Monday November 3, 2025 Ajay Bhargava

  

Whassup Cornerites! sumdaze here. Our theme is:            

Today we run up against four themed clues:

17 Across. Lunch combo component, perhaps: CUP OF SOUP.  This was my favorite themer today because it was the least rhyme-y.

25 Across. Out of this world: SUPER-DUPER.

36 Across. Classic Connie Francis song with the line "I'd like to clip your wings so you can't fly": STUPID CUPID.  

50 Across. Spanish candy brand whose logo was designed by Salvador Dal : CHUPA CHUPS.  Did anyone know this one without perps?

Next up, the unifier:

59 Across. Forming couples, or a feature of 17-, 25-, 36-, and 50- Across: PAIRING UP.

UP does not point to a vertical grid feature (as it sometimes does). Instead we have PAIRs of UPs in each themed answer.

It would have been fun to see the gimmick applied to the reveal. By changing the reveal clue to "Forming pairs ....," we could have had the reveal COUPLING UP. (Making 17-Across plural would have preserved the grid symmetry.)

Let's see what else Ajay has gotten UP to....

Across:

1. Baseball hat: CAP.

4. Ran a towel over: WIPED.

9. Inter Miami star Lionel: MESSI.  People say he is the most famous active footballer in the world.  

14. Post-OR area: ICU.  Operating Room and Intensive Care Unit

15. Baghdad resident, e.g.: IRAQI.

16. Sean of "Rudy": ASTIN.  [b. February 25, 1971] He was also Mikey from The Goonies and a hobbit (not The Hobbit) in TLOTR.

Here is Sean Astin when he appeared in this 1993 movie.  

19. Media mogul Winfrey: OPRAH.  [b. January 29, 1954]

20. Enough: AMPLE.

21. Brewpub letters: IPA.

23. April or May: NAME.  "June", too

24. Monopoly card: DEED.  

28. Picnic invader: ANT.

29. Gerund ending: -ING.  Learning about language is fun!

Click to enlarge.

30. Camping gear retailer: REI.     and     7-Down. Supply with gear: EQUIP.

REI stands for Recreational Equipment, Inc.  

31. Air pump fig.: PSI.  "Figure" is abbreviated, so is "Pounds per Square Inch".

32. Like figure skaters: AGILE.

34. Toga costume, in a pinch: SHEET.  

39. Rapper/actor __ Jackson Jr.: O'SHEA.  [b. Feb. 24, 1991] He is Ice Cube's oldest son.

41. Old Testament figure who is instructed by a burning bush: MOSES.     and     46-Across. Filmmaker Brooks: MEL.  [b. June 28, 1926]  

Notice that MOSES sits above MEL in the grid. Nice one, Ajay!

Mel Brooks played Moses in this 1:10 min. scene from

  History of the World: Part 1  (1981).

42. Piglet pal: ROO.  

Pooh, Roo, and Piglet

43. Peacock network: NBC.  

Can you see the peacock in its logo?

47. Wet dirt: MUD.

53. Crunch target: CORE.

54. Loathe: HATE.

55. Pic taker: CAM.  Picture and CAMera

56. Not improving: WORSE.  

57. Off-white hue: IVORY.

62. Tennis tie: DEUCE.  Here's a song for the car lovers on The Corner:  

The Beach Boys     ~     Little Deuce Coupe     ~     1963

This video includes some scenes from American Graffiti (1973).

63. Write to online: EMAIL.     and     44-Down. Secretly 63-Across: BCC.

64. Every bit of: ALL.

65. Browser history list: SITES.

66. Swiss chocolatier: LINDT.  If you are unfamiliar with this brand, consider yourself lucky. Knowing Lindt is eating too much Lindt.  

67. Anti vote: NAY.

Down:

1. Noisy insect: CICADA.  This 1-min. video says they are the loudest insects on Earth.

2. Mental sharpness: ACUMEN.  My first guess was ACUity.  

3. Sock __: PUPPET.

4. Marital partner, perhaps: WIFE.

5. Return-processing org.: IRS.  Oh, those types of returns. The IRS processes tax returns.

6. Kung __ chicken: PAO.

8. Big or Little formation in the night sky: DIPPER.     and     48 Down. "Earthsea" series writer __ K. Le Guin: URSULA.  

