Thursday, April 11, 2024,Rebecca Goldstein

 

 

ALMOST HEAVEN

 
After he retired my father built a small home on a mountain top in West Virginia.  We made many visits to it, then my mother had to sell it.  But one of sister's children bought it recently so it's back in the family.  And it was, and still is "Almost Heaven", a space where we can go and be at peace in a world with a starlit sky in the night, forests as far as the eye could see, meadows in the valleys, and a bucolic town with a yearly Apple Butter festival in the town below.

Today's constructor Rebecca Goldstein challenges us with 3 theme clues that re-imagine our world as a safe space where all people are free from bias, discrimination, and hatred -- a noble ideal ...

20. Mindset that may hinder growth: COMFORT ZONE.  A COMFORT ZONE is a familiar psychological state where people are at ease and (perceive they are) in control of their environment, experiencing low levels of anxiety and stress. But the clue hints that there is built-in tension -- that it can also hinder growth, and so it requires some careful navigation to maintain it ...

27. Mental image during meditation: HAPPY PLACE.  Here is the visual image of the sound OM used in some forms of meditation ...

35. Tabletop decor piece with raked sand: ZEN GARDEN.  More often a life-sized garden with raked sand.  Here's one at the Bon Secours Retreat Center in Marriottsville, MD.  They call theirs a Peace Garden, a safe space to meditate ...

Bon Secours Peace Garden

And the reveal ...

29. Bias-free environments, or what 20-Across and 27- and 35-Down are: SAFE SPACES.

Something we all wish for.  And each of us has a different path toward them. 

Here's the grid ...
 

Here's the rest ...

Across:

1. Data depiction: GRAPH. With the advent of low-cost graphics tools such as the PC, it became very easy to create GRAPHS tailored to specific needs.

6. Mouth piece?: JAW.  AKA the mandible -- the opposing piece is the maxilla ...

9. Slalom markers: GATES.

14. Diet that precludes grains and dairy: PALEO.

15. Charlottesville sch.: UVA.

16. Animal wearing red pajamas in Anna Dewdney kids books: LLAMA.  I guess that's a better clue than "Camelid who'll spit in your eye!" -- and they have a great after-market --

17. Hybrid wheat species: SPELT.  The ideal grain for Jinx, no matter how you spel it!

18. "A Life Outdoors Is a Life Well Lived" co.: REI.  Lately this co. has spent a lot of time living in crossword puzzles.

19. Get greasy: OIL UP.

20. [Theme clue].

23. Quick burn: SEAR.

24. "Me too": SAME.

25. Deep rift: SCHISM.  Not a  safe space for groups who experience one.

28. Plant used as an herbal medicine: HYSSOP.  A member of the mint family.  Here's what Britannica has to say about HYSSOP.  Here's what WebMD has to say about it. It's certainly a pretty plant ...

Anise Hyssop

32. Rollover subj.: IRA.

33. Getting a grip, maybe: SEIZING. 

Also an archaic nautical term referring to a length of rope.

37. "It's __-win situation": A NO.

38. Slip in judgment: LAPSE.

40. "Jeopardy!" host Jennings: KEN.  No not Barbie's BFF.

41. Getting hungry, probably: UNFED.  If prolonged it's not safe, especially for children -- see for example last Thursday's puzzle.

43. Uses a keyboard: TYPES.

44. Come to a close: END.

45. Slips through the cracks?: SEEPS.  Our basement laundry room SEEPS water and it looks like we'll have to hire a contractor to stop it.

46. Spanish "Hey!": OYE.

47. Field where things disappear?: MAGIC. 

49. NNW opposite: SSE.

50. European range: ALPS.

51. "August: __ County": Streep film: OSAGE.  August: Osage County is a 2013 American tragicomedy film starring Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Ewan McGregor, Chris Cooper, Abigail Breslin, Benedict Cumberbatch, Juliette Lewis, Margo Martindale, Dermot Mulroney, Julianne Nicholson, and Misty Upham as a dysfunctional family that reunites at the familial house when their patriarch (Sam Shepard) suddenly disappears.  Looks like a comedy in a dysfunctional sort of way...

