Thursday, February 16, 2017 C.C.Burnikel

Theme: Stock Showdown - who would you back in a race between a Harley, a Ferrari and an Avis rental car?

The reveal sets up what we're looking for in the theme:

66A. Market representative? : TICKER SYMBOL

and indeed we find that the very apt ticker symbol and the company it represents intersect each other in the three theme pairs:

8D. Auto with a prancing horse logo, whose company 66-Across ends 18-Across : FERRARI and
18A. Fitness challenge : OBSTACLE RACE

Here's the 2016 Formula 1 model. Sex on a stick.

49A. Bike whose company 66-Across ends 26-Down : HARLEY and
26D. Unreserved way to go : WHOLE HOG. 

"Hog" was originally the nickname for a Harley dating back to the 20's, and adopted later as an acronym by the Harley Owners' Group.

50A. Name on a shuttle, whose company 66-Across ends 24-Down : AVIS and
24D. Alternative energy vehicle : SOLAR CAR

This car, developed by the University of Sydney, is set to be the first street-legal solar vehicle when it is registered in Australia in 2017.

Before we get into the meat of the theme and the puzzle, let's just get one thing clear regarding 39D. This puzzle was created last year and was accepted for publication in August 2016, so don't try to read anything more into it.

Clever theme from C.C. She told me that it went through quite a lot of back-and-forth with Rich at the concept stage before it was ready to go. Out of the many thousands of companies traded on NASDAQ and the NYSE there are precious few with a punny symbol, and even fewer where it can intersect the name.

Note the consistency in that the ticker symbol is the final word of a two-word phrase - good stuff. Add in some nice crunchy fill and a polished layout (and C.C's "trademark" baseball references) and you can't get much better. Let's see what else jumps out:

Across:

1. Truly wretched : ABJECT. Great start.

7. E equivalent, on scores : F FLAT. Both notes are en-harmonic equivalents, but not regarded as the same note.

12. Bygone space station : MIR

15. Reaction to a comeback : TOUCHÉ! 

16. Contact : REACH

17. Long-necked bird : EMU

20. Metz moniker : NOM. I'm finally getting it that Metz is in France, not Germany. Mon nom est Étienne, en français.

21. Colo. setting : M.S.T. Mountain time for the Colorado folks.

22. See-through : SHEER. Like these curtains, which were the first examples of sheer fabric that sprung to my mind. Honestly, Officer ...

23. Even-odds situation : TOSS-UP

25. Scand. land : SWEden. Cold and dark over there at the moment.

27. Not much : A DAB. I tripped up on this one - I had A TAD first, corrected the T with FREEDOM and then forgot to go back and fix the B.

29. Nosebag fill : OATS. Also used in porridge,as C.C. noted on Sunday. Use rolled oats, not instant.

30. Male pal, in slang : BRAH. This is a Hawai'ian islands expression. The hipster surfer dudes in Southern California have picked up on it, and frankly, it sounds quite wrong coming from an Orange County high schooler.

32. Cold sore relief product : ORAJEL. You can get Zovirax OTC in the UK which blasts a cold sore into extinction within 24 hours if you use it the second you feel that first tingle.

35. Cellist with multiple Grammys : YO YO MA

38. Baseball collectibles : MINI BATS. You can't get much more mini than this:

41. Pure : SINLESS. Pure as the driven snow, like me, hence my admiration for sheer curtains.

43. Stated as fact : AVERRED

45. Sits in a cell : DOES TIME

48. Set up in a glade, say : ENCAMP

51. Lamb sandwich : GYRO. Food! I've waxed lyrical about these before. The Mad Greek, Baker, CA off the I-15.

54. Pamplona kudos : OLÉS

56. Outrage : IRE

57. Mountain predator : COUGAR

60. Trojan War epic : ILIAD

62. Church based in SLC, Utah : L.D.S. Latter Day Saints, the Mormon church in Salt Lake City.

65. Center : HUB

69. Foofaraw : ADO

70. "American Buffalo" playwright : MAMET

71. Erie Canal city : ALBANY

72. Passel : TON. A bunch, a pack, an indeterminate number. I like the word.

73. More than amuses : SLAYS

74. Greenery : PLANTS

Down:

1. Splitting target : ATOM

2. Short cuts : BOBS. Oh - haircuts!

3. Reagan-era slogan : JUST SAY NO

4. Outer: Pref. : ECT-

5. Run after : CHASE

6. __ support : TECH. Shot myself in the foot with ARCH first. This whole top-left corner was nothing but trouble for me, with the exception of the Nancy Reagan slogan.

7. Liberty : FREEDOM

9. Mike Trout's team, on scoreboards : LAA. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, clumsily. I've been to Angel Stadium - it's one of the few sporting venues where they don't completely fleece you for parking, beer and a dog.

10. Check no. : ACCT.

11. "Sons of Anarchy" actor Rossi : THEO. Thank you, crosses.

12. Brainy bunch : MENSA

13. Passing remark? : I'M OUT. See ya! No, wait, I've got some more puzzle to blog.

14. Beef cuts : RUMPS

19. Field : LEA

28. "Hulk" star Eric : BANA. Thank you, crosses. My blecho for today.

30. Fly-__: air passes : BYS. A USAAF formation usually comes over the top of my house on January 1st on the way to and from the Rose Bowl fly-by. One year there was a stealth bomber too, that was an eerie sight.

31. Juicer's juice? : ROID. Steroids. Nice clue.

33. Nonsense : JIVE

34. "__ Holden": Irving Bacheller novel : EBEN. What? Who? Crosses all the way. I discover it was published in 1900 and was a best-seller in 1901 and 1902.Now I don't feel so bad.

36. Cactus League spring training city : MESA, Arizona. I went to a spring training game between the Reds and Giants a few years ago in nearby Scottsdale. Really good fun. The Giants won the World Series that year.

37. Neil deGrasse Tyson subj. : ASTRonomy.

39. Blizzard restriction, perhaps : TRAVEL BAN

40. Final Four matchup : SEMI. Semi-final in a single elimination competition. Four to be winnowed down to two for the final.

42. Rural storehouse : SILO

44. Plays usually involving the SS : DPS. Double plays. Shortstops.

46. "I'm a fan!" : ME LIKEY!

47. Shoelace holders : EYELETS. You thread your aglets through your eyelets when you're putting laces in your shoes.

51. IM option : G-CHAT. Google Chat instant messaging.

52. "Seriously?" : YOU DO?

53. Apply, as sunscreen : RUB ON. I spray mine on, then rub.

55. Respectful word : SIR

56. Pastoral piece : IDYLL

How sweet is the Shepherd's sweet lot

From the morn to the evening he strays;

He shall follow his sheep all the day,

And his tongue shall be filled with praise.

For he hears the lamb's innocent call,

And he hears the ewe's tender reply;

He is watchful while they are in peace,

For they know when their Shepherd is nigh.

"The Shepherd" by William Blake

58. Stop-offs before big dates, maybe : ATM'S

59. Muscat money : RIAL. They don't come out of  ATM's in Oman, they come out of these things: آلة الصراف الآلي

61. Rush job letters : ASAP

63. "Knock it off!" : DON'T!

