The company you keep ... The circles "repeat" an abbreviation for legal business.
15-Across. With some exceptions: IN CERTAIN CASES. INC. is short for Incorporated.
27-Across. Place to pick up tickets at a theater, perhaps: WILL CALL COUNTER. LLC is short for a Limited Liability Company. A Limited Liability Company is a business structure that protects its owners from personal liability. The company combines the tax benefits of a partnership with the liability protection of a corporation.
41-Across. Thin Mint or Trefoil: GIRL SCOUT COOKIE. CO is short for Company.
And the unifier:
55-Across. Goal of store loyalty programs, and what can be found in 15-, 27-, and 41-Across: REPEAT BUSINESS.
Here's the Grid so you can see the Repeated Businesses:
Across:
1. Spanish "more": MAS. Today's Spanish Lesson.
4. Table salt, to a chemist: NaCl. Table salt is an ionic compound composed of sodium (Na) and chlorine (Cl) ions.
8. NBA great O'Neal, to fans: SHAQ. Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal (b. Mar. 6, 1972) played basketball for LSU before going professional. There is a statue of him on the LSU campus.
12. "__ my words ... ": MARK.
13. French fashion monthly: ELLE.
14. __ Xtra: Dr Pepper rival: PIBB.
18. Queasiness: NAUSEA.
19. High degrees: NTHs.
20. GP's gp.: AMA. A General Practitioner might be a member of the American Medical Association.
21. Mint-garnished rum cocktail: MOJITO. Yummers! This traditional Cuban cocktail is made of The cocktail white rum, sugar, lime juice, soda water, and mint.
24. Will Ferrell holiday film: ELF. Not a fan of Will Ferrell (né John William Ferrell; b. July 16, 1967).
31. Speaker output: AUDIO.
32. Impulse: URGE.
33. Tofu base: SOYBEAN.
36. Ancestry.com service: DNA TEST.
39. With 51-Down, soothing plant: ALOE. // And 51-Down. See 39-Across: VERA.
40. Boxing matches: BOUTS.
48. Fine and dandy: A-OK.
49. Gretel's brother: HANSEL.
50. Online addresses: Abbr.: IPs. As in an Internet Protocol address.
51. Workshop clamp: VISE.
52. Pouch spun by a spider: EGG SAC.
60. At all: EVER.
61. Country road: LANE.
62. Son of Hera and Zeus: ARES. It's all Greek to me.
63. TV warrior princess played by Lucy Lawless: XENA. It's been over 25 years since Lucy Lawless (née Lucille Frances Ryan; b. Mar. 29, 1968) portrayed Xena: Warrior Princess. Lucy Lawless is from Auckland, New Zealand, which is also the country where Xena was filmed.
64. Southernmost Great Lake: ERIE. Whenever I see Erie in the puzzle, I think of our old friend Abejo.
65. Tied the knot: WED.
Down:
1. Car with a clutch: MANUAL.
2. Circle segments: ARCS.
3. __-Ball: arcade game: SKEE.
4. Pickleball barrier: NET.
5. Pie __ mode: À LA. Today's French lesson.
6. Medical center: CLINIC.
7. Gave for a while: LENT TO.
8. Mani-pedi spots: SPAs.
9. Casual hellos: HIs!
10. Fiver: ABE. I never heard the term Abe as referring to a $5 bill, but it makes sense.
11. TD pass throwers, perhaps: QBs. Think football.
12. Florida metropolitan area with an Art Deco District: MIAMI. The Art Deco Historic District in Miami Beach is a known for its well-preserved Art Deco architecture, featuring pastel-colored buildings, geometric shapes, and intricate design details, making it a living museum of the 1930s.
16. Holiday Inn competitor: RAMADA.
17. French pet name that also means "cabbage": CHOU. Today's French lesson. Children in France are sometimes called Mon petit chou, or Ma petite chou, which is a term of endearment. It literally translates, however, to my little cabbage.
18. Casual denial: NAW.
22. Lena of "Chocolat": OLIN. This Swedish actress used to make frequent appearances in the crossword puzzles. Chocolat is a 2000 film, based on the 1999 novel of the same name by Joanne Harris. The film is about a young women who appears in a French village and opens a small chocolate shop. Soon, she and her chocolate influence the lives of the townspeople of this repressed French community. Lena Olin (née Lena Maria Jonna Olin; b. Mar. 22, 1955) was one of those impacted by the chocolate.
23. Former "Idol" judge, to fans: J.LO.
24. Raison d'__: ÊTRE. More of today's French lesson. This phrase translates to the "reason for being."
25. Trio on a stool: LEGS.
26. Guitar ridge: FRET.
28. Tag: LABEL.
29. Billiards stick: CUE.
30. Bananas: NUT-SO.
33. Epic story: SAGA. The Welsh author Ken Follett (b. June 5, 1949), is known for writing sagas. He wrote Pillars of the Earth, which follows several families in medieval England.
34. Mixed bag: OLIO.
35. Big name in peppermint patties: YORK.
36. Pour affection (on): DOTE.
37. Cell centers: NUCLEI.
38. From __ Z: A TO. We saw this phrase recently.
40. Help wait tables: BUS. Did you ever wonder where the term To Bus Tables originated? Bus in this sense is a shortened form of Omnibus. Originally, the term was Omnibus Boy, the person who did many jobs in a restaurant, then it was shortened to Bus boy, and from there the word Bus became a verb.
42. Branch of Islam: SHIA.
43. Stronghold with a keep: CASTLE. What exactly is a Castle Keep?
44. Sign of weak cellular service: ONE BAR.
45. Smooched: KISSED.
46. "Skip me": I PASS.
47. Keyboard key that exits full-screen mode: ESC.
53. Nibble (at): GNAW.
54. "Sommersby" actor Richard: GERE. Sommersby was a 1993 film about a man who returned home after fighting in the Civil War. He seemed very different and this aroused suspicion in his wife and others, but his tobacco-growing scheme became profitable for the whole town, so everyone was happy. Then he was accused of the murder of a man killed many years before. Richard Gere (né Richard Tiffany Gere; b. Aug. 31, 1949) portrayed Jack Sommersby. Jody Foster portrayed his wife.
55. Harrison of "My Fair Lady": REX. Sir Rex Harrison (né Reginald Carey Harrison; Mar. 5, 1908 ~ June 2, 1990) portrayed Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady.
56. New Year's __: EVE.
57. Calligrapher's tool: PEN.
58. Aussie's college: UNI. Hello to our friend Kazie. I hope she is doing well. She used to make reference to her day at Uni.
59. "Catch my drift?": SEE.
We're all in Good Company here. I hope this puzzle distracted you from the pain of paying your taxes today.
Many thanks to Tony who filled in for me last week.
חתולה
Chag Samech and Happy Easter!