52. Agile: SPRY.

54. Actress Gadot: GAL. Gal Gadot Varsano born 30 April 1985, is an Israeli actress, model and beauty pageant titleholder. She was crowned Miss Israel 2004 and represented her country at the Miss Universe 2004 pageant. She then served in the Israel Defense Forces for two years as a combat fitness instructor, after which she began studying drama, while building her modeling and acting careers.  Her first international film performance was as Gisele Yashar in Fast & Furious (2009), a part she reprised in several sequels. Gadot achieved global stardom for her portrayal of Wonder Woman in the DC Extended Universe films (2016–2023) and the mystery film Death on the Nile (2022).

Gal Gadot

55. Small part to play: BIT ROLE.  We hear BIT PART more often, but this fits too.

57. Skilled sort: ACE.

58. Let up: ABATE.

60. Pretty strange: ODD.  IMHO  all of "reality"is pretty ODD.

61. Chops in the kitchen: DICES.  As the family sous chef, I do a lot of this.

63. Likely to speak out: VOCAL.

64. "Say Yes to Heaven" singer Lana Del __: REY.  Good advice ...

65. Goddess of peace: IRENE.  Eirene or IRENE, is one of the Horae, the personification and goddess of peace in Greek mythology and ancient religion. She was depicted in art as a beautiful young woman carrying a cornucopia, sceptre, and a torch or rhyton. She is usually said to be the daughter of Zeus and Themisa. Her Roman equivalent is the goddess PAX.  She could almost be a fourth themer.  This also brings to mind a song by Huddie Ledbetter made popular by The Weavers ...

... although a careful listen to the lyrics tells us that Huddie and Irene didn't part very peacefully

66. Put forth: EXERT.

67. Chemistry suffix indicating a double bond: ENE.  In chemistry, a double bond is a covalent bond between two atoms involving four bonding electrons as opposed to two in a single bond. Double bonds occur most commonly between two carbon atoms, for example in ALKENES.  Double bonds can form between other elements and may not be designated with the ENE suffix ...

Chemical compounds with double bonds

The letters ENE are more likely to be clued in crosswords as "Opposite of WSW:"

68. Exams: TESTS.

Down:

1. Waze tech: GPS.  Waze Mobile Ltd, formerly FreeMap Israel, is a subsidiary company of Google that provides satellite navigation software on smartphones and other computers that support the Global Positioning System (GPS). In addition to turn-by-turn navigation, it incorporates user-submitted travel times and route details while downloading location-dependent information over a cellular network. Waze describes its application as a community-driven initiative that is free to download and use.

2. Future genre: RAP.

3. Smart __: ALEC.

4. Speaker emerita Nancy: PELOSI.   Nancy Patricia Pelosi (born in Baltimore on March 26, 1940) is an American politician who served as the 52nd speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011 and again from 2019 to 2023.   She was the first woman elected as U.S. House Speaker and the first woman to lead a major political party in either chamber of Congress, leading the House Democrats from 2003 to 2023. A member of the House since 1987, Pelosi currently represents California's 11th congressional district, which includes most of San Francisco.

Nancy Pelosi

5. Complete disasters: HOT MESSES.  The opposite of SAFE SPACES.

6. Peer at a trial: JUROR.

7. State firmly: AVER.

8. Counts down the minutes, maybe: WAITS.

9. Member of the blue man group?: GLOOMY GUS.  Here's the poster child for the species from the Hundred Acre Wood ..

10. Dresses that twirl: A LINES.  This one was made from a tablecloth ...

11. Unbelievable story: TALE.

12. Outback bird: EMU.

13. Softy: SAP.

21. Notoriety: FAME.  All of the notorious are famous, but not all of the famous are notorious.

22. Investigative journalist Paula: ZAHN.  Paula Ann Zahn (born February 24, 1956) is an American journalist and newscaster who has been an anchor at ABC News, CBS News, Fox News, and CNN. She currently produces and hosts the true crime documentary series On the Case with Paula Zahn on the Investigation Discovery channel.

Paula Zahn

25. Delta deposit: SILT.  Sediment in rivers is deposited, sorted by particle size, as the river slows down. Larger, heavier particles like pebbles and sand are deposited first, whilst the lighter silt and clay only settle if the water is almost still.  Silt deposited at the mouths of rivers formed the basis for ancient deposits of "ball clays" in the US in Tennessee and Georgia.  These fine grain clays are prized by potters for their plasticity.  Newer alluvial plains that are still active can be vast, e.g. the Nile Delta as shown in this photograph from space ...

Nile River Delta

26. Container that may have a built-in sharpener: CRAYOLA BOX.  Beginning in 1958 the 64 color box came with a built-in sharpener, as does the 96 count box.