64. Stallone and Stone : SLYS

67. Nashville awards gp. : C.M.A. Country Music Association.

68. Mgmt. degree : M.B.A. A Master's degree in Business Administration.

I think that should do it from me. Happy Thursday, everyone!

Steve

Thursday February 9 2017 Alan DeLoriea

Theme: "He who hesitates is last" - Mae West

17A. War film with a cast of 60-Across? : APOCALYPSE LATER. Apocalypse Now. Coppola's 1979 Vietnam War release. And a perfect excuse for some dramatic background music from Richard Wagner.

28A. Newspaper with a staff of 60-Across? : USA TOMORROW. USA Today is missing one staff member, the crossword editor. Allegedly.

44A. 1969 hit song by a group of 60-Across? : NEXT MAGIC MOMENT. "This Magic Moment" passed me by unnoticed. Research tells me that the song was originally recorded in 1960 by Ben E. King and the Drifters, then Jay and the Americans took it to Number 6 in the Billboard Chart in 1969. There it has lain, untroubled by history, until today.

which leads us to

60A. Off-putting sorts? : PROCRASTINATORS. Great word. This has also sat, dusty and forgotten by crossword constructors since an appearance in the New York Times back in 1976. Welcome back!

Yay Thursday! Time for me to focus on the work I'm meant to get done this week. But first - there's a crossword to finish.

Welcome also to today's constructor Alan DeLoriea and an LAT debut. He also debuted in the NYT back in December, so a nice two-fer, considering how long it takes for a puzzle to actually appear in print. A quick Google reveals that he's one of the West Coasters among us, and he plays scrabble.

Three grid-spanners and one 10-letter theme entry means the grid has mirror symmetry, not the usual rotational, so that's a little different. "Now/Later", "Today/Tomorrow" are a solid couple of theme pairs. "This/Next" requires a little more thought and the addition of "week" or "month" etc. to fully come to life. There is quite a lot of three-letter fill, but there's some sparkly longer stuff to offset that.

Good effort!

Let's see what else catches the eye:

Across:

1. Subj. for a non-native speaker : ESL. English as a Second Language. Some native speakers could do with a refresher class, I swear.

4. __-top: Beatles' style : MOP

7. Much of "Star Wars" FX : CGI. Special Effects/Computer-Generated Imagery. I was blown away when I saw the first movie in the theater (or theatre?) back in England in 1978.

10. Clumsy type : OAF

13. __ Michele, 8-Down co-star : LEA. Good morning, cross-referenced clue. Thank you, eventually, perps.

14. "The Princess Diaries" princess : MIA

15. Tetris shape : ELL

16. Sporty truck, briefly : UTE. I can't help but think of "My Cousin Vinnie" and chuckle when I see this word.

21. "Rock and Roll All __": Kiss hit : NITE. Paul Stanley played my first guitar shortly after it was given to me as a present. Well, he picked it up, showed me an "E" chord and gave it back to me. My girlfriend at the time worked for the record label and he dropped by for drinks at a party we had just after New Year.

22. Reckon : 'SPOSE

23. Custardy dessert : FLAN Food! Flan is grande in Mexico.

24. Thrown for a loop : DAZED

26. Cool, once : HEP. Can't you still be a hep cat? I know you'd have to be wearing a zoot suit and playing sax, but still ..

27. Campus groups : FRATS

31. Dough for ramen? : YEN. Nicely done. Some of these: ¥ for a bowl of these:

 
Food! I've been learning some of Masaharu Morimoto's recipes recently, including making your own udon noodles for ramen.

32. Square __ : ONE

33. Traveler's aid : VEHICLE

37. "Hamlet, thou art slain" speaker : LAERTES. Act V, sc ii. There was so much jiggery-pokery going on in that scene (as well as Osric making a nuisance of himself) that it was difficult to keep track. I believe Queen Gertrude, Laertes, Claudius and Hamlet (appropriately) shuffled off the mortal coil in that order. Rosencrantz, Guildernstern, Ophelia and Polonius had already beaten them to the Pearly Gates. Cracking stuff.

42. Political __ : ARENA

43. Big name in big tractors : DEERE

50. Write in code? : PROGRAM. Come on over and help me with my Linux shell scripting. Please.

51. Actress Ramirez of "Grey's Anatomy" : SARA. More crosses - thanks very much.

55. __ d'Alene : COEUR. Nailed it (finally)!

56. Mideast sultanate : OMAN

63. Pie choice : À LA MODE. It's always a sneaky task trying to parse this with a few missing letters. I'm always looking for a fruit or savory filling.

64. Like bread knives : SERRATE. I wanted SERRATED. I'm sure the usage is fine, but I would never describe a knife as "serrate" - I'd say "serrated", incorrectly as it turns out. Learning moment. Here are my knives - the serrate is third from the left next to the cleaver and the boning knife. The cleaver cost me $16 from an Asian restaurant supply store, weighs 2lbs and makes you feel like a bad-ass when you're chopping stuff with it.

65. Well-to-do : MONEYED

66. Unpredictable : ERRATIC

Down:

1. Twisty-horned antelope : ELAND. Twisty robber-baron and founder of Stanford? LELAND

2. Photo app effect : SEPIA

3. Founder of Taoism : LAOTZU. My last fill was the "A" as LEA was unknown. I just couldn't pull the correct spelling out of my memory banks. LAO looked better than LEO so that's what I went for.

4. Sport for Ronda Rousey, for short : MMA. Mixed Martial Arts. Her reputation's taken a bit of a beating(!) after the last couple of fights. I wouldn't like to get on the wrong side of her though.

5. Aromatherapy array : OILS

6. Outmoded public convenience : PAYPHONE. It's amazing how quickly these things have disappeared. I'm not sure I'd be able to remember how to use one.

7. Center of moral corruption : CESSPOOL

8. TV show with mashups : GLEE. Never seen the show. The mashups are well known though. Check out YouTube.

9. Down with something : ILL. My first thought went with the modern parlance "in favor of" then I talked sense into myself.

10. Wanted one : OUTLAW

11. Bothered a lot : ATE AT

12. Fronded plants : FERNS

18. Mediocre marks : CEES. I'm not a big fan of these "grade" fills, especially when pluralized. I'd have tried to find something else.

19. Sonnet, e.g. : POEM

20. Do maintained with a pick : AFRO. Strictly speaking, shouldn't it be 'Do?

25. Kids' summer activity : DAY CAMP

27. "Another word for nothin' left to lose," in a Joplin hit : FREEDOM. "Me and Bobby McGee" and a classic. She never sang it at Woodstock, contrary to what a lot of people think. She only recorded it a few days before she sadly passed away.

29. __ Aviv : TEL

30. Genetic messenger molecule : RNA

33. The Scooby gang's Mystery Machine, e.g. : VAN. All together now: "Mr. Jenks!!!" "And I'd 'a gotten away with it if it hadn't been for you darned kids!"

