university founded in 1701: YALE.

22. One of the four countries in the Kingdom of the Netherlands: ARUBA.  The Kingdom of the Netherlands comprises the Netherlands, Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten.  The last three of these are Caribbean islands.

24. [Theme clue]

28. Gentleman's opposite: LOUT.

29. Snide snickers: HEHS.

30. Corset components: STAYS.  The stays of a garment are stiff pieces meant for shaping.  DH wears collar stays with his dress shirts.

Vertical stays are sewn into the fabric of this corset.

32. Catching in an ambush: WAYLAYING.

37. "Yuck!": EWW.

38. [Theme clue]

39. Short time out: NAP.

40. Opening-night event, often: CAST PARTY.

43. Realty ad count: BATHS.  ROOMS and ACRES would also have fit.  Or BDRMS if we're abbreviating.

45. Sad sigh: ALAS.

46. Mood: VIBE.

47. [Theme clue]

51. Abruptly cut contact with: GHOST.  This sort of thing didn't happen so much when human relationships were mostly in person.  

53. "Chill, will ya?": EASY.

54. Some TVs and fridges: LGS.  LG is a brand of electronic appliances.

56. Slam (into): RAM.

57. [Theme clue]

61. Intention: AIM.

62. "Go, me!": I ROCK.  I am filling in this puzzle!  I am such a smarty pants!

63. Chabert of "Party of Five": LACEY.  OK, whoops!  Who, now?  Party of Five aired on Fox from 1994 to 2000, with a total of six seasons.  Lacey Chabert played one of five siblings whose parents died in a car accident.  I have never heard of this show.

That's Lacey perched on her brother's lap at right.

64. Garment that rarely works with a backless gown: BRA.  Not a good look, unless you get creative like the lady in the picture below.

65. Doesn't shy from: DARES.  Who dares to do the Down clues?

66. "Come on in!": ENTER.  Let's enter the final phase of this puzzle.

Down:

1. Short meeting?: SESH.  "Sesh" is modern shorthand for "session," which could be a meeting.

2. Legs on a spider, e.g.: OCTAD.

3. Legal deterrents to loud parties: NOISE LAWS.

4. Feeling feverish or not so hot: ILL.  The wrong kind of E. coli can do this to you.

5. Commuting option: CITY BUS.

6. Get to the top of: SCALE.  Think of scaling Mount Everest ...

7. Like many New York City subway stations: TILED.  In recent years, white subway tile -- horizontal rectangles -- has been a big trend in home kitchens and bathrooms.  Don't ask me why!  I have never ridden the NYC subway system and am not acquainted with its charms.

8. Vessel in Genesis 7: ARK.

9. Emergency food ration, for short: MRE.  Meal Ready to Eat.  Used by the US Armed Forces where other food is not available.

10. Orinoco biter: PIRANHA.  The Orinoco river flows through Venezuela and Colombia, emptying into the Atlantic Ocean.  It is home to over 1,000 fish species, one of which is the black spot piranha.  Not to worry:  more people eat piranhas than piranhas eat people.

Pygocentrus cariba, or black spot piranha

11. Clean with elbow grease: SCOUR.

12. Many a Moroccan: ARAB.

13. Banks with style: TYRA.  Tyra Banks is a supermodel, actress, producer, and writer.  She broke color barriers on the covers of Sports Illustrated and GQ, appeared in a host of TV shows and movies, and won an Emmy for Outstanding Talk Show for The Tyra Banks Show.

Tyra Banks

18. Hostess's estimate: WAIT.  Oh, a restaurant hostess!  

23. OpenTable alternative: RESY.  OpenTable and Resy are software companies that sell reservation and table management systems to restaurants.  If you've made a restaurant reservation online recently, you've probably used one or the other.

25. Son: BOY.

26. "Wunderbar!": OH YAY.

27. Join together: WELD.

30. Crimson Tide org.: SEC.  The University of Alabama (Crimson Tide) is in the Southeastern Conference of the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

31. Pan Am rival: TWA.  Pan American World Airways (Pan Am) and Trans World Airlines (TWA) were American airlines that once dominated global air travel.  

32. "Do your __!": WORST.  Go on!  Let's see if you DARE.

33. Invoice fig.: AMT.  A figure on an invoice is probably an amount.

34. Brainy one: INTELLECT.

35. "Not my thing": NAH.

36. Waymo tech: GPS.  Waymo, the self-driving rideshare vehicle, uses a Global Positioning System.  We have lots of them in West Los Angeles, and they are great drivers.

38. Bread served with raita: NAAN.  Yummy Indian food.

41. Volkswagen that shares a name with a New Mexico town: TAOS.

42. Faraway dwarf planet: PLUTOID.  A plutoid is a dwarf planet that orbits the sun farther than Neptune.  Eight objects are classified as plutoids: Pluto, Orcus, Haumea, Makemake, Quaoar, Sedna, Gonggong, and Eris.

43. Commuting option: BICYCLE.

44. __ Simbel, Egypt: ABU.  Abu Simbel is a historic site comprising two enormous rock-cut temples in Upper Egypt.  Carved out of a mountainside in the 13th century BC, they feature rock relief figures of Ramesses II.

Abu Simbel

46. Ming collectible: VASE.

47. One in 1,000?: COMMA.  Yes, there is one comma in 1,000.

48. Clear, as a windshield in winter: DE-ICE.

49. Holders of barbells: RACKS.  A handy way to keep your barbells off the floor.

barbell rack

50. Feel similarly: AGREE.

51. Screen __: GRAB.  A screen grab is a still image of a frame from a video, whereas a screenshot is an image of a computer or mobile device's screen at a particular moment.  

52. Subject of the r/Tressless subreddit: HAIR.  This online discussion group is actually devoted to issues of hair loss.

55. Icelandic dairy product similar to yogurt: SKYR.  I have purchased skyr and should have known it, but I could not recall the vowel.  I tried A, E, I, O, and U, forgetting that Y sometimes acts as a vowel.

58. __ diavolo sauce: FRA.  This spicy tomato sauce takes its name from an 18th century Italian guerrilla leader nicknamed Fra Diavolo or Brother Devil.

59. In favor of: FOR.

60. "The Wheel of Time" role: LAN.  The Wheel of Time is a 14-volume series of fantasy novels by Robert Jordan.  It was adapted into an Amazon Prime Video series which aired for three seasons from 2021 to 2025.  Lan is a warrior and last survivor of a fallen kingdom.  All of which is even further from my knowledge base than LACEY in "Party of Five."

Here's the grid.  The red triangles mark the ones I flubbed.

Dear Reader, did you have the INTELLECT to solve this puzzle correctly?  Did you find it EASY?

Or did you think it was the WORST puzzle ever?

In either case, you'll find someone to AGREE with you in the comments.

-- NaomiZ

 

Notes from C.C.:

 

Happy birthday to Big Easy (George), husband of Louisiana Tennis Hall of Famer Diane! George has been such a caring friend, always checking in on my RA and housing worries. Hope it's a beautiful day where you are, George!

Big Easy and his wife Diane