27. [Theme clue]

29. [Theme reveal].

30. Latte order specification: ONE PERCENT.

31. Dishwasher detergent units: PODS.   Kids do the darnedest things --  between 2012 and 2013, poison control centers reported over 7,000 cases of young children eating laundry pods, and ingestion of laundry pods produced by P&G had resulted in six deaths by 2017. In response to the dangers, P&G changed Tide Pod containers to an opaque design, introduced warning labels, and added a bitter-tasting chemical to the pod contents ...

Original Packaging
Aren't they colorful!

34. Retail outlet whose products often come with Allen wrenches: IKEA STORE.  Sorry I couldn't resist ... 😀

35. [Theme clue].

36. Need for some denim jeans: INDIGO DYE.  Indigo is a pigment extracted from the leaves of indigo-bearing plants and is the oldest natural source of blue dye in the world. Humans have used indigo to dye natural fibers for thousands of years, with traditions spanning continents and cultures.  GLOOMY GUS would love this stuff ...!

"Indigo vat" used for dyeing

39. Observes: SEES.

42. Loch with a legend: NESS.

47. "Me, mon ami?": MOI.  Some good advice to solvers from a famous Belgian solver ...

48. Animation still: CEL.   

50. Tequila plant: AGAVE.

53. Approvals: YESES.  OKAYS fit as well

55. Suspenders alternative: BELT. Probably the most famous belt in the Universe is in the constellation Orion:

Also a song by Sabrina Claudio ...

56. Exchange a few words, say: EDIT.  I exchanged a few words to create this review.

59. Roof sealant: TAR.

62. Fury: IRE.  From the Latin word for "wrath".  The DIES IRAE ("Day of Wrath") is a Latin hymn from the Requiem Mass for the Dead. The setting in Verdi's Requiem left us with the best expression of FURY that I know.  Here it is performed by the Metropolitan Opera on the 20th anniversary of 9/11 ...

Cheers,
Bill

And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.

waseeley

Thursday, April 4, 2024, Rich Katz, Katy Steinmetz

 

 Food for Thought 

Food is a problem in America: too much, not enough, or not getting to the right people: but thanks to one of our regular solvers  there's at least a partial solution to that last one, as we'll see at the end of this theme explanation.  Today's constructors are veteran Rich Katz,  who has constructor chops, but is new to the Corner and Katy Steinmetz, a former journalist for Time Magazine.  This is also Katy's debut in the LA Times, but if she is anything like her namesake Charles, we can expect her puzzle to be brilliant.

Our constructors have stretched their foodie clues into in the language idioms (no circles, no stars, and no reveal -- these fills are the 4 longest phrases, so these must be the themers right? ...

17A. "Let's pass on the supersize": NOT A BIG DEAL.  I was afraid that this South Park clip would be NSFC ("Not Suitable For  Crosswords"), but was relieved to find that it's ok.  It's really a shame that some people think only of themselves ...

28A. "The chef made this as the plat du jour, right?": ISNT THAT SPECIAL.

47A. "I don't want my latte to be a venti": THATS A TALL ORDER.  Now here's some real FOOD FOR THOUGHT -- why can't we eliminate childhood hunger in America?  Why is THAT A TALL ORDER?  And a special CSO to PICARD for alerting us just last week to a much more important Jeff Bridges film than TRON -- A Place at the Table ...

Here's Picard's comment to last week's Thursday review and here is the link to No Kid Hungry: End Child Hunger in America, a campaign started by Jeff Bridges. And a CSO to Wendybird, who is already a monthly contributor.

61A. "We recommend takeout": ITS GOOD TO GO.  I'm full, so let's wrap this up and take the rest of it with us -- here's the grid ...

Across:

1. "You said it!": YEAH.  So you agree then?

5. 2,000 pounds: ONE TON. 

11. Question marks: IFS.

14. Vogue rival: ELLE.  Today's French lesson: SHE.  ELLE is a worldwide women's magazine of French origin that offers a mix of fashion and beauty content, and society and lifestyle. This month's "It girl" is Victoria Ceretti.  Rumor has it that SHE and LEO are an item.

15. __ press: small appliance: PANINI.  A panino (Italian: [paˈniːno], meaning 'small bread', 'bread roll') or panini (pl.) is a sandwich made with Italian bread (such as ciabatta and michetta), usually served warm after grilling (in a PANINI press no less) or toasting.  We're out of counter space for another gadget.  We just use a toaster oven.