34. Ode preposition : 'ERE. As the cockney Grecian Vase thief said to his accomplice "'ere, 'ode on to this while I go back fer the uvver one".

35. Spell : HEX

36. QB's mishap : INT. I still can't get over Sunday's "Big Game".

38. Dream state letters : R.E.M. Rapid Eye Movements; not dreaming about Michael Stipe.

39. Technical foul signal, in basketball : TEE. "Tee him up Ref!"

40. West ender? : -ERN

41. Place : SET. So wait, a place setting is a place placing? Or a setting setting? English is a great language.

45. Centipede home? : ARCADE. Atari video game from the '80s.

46. Stimulated : GOOSED

47. "Oh, now __ it!" : I GET

48. All-in-one vacation : CRUISE

49. Eliot's weaver : MARNER. Silas. I'm not sure the book would go over too well if it was written and published today.

51. Canned meat used in Hawaiian cuisine : SPAM. Food! I love Spam musubis. My Japanese "Auntie" Satchi makes them at Christmas.

52. "The Good Dinosaur" dinosaur : ARLO. Crosses. Mr. Guthrie gets a rest today.

53. Reddish horse : ROAN

54. Source of cartoon explosives : ACME. Made me laugh. Wile. E. Coyote was a good customer of theirs.

56. Other, south of the border : OTRA. Down Mexico Way. Canadian Eh! might argue this one.

57. Castle defense : MOAT

58. Basic class with easels : ART I. Funny, after my question regarding LATIN I last week, now we see another "I". I always thought it was "101", but then again I never went to school here.

59. Tiny time pd. : N-SEC. A nanosecond. Tiny indeed. 1 nanosecond:1 second:31.71 years.

61. Siegfried collaborator : ROY. Their performance days were pretty much over when Roy was bitten by one of the tigers and almost died.

62. PDX info: Abbr. : ARR. Arrivals into Portland International Airport. The terminal is famous for the carpet design; the original was replaced in 2015; swatches of the original carpet being sold off to the public. The last time I was in PDX I was changing planes on my way home from Seattle to LA in a torrential rainstorm in a little turbo-prop puddle-jumper. We deplaned outside the terminal, I dripped a lot onto the new carpet when I finally got inside. Here's the old (left) and new side-by-side:

And with a carpet swatch, I think that wraps up this one! Heeeere's the grid!

Steve

(I just noticed that if you blur your eyes, the grid looks like a Teddy Bear with a "Sting" 80's spiked haircut. And I promise I've not been smoking anything.)

Notes from C.C.:

1) Steve, grids with left/right symmetry tend to have funny looks. Re rice balls, did we miss an important event in your life?

2) Happy Birthday to dear Splynter (Richard), who turns 46 years old today. Splynter started blogging for us since March 2011 and only missed one Saturday when he was sick. He's this dedicated to our blog and readers. We're so lucky.

Thursday, February 2, 2017 Chuck Deodene

Theme: Yadda Yadda Yadda. You add a "YA" to a name or a phrase. Hilarity ensues.

17A. Headline during an African wildfire season? : KENYA BURNS. Ken Burns. Documentary film maker.

61A. Collector of some Spanish art? : GOYA GETTER. Go-getter. To the delight of teenage boys in art class everywhere, Goya painted two versions of his Maja. One clothed, the other markedly less so. Here's one version:

10D. Artist Jasper during his tropical period? : PAPAYA JOHNS. Papa John's. Pizza purveyor. The artist Jasper Johns is fond of this somewhat gloomy pose:

25D. Farmer's possible reply to "What beans are you planting this year?"? : I RECKON SOYA. I reckon so. Food! I'm very partial to steamed edamame, sprinkled with sea salt.

The reveal across the middle of the puzzle tells us:

39A. Casual parting ... and a hint to this puzzle's four longest answers : SEE YA

Straightforward enough theme. You always know the kind of thing you're looking for when you see clues in the interrogative. Two 10-letter themers across, two 11-letter downs and one reveal across the middle. There's some nice longer fill too, let's see what we've got.

Across:

1. Brewski : SUDS. Cheers!

5. Scrubland succulent : AGAVE. Tequila!

10. Skate park protection : PADS

14. "__ something I said?" : IS IT

15. Bounded : LOPED

16. Settled on the tarmac : ALIT

19. "¿Qué __?" : PASA

20. Peach or orange : HUE

21. Snitch : RAT

22. Rental duration : TENANCY. This was a poser before the crosses helped out. I was thinking rental cars, not apartments. Two Days? Maybe. Fortunately I wasn't convinced.

24. Former NASCAR Cup sponsor : SPRINT

26. Pass along : RELAY

27. Go over again : RE-READ

29. Kind of key : MAJOR. As opposed to minor.

33. Bro : MATE. Hmmm. Transatlantic synonymia. I think I just invented a great new word.

36. Tolkien villain : ORC. Generic one of about three trillion, if the computer graphics were to be believed. There were two in the book who actually had names, but I think they were cut from the movie script.

37. "This feels familiar" feeling : DEJA VU. Very apt - today is Groundhog Day. That was a fun movie, starring Bill Murray and Andi McDowell.

38. Corner office fig. : EXEC. utive. I had a corner office on the Warner Bros. lot overlooking the Western backlot which did not befit my station. I kept very quiet about that mistake by corporate real estate.

41. Had too much : OD'ED. This is on my personal "banned" list.

42. Satisfies, as thirst : SLAKES. You can also match-make calcium oxide and water to produce calcium hydroxide with judicious use of this verb.

44. Reduction : CUT

45. Attending : HERE. Little odd. "I'm here" and "I'm attending". One is not quite like the other.

46. Fable teller : AESOP

47. "Challenge accepted!" : GAME ON!

49. West Coast pro : NINER. Ah, the might Santa Clara 49ers. Funny how they didn't change their name when they moved.

51. Possible reason for an empty seat : NO-SHOW

55. Picture of health? : CAT SCAN

58. Profession, casually : BIZ

59. Hosp. area : I.C.U.

60. __ clarinet : ALTO

64. Tactic : PLOY

65. Barn-raising sect : AMISH

66. Latin I word : AMAS. What? Latin "CI" word I could understand. Latin "I" possessive is wrong, so that can't be it. Amo, amas, amat - I love, you love, he/she/it loves, Help me out here. Typo?

67. County bordering Sonoma : NAPA. A favorite destination. I tasted a fabulous gin which was distilled in Napa the other day. I didn't know there are a few distilleries in the region.

68. Core belief : TENET

69. Out of shape : BENT. Like me, about "OD'ED"

Down

1. Punjabi monotheists : SIKHS

2. Burn through : USE UP

3. Eatery often named for its owner : DINER. We've got Mel's and Paty's in my neighborhood. Here's Paty's - get the corned beef hash and fresh orange juice. Oh, and a pint of coffee.

4. Foul spot : STY

5. Seemingly eternal burden : ALBATROSS. From "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner":

Ah! well a-day! what evil looks 

Had I from old and young! 

Instead of the cross, the Albatross 

About my neck was hung. 