9. Card game with unspoken rules: MAO.  This game is new to me. From what I can tell, it is sort of a hybrid of Crazy Eights and Uno but new players are not told the rules. Here is a 2-min. video from wikiHow:  

10. Broadcaster of some NCAA games: ESPN U.

11. Low on funds, say: STRAPPED.  The idiom STRAPPED for cash means to be without money, especially temporarily.

12. Cat breed with blue eyes: SIAMESE.  I have been fortunate to have been the human for two SIAMESE cats. If you have ever been around a SIAMESE cat, you know that they have very special and distinct personalities.

H-Gary's cat Lily (l.) and my cat (r.) who has since crossed the Rainbow Bridge

13. Acquire from a will: INHERIT.

18. Like a nonagenarian: OLD.  Ninety-nine-year-OLD Mel Brooks is a nonagenarian.

22. "__ you serious?": ARE.  

25. Scissors sound: SNIP.  "While scissors go “snip” in English, the noise translates into “su-su” in Chinese, “cri-cri” in Italian, “riqui-riqui,” in Spanish, and “katr-katr,” in Hindi."  more foreign language onomatopoeias

26. Hybrid tangelo: UGLI.

27. Put to rest, as rumors: DISPEL.

29. Lizard with a spiny crest: IGUANA.  

I took this photo of a gorgeous IGUANA in Costa Rica.

32. Munched: ATE.

33. Genre at a rave: EDM.  Electronic Dance Music

35. That guy's: HIS.

36. Public message of appreciation: SHOUT-OUT.  Example:  I just want to give a SHOUT-OUT to C.C. for keeping this blog going since 2008.  

Here is another example from last week's news.

37. Provide for free: COMP.  COMPlimentary

38. Puts to work: USES.

39. Prom flowers: ORCHIDS.  

I learned so much about ORCHIDs from this book.

40. "Me too!": SO HAVE I.

45. Place for prayer: CHAPEL.  

The Dixie Cups     ~     Chapel of Love     ~     1964

47. Freeman of "Glory": MORGAN.  [b. June 1, 1937] Here is some trivia:  Morgan Freeman was not nominated for his role in Glory; however, he was nominated that same year for Best Actor for his work in Driving Miss Daisy. Denzel Washington won best supporting actor for playing Pvt. Silas Trip in Glory and Daniel Day-Lewis took home the Best Actor award.

Here is Morgan Freeman when he appeared in this 1989 movie.
Denzel Washington is standing behind him.

49. From the bottom of one's heart: DEEPLY.

51. Nez __ tribe: PERCE.

52. Savory taste: UMAMI.

53. Fool: CON.  Both are verbs here.

56. Droop: WILT.

58. "Absolutely!": YES.  a more formal version of yup

60. Bond novelist Fleming: IAN.  [1908-1964]

61. Free (of): RID.  

If you use this product, you will be free of lice.

The grid:  

That about sums up today's puzzle. If you have questions, we have an amazing SUPPORT GROUP here on The Corner to help you out.

Monday October 27, 2025 Guilherme Gilioli

 

Happy Monday, everyone! sumdaze here. Our Saturday blogger, Husker Gary, introduced us to today's constructor on February 24, 2024. Today's puzzle is Guilherme's second LAT publication.

Theme:               

...went upstairs to kiss a fellow. How many fellows did she kiss?
One, two, three, four, ....
(Did you play this jump rope game at your school?)

Each of the three themed answers contains the letters R, O, P, and E with just one letter between them -- a very specific requirement. The circles highlight how the R's, O's, P's, and E's line up vertically in the grid. Wow! I'll insert it now, in case you missed Guilherme's fancy footwork.  

20 Across. Cornucopia: HORN OF PLENTY.  In Latin, cornu  means HORN and copiae means PLENTY or "abundance".

Notice that the basket is HORN-shaped.

28 Across. "Can't Fight This Feeling" band: REO SPEEDWAGON.  This one gets a slight ding for the extra E immediately following the P. Nevertheless, it was a fun change to see REO's full name in a grid. Here is that 1984 song (with lyrics):  

45. Device for inflating tires: AIR COMPRESSOR.  

The reveal ties everything together:  

52 Across. Cord in some cardio workouts, or an apt description of each set of circled letters in this puzzle: SKIPPING ROPE.  The letters R, O, P, and E literally SKIP.

This is an 8:19 min. compilation of choreographed jump rope videos.

Watch until you've had your fill. (I could not turn it off.)

Let's move on to the remaining clues.  

Perhaps this wise BIRD OF PREY will help guide us?