16. Carnival locale: RIO.  Today's Portuguese lesson: "river" and  a mononym for the city in Brazil, which we visited just last week. 

17. [Theme clue].

19. "Parks and __": REC.  Parks and Recreation (also known as Parks and REC) is an American political satire mockumentary television series starring Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope, a perky, mid-level bureaucrat in the Parks Department of the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana.  The series aired on NBC from April 9, 2009, to February 24, 2015, for 125 episodes, over seven seasons ...

20. [Wake me when it's over]: SNORE.  Hold in there folks, we've got a lot more clues to cover. 😀

21. Summer hrs. in St. Louis: CDT.

22. Burkina __: FASO.  Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa, bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Ivory Coast to the southwest. As of 2021, the country had an estimated population of 20,321,378. Previously called Republic of Upper Volta (1958–1984), it was renamed Burkina Faso by President Thomas Sankara. Its citizens are known as Burkinabè, and its capital and largest city is Ouagadougou.

23. Hot mess: SNAFU. An acronym which will remain undefined. 😁

26. "There just wasn't any alternative": I HAD TO.  "There's always an alternative" -- of course it may be wrong!

28. [Theme clue].

32. Fibs: LIES.

33. Dethrone: OUST.

34. Meadowland: LEA.

35. __ of attrition: LAW.  This article describes Law of Attrition as a phrase that defines the rate at which an object or person will wear out over time. It states that every system deteriorates eventually, at a rate based on the combined additive effects of many small causes. The Law of Attrition applies to everything, even mechanical objects like cars and machines. It sound a lot like an application of the Second Law of Thermodynamics, an important law of physics that states that  the entropy (disorder) of a system increases over time.

36. Loc. of the Met and the Mets: NYC.

37. Darts player's asset: AIM.  For an American, Ted Lasso turns out to have an unexpectedly good AIM (as Ted is quick to point out this scene contains a bit of ungentlemanly language) ...

39. A-one: TOP.

42. Take to court: SUE.  Or one who starts a fist fight (a tad ungentlemanly as well). 

44. Fades away: EBBS.

46. Formally turn over: CEDE.

47. [Theme clue]

51. Trained retrievers?: VALETS.  😀

52. Itsy-bitsy: TEENY.  This version of the old Brian Hyland classic is rated completely G and these kids are really enjoying themselves completely clothed ...

53. Blows away: AWES.  This is the verb form: "to AWE".  Here are some synonyms for the noun form ...

... which seem to have fallen out of fashion.

54. [Snicker]: HEH.

56. Channel that airs floor debates: CSPAN.  A great place to watch paint dry.

60. Score better than a bogey: PAR.  A CSO to all the duffers on the Corner.

61. [Theme clue]

64. Compost bin bit: PIT. 

65. "Door's open!": COME IN.

66. Made like: APED.

67. Bro kin: SIS.

68. Rings mournfully: KNELLS. 

"I go and it is done; the bell invites me.

Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knell

That summons thee to heaven or to hell."

Macbeth - Act 2, Scene 1

Lady Macbeth has just rung a bell, the signal that it’s time for Macbeth to kill Duncan. A knell is the solemn ringing of a church bell to announce someone’s death.

69. What's more?: LESS.  This perped, but I had to look up what it meant.

Down:

1. Desires: YENS.

2. North Carolina college town: ELON.  Finally a better clue than you know who.  Seems like a nice town.

3. Palo __, California: ALTO. Today's Spanish lesson: "tall stick", and the name of a famous Redwood Tree.

4. Publishing family: HEARSTS. The family started with George Hearst (September 3, 1820 – February 28, 1891), who made his money in the mining business.  His son William Randolph Hearst Sr. (April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American businessman, newspaper publisher, and politician known for developing the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His flamboyant methods of yellow journalism influenced the nation's popular media by emphasizing sensationalism and human interest stories.

William Randolph Hearst
circa 1910

5. Maker of Infinite Shine nail polish: OPI.  A CSO to Lucina!  It lasts forever.  This one is called Makeout-side ...

6. Badger: NAG.

7. Most-cooked parts of a roast: END CUTS.

8. Drew a conclusion?: TIED.

9. How reporters might act: ON A TIP.  Beginning in June of 1972 a series of tips regarding the most famous political scandal in modern times were provided to Washington Post investigative reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, by a tipster known then only as Deep Throat.  Woodward and Bernstein eventually wrote a book about their investigations called All the President's Men, which was later made into a film ...