6. Joint ailment : GOUT

7. Abbr. in car ads : A.P.R. Usually more than you expected.

8. Unloaded a burden : VENTED

9. Old lemon : EDSEL

11. Cumming of "The Good Wife" : ALAN. Thanks, crosses. This chap, born in Scotland:

12. CD part : DISC. Not deposit.

13. Sit tight : STAY. In 1977 I was living in a one room rental (called a bed-sit) in London. In winter, I heated the room by turning on the oven and leaving the oven door open. I had a record player and this classic from "Running on Empty" by Jackson Browne.

18. "Rule, Britannia" composer : ARNE. Thomas. I've used up my music link quota. Google "Last Night of the Proms Rule Britannia 2009" if you want to see some seriously-British flag-waving.

23. License info : NAME

26. Pit visitor : RACE CAR

28. Before, poetically : ERE

30. Green gem : JADE

31. Wrapped up : OVER. It's over.

32. Deserving a slap, maybe : RUDE

33. Badlands landform : MESA

34. Shaft with bushings : AXLE. Thought "American Spelling", went with AXEL. Obviously wrong. Fixed it.

37. Couple's break from the kids : DATE NIGHT

40. "Delish!" : YUM

43. Amazing, in dudespeak : EPIC

47. Biological map subject : GENOME

48. Slime : OOZE

50. Pester : NAG AT

52. Card table request : HIT ME

53. Where some large schools may be found : OCEAN

54. Rathskeller fare : WURST. A bar in the basement of a German city hall (Rathaus). We Americans added the "h" so as not to deter the diners or drinkers.

55. Aye-catcher? : CAP'N. Best clue of the day. Very nice.

56. Trattoria's "in the style of" : ALLA. More Food! What better excuse than to link to the quite splendid Lego animation of Eddie Izzard and the "Death Star Canteen". (R18 for language, REveryone for humor).

57. Firebird roof option : T-TOP. Subtle, understated vehicle from Pontiac.

58. Military center : BASE

62. Half a cosmic whole : YIN. Meet Yang.

63. Check : TAB. That's my cue - Check Please!

Aaaaaaand  - the grid.

Steve

Thursday, January 26, 2017 Jerome Gunderson

Theme: "SC-ads" - The letters "SC" are added to a plural noun and clued punningly.

17A. What rattlers that never bask in the sun may get? : PALE SCALES. Pale Ales. Plenty of rattlesnakes around the hiking trails in the Hollywood Hills; you need to be careful.

27A. Strikebreakers at a brewery? : SIX-PACK SCABS. Six-pack abs. Try as I did, I never got a six-pack. Something about my body type, according to one trainer.

45A. What berets cover? : FRENCH SCALPS. French Alps. Cute clue. There are alpine regions in France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria and Germany. I never skied in Germany, but I have skied the other four countries, quite often two on the same day.

'Allo 'allo

60A. Angry looks in the hayloft? : BARN SCOWLS. Barn Owls. I heard an owl close to my home a couple of days ago. Never heard one in LA before.

Nice theme from Jerome; very consistent in adding the letters to the start of the second word of the original noun. The resulting entry and the clues are fun. A good, solid feel to the rest of the fill too. Let's see what jumps out:

Across:

1. Hindu noble : RAJA. RANI for his wife.

5. Like pastrami : CURED. Food! Lovely stuff. I've got the process nailed now. It only takes 18 days to make it.

10. Rum cake : BABA. Two Thursdays in a row for this dessert.

14. "O no! it is an __-fixed mark ... ": Shak. : EVER. The second quatrain of sonnet 116 where the Bard describes what "love" is:

O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,

That looks on tempests and is never shaken;

It is the star to every wandering bark,

Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.

15. "SNL" alum Cheri : OTERI

16. Restaurant in the same corporate group as Applebee's : IHOP

19. Pool element : GENE. Nice clue.

20. Vegetable __ : OIL. I use coconut oil for general cooking, canola oil for making mayonnaise, olive oil for tomato-based pasta sauces.

21. Sore : ACHY

22. Oaf : LUMMOX. Lovely word, You can completely visualize a person who is a lummox.

24. Careless : SLOPPY

26. "This __ test" : IS A

34. "Curb Your Enthusiasm" creator : DAVID. Crosses for me. Larry David. Talented chap, he was the co-creator of "Seinfeld".

37. Different : OTHER

38. By way of : VIA

39. Controversial sightings : UFOS

40. Demonstrators, often : ANTIS

41. Grammy category : FOLK. Had the "K" and jumped the gun with ROCK. Didn't take long to correct it though. Bruce Springsteen won Best Contemporary Folk Album in 2010 for "The Ghost of Tom Joad" - not the first name that springs to mind in the "Folk" genre.

42. Budgetary waste : FAT

43. Allen who managed the Beatles and Stones : KLEIN. A controversial figure because of sometimes shady business practices. Here's Mick & Co being ultra-cool in 1968.

44. Farmyard noises : OINKS

48. Wee battery : AAA

49. Odorless gas : ETHANE. Certainly looks odorless at first glance, this hydrocarbon.

53. Declare : AFFIRM

56. Comic actor Jacques : TATI. His film "Les vacances de Monsieur Hulot", released in 1953, is still pretty hilarious today.

58. Words in praiseful titles : TO A Keats' "Ode to a Nightingale" for example.

My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains 

         My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk, 

Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains 

         One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk: 

59. Track component : RAIL

63. Military wind : FIFE. And Drums.

64. African herbivore : RHINO

65. Lot : FATE

66. Lost traction : SLID

67. Quaker in the forest : ASPEN

68. Adele's brother : FRED. The Astaires, not the singer. At least I don't think she's got a brother named Fred.

Down:

1. They get carried away : REPOS

2. Be of use to : AVAIL

3. Pudding snack cup maker : JELLO

4. It may come after you : ARE. I am, you are, he is.

5. Bone below the sacrum : COCCYX. Love this word.

6. State on the Colorado Plateau : UTAH

7. Fall back (on) : RELY

8. Before, in verse : 'ERE

9. Doesn't care for : DISLIKES

10. Lunch order with "special sauce" : BIG MAC. Just lunch? You couldn't get a burger for breakfast at McDonald's because the grills were at a lower temperature to cook the McMuffins. However, when the kitchen changed over from breakfast to lunch at 10:30, you could order a secret menu item - the "Mc10:35" which is a combination Egg McMuffin and McDouble burger. (N.B. Just because you could order it doesn't mean that you should).

11. "May I speak?" : AHEM

12. Pro __ : BONO. I'm pro Bono - I'm a big U2 fan. I just got tickets for the Joshua Tree Tour concert at the Rose Bowl in May.

13. High point : APEX

18. Flavorful : SAPID. Great word. Latin sapidus, tasty.

23. Cold War letters : U.S.S.R.

25. Trident-shaped letters : PSIS. These guys - one uppercase, one lowercase: Ψψ

28. Johnnycakes : PONES. Learning moment for me - I'd never heard of either. A corn pone is a Johnnycake - who knew?

29. Top story : ATTIC. This always takes me a couple of beats to see because in England the building level is a "storey", with an "e".