Across:

1. Puff of smoke: WISP.

5. Veer off course, as a ship: YAW.  Def.:  (intransitive verb) of a ship:  to deviate erratically from a course (as when struck by a heavy sea); especially: to move from side to side.

8. Morales who becomes Spider-Man in the "Spider-Verse" films: MILES.  Miles Morales is a comic book character created in 2011. I am going to over-simplify this and say that he is not replacing the other Spider Man. Rather, he is from an alternate universe. Perhaps a true fan can tell us more....

13. Love, in León: AMOR.  

14. App Store patron: USER.

16. Joker, to Batman: ENEMY.  

17. Feng __: SHUI.  Def.:  (noun) a Chinese geomantic practice in which a structure or site is chosen or configured so as to harmonize with the spiritual forces that inhabit it.

also : orientation, placement, or arrangement according to the precepts of feng shui.  

This is a 1 min. video on how to use feng shui to arrange your office.

Note: This guy talks fast so you might need to read the subtitles. He has a lot of good

Feng Shui videos. Find him on YouTube @DearModern.

18. Curly cabbage in the mustard family: KALE.  

Kale is a good source of vitamins C & K, magnesium, calcium, and potassium.

19. Software extension: ADD-ON.  This is a piece of software that enhances existing software without having to start from scratch.

23. Beatles opener?: THE.  The question mark hints that we might not be talking about the opening song from a Beatles performance. Similar to The Who, not "Who", they were "The Beatles", not just "Beatles".

Please Please Me was their debut studio album, released in 1963. Can you guess what was the opening song off that album? I'll give you just seventeen guesses.    

Notice that in this video The Beatles do not yet to "own" the stage.

24. NNW reversal: SSE.  Think "compass".

25. Animation frame: CEL.

32. Chatted on WhatsApp, briefly: IMed.  Instant Messaged.  (Hi C.C.!)

34. Overtime cause: TIE.  This clue references sports -- not work hours. A tie score will throw a game into overtime.

35. Quarrel: ARGUE.  Quarrel is a verb here. 

36. Quick snooze: NAP.

37. Nile reptile: ASP.

38. Bought by us: OUR.  

Our House     ~     Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young     ~     1970

IIRC, D-Otto has two cats in his yard. 🎵🎵

40. Hoppy pub pick, for short: IPA.

41. Zagreb native: CROAT.  CROAT is the demonym for the ethnic group native to Croatia. A "Croatian" is from Croatia but not necessarily an ethic CROAT.

43. Media with reflective sides: CDs.  

You can hang them in your garden to keep the birds out of your strawberries.
...but then who will eat the slugs?

44. Podiatry focus: FEET.  

Click to enlarge.

49. Gobbled up: ATE.  

a wild turkey gobbling up insects

50. Cristo Redentor's city: RIO.  CSO to our Brazilian constructor!  

aka Christ the Redeemer

51. Floppy rabbit part: EAR.  

A lop-eared rabbit refers to any rabbit with ears that droop.
I'm not sure if being super-cute is also a requirement.

58. Formal "Me too": AS DO I.

61. Volcano near Sicily's east coast: ETNA.

62. Paradise: EDEN.

63. Lard Lad treat on "The Simpsons": DONUT.  

Does Lard Lad remind you of anyone?

64. Like an old cotton blanket: SOFT.  

65. Family dinner rule, maybe: NO TV.  Dinner is the only time DH and I turn on our TV. It's just the two of us so we call it "dinner theater".

66. Paver option: SLATE.  

39 seconds

67. Short story writer Edgar Allan __: POE.  six Edgar Allan Poe story suggestions just in time for Halloween

68. Deuce topper: TREY.  A three tops (beats) a two for "high card".  

Down:

1. Use soap on: WASH.  

2. Texter's "As I see it": IMHO.  In My Humble Opinion

Some people are now speaking with texting initialisms IRL!

3. Tart-tasting: SOUR.  

4. Not handwritten: PRINTED.  This one made me laugh a little because printing is one form of handwriting.  

PRINT (top) & cursive (bottom)

5. Laugh riots: YUK FESTS.  YUK is slang for laugh and FEST is short for FESTival.

6. "... and make it snappy!" letters: ASAP.  

YUK! YUK!

7. "Maybe, maybe not": WE'LL SEE.  These are magic words for a parent.

8. Shepherd's pie filling: MEAT.  The usual MEATs are beef or lamb.

9. Racing body with an annual "500" event: INDY CAR.  This clue plays with the definition of body. A car body is the main structure of a car, excluding the mechanical components.<cite>  Law Insider has a more detailed definition. Also, this Car and Driver article classifies the various car body styles.