  10. Nada: NIL.

11. Exposed to ultraviolet light, say: IRRADIATED.  UV IRRADIATION can be used as a means of sterilizing surfaces, liquids, air, and rooms and was recommended by the EPA during the COVID19 pandemic.

12. Quinceañera, for one: FIESTA.  The honoree at the celebration of a young Latina's 15th birthday.  The celebration is a FIESTA, but the word  Quinceañera proper refers to the young lady.

Quinceañera at a fiesta in Santa Fe, NM

13. "Love it!": SO COOL.

18. Out of shape: BENT.  Also murder mystery slang for a corrupt cop.

22. Watch part: FACE.

24. "Hey, sailor!": AHOY.  I'm tempted to sail with this, but I won't. 😁

25. Spigot: FAUCET.

27. Bridge feature: HELM.  Also Levon HELM, the drummer and singer for Dylan's old backup group The Band (a CSO to CanadianEh!),  .  Here he sings The Weight, the enigmatic song  by Robbie Robertson from their debut album Music from Big Pink...

Some thoughts on the meaning of the lyrics

28. Feeling green, perhaps: ILL.

29. "Chandelier" singer: SIA.  Sia Kate Isobelle Furler (born 18 December 1975) is an Australian singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Adelaide, she started her career as a singer in the acid jazz band Crisp in the mid-1990s.  I found the Chandelier video to be a bit too acrobatic, but Snowman was kind of cute ...

30. Some phone messages: NEWS ALERTS. 

31. Where a groom may walk down the aisle: STABLE. 😀.

36. __ egg: NEST.

38. Beachy spot: ISLE.

40. "__ to My Family": 1994 hit for The Cranberries: ODE.  One of the rewards of reviewing crosswords is renewing old friends ...

41. Part of rpm: PER.

43. Four Corners people: UTES.  UTE are the indigenous, or Native American people, of the Ute tribe and culture among the Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. They had lived in sovereignty in the regions of present-day Utah and Colorado.  In addition to their ancestral lands within Colorado and Utah, their historic hunting grounds extended into current-day Wyoming, Oklahoma, Arizona, and New Mexico. The tribe also had sacred grounds outside their home domain that were visited seasonally.  The contemporary number of UTE members is only about 3000, but they are still very active in businesses such as cattle raising, oil, and natural gas.

45. Body wash option: BATH GEL.

46. Chandelier glass: CRYSTAL.  A clecho to 29D?

47. Streaming options: TV APPS.  For people into really small screens.

48. State with two official languages: HAWAII.  English was the second, the first was  ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi,  (pronunciation.)  The latter was used in Hawaii's public education system starting in 1840, but was later banned after the overthrow of the Hawaii government by private interests in the United States in 1898.  Beginning in 1985, after the number of native speakers had dwindled to less than 3 dozen, efforts got underway to revive the speaking of ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi.  In 2010 the census reported that 24,000 households identified Hawaiian as their dominant language.

A family of ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi speakers

49. Actor Kutcher: ASHTON.  Christopher Ashton Kutcher (born February 7, 1978) is an American actor, producer and entrepreneur. Kutcher began his acting career portraying Michael Kelso in the Fox sitcom That '70s Show (1998–2006). He made his film debut in the romantic comedy Coming Soon (1999), followed by the comedy film Dude, Where's My Car? (2000), which was his first box office success.

Ashton Kutcher

50. Like most music, once: ON CD.  I have scads of these, mostly classical, but also in many other genres (except RAP). But I rarely listen to them, except during fund drives for WBJC.

55. Vampire played by Elizabeth Reaser in the "Twilight" films: ESME.  Vampire movies don't really cut it for me, but if you feast on this sort of stuff, this article on ESME in the Twilight Saga Wiki might keep you enthralled for several lifetimes!🧛

Esme Cullen
played by Elizabeth Reaser

57. The bishop of Rome: POPE.  A bishop is a spiritual descendant of one of original Apostles. The first Bishop of Rome was Saint Peter, although he wasn't called POPE (literally "Papa" in Latin) during his lifetime.  Including Peter there have been a total of 266 Popes, as listed in the Pontifical Yearbook.  The current holder of that position is Argentinian Jorge Mario Bergoglio,  the first Pope from South America and the first to take the name of Francis, after the founder of the Franciscan Order (although Bergoglio was in the Jesuit Order before his elevation to the Papacy)  ...