30. Fine __ : CHINA

31. Lady's company? : AVON. Ding Dong! Avon Calling! Do they sell cosmetics door-to-door any more?

32. Take to the cleaners : BILK

33. Fifth Avenue store : SAKS

34. Keister : DUFF

35. Miles off : AFAR

36. Suffrage, with "the" : VOTE

40. Moorish palace of southern Spain : ALHAMBRA. Beautiful building and gardens in Grenada.

41. Sneakily seek, with "for" : FISH

43. Dodge Aries, e.g. : K-CAR. This seems to be cropping up a lot recently. We had it last Thursday too.

44. Eye-related : OPTIC

46. Aced : NAILED. Crossword solver's triumph. Nailed it!

47. Shows one's feelings : LETS ON

50. Battling : AT WAR

51. "48 HRS." co-star : NOLTE. Nick.

52. Moved carefully : EASED

53. Stray sounds? : ARFS. Sounds from the dog pound.

54. Epic __ : FAIL. Popular Internet meme. No marks for grammar, though,

55. Name for a poodle : FIFI.

56. Vacation plan : TRIP. Because "itinerary" doesn't fit.

57. Diarist Frank : ANNE

61. "I get it" sounds : AHS

62. Not quite right : OFF. Much less serious than an epic fail.

I think that just about wraps it up. Here's the grid!

Steve

Note from C.C.:

Dudley went to Wellesley, MA for business yesterday. He said "Next door is none other than Natick, so along the way, I paused for a tourist photo".

So next time you're stumped by a tough crossing, think of Dudley!

Thursday, January 19th 2017 Kurt Krauss

Theme: Camera Obscura - the three theme entries have a common scrambled word concealed within, as explained by the reveal:

54A. Device found in this puzzle's three other longest answers : HIDDEN CAMERA. You can find these things for next to nothing on eBay and Amazon. Creepy.

20A. Protective charm often adorned with feathers : DREAM CATCHER. Great, fresh entry. They can be elaborate, and quite beautiful:

33A. Stamina-testing ballroom event : DANCE MARATHON. Subject matter for the widely-acclaimed 1969 movie "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?"

40A. Forensic analyst's discovery : TRACE MATERIAL. A potpourri of things that might link a person to the scene of a crime.

Thursday rolls around again, and here's a nice scramble-theme from Kurt. The three theme entries are fresh and interesting, and the CAMERA is consistently found scrambled across the two words. There's a couple of nice long downs tying things together. I could have done without either one of  the pairs AAR/SAAR or ERR/ERN but that's probably just me being picky. Let's see what else we've got to talk about:

Across:

1. Naproxen brand : ALEVE. A non-steroidal anti-inflamatory drug of the proprionic acid class. Now we know.

6. Yap : TRAP.

10. Documentary divisions : ERAS. Not my first thought as far as a clue is concerned, but I think I see what Kurt or Rich are getting at - for example, documentary maker Ken Burns has produced programs covering the Vietnam War and the Civil War, as well as the jazz era.

14. Ricoh competitor : XEROX

15. Green-skinned "Return of the Jedi" girl : OOLA. Thank you, crosses.

16. Approaching : NIGH. The End, commonly. Let's hear it from Grumpy Cat:

17. Not shady : LEGIT

18. Action figure? : DOER

19. Site of Shah Jahan's tomb : AGRA. The Taj Mahal. The Shah had it built to house the tomb of his wife, Mumtaj. As an aside, there are approximately two million Indian restaurants in the world called either The Mumtaj Mahal or The Taj Mahal. The other four are called The Red Fort, The New Bengal, The Taste of India and The Lahore Kebab House.

23. Decorative globe : ORB

26. Ice cream maker Joseph : EDY

27. Holed a five-footer, say : PUTTED. Or, in my case, three-putted, commonly.

28. Start of a hands-off declaration? : LOOK, MA! Followed by a trip to the ER or the dentist.

30. Fivers : ABES. We call 'em "Lady Godivas" in England, in the rhyming vernacular. A "tenner" is an Ayrton (Senna). The day one of my co-workers in London told me that he couldn't make it to lunch because "I got to go down the J. Arthur to sausage a Gregory" and I understood him made me feel like I was a  native of the City.

32. Pigs out (on), briefly : O.D.'S

36. Longtime Labor Day telethon org. : M.D.A. Jerry Lewis-hosted event in aid of the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

37. Wild bunch : MOB

38. Gold units: Abbr. : KTS. Karats.

46. Swiss river : AAR. Here it is, with the old city of Bern sitting handily in the meander.

48. "Peter Pan" pooch : NANA. In the book, she was described as a Newfoundland, but for some reason Disney in their infinite wisdom turned her into a St. Bernard in their movie adaptation.

49. Travel org. freebie : AAA MAP. I still enjoy printed maps for browsing, but Google Maps for navigation is pretty awesome, especially the real-time rerouting to avoid traffic.

50. Lamentation : PLAINT. Complaint, in old-speak.

52. Miss an easy grounder, say : ERR

53. It can follow directions : -ERN. Northern, Southern, Eastern, Western. Question - why do we say "suh-thern" and not "sow-thern"?

58. Cold drink brand : ICEE

59. Come & Get It! pet food maker : ALPO

60. Annoyed : IRKED.

64. Like some warnings : DIRE

65. Jetty : PIER. The longest pleasure pier in the world is at Southend on the east coast of England. It's almost a mile and a half long and has a railway running from the shore to the pier head. There used to be a pub at the end, but it caught fire in 2007 and took the pier head down with it.

66. "Keen!" : NEATO!

67. Fresh answers : SASS

68. Quick on one's feet : SPRY

69. "Business @ the Speed of Thought" co-author : GATES. Collins Hemingway gets the co-writing credit, but Bill's is the only name on the cover.

Down:

1. Guns N' Roses' Rose : AXL. He of the X-rated anagrammatic name.

2. Sheltered side : LEE

3. Bit of work : ERG

4. Cancel : VOID

5. More than just edgy : EXTREME

6. Morning fare since 1952 : TODAY. The Today Show on NBC.

7. Study, e.g. : ROOM

8. Actor Baldwin : ALEC

9. Rampart topper : PARAPET. Merriam-Webster has rampart and parapet as synonyms, but they're two separate things. Here's a diagram of Hadrian's Wall, built by the eponymous roman Emperor to keep the marauding Scots out of northern England (some people still say that it should never have been abandoned).

Now, all this begs the question as to whether Francis Scott Key knew the difference. Either "From the ramparts we watched" or "O'er the parapet we watched" would make more sense. Probably too late to change it now.

10. Legislate : ENACT

11. Punctual : RIGHT ON TIME. Swiss Railways, famously. Amtrak, less so.

12. Concurred : AGREED

13. Result of a messy breakup? : SHARDS. Glass, usually.

21. Wax-coated cheese : EDAM

22. Rear : TUSH

23. Ancient : OLD

24. Gad about : ROAM

25. Wall Street figures : BOND TRADERS. 007 memorabilia collectors?

29. 1980 Chrysler debut : K-CAR

30. Something in the air : AROMA. There's my coffee brewing, in a K-CUP.

31. Cake with a kick : BABA. Rum-soaked confection.

34. "Too true!" : AMEN

35. Creole vegetable : OKRA. Popular in Indian food too.

39. German industrial region : SAAR. Don't confuse your Ruhr and your Saar.

41. Youngest Brontë : ANNE. Cheerful-looking bunch, and this was painted by their brother, Branwell. He painted himself out of the portrait, evidently quite poorly.