10. Showed the way: LED.  

Gene Wilder and Marty Feldman in Young Frankenstein (1974)

"Walk this way."  (1:42 min.)

11. Punk subgenre: EMO.

12. Antonym's opposite: Abbr.: SYN.  SYNonym

I looked up "synonym" in The Synonym Finder. Ironically, it was not listed. However, It does have these words for "synonymous":  equivalent, equal, even, parallel, twin, corresponding; same, similar, like, alike, identical, exact; correlative, comparable, exchangeable, transposable; reciprocative, reciprocal.

15. Witherspoon of "Big Little Lies": REESE.  This is an HBO MAX series based on a novel by Liane Moriarty. It was primarily filmed in Monterey County (some of the filming locations). This is a video of the opening credits for Season 1 (2017):

21. "Caught you!": OHO.  Def.:  (interjection) used to express various emotions (as taunting or amused surprise).

22. Actor Beatty: NED.  [1937-2021]  his IMDb page

26. Like shortcake, compared to shortbread, usually: EGGIER.  This word strikes me as a difficult one to clue. Eggs can be used to make recipes fluffier.  

strawberry shortcake        and        Scottish shortbread

27. Gem examiner's tool: LOUPE.  Wow, wasn't that heist at the Louvre gutsy??!!

28. School assignment: REPORT.  

29. Domino dot: PIP.  We use the same word for dice dots.

30. Tug-of-__: WAR.  

31. Not messy: NEAT.

32. Andean empire: INCA.

33. Ave __: Catholic prayer: MARIA.  

Luciano Pavarotti     ~     Ave Maria (Shubert)

37. From __ Z: A TO.

38. Verse of praise: ODE.

39. Upper chamber in Amer. politics: US SENATE.  American is abbreviated, so is United States.  

42. Gets the best of: ACES OUT.  like a TREY over a deuce

43. Shirt that shows off one's abs: CROP TOP.  

44. Landlord's sign on an empty property: FOR RENT.

46. Hosp. scan: MRI.  I have not had one of these.

47. Plumbing components: PIPES.

48. Yield to gravity: SAG.

53. Lightweight toy flyer: KITE.  

In Geometry, a KITE is a four-sided polygon where two pairs of sides
that touch at a corner are the same length.

54. Facts and figs.: INFO.  figures and INFOrmation

55. Strong smell: ODOR.  Losing all sense of smell is called anosmia.  Some famous people with this condition include Jason Sudeikis of Ted Lasso, Ben of Ben & Jerry's, and Bill Pullman of Independence Day.

56. Folk icon Seeger: PETE.  Click on the image below to hear Pete perform a well-known folk song, This Land is Your Land, written by another famous American folk singer, Woody Guthrie:    

57. Green with __: ENVY.  

58. YouTube interruptions: ADS.

59. Note after fa: SOL.  

60. Crime lab evidence: DNA.  

This is an excerpt from Humble Pi:  When Math Goes Wrong in the Real World by Matt Parker (p. 56):

Between 1993 and 2008, the police in Germany were searching for the mysterious "phantom of Heilbronn," a woman who had been linked to forty crimes, including six murders; her DNA had been found at all the crime scenes. Tens of thousands of police hours were spent looking for Germany's "most dangerous woman," and there was a €3000,000 bounty on her head. It turns out she was a woman who worked in the factory that made the cotton swabs used to collect DNA evidence.

Have a great week, everyone! Here's one more for the road:  

Monday October 20, 2025 Matthew Stock

  

Happy Monday, everyone! sumdaze here, struggling to keep up with Mathew Stock's clever clues. Is it just me and too much time off or was this one tricky for a Monday? Well, at least the theme was easy an easy order:  

The unifier spells it out:

54 Across. Combo meal component, and what the answers to the starred clues have: SIDE OF FRIES. All the themed answers have a type of French fries at the right SIDE of the answer. We have:

16 Across. *Breakfast chain founded in metro Atlanta: WAFFLE HOUSE.  I went to one once to see what it was all about. Not really my thing.  

This is the WAFFLE HOUSE scene from the 2010 movie Due Date, 

starring Zach Galifianakis and Robert Downey Jr. (4:18 min.)

Truthfully, I find this genre of movies too uncomfortable to watch.