Pope Francis

58. Years and years: AGES.

59. Gestures of assent: NODS.

61. "Gross!": ICK.

62. Sesame __: OIL.  Sesame OIL is a key ingredient in the dish Pine Nut and  Corn Stir Fry, inspired by a picture in one of  C.C's reviews.  The sesame oil is used to sauté the pine nuts.

63. Switch positions: ONS. This review has officially switched OFF.

Cheers,
Bill

And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.

waseeley

Thursday, March 28, 2024, Emma Lawson, Amie Walker

 WHAT COULD GO WRONG?

Today's veteran constructors Emma Lawson and Amie Walker present us with another vertical theme, sans circles or stars, but this one is a little dark. The reveal starts on the first row at 10D, so we know what's going on pretty much out of the gate ...

 10. Creedence Clearwater Revival hit with the line "I see trouble on the way," or what can be found in three long Down entries: BAD MOON RISING.  A song all about what could go wrong -- this MOON is not only BAD, it's RISING! (well maybe) ...

Credence Clearwater Revival
(things eventually went wrong with them)

8. Return correspondence?: RANSOM NOTE.  Clever clue, terrible business ...

Kidnap and Ransom

18. Bella Hadid and Precious Lee, for two: FASHION MODELS.  Fashion models with last name Hadid are becoming crosswordese -- last Thursday we had Gigi (see 59D), this week we have Bella.  Here is Bella ...

Bella Hadid

... and here is Precious ...

Precious Lee

28. Key information for a hotel guest?: ROOM NUMBER.  A true story about what could go wrong ...

We recently stayed in mid-priced hotel in a small town in Ohio and when we checked in we were issued  the usual key cards, which had our ROOM NUMBER digitally encoded in them.  The second morning after returning from breakfast, we made several attempts to get into our room and concluded that for some reason the cards had stopped working -- so we went back to the front desk.  The desk clerk knew exactly what had happened and explained  that the circuitry that detects the key card was powered by a battery inside the door (presumably to guard against power failures to the hotel grid).  When a battery ran down, it could be remotely recharged from the hotel front desk and new key cards would be issued.  The BUG (remember BUGS from last Thursday?) in the system was that the key card had be used  within 2 minutes of the recharge or it was invalidated.  The clerk recharged the battery from the front desk and headed off to our room -- unfortunately we were on the 3rd floor on the far end of the hotel and it proved to be physically impossible for anyone other than Usain Bolt to reach our room within 2 minutes.  After several attempts to do this he said that the IT Guy had a way to override the system -- but that it was after hours and he wasn't there, but that  they would page him and would let us know when he arrived. In the mean time the hotel offered us a different room, but all of our stuff was in that room, including my CPAP machine, without which I cannot sleep.  So we went to lunch, came back, read USA Today, solved the crossword (which SS could probably knock off in 30 seconds), tried to nap on the lobby sofas, etc, etc.  Eventually the IT Guy showed up and was able get the door open  and we were good to go.

We usually visit this small town in Ohio at least once a year and they don't have a lot of hotels, but if we have to stay at this one again, it will be contingent on the desk clerk demonstrating that he/she can reach our room within two minutes (or if Usain happens to be staying in the hotel that weekend!).

I guess it's pretty obvious by now what's going on with the theme.  I have a slight NIT about that, as unlike the UPSIDE DOWN CAKES in last Thursday's puzzle you can't really tell whether these MOONS are RISING or SETTING.  Nevertheless they ARE ALL BAD.

Here's the grid ...
 

Across:

1. Tap: PAT.  A CSO to PAT.

4. Garment that may be draped in the nivi style: SARI.  The true Story of the Nivi Drape.

Sari à la Nivi

8. Buyer's incentive: REBATE.

14. Hoopla: ADO.

15. Jeff Bridges sci-fi franchise: TRON.  The franchise began with the 1982 film TRON staring Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn, a computer programmer and video game developer who is transported inside the software world of a mainframe computer where he interacts with programs in his attempt to escape.  It back then it had SOTA animation for 1982. I believe that there were other films as well. Hand up if you saw the original? 