42. Short rests : CATNAPS

43. Weight allowance : TARE

44. Stud, e.g. : EARRING. Now, wait a minute. A stud is a stud, an earring is an earring, and ne'er the twain shall be confused. Docking a point for this one.

45. ICU worker : LPN. The "N" was my final fill. I wasn't sold on that whole "North-ern" thing at 53A, and I didn't know Licensed Practical Nurse.

46. Rose garden pests : APHIDS

47. "The Good Wife" wife : ALICIA. Thank you, crosses. Never saw the show.

51. Nice thoughts? : IDÉES. Nice, in the south-ern part of France, located in a south-erly direction from Lyon. OK, I'll stop now.

52. Bishop John for whom a Georgia university was named : EMORY. Knew the school, learned today he was a bishop.

55. Movie trailer unit : CLIP

56. Imitator : APER. I've been peeved about this word before, I'll just let it go.

57. One-half base times height, for a triangle : AREA. For a right-angled triangle only, if I recall correctly.

61. Dennings of "2 Broke Girls" : KAT. Crosses to the rescue again.

62. Juillet's season : ÉTÉ. Summer in Nice is nice.

63. Big affairs : DOS

And .... here's the grid.

Steve

Thursday, January 12th 2017 C.C. Burnikel

Theme: C.C. and E's Letter addition to the four theme entries to create a new phrase.

17A. Miss America runner-up? : SILVER BELLE. The Silver Bell is a pretty tree from the south-east USA. "Silver Bells" is the movie, and doesn't work with the letter addition.

36A. Passage for the birds? : AVIAN FLUE.  Avian flu usually is not transmitted to humans, the virus needs to go through a number of mutations before it becomes a threat.

42A. Little Jack Horner's dream? : LIFE OF PIE. "Life of Pi" was a wonderful book, I didn't see the movie, I couldn't imagine how it could match up to the text.

62A. Emulating the writing style of "The Quiet American"? : GOING GREENE. Kermit's favorite environmental initiative; Graham Greene wrote some of my favorite books.

Here comes C.C. with a letter-addition theme. Simple idea, but the theme entries are fun and it's not easy to find a set of these which don't make you groan. There's a couple of her "trademark" long downs and some solid blocks throughout which make the fill flow. Let's see what else jumps out:

Across:

1. Buccaneers' home : TAMPA. The Bucs haven't exactly lit up the NFL since they won the Superbowl in 2002. They last topped their division in 2007.

6. Silly bird : GOOSE

11. Revolting word? : ICK!

14. Plane read : E-BOOK. I take real books along, but I do have some e-books on my iPad as a backup.

15. Large grouping : ARRAY

16. Pen user : CON. Convict. Penitentiary. I had to stare this one down before the lightbulb clicked on. Very nice.

19. Part of a royal flush : ACE. TEN at the other end of the flush, so wait for a cross.

20. Anastasia __, "Fifty Shades of Grey" character : STEELE. When this book first went viral, it was amazing to see how many people (women!) were reading a book with the front cover removed on the plane.

21. Emergency signal : SOS

22. Frosted flakes : SNOW

23. Called up : RANG

25. "Unsafe at Any Speed" author : NADER

27. Put in order : SORT

30. Fab alternative : ERA. Detergents. Would the FAB ERA be the 1960's?

32. Special Forces trademarks : BERETS. There are Green Berets in both the US and British armies. The British wearers are commandos. The Red Beret is usually worn by airborne forces.

35. Legendary horse tale setting : TROY. The Y was my last fill in the puzzle. I couldn't see past TRON for absolutely no good reason. Sanity prevailed. Those dastardly Greeks, hiding in plain horse.

38. Gold, in Granada : ORO

39. "My bad" : SO SORRY

41. Wartime prez : ABE. The civil war. Sneaky, I was expecting FDR or HST.

44. Proofreading mark : STET. The dots indicate what needs to stay after first being DELE'd

45. Overwhelm : ENGULF

46. Biological building block : DNA

48. Flight-related prefix : AERO-. Cue -Run DMC featuring -smith.

49. Emerged : AROSE

51. Carrier that doesn't fly on the Sabbath : EL AL

53. Order with tzatziki sauce : GYRO. Food! I was getting hungry. I love gyros. The Mad Greek truck stop in Baker on the I-15 between Las Vegas and Barstow has one of the best I've eaten.

55. Some Samsung TVs : HDS

57. "Yay, me!" : I DID IT! Crossword-solvers' cry everywhere.

61. Fishing __ : ROD

64. Weaken, perhaps : AGE

65. Jack's links rival : ARNIE. Nicklaus and Palmer. Along with Gary Player and agent Mark McCormack, they were instrumental in developing the commercial success of the sport.

66. Start a correction process : ERASE.

67. Secret competitor : BAN. Deodorants this time.

68. Bounded : LEAPT

69. Ice cream purchases : PINTS. Way down my list of what I'd be buying in pints.

Down:

1. Hardy heroine : TESS. Cracking read. Here's the Vale of Blackmore where the novel is set.

2. Minimally : A BIT

3. Lawn disruption : MOLE. I went with MOSS first as I had MO__ . That didn't work out so well.

4. "The parent of revolution and crime": Aristotle : POVERTY. I wasn't familiar with this assertion, but it makes perfect sense.

5. Cub Scout leader : AKELA. I was a Cub Scout way back when. "Akela, we will do our best". The significance of the all the "dybbing" and "dobbing" went straight over my head until I went to look it up two minutes ago. Now I find that we were text-speaking in 1965. DYB - Do Your Best. DOB - Do Our Best. Who knew?

6. Yak : GAB

7. Miner matters : ORES

8. DuPont acrylic : ORLON

9. Mexican buffet feature : SALSA BAR. I went to a very different salsa bar when I was in Hong Kong - a great bar in Lan Kwai Fong where the music was all Latin ballroom. There were some great dancers among the customers. I was not one of them, but that did not deter me. It was July 4th, and there was drink taken, in my defense.

10. Contact's spot : EYE

11. "Tell me about it" : I CAN RELATE

12. Nickname for late-night host O'Brien : COCO. New to me. Giving Ms. Chanel the day off cluing duty.

13. Didn't just think : KNEW

18. Russo of "The Intern" : RENE

22. Feudal grunt : SERF. Low man on the totem pole in Medieval England.

24. Comprehend : GRASP

26. Shoot down : DENY. As rumors.

27. Ripped off : STOLE

28. Longtime Utah senator Hatch : ORRIN

29. Area for urban growth : ROOF GARDEN. Nice.

31. Get around : AVOID

33. Potato, e.g. : TUBER. If you go green, you'll be growing these in your roof garden.

34. Look after : SEE TO

37. Goddess of peace : IRENE. I need to file this away for future recall. I must have seen this before but it was crosses all the way for me today.