18 Across. *Harlem Globetrotters legend known for his shaved head: CURLY NEAL. I loved the Globetrotters as a kid so I remembered CURLY but guessed "bEAL" for his last name as I was unfamiliar with 13-Down and thought it could have been an initialism.  

Here is #22 in action. 

I like the last clip where he does a bounce pass though his opponent's legs to himself.

1:12 min. (It's worth the click just to hear their theme song again!)

34 Across. *Dramatic snag in the outfield: SHOESTRING CATCH.  I was unfamiliar with this term but clocking the theme helped (as it should). It is when a baseball player catches a ball close to his feet, meaning very close to the ground.  

This video is just 12 seconds.

51 Across. *Feature of some blocky footwear: WEDGE HEEL.  Women's footwear -- finally something I can relate to!  

Here they all are:

(l. to r.) WAFFLE, CURLY, SHOESTRING, and WEDGE FRIES
We're going to need more ketchup!

Next, we'll dip into the remaining clues:

Across:

1. Prefix with gender: CIS-.

4. East Coast gas station chain with a goose logo: WAWA.  I used to live near one when I lived in Virginia back in the aughts. DH loved their coffee. I've never been a coffee drinker so....

Do you see the yellow goose?

8. Play group?: BAND.  The question mark indicates word play. Think "musicians". 

I was trying to decide which BAND to link, then it hit me -- The BAND!  

The Band     ~     Up On Cripple Creek     ~     1969

Note:  Some of you might be disappointed I did not use The Weight.

I've used it in the past so I went with something different. You can hear that song here.

12. Little troublemaker: IMP.  CSO to our Cornerite IMP!

13. Purple flower: LILAC.  My old neighborhood in Colorado had several old LILAC bushes. I was told they were planted back when people had outhouses. Their fragrance helped mask the odor when  things began to thaw in the spring.

14. Wind instrument that typically has 23 tone holes: OBOE.

15. Hopping pal of Pooh: ROO.  

20. Florida freshwater springs mammal: OTTER.  

This is a 2:32 min. video about freshwater OTTERs in Montana.

(It is shorter plus it has better information than the Florida ones I viewed.)

21. Make it to: ATTEND.  Ah, as in, "Did you ATTEND the fundraiser?" / "Did you make it to the fundraiser?"

Trying to make ATTain work tied me up in the NW.

22. "Gracious!": OH, MY.     and     25-Across. "Gracious!": WOWIE.

24. __ Diego Padres: SAN.

27. Ceiling spinner: FAN.  

30. Brief "We'll figure it out later": TBD.  To Be Determined

31. Jazz horn: SAX.  

Charlie Parker [1920-1955]     ~     All the Things You Are

32. Baseball apparel company: NEW ERA.  Gracious! I did not know this one either!

37. "Pick up the pace!": PRONTO.

38. Female 11-Down: DOE.     and     11-Down. Buck or 38-Across: DEER.   

Here's a pic from my recent trip.
This wild buck let me hand-feed it an apple.
He and his buddies hang out in the orchard,
waiting for humans to pick the apples they cannot reach.
Yes, I was a bit nervous of those antlers!

39. "Go team!": RAH.  

40. Guffaw: YUK.  A guffaw is a loud or boisterous burst of laughter.

41. __ and aahed: OOHED.

43. Theater chain initials: AMC.  AMC originally stood for American Multi-Cinema.

44. Research on a rival, briefly: OPPO.  OPPOsition Research  more from the Political Dictionary

45. Tennis legend Gibson: ALTHEA.  Althea Neale Gibson [1927-2003] was an American tennis player and golfer. In 1956 she became the first Black player to win a Grand Slam event.  more achievements

48. Cupcake topper: ICING.  Here are some fun ones for Halloween:  

56. Bard's before: ERE.  "Bard's" hints at Old English.

57. More than one can count: A TON.  

58. Some UNESCO World Heritage Sites: RUINS.  "UNESCO" stands for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Its website says, "We strengthen ties between people to build peace." An example of an UNESCO RUINS site is the Ruins of Leon Viejo in Nicaragua.

59. Quoter's "I'm aware of the error": [SIC].

60. Join using heat: WELD.  

Welding for Beginners  (4:14 min.)

61. Singles: ONES.  Think "dollar bills".

62. Shriek of fear: EEK.  

Down:

1. Historian's word of approximation: CIRCA.  CIRCA is a preposition which means "at approximately". It is used especially with dates. It comes from the Latin circum, meaning around. In a roundabout way, it is related to circumference.