16. Toyota sedan since 1994: AVALON.  They looked like this, but Toyota is discontinuing them.

Toyota Avalon, RIP

17. Gets just right: PERFECTS.  Someone once said that "the perfect is the enemy of the good".

19. Silently agreed: NODDED.

20. Places to pray: ALTARS.  A famous place to pray.

21. __ de deux: PAS.  Here's the Pas de deux from Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet ...

23. Physics quantity: MASS.  Also a RITE than can be said at a 20A.

24. Rental agreement: LEASE.

25. Get off the partner track?: GO SOLO.  It's not all it's cracked up to be ...

27. Car alarm: HORN.  Here's the 3rd movement of Mozart's Horn Concerto No. 2 in E-flat major, K. 417, Rondo - allegro ...

29. Slick: SMOOTH. Or the Jefferson Airplane vocalist singing White Rabbit? 

32. Final Four game: SEMI.  March Madness is upon us!

35. Yahoo: OAF.

37. "Thanks, I got it": NO NEED.

39. Handi-Snacks cookie: OREO.  See 60A.

40. Have a loan from: OWE TO.

42. Like a dragon egg in Minecraft: RARE.  According to the Minecraft Wiki "A Dragon Egg is a decorative, egg-shaped block, which is dropped after defeating the Ender Dragon in the End. It is only dropped by the death of the first Ender Dragon, not by respawned Ender Dragons. It is also not possible to get from the creative inventory without commands. This do not apply [sic] to Bedrock Edition".  They look like this ...

Dragon's Egg

Egg shaped, but in a low-res digital sort of way.  Hand up if you're a Minecraft maven and can explain why they're so valuable?

43. Jackman's "The Greatest Showman" role: BARNUM.  The Greatest Showman, starring Hugh Jackman, is a 2017 American fictionalized biographical musical drama about the life of P.T. Barnum.   I can never get enough of this portrayal by Rebecca Ferguson of BARNUM's love interest, the legendary Swedish Soprano Jenny Lind singing Never Enough (but actually sung by Loren Allred) ...

Not Loren Allred

45. "__ your heart out!": EAT.  Hearts were a favorite food of the Egyptian goddess Ammit, 'devourer of the dead and hearts' -- Chacun à son goût! 😀

46. Apple computer: IMAC.

47. Siete días: SEMANA. Today's Spanish lesson -- "Seven days" make a "week".

49. Centipede's multitude: LEGS.  A word with a multitude of synonyms ...

Plus  a CSO to MOE.

51. Body of work: OEUVRE.  Today's French lesson:

or an hors-d'oeuvre .

53. Firm: RIGID.

57. Chatted privately, briefly: DMED.  Digital Messaging not in an open "chat room"

60. "It's not really working for me": MEH. This doesn't really work for me either -- but conductor Zubin MEHTA does -- here he leads the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in the last 3 minutes of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 2, "The Resurrection" ...

61. Admonition to bickering kids: BE NICE.
 
62. Electric guitar effect: REVERB.  Not a new thing -- back in the Renaissance the stringed instruments had reverb, and in this Dr. Who clip from The Magician's Apprentice episode, time traveling Peter Capaldi shows off his REVERB chops on the electric lute (no stunt double), while treating us to a few bad puns  ...

64. "Back so soon?": YOU AGAIN.  Yeah, it's Thursday again. 😀

66. Audrey Tautou role: AMELIE.  Amélie is a 2001 French-language romantic comedy film, a whimsical depiction of contemporary Parisian life, set in Montmartre. It tells the story of a shy, introverted and quirky waitress, played by Audrey Tautou, who decides to change the lives of those around her for the better while dealing with her own isolation ...

67. Long for: MISS.

68. Vox populi, vox __: DEI.  Today's Latin lesson: "Voice of the people, voice of God".  A metaphor for democratic government used in a 1709 English political tract titled with this phrase.

69. Flexor counterpart: TENSOR.  Both are types of muscles.  It seems that the EXTENSOR has a stretch on today's fill.  Here are some examples ...

70. "Who __ could it be?": ELSE.

71. Parka part: ARM.  HOOD didn't fit.

Down:
1. Vatican-related: PAPAL. E.g. PAPAL BULL. It's not widely known but most Popes DO have a sense of humor ...

2. "I Drink Wine" singer: ADELE.  Not until the end of Lent we don't!  I don't think ADELE is observing Lent 😀 ...

Lyrics

3. Sandwich on a bolillo: TORTA.  In Mexico a TORTA is a kind of sandwich served on  white sandwich rolls similar to a small baguette called a bolillo.  A CSO to Lucina -- anything to add?

Torta on a bolillo

4. Typical opening?: STEREO.

5. Story shapes: ARCS.

6. Deteriorate: ROT.

7. What a mood board might provide, informally: INSPO.  A mood board is a collection of visual materials that evoke a particular theme, style or concept. Designers, illustrators, photographers, filmmakers and all types of creative professionals create mood boards to communicate and give them inspiration or "INSPO" (also a vaccine! 😀) and vision for a project.  Here's how to make mood board using a product called Milanote.  Here's an example ...

8. [Theme clue]

9. Former Bolivian president Morales: EVO.  Juan EVO Morales Ayma (Spanish pronunciation: [xwan ˈeβo moˈɾales ˈajma]; born 26 October 1959) is a Bolivian politician, trade union organizer, and former cocalero (coca leaf) activist who served as the 65th president of Bolivia from 2006 to 2019. He was his country's first president to come from its indigenous population.  Not to be confused with a Rachel Ray favorite 😀 ...

Evo Morales

10. [Theme reveal]

11. "M*A*S*H" star: ALDA.  Alan Alda (born Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo; January 28, 1936) is an American actor, author, screenwriter, podcast host and director. A six-time Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award winner and a three-time Tony Award nominee, he is best known for playing Captain Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce in the CBS wartime sitcom M*A*S*H (1972–1983). He also wrote and directed numerous episodes of the series. But he's done a LOT of other things as well.

Alan Alda

12. The ten in "hang ten": TOES.  Prehensile TOES that is.  "Hang ten" is slang for any of several maneuvers used in sports where all ten toes or fingers are used to accomplish the maneuver. In basketball it's hanging on the hoop after dunking the ball.   In surfing, the sport it's most commonly associated with, it's also called "nose riding", as it's done by perching on the very front of the surfboard ...

"Hanging ten"
How does she do that!!!?

13. Split __: ENDS.

18. [Theme clue]

22. Burro: ASS.  And the origin of the word burrito (the clue not the fill!)

25. Chew (on): GNAW.

26. Lav: LOO.  British slang.

28. [Theme clue].

30. Cubs or Bears: TEAM.

31. Juno's Greek counterpart: HERA.  While HERA and JUNO played the same role in Roman and Greek mythology, they were very different goddesses.

Hera vs. Juno

32. Cry loudly: SOB.

33. "-zoic" periods: ERAS. Here is simplified chart of Earth's geological ERAS, courtesy of the British Geological Survey ...

Nowadays when people hear the word ERAS they're more likely to think of this (Ms Swift has better PR men than the geologists😀) ...

34. No more than: MERE.  Could also be clued as "French for Mother".

36. Extra charge: FEE.

38. Advent mo.: DEC.  It can actually begin in late NOV. --  Advent begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas (always falling between 27 November and 3 December), and ends on Christmas Eve on 24 December.  It is the beginning of the liturgical New Year.

41. Yarn: TALE.

44. Dubai's fed.: UAE.  Dubai is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the country's seven emirates.

48. Madison in NYC: AVE.

50. Axle coating: GREASE.  Messy.  How about a 1978 film about a sheila from Down Under who becomes hopelessly devoted to an American greaser instead? ...

52. Pay to play, e.g.: RHYME.

54. Food Network chef De Laurentiis: GIADA. Giada Pamela De Laurentiis is an Italian American chef, entrepreneur, writer, and television personality. She was the host of Food Network's program called Giada at Home (2008–2015) .  Here's her recipe for Pasta with chicken and broccoli rabe.

Giada De Laurentiis

55. Less friendly: ICIER.

56. "Canadian tuxedo" fabric: DENIM.  So why is it called a "Canadian tuxedo"?

57. "Dang!": DRAT.

58. Many a viral post: MEME.  The word MEME is a portmanteau of mime and gene and first appeared in a book by biologist Richard Dawkins.  Here was Dawkins' first attempt, but for some reason it didn't go viral ...

59. Level: EVEN.

61. Peck: BUSS. Often seen in PDAs.

63. __ de Janeiro: RIO.  Sadly, last year we lost Astrud Gilberto, an icon of RIO culture.  Here she is singing Stan Getz's arrangement of The Girl from Ipanema ...

65. Cruet liquid: OIL.

Cheers,
Bill

And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.

waseeley