39. Red cup brand : SOLO. Those ubiquitous party cups.

40. Like some oil rigs : OFFSHORE

43. Mark's successor : EURO. German (and Austrian) currency.

44. "Amadeus" narrator : SALIERI

47. Eccentric Sacha Baron Cohen persona : ALI G. This was his original alter ego, and his best as he was completely unknown at the time.

50. Twin Cities suburb that hosted the 2008 U.S. Women's Open : EDINA. In C.C's neighborhood.

52. Madison Ave. agent : AD REP

53. Snatch : GRAB

54. Discipline with poses : YOGA

56. Cut : SNIP

58. Big man on campus : DEAN

59. Caltech, e.g.: Abbr. : INST.

60. Golf tournament souvenirs : TEES. Tees like this?

or like these?

62. Country miss : GAL. She may belong to FarmersOnly.com, a website which I was convinced was a hoax when it first started airing ads.

63. Comprehend : GET. Got it!

And I think I've run out of runway, so that's it from me. Here's the grid!

Steve

Thursday, January 5th 2017 Morton J. Mendelson

Theme: Emoticon Explications :)

Four theme phrases clued by their emoticons:

17A. >:-(  I'M REALLY FURIOUS

25A. :-(  WHAT A DOWNER

47A. ;-)  JUST KIDDING

60A. :-O  THAT'S SURPRISING!

Four emoticons - these ones are described as "sideways, Latin only". These were the first, simple ways of denoting a facial expression in textual form and used in early chat rooms. They've now developed into a quite complex sub-language, and also sparked the development of the graphical emojis that you find on your mobile phone.

One of my favorites is the portrait of Homer Simpson  ~(_8^(I)

This puzzle looks to be the LA Times debut for Morton, so congratulations are in order. He's been published in the New York Times prior, but I can't see any history in the LAT. Four nice in-the-language phrases matching the facial expressions.

Let's see what else we've got:

Across:

1. Gucci of fashion : ALDO

5. Manual reader : USER

9. Certain highlands musician : PIPER. The Great Highland bagpipes, the ones you're probably most familiar with, are inflated by blowing down the chanter. Irish pipes use a bellows instead, so all those pipers you see on St. Patrick's Day are using the wrong instrument. Also, this tune, which you also hear a lot on March 17th is called "Scotland the Brave". Never ceases to amuse me.

14. Celebrity : LION. This is our local celebrity lion - the mountain lion which hunts in Griffith Park.

Photograph by Steve Winter/National Geographic

15. Salon service : PEDI

16. Eco-friendly spa brand : AVEDA.  Salon brand also - they make hair products as well.

20. Gazpacho ingredient : TOMATO' Food! Basic recipe, I give mine a bit of zing with a dash of balsamic and Worcestershire sauce (repeat after me - wuster sauce, not war-sester-shyre!)

21. Grammatical unit : SENTENCE

22. Make up for skipping classes, perhaps : CRAM. I did my fair share of this back in the day.

24. Scholar's deg. : PHD. 

30. Carpooling calc. : ETA. I think this refers to the time you're going to get picked up when you're part of a carpool. Makes a change from the airport clues though.

33. Frigid end? : AIRE

34. Straight man : STOOGE. Were the Three Stooges all straight men? Patricia Heaton from "Everybody Loves Raymond" was one of the best.

35. Bust : NAB

36. Vegetation : FLORA

38. Tarzan creator's monogram : ERB. Edgar Rice Burroughs. He owned a ranch a few miles from me in the San Fernando Valley, which is now the neighborhood named "Tarzana".

39. Virus named for a Congolese river : EBOLA

41. Trains above the road : ELS. Giving Ernie a rest today.

42. Allows to attack : LETS AT

45. "Smack That" rapper : AKON. Thank you, crosses.

46. Manhattan part : RYE. Bartenders tell me that the only cherries that you should use are the ones made by Luxardo. Cheers!

49. Pro : FOR

50. Cabinet dept. with an Office of Science : ENER. A guess, but seemed reasonable.

51. Dined at a table for one : SAT ALONE

56. Near-failing grade : D-MINUS

62. Reached, as expenses : RAN TO

63. Veiny cheese : BLEU. Food! Here's English Stilton, "The King of Cheeses".

64. Work with needles : KNIT

65. Med. specialty : OB-GYN

66. Couture line : SEAM. Nice clue/answer combo.

67. Gels : SETS

Down:

1. Came to rest : ALIT

2. Long drive? : LIMO. Took a couple of beats to see this one.

3. Brown digs? : DORM. Brown University.

4. Many an Albee play : ONE-ACTER. I tried ONE-ACTED first which had me looking sideways at "FLODA"

5. Puts on the internet, e.g. : UPLOADS. Like I'll do with this blog in a few minutes.

6. Poivre companion : SEL. I was given a set of electric pepper and salt grinders this Christmas, appropriately made by Peugeot, a French car company. What a car manufacturer is doing making kitchen equipment I have no idea.

7. Slow Churned ice cream : EDYS. Dreyer's out here in the West. Same stuff.

8. Swarming (with) : RIFE

9. Where many aces can be seen : PAR THREE. Most holes-in-one on the golf course come on the shorter par-3 holes. I've never made one, but I gave a club to a friend of mine, and he hit a hole-in-one with it the very next time out on the course. I claim an assist.

10. Like some academic walls : IVIED. Some baseball grounds too, Wrigley most famously.

11. Menial worker : PEON

12. Part of NEA: Abbr. : EDUC.

13. Demolish, in Devon : RASE. "Fawlty Towers" was based on a hotel in Torquay in Devon, which is a long way round of saying that John Cleese would be called John Cleeze here.

18. Gillette brand : ATRA

19. Remove wooden pins from : UNPEG

23. Sacred songs : MOTETS. Learning moment. I knew the word, I didn't know that they were sacred.

25. Mass consumption? : WAFER. Nice. Communion wafer.

26. Like links-style golf courses : HILLY. "Hilly" isn't the first adjective I'd choose to describe a links course. The Old Course at St. Andrews, the most famous of them all, is as flat as a pancake.

27. Sprang up : AROSE

28. Razzie Award adjective : WORST

29. Easy to prepare, as desserts : NO-BAKE

30. Mushroom in Asian cuisine : ENOKI. Food! I'm getting full here. Also known as enokitake, Great in noodle bowls.

31. Raptor's weapon : TALON

32. Go out with __ : A BANG

37. "The Jazz Singer" singer : AL JOLSON

40. Applicants with low credit scores, to loan officers : BAD RISKS

43. Dutch banknotes : EUROS

44. Günter Grass novel, with "The" : TIN DRUM

48. __-plié: ballet movement with knees half-bent : DEMI. Not known, but the "half-bent" makes this easy to guess.

49. Like marbled steak : FATTY. Food! I cooked a prime rib roast on New Year's Day. I dreamt about it last night. I wonder about myself sometimes.