2. "Later": I'M OUT.

3. Gambling venue that may offer Super Bowl parlays: SPORTSBOOK.  A SPORTSBOOK is a place -- either a website or a building -- that accepts bets on sporting events, especially college and professional events. more from Investopedia  Thanks, perps!

Coincidentally, Wiki sported this pic & caption. (See 16-Down.)

4. Elastigirl, to Mr. Incredible: WIFE.  

5. __ Romeo: ALFA.  CSO to -T!

6. Enjoy a mudhole: WALLOW.  When my dog was 3 years old, we went to a group picnic in the hills and she found a smelly, wild pig mudhole. She thought it was glorious! I cannot remember how many baths it took to get rid of the smell.  

7. Blackjack card: ACE.

8. Pirate riches: BOOTY.     and     9-Down. Sit beside: ABUT.  <snicker, snicker>

10. Won by a __: NOSE.  This idiom means to defeat an opponent by a very small margin. It is believed to have originated in horse racing.

13. __ Back: movement focused on ancestral sovereignty: LAND.  Learning moment for me. Of course it makes sense now that I see the answer....

16. MGM Grand rival: WYNN.  I did not know this one either but I knew that the MGM Grand was a casino so a homophone for "win" seemed plausible.

(See photo for 3-Down.)

17. HS course that taught practical skills: HOME EC.  I am wondering why this clue is in the past tense. Do they no longer teach HOME EConomics in High Schools?

19. Tough to move: LEADEN.  Trying to make LoADEd work added to my difficulties with 21-Across.

23. Dating app "designed to be deleted": HINGE.  This one was out of my wheelhouse as well. Apparently HINGE is a dating app geared more towards finding a serious relationship. "Designed to be deleted" probably means that you will find your true love in the first go-round and then no longer need the app so you will delete it from your phone.

25. Card game that requires no skill: WAR.  WAR is the Candy Land of card games. There is no mechanism for players to impact the results.  

26. Iron __: rust: OXIDE.  CSO to RustyBrain!

Here's a brief engineering science lesson:  Iron is a metal and metals have a crystalline molecular structure. The crystalline structure of iron oxide is less dense than that of iron so it flakes off in what we call "rust", exposing additional iron to even further rust. Contrast this with another metal, aluminum. Aluminum oxide has a more dense crystalline structure than aluminum. This means you get a denser surface but do not get the flaking. As a result, you will not have additional aluminum exposed to further oxidation. Now, think about why we use aluminum cans to store food.

27. Greek salad topper: FETA CHEESE.  It originates from Greece and is made from sheep's milk or a mixture of sheep's and goats' milk.

How to make FETA CHEESE at home

28. St. Louis landmark: ARCH.  The Gateway Arch is a 630-foot-tall monument in St. Louis, Missouri. Clad in stainless steel and built in the form of a weighted catenary arch, it is the world's tallest arch and Missouri's tallest accessible structure.  website

29. "Pass": NAH.

30. Drive-__ window: THRU.  

Click to enlarge.

31. Hunch over: STOOP.  SlOuch did not quite fit.

33. Campfire output: WARMTH.  This one took a minute, probably because I have been conditioned to think of "ash"-related words when we see campfire in a clue.

34. Mission-driven individual?: SPY.  Is this clue referring to the Mission Impossible films???

35. Slow-moving, as traffic: STOP GO.  STOP-and-GO???  

36. Silent "Go for it": NOD.

42. "Sounds like a blast!": HOW FUN.

43. Brewmaster brews: ALES.

44. Without stopping: ON END.  For example, "The sun shone for days ON END."

45. Many moons: AGES.  The Earth's moon's cycle repeats every 29.5 days.  

46. Spooky: EERIE.     and     52-Down. Lake between Toledo and Buffalo: ERIE.

47. Smart __: ALECK.  I think I've always spelled this without the "K". Merriam-Webster says my spelling is a less common variant.

48. "That much was clear to me": I SAW.

49. Quote as a source: CITE.

50. Megastar: IDOL.

53. Commotions: DINS.

55. To's counterpart: FRO.  

Today's grid: 

We do not usually see themed answers on consecutive rows.

Many thanks to RustyBrain and Anonymous T for filling in these past five weeks! While I was away, I did two back-to-back bicycling trips. The first was centered around Bend, OR and the stunning Crater Lake. The second was a tent-camping trip through CA, NV, and UT. Here I am towing my dog, Meadow, in Goblin Valley State Park, UT.