* For extra credit, what's unique about the word "dreamt" in the language?

51. Houston pro, locally : 'STRO. Baseball's Astros. We had the long version of the name yesterday.

52. Captain who says, "For hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee" : AHAB. From "Moby Dick."This monomaniac was in our "Captains" puzzle a couple of Thursdays back.

53. Sharp flavor : TANG

54. Well-used crayons : NUBS

55. Creator of Perry and Della : ERLE. Crosses for me. Perry Mason, Della Street, Erle Stanley Gardner.

57. Diamond complement : NINE. I had to stare this one down before the penny dropped. Nice players on a baseball team.

58. Minute, e.g. : UNIT

59. Some NCOs : SGTS

61. __ shooter : PEA

That wraps it up for me. Time for dinner!

Steve

Thursday, December 29th 2016 Roland Huget

Theme: Whaddya know? Synonyms in the Circles, as the reveal tells us:

55A. Privileged information demonstrated by this puzzle's circles : INSIDE KNOWLEDGE

17A. Producer of lavish revues : FLORENZ ZIEGFELD (LORE). The Ziegfeld Follies. I never knew the first name until today. When it appeared, I was surprised as I thought the impresario was a guy, so I went to look and ... "Flo" and behold, he was a guy.

25A. Where everything turns out all right : STORYBOOK ENDING. (KEN) Depends on what kind of story you're reading.

42A. New Orleans spectacle : MARDI GRAS PARADE. (GRASP) Here's a part of one on St. Charles:

Thursday already? And three more days until the New Year? Tempus fugit, for sure. Nice clean puzzle from Roland today, four grid-spanning theme entries and a tidy grid. Let's see what else jumps out.

Across

1. Little bit of progress : DENT. STEP went in, then came out to be replaced by INCH. Not a clean start for me today.

5. Mike supports : BOOMS. Had me wondering what on earth another name for a STAND could be.

10. Capitol cap : DOME

14. Zeno's home : ELEA. Crosses all the way. Zeno of Elea, a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher. I never studied philosophy.

15. Great-grandfather of Noah : ENOCH. Nailed it. Learned from crosswords.

16. Struck (out) : EX'ED. Now then, you constructors and editors, pay attention. You can have X'ED or you can have EX'ED, but you can't have both. Pick one or the other. Thank you.

20. Catch some rays : TAN

21. Chop __ : SUEY. Food! Chinese-American cuisine, and the title of a song from alternative metal band System of a Down. Raucous Music Advisory.

22. More than enough : PLENTY

23. Pollutant concentration meas. : P.P.M. Parts Per Million

24. Splint site : SHIN

33. Part of Great Britain : WALES. The bit on the left across from Ireland. The place names can be baffling if you don't know the Welsh language. Try "Pwllheli" or "Pencaennewydd" before tackling "Llanfairpwllgwyngyll".

34. Jersey, for one : SHIRT. Because "Channel Island" doesn't fit. I've got quite a collection of soccer jerseys; both from games I've seen around the world and bought the home team's jersey as a souvenir, and quite a few of my own team, Chelsea FC.

35. "The Purloined Letter" writer : POE

36. British tennis star Murray : ANDY. He's a good sport - he sold ice cream at a tournament in Cincinnati last year.

37. Internet greeting : E-CARD

38. Lawyer's job : CASE

39. Ham may be seen on it : RYE. It's funny, but thinking about it, I'd never put ham on rye. Wheat would be my choice.

40. "What I dream of is __ of balance ... ": Matisse : AN ART. He goes on to say "... of purity and serenity devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter - a soothing, calming influence on the mind, rather like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue." Sounds nice.

41. Track divisions : LANES. Athletics tracks.

45. Spring bloom : IRIS

46. Recede : EBB

47. International economic bloc : G-SEVEN. Quickly - name them off! (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the USA.)

50. Sheltered at sea : ALEE

52. Epitome of slipperiness : EEL

58. Advance : LOAN

59. Start of a kid's rhyme : EENIE

60. Boil over : RAGE

61. Irish Rose's guy : ABIE. Thank you crosses, no clue. I discover that he is from an Anne Nichols play first performed in 1922.

62. Bring up : RAISE

63. Out of control : AMOK. I can't think of ever seeing this word used without being paired with the verb "to run".

Down

1. Like a magician's hands : DEFT

2. "__ and Louis": 1956 jazz album : ELLA

3. Element #10 : NEON. This chap: [He] 2s²2p⁶

4. Smelly sealant : TAR. I love the smell of fresh tar. I remember as a kid being bewitched by the road crew laying fresh blacktop on our street.

5. Render senseless : BENUMB

6. Number after dix : ONZE

7. Seeping slowly : OOZY. Oozy? OK, I'll let this one go.

8. Old Sprint rival : MCI. Part of Verizon now.

9. One often seen with a crook : SHEPHERD. It never ceases to amaze me how many dog owners have a German Shepherd, but don't know how to spell it.

10. Stand up for : DEFEND

11. Ground-breaking team, at times : OXEN. Enjoyed this clue.

12. Lunch order : MELT

13. Drain swirl : EDDY

18. Best Championship Performance and Best Team : ESPYS. The annual ESPY sports awards on ESPN.

19. Sparkle : GLINT

23. Carnivore's target : PREY

24. Goes around : SKIRTS

25. Buzzing cloud : SWARM

26. Self-named 2002 country album : TANYA. Thank you, crosses.

27. From an earlier time : OLDER

28. Statuettes that were made of painted plaster during WWII : OSCARS. That's a learning moment. I didn't hesitate to put it straight in though.

29. 1939 Leigh role : O'HARA

30. Bucky Beaver's toothpaste : IPANA. What happened to this stuff? It looks like it's still sold in Turkey: "Healthier and Brighter Teeth from the First Day"

31. Edged (out) : NOSED

32. Former goslings : GEESE

37. Mastermind : ENGINEER. The verb, not the noun. Nice clue/answer combo.

38. Certain dieter's concern : CARB-ohydrate

40. Made public : AIRED

41. Shop tag : LABEL

43. Godlike : DIVINE

44. Hall of Famer Reese : PEEWEE

47. Coolidge Dam's river : GILA. I really need to remember this, I was almost Natick'ed at GILA/ABIE.

48. Highbrow, perhaps : SNOB

49. Morales of "NYPD Blue" : ESAI

50. Years in Rome : ANNI

51. "Family Guy" mom : LOIS

52. Dutch export : EDAM. They do make other cheeses, but Edam always gets top billing.

53. French Toaster Sticks brand : EGGO

54. One of 33-Across' national emblems : LEEK. "Ydych chi eisiau benthyg fy cennin?" (Do you want to borrow my leek?)

56. Mauna __ : KEA. It's a big bugger too, 13,802 feet, the highest point in the state.

57. Starter's stat : E.R.A. The baseball pitcher's Earned Run Average. Lower is better.

I think that's my journey done for the day. Let's make sure I've got everything - keys, wallet, passport ... oh wait, the grid. Here it is:

